Publishing Horror POD

by William P. Robertson
(Duke Center, PA)

Genre: Horror

I got interested in the horror field at an early age. This was because my grandmother, Bernadine Johnson, was a Swedish immigrant and loved to tell me folktales she brought with her from the old country about ghosts and trolls. My dad also enjoyed relating scary, campfire stories to us kids. In addition, he had an extensive library and suggested I read Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and Algernon Blackwood. Through his encouragement, I learned the rudiments of classic horror by the time I was in junior high.

The major reason I was attracted to the dark side, though, was my introduction to the Gothic rock of the Doors in my teenage years. Not only was the music eerie and organ-mad, but the dark poetic lyrics of Jim Morrison exposed my sensibilities to the emotive possibilities poetry had to offer. If I hadn't heard songs like "The End," "Soul Kitchen," and "Moonlight Drive," I never would have written one word of verse, dark or otherwise.

After graduating from Mansfield University in 1972, I suffered through a series of traumatic emotional situations. I also learned that I had sunlight deprivation syndrome that caused serious bouts of depression during the dark season of winter that often lasts from October until the first of April here in Northwestern Pennsylvania. As a form of therapy, I began freelancing stories, articles, and poems to little and literary magazines. I soon discovered that only ten percent of my general interest material got accepted, while eighty percent of my horror-related work found its way into print. Also, there was a particularly difficult California speculative editor who inspired me. He kept rejecting story after story, always adding the tease, "Your latest tale was very close to what I'm looking for." I soon had written ten horror stories, that rejected by him, were later published worldwide.

The first story I had accepted overseas was "The Weight" about a boy who gets bushwhacked by a troll. The troll leaps on the lad's back to ride him to the ground and suck away his soul. Although based on my grandmother's Swedish folklore, this tale was taken by "The Glasgow Magazine" in Scotland.

Soon after, "Stride Magazine" of Cheshire, England snapped up "The Spirit of Catherine," my imagined encounter with a drowned girl's ghost. My luckiest break, though, was having "Dominus" publish another of my Swedish tales and translate it into the Romanian language. Grandma Bernadine had told me "Wide Spot in Road," too, but my version included an edgy suspense that apparently appealed to other cultures. "Wide Spot" tells of a farmer's sighting of a phantom hearse and the premonition it embodied. The story also appeared in a U.S. periodical and on a Canadian website.

It took me twenty years to pen enough well-written tales to warrant a collection. These stories had been marketed to respected magazines, so I decided to self-publish the book to avoid the hassle and delays of submitting my manuscript to overly selective royalty companies. Considering the track record I had carved out, I thought the book would stand on its own merit without the "approval" of a big publishing house. After all, these stories were proven favorites honed by thorough editing. The last thing I wanted was to produce a shoddy vanity book that would be panned by critics and readers alike. I wouldn't have put out "Lurking in Pennsylvania" if it didn't stand up favorably to other current titles in the horror genre.

"Lurking in Pennsylvania" had a decidedly regional feel to it after I had assembled the anthology. to capitalize on this angle, I added eerie photos I snapped around Northwestern Pennsylvania and some published poems depicting our area's horrible weather and desolate landscapes. Then, I began looking for a publisher to bring my collection to life. I learned right away that I couldn't afford a company that required a minimum order of a thousand books. If "Lurking" didn't sell, I didn't want to store that many copies, either.

Finally, I decided to go the print-on-demand route. The company I chose promised publication of the book in three short months after it was received. They also offered a color cover as part of their reasonable set-up fee. As further incentive, they paid a ten percent royalty on books bought by the author and had a website to promote and sell their titles. The best part, though, was their connections with Amazon.com and Ingram's Distribution. That meant my book would appear for sale on the world's most famous website and could also be purchased directly by bookstores. I liked the fact that I could buy as many books as I needed whenever I needed them, too. Being this publisher was close enough to deliver my book shipments within two days, it made for the perfect arrangement.

"Lurking in Pennsylvania" has gone on to become a regional hit. I've sold more copies of it than I have of the popular Bucktail novels my partner David Rimer and I also self-published. To capitalize on the success of "Lurking," I followed it up with "Dark Haunted Day" that is selling equally well. In March of 2009 my third story collection will be available through the same publisher. This book includes more ghost stories, my first dark fantasy tale, and two adventure yarns that follow the lives of my Bucktail boy heroes after they return home from the Civil War.

POD publishing has allowed me to run a side business that is profitable and fun. I've appeared on TV and radio to promote my books and have done numerous book talks at libraries, schools, conventions, and historical societies. These same doors could swing open for anyone with a good tale to tell and the moxie to go POD.

Experience the horror! Visit William P. Robertson's website.