Hello everyone, when last we spoke, I told you I had a bunch of stuff going on behind the scenes and that it was difficult to keep all the balls in the air and keep churning out new stories for the website all the time.
I know that sounds like the typical blogger excuse for scrolling mean tweets, but in my case it was the truth. Now I can share all the stuff that’s been happening.
In late January, Tavistock Galleria came out. This is a collaboration among 14 authors centered around a dying and haunted shopping mall. Response to Tavistock has been overwhelmingly positive and we’ve hit #1 on Amazon in several categories; most notably, #1 Horror Anthology. We’ve been steadily in the top spots in that category and we’re quite proud of our little project. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive and in a strange twist, we’ve gotten a lot of them, which is not an easy feat.
The book has been so successful that there are some of us making murmers about a sequel.
Seems the mall is not completely closed yet…
Now let’s move on to February.
Okay, so this one might need a little explaining, because it is weird. In the same writer’s group that brought you Tavistock, someone suggested an erotic horror book to coincide with Valentine’s day. Immediately, several hands were raised and the project was a go. We even had a publisher before any stories were submitted– that’s how excited people are for this book!
So, what happened next was both hilarious and disturbing. Someone created a private Facebook group where the contributors could discuss and get feedback on their submissions. What it turned into was the most Beavis & Butthead, laughing, innuendo-filled room full of the most immature conversations possible, and it was awesome.
(Never get a bunch of folks who are REALLY good with words together and challenge them. You can’t handle it!)
So, then to the book itself: It is what it says it is. It’s erotic and it’s horror. I’m not going to mince words, it’s pretty messed up. But it’s well-crafted messed up. True, it’s not something you’ll want to read to the kids, and I probably wouldn’t go posting up flyers for it at church.
But if you like horror (which you do if you’re here) and you like sex (which, you know, I can’t really answer for you), then click the picture above and pre-order Goregasm.
And if you send me a hundred bucks, I might tell you the real names of the authors who chose to use pseudonyms!
Moving on to March
The Wrong Roads is an omnibus featuring scary stories about travelling in the United States. Each of the 50 states is represented, and I’ve got the honor of representing the best state of all, Texas. What’s better, mine is an absolutely true story– every word of it.
The publishers of this one are going about it a bit differently in that they are doing a Kickstarter for the project. If you click on the picture above, you will be shown an array of rewards you can receive at each level of support. The kicker here is that at the ONE DOLLAR level, you get a free e-copy of the book. Given that a book of this length will likely sit at $3.99 on Amazon for Kindle version, this is probably the best deal you’re going to find on something like this.
And, yet, maybe you aren’t interested in frightening road trips. You know what helps? Even more than your dollar?
Sharing the kickstarter link on your social media. I know you hear about it every day but it’s true. We indie authors really depend on the internet and social media shares to keep us in business. You may not think it’s that big a deal, but it is a REALLY big deal.
So, I’m not asking you to dig deep (unless you want to dig deep, then by all means, please do), I’m just asking you to share the link to your friends, tell them you know one of the authors, and he could really use your support.
On to the rest of the year.
So, what’s next?
Or more importantly, to answer a question I get a lot:
“Hey Billy, what’s with all the anthologies? Why not do your own book?”
I’m working on it. I really am. I have several stories that share a central theme. Some of them are complete and even published. Others are in various stages of completion and revision, and a story that ties them all together is about 3/4 done. I’m trying to work on at least one of these pieces every day. I want to say it will be done soon, but having looked over my inventory, I still have a good bit of writing to do to get me there.
I’m also full steam ahead on a children’s book I’ll be sharing writing credit with my daughter. I started writing it for her when she was little, then time and days got between it and me and I never moved forward with it.
She and I will be revisiting the original drafts and then getting the rest of the story onto the page. I will be scouting some illustrators as well and hopefully volume one of this lighthearted fairy story will be coming out sometime soon.
Lots and lots of stuff to work on, right?
That’s why in conclusion, I want to address something else- Social Media.
If you follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, you may have noticed that I haven’t been on there as much in recent weeks. That’s on purpose.
I found that I spend a lot of time mindlessly scrolling and wasting time. I was telling myself that it was “marketing” for my various projects, but that was crap. I was mostly just plugged into the mind hive and using it as an excuse to not do things.
So, instead of “marketing,” I started playing my guitar instead. I’m not getting all the dopamine hits from the “likes” on all my witty comments, but it is a lot more satisfying and I find I’ve been a lot more productive lately.
I felt I needed to explain that because most people I know who roll back their social media do it out of frustration or spite or something. For me, it’s because I realized that if I’m going to do “marketing,” it would be better for me to produce something I can market and to get a big chunk of my time back from the little box of outrage I carry around with me.
So, nothing’s wrong. In fact, everything is awesome. and I hope to have even more awesome stuff to announce soon.
Y’all be good and take care, and, as always, keep it scary.
Billy