A.R. Braun's Blog, page 3

My Top Twenty Favorite Horror Novels

I’ve been racking my brain on what to blog about when I realized I haven’t put my favorite books up on this site. It’s a fun post and a chance to learn what books you readers pick as the best ever, if there’s anybody out there. If so, chime in with your faves.

 

1. Rosemary’s Baby – Ira Levin

2. The Haunting of Hill House – Shirley Jackson

3. The Exorcist – William Peter Blatty

4. Coffin County – Gary A. Braunbeck

5. In Silent Graves – Gary A. Braunbeck

6. Mr. Hands – Gary A. Braunbeck

7. The Stand – Stephen King

8. The Shining – Stephen King

9. Phantoms – Dean Koontz

10. ‘Salem’s Lot – Stephen King

11. Pet Sematary – Stephen King

12. Christine – Stephen King

13. The Servants of Twilight – Dean Koontz

14. The Dead Zone – Stephen King

15. Demon Seed – Stephen King

16. Cujo – Stephen King

17. Firestarter – Stephen King

18. Night Shift – Stephen King

19. Ravenous – Ray Garton

20. Live Girls – Ray Garton

 

 

Hire a Pro. No, really.

Newbie writers make mistakes–that’s a given–especially self-published writers. It’ s not because they’re less skilled than published authors, it’s that pubbed writers don’t have to do everything themselves, like book trailers. One of the biggest mistakes rookies make is trying to do a book trailer themselves.

 

I know, certain online writer’s conferences say it’s okay to do the trailer yourself. They advise naïve novices to buy royalty-free images, as well as royalty-free horror themes, and to go on Windows Moviemaker and crank it out. The problem with this is that you’re going to look unprofessional with stock images. And the theme songs? Don’t be surprised if they end up in horror movies. (Self-pubbed authors buying cheaply-made book covers may have the same problem–not in movies, but on other book covers–but I won’t go too deep into this now.)

 

Take the book trailer for my first book, a short-story collection called Horrorbook.  I wasn’t very happy when the royalty-free horror theme I bought ended up in a horror film. And that picture I used for the wendigo? You can’t tell without squinting at it because the pic only shows the area around one eye, but let’s face it, that’s an elephant. Sorry world, but there were no royalty-free images of the Native-American monster.

 

In closing, do your research as far as who rocks the book trailer, and don’t make the same mistake I did.

 

S.D. Hintz, the Book Trailer God

 

I finally hired a professional to do the book trailer for my second short-story collection, Insanity, and what can I say? It’s way better than I ever imagined it could be. It’s chock-full of weirdness and eeriness. All thanks to the ever-talented S.D. Hintz. Enjoy!

My Second Short-Story Book, Insanity, Has Been Unleashed!

My second short-story book, Insanity, is out on Amazon! Once, again, twenty-two tales of horror are available at a fair price. Go to this link to purchase your copy for only $2.99: http://www.amazon.com/Insanity-R-Brau...

Seen the Trailer, Seen the Movie

I think most movie trailers do a really good job at enticing horror freaks to see the movies, but some of them downright give away the films. Take Paranormal Activity, for example. All the creepiest parts were exploited so that, when I finally saw the movie, there were no surprises. Now, don’t get me wrong: I’m a huge PA fan, but it would be great if trailers would quit giving away too much.

 

At this moment, authors are expected to have book trailers, and with self-published writers like me, the bulk of the work rests on our shoulders. I’m not going to complain about the ridiculousness of having to do one, but I know that when it’s time to get on Windows Movie Maker and conjure a preview up, not to give the best parts of the book away.

 

We all know that one guy that gives away secrets, tells you the ending of books before you read them, and does the same for movies. That’s a total buzz kill, and it’s counterproductive to do the same for a film which all those involved certainly want to see succeed. I know PA cleaned up anyway, but this is a request from one disgruntled fan.

 

Please start at the top, all you skim-the-end-of-the-post readers.

Self-Publishers, Watch Out!

You probably think you’d never fall for scammers on the Internet trying to dupe you out of your money and giving nothing in return. We’ve all heard to never pay an agent reading fees, or to beware of artists who make unprofessional-looking book covers. You’ve been a professional writer for years, and you’re no sucker, right? Me, too, since 2007.  You’re going to be smart about having your book made.

 

Think again.

