Weird Westerns discussion
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Sable wrote: "Howdy friends! This group has been pretty quiet for a while, and every now and then I see another Weird West author creep in here and try to drum up some interest in their books. So why don't we te..."Hi Sable!
Yes, we are quite quiet in here as of late and all there seems to be is tumbleweeds blowing by. I would like more activity in this group as the weird west genre is small enough as it is so we should take advantage of talking with and interacting with one another as much as we can.
I love that you combine the weird west with steampunk(A genre I'm really growing to love) and you've got quite the collection there! I will ask you a few questions before I tell you a bit about myself.
-Have you been able to find your weird west audience?
-How well have your books sold?
-What do you think would be a great way for this genre as well as steampunk to become more well known and popular?
I'm Justin Bienvenue, I'm the author of 6 books. I am an author and poet and I mainly write horror and poetry. As for the weird west genre, I have a western horror called A Bloody Bloody Mess In the Wild Wild West which has been one of my best novels to date. I also have a short story called "The Blood Creek Gold Rush in Riding the Dark Frontier: Tales of the Weird West and I just finished another short story called Nightstalkers & Lycanhawks.
Hi Justin, nice to meet you!Finding the audience does seem to be the key, doesn't it? The answers to your questions all seem to interconnect, so perhaps I'll just ramble a bit. One of the reasons I joined this group was in the hopes of finding more of that audience. So far, my best successes have been by the old-fashioned method of putting what you do out there on your social media platform, going to cons, and word of mouth.
It's a slow burn. My stories have not sold as well as I'd like (yet), but I had considerably more success with my anthology and I'm having a lot of personal success with my collection/novel. I'm doing a book social at a major literary event next weekend and I'll let you know how that goes!
I think steampunk has a fair bit of visibility now (enough so that people are starting to say its age has passed - because of course they are, now that women and People of Colour are getting into it) but I find that most people have never heard of Weird West. When I explain the concept it intrigues people, but I have to take the time to explain the concept. Over the past couple of years I have built up a small but loyal fan-base who eagerly await the next installment. I have a good social media presence and so people keep an eye on their favourite platform to watch for information.
What I've found is that when enough people get together to talk about something online, word spreads more quickly. Maybe a bunch of us should start talking about the genre on our various platforms, preferably all in about the same time frame to boost visibility?
I'm also putting together a curated Humble Bundle with Cat Rambo that's Weird West themed in the hopes of picking up more readers that way. I'd love to invite the writers here, indie or traditional, to contribute their books! We do get money out of it but a portion goes to charity. It's intended to garner more sales by pooling our talents and resources, so I'm told it usually works out pretty well.
I believe that Weird West is just a genre for which the time has not yet come. Not enough people have heard of it yet. Writers seem to like it, but convincing readers to give it a shot is like pitching superhero movies in the 70s. Most seem to believe it's good for comics, but not for "real writing" (whatever that is.)
I sometimes find that I get better results if I pitch it as "science fiction western," because most of people have heard of Firefly, and it still has a strong fan base. I've also had some success with comparing it to the Dark Tower series, which most people have at least heard of. I think the genre is going to be a bit like Star Trek, which didn't do well when it started but has snowballed drastically. It might require some patience, though.
I'd love to hear more ideas about how to spread the word, and I'm happy to participate in activities where a bunch of us combine our resources. I don't have a lot of money for marketing on