Horror.com Forums - Talk about horror. - On the hunt for readers.

Hi, everybody. It's good to be here. My name is Kate, and I self-publish under the name K.M. Spires. My first book, Caged, came out in 2011. It's about a man-eating werewolf that rules an island town and the extent to which the residents will go to protect it. Since then, I've written five more books and am currently working on my seventh. I love horror and the paranormal genre. I write nothing else. I've written about werewolves, ghosts, witches, zombies, and now, I'm working on a World of Darkness-esque series about vampires.

Did I mention that I self-publish? Yes, indeed, folks. That's why you've never heard of me.

After I published my sixth book and sold not one freaking copy, I decided to do something a little bit different. I'm publishing my new book (the third in my series) chapter by chapter as they are completed on my personal website, kmspires.com. Yes, it is the third installment, but I have a link to the summary of the first two books in every chapter update.

Why should you give me a chance? It's free. My site has no pop up adds? I can't afford real marketing? Also, please?

Succeeding as a self-published writer is exceptionally hard. Trying to build a readership is like trying to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Except, the kindling is wet. And the sticks are wet. And the wood is wet. Because it's raining. It's almost as hard as getting published the traditional way. The difference is at least maybe one or two people will read my work now as opposed to no one reading it, ever, as I spend fifteen years getting rejected over and over by publishers.

So, rather than throw more of my work onto the cyber slush pile, pay thousands of dollars I don't have to a publicist, or give away copies of my work to reviewers who have a list of books a mile long ahead of mine, I thought maybe I would go try to recruit interested parties on my own.

Here is a preview of the chapter I'm working on now: An exorcism told from the perspective of the person getting exorcised.

Thanks, everyone, for your time and have a great day.