Post series: Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher

Articles / Guest Post

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Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part II

  1. Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part I
  2. Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part II

Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part II of II

 

by Rebecca Rowland

 

Beyond evoking serendipity, there are a few tricks to standing out when your submission is one of hundreds in an open call. According to the fifteen independent press owners interviewed for this piece, originality and a gift for the craft—both in terms of mechanics and of story-telling—are what makes them swoon.

“Originality,” stated Chrissy Brown of Caab Publishing Ltd. “If we cannot guess the ending then we love it. If a character goes off the wall but it makes perfect sense once explained, our brains light up and we adore the piece. We do not like to feel the characters are just going through the motions or only there to be filler. We like meat on the bones and depth to the story.” Stuck in a rut? “Read more outside of your ‘comfort genre’ and/or the genre that you write in,” advised Filthy Loot Press’ Ira Rat. “There’s an unintentional homogeny that settles in and then shines through when all you’re reading is one style.”

Beyond standing out from the crowd, take the time to polish your prose. “Top notch writing is highest on my list of things that speak to me when reading submissions. Even a basic story, if extremely well written, will get my attention,” noted Sinister Smile Press’ Steven Pajak. “I want great writing,” agreed Cameron Trost of Black Beacon Books. “This means you know how to tell a gripping story, and it means you have a working knowledge of the nuts and bolts of the English language. If you don’t, study up before writing your story…you wouldn’t build a house without knowing the basics of carpentry, so don’t write a story without brushing up on grammar and punctuation.” Once you have those nuts and bolts in place, sand, buff, and lacquer your cadence. “What grabs my attention and makes me want a story in our anthologies is the prose itself,” stated Pajak’s company partner, R.E. Sargent. “When it is extremely well written and has almost a poetic flow to it, it immediately catches my attention. Then as long as it meets theme and isn’t full of plot holes, or doesn’t fall on its face at the end, it’s pretty much an instant ‘Hell yes’ from me.”
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Events / Guest Post

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Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part I

  1. Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part I
  2. Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part II

Inside the Mind of an Independent Horror Publisher, Part I of II

 

by Rebecca Rowland

 

For writers and publishers, a silver lining glimmered from the shadows of the Covid-19 pandemic: reading, once a slowly dying pastime, increased dramatically. During the initial months of quarantine, the time adults spent on reading nearly doubled (The Guardian, May 2020), and horror as a genre “flourished” during the time of lockdown (The Conversation, October 2020). Independent presses have always been the celebrated underdogs of the publishing industry, the channels through which lesser known writers could find opportunities to showcase strong, edgy work that may have otherwise gone unread. However, independent publishers are by no means a free-for-all showcase: with this newest Renaissance in horror fiction, the competition to be included in an independent publication can be fierce. I spoke with fifteen owners of independent horror presses about the pros and cons of managing such an industry livewire, as well as what insider tips they could reveal on how speculative fiction writers can rise to the top of their slush piles.
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