 

Scammers abound to take advantage of the non-published: you know, desperate people like me who can’t get arrested? I’ve never fallen prey to Internet scams–even non-writing related, like these women who feign interest in you to get you to send them a bunch of money to move to your part of the world, then you never hear from them again–but don’t make the mistake I made and think you’re invincible.

 

As far as having eBooks made from Microsoft documents–as well as book covers and freelance edits–I never had a problem. (I had another eBook made besides Horrorbook, but in the end, it was too much of a newbie nightmare for me to put it out.) Until recently. You see, I let my guard down because the crooks hadn’t found me yet. Here’s where the trial-by-fire starts: you need the book formatted, and most services only provide editing and covers. And when they want all the money up front instead of half, it’s possible they could take the cash and run. Another red flag is when the formatter creates half-assed covers (and you’d be surprised how many eBook covers are lame-looking). But we’re talking about formatting, not images, right? Nope. If they’re shady in one area, they’re shady in all.

 

Never fear, your fearless horror-writer friend is here to help you learn by proxy. Always check out everyone involved in making your book. I can’t stress this enough–do your research: look ‘em up in the Absolute Write forums, on the Writer Beware blog, and in Kboards (Kindle boards). It will save you a lot of money . . . and face. It doesn’t look good professionally to be taken.

 

But I’m not proud. I’ll admit it: I’m no intellectual. I write horrorbooks.

#WriteMotivation/The Truth About Self-published Covers and Titles

In the writer’s group I’m in on Google +, Write Motivation, my July goals were: get the cover done for my second short-story book, get the book formatted, and release the book. Well, I’m sad to say I failed at all three, but not for lack of trying. Here, in early August, I’ve gotten the first two out of three either done or underway, and thankfully, we’ve received another month in Write Motivation to conquer our July goals. Whew.

 

The thing is–and keep in mind that I suffered through this when getting the first short-story book together–self-publishing isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be as far as covers and titles. Twice, I’ve tried to get a book put out called Pieces of Meat, complete with a gory cover, and twice, I’ve failed. One would think a self-published author would have total control over the cover and name of his book, but one would be wrong.

 

The first person I worked with for Horrorbook: Twenty-two Tales of Terror (and I won’t be a dick and name names), was not only a formatter, but also a cover artist. Well, I came to find out–after I’d hired him and paid him half of the fee up front–that he didn’t create covers, he bought an image and put a name to it. Both times, I wanted a guy with his head, arms, and legs hacked off, lying on a butcher-block table, and twice, I’ve been denied. Hell, tell the truth and shame the devil: I was robbed, in a baseball-terminology sense. Not literally robbed.

 

This time, I thought I had an artist who created covers, but came to find out that she manipulated existing images, and she didn’t have a license to produce a gory cover.  Then, when I searched for someone else to do the gory cover, none bit, or their prices were too high for an author on a fixed income. Now, are the images they can do for me disappointing? Not really; they’re pretty brutal. Is it the end of the world for me to have to rename the book? Nope. I’m pretty good at coming up with titles on the fly (at least I think I am; I could be wrong; and if I’m not, please chime in and let me know, but let it be an honest viewpoint and not a schizophrenic raging for no reason). I’ve heard that when published, an author has no control over the cover. I thought, aha! I’m self-published, and I can do what I want. Think again.

 

So, there you have it. The truth. It’s not that big of a deal, but I thought it interesting enough to blog about. Not to mention the times in the past where I’ve had to get on the case of the formatter over and over because he or she didn’t do the formatting correctly, and I will not put out a crappily-formatted book. Whoops, I guess I just mentioned it. Again, not that big of a deal, but to all about to self-publish, get ready for some minor disappointments and some unexpected problems.

 

Truth be told, I’m just happy to be putting out brutal books with brutal names and brutal covers. World without end, amen.

#WriteMotivation July Progress

I haven’t been making a lot of progress with my July goals for the Google + group Write Motivation, but not for lack of trying. Again, my main goals for July are:

 

1. Revise the 2nd short-story book as per the freelance edit.

 

2. Get a book cover made for the 2nd short-story book and pay the artist.

 

3. Get the Microsoft Word doc formatted into an eBook and pay the formatter.

 

The freelance edit is already done and I’ve paid the editor, that’s last month’s goal. When I first sat down to revise, I told myself I’d go through it twice and call it done. Then I began to realize that there are things the freelance editor missed, and I needed to edit the document twice after revising it twice. Well, I just completed the first edit after revising twice. I’m finding a lot of typos and many places where the changes aren’t uniform, so this is not overworking on my part. I hear that a lot, that one can edit too much. I don’t see how. No matter how many times I edit, it’s never perfect, and other authors’ published books have a few typos. It’s never perfect for anyone, really. One can’t edit a book enough, in my opinion.

 

In summary, I’m just going to focus on one thing at a time: first, the last edit; second, the cover; third, the formatting. I should be done with that second edit by the end of next week. That works, because the cover artist said she’d email me either in mid or late July. If I don’t hear from her by late July, I’ll email her.

 

Everything’s running on schedule.

Foreign Horror Over American Horror Nine Times Out of Ten

Most people are aware of how the Japanese horror movement of the last decade eclipsed most American fright films, with great classics like The Ring, Audition, and The Grudge. And let’s not forget Canada’s Ginger Snaps.  I feel this tradition is continuing, and not just in Japan and Canada.  While there are still many great American films–the movie versions of Jack Ketchum’s novels and Eli Roth’s pictures come to mind–it’s still happening for the most part.

 

It seems that when I come to Netflix for a horror flick, nine times out of ten I’m disappointed. And while a film being foreign doesn’t cement its quality, there are a lot more movies made overseas and over the border that blow me away than from here. Some recent examples are France’s Inside, Sweden’s Let the Right One In, Mexico’s Morgana, and Norway’s Thale. Of course, I don’t have to tell anybody about the Spanish-Mexican shocker, The Devil’s Backbone.  

 

I know, I’m an author, and I’m supposed to be reading, not watching movies. Well, I am reading, about as much as I can stand to, but let’s face it, one needs one’s movie night. And I’m also working on a screenplay (I think I just devalued it with this blog–oh, nuts!), so it’s research, right? Yes, just nod, even though you want to shake your head.

 

Why does it seem this way, that foreign films are better? There are still lots of great American fright movies. I think it’s because I’m used to the golden age of horror–the 60s, 70s, and 80s, in my opinion–and that quality, in my mind, has greatly declined, at least in America. I used to watch horror movies on HBO in 1981, and few of them were bad. Most of them were American.

 

I’ll leave that for you to decide. Send me some comments with your opinions. I’d love to see how many people feel this way.

#WriteMotivation August Goals

It’s a little early, but I thought I’d get a head start and write at least a first draft of what I want to get done in August for the group Write Motivation on Google +. I’m still fulfilling the July goals one-by-one, but I know I’ll have it all done by the end of the month. It was on my schedule already.

 

The one big goal is hiring my web designer to get my Website updated, which includes changing the number of short-story publications, because one of them fell through, and the other is taking so long that I can’t keep holding up hopes for it–since October 2009. I know, that’s bad, that I haven’t changed the amount of pubs, but I’m not a techy guy, and it’s not in my budget to pay a web designer till August. June and July, all my money’s tied up in getting the second short-story book made into an eBook. I’ll need to change the book cover and link that’s in the middle of my homepage, also, for I always list the most recent book I have out there. Furthermore, I need to change my Publications slideshow, because two of the anthologies I have tales in came off the NextGen device because the company, Rymfire eBooks, changed owners, and the books were taken down from Amazon. Only one was put back up for sale. Hopefully, the other one will be up by August. Lately, if it wasn’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all.

 

I don’t have a short-story goal other than the second story collection coming out, because all my best tales will be in the two short-story books. I spent years and a lot of time submitting them to magazines and anthologies, so the chance to get them pubbed is past. I want my focus to be on novels and novellas from now on. To make sure my writing skills stay honed, I’m banging out a writerly exercise every morning where I come up with something creepy and then add on to it day-by-day, but it’s not the sort of thing I’d put out to the world. Authors need to write everyday, so hence the exercise. I’m going to wait till Nano in November to write the rough draft of the next horror novel, because I’ve had a hard time writing one longer than a novella lately, and I figure Nano will motivate me. What the hell, I’ve already written ten publishable (or self-publishable) novels.

 

On a side note, while I and the other writers on Write Motivation are hammering away on our keyboards, there is a way to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome. Ironically, a musician friend taught me this, for he has to type constantly at his job. What you do is take the weights off your barbell and just use the bar. You let it roll from your palm down to your fingers, then up again, ten times a day. Apparently, it works, for I’ve never had carpal tunnel.

 

Good luck with your goals, fellow writers.