Exploring the dark:
Alex Davis looks at the current state of horror publishing by the Big Six and how they see the horror genre
Alex Davis
FANTASTIC REALMS
Last month, we spent some time looking at the small and independent aspects of horror publishing, showing a thriving scene with lots of great work coming through, with a similarly growing range of events. As an author, the indie presses can offer fantastic opportunities and recognition for your work – although nobody would deny this can certainly be a very hard way in which to make a living as a writer. Because of this, many writers aspire to a deal with one of the wellknown mainstream presses – but what is the prognosis for horror in that arena, and what opportunities are out there for horror writers with ‘The Big Six’?
Books – the poor relation?
It’s important to remember that the discussion about the current popularity of horror fiction takes place in a setting where horror is extremely popular in other mediums. There is a host of huge horror TV shows out there – American Horror Story, The Walking Dead and Stranger Things leap out as massive recent success stories. And that’s not forgetting horror movies that have left a major impression such as It, Get Out and The Witch. There is a strong sense of things achieving that rare mix of critical success and relative box office success (many horror films are made on modest budgets, so aren’t expected to make hundreds of millions at the box office).
Where does horror fiction fit into this? Well, in a sense, no place at all. Film and TV audiences are often extremely different from readers, and things do not ‘trickle down’ to fiction as you may expect. “I’ve always found it strange that the public’s appetite for horror movies remains as big as it was in the 80s, if not bigger, but that publishers tell me there isn’t the market for horror fiction that there was,’ says literary agent Jamie Cowen, of The Ampersand Agency. ‘Of course, film and books don’t always cross-pollinate, but I think the audience is there, they just need to be found.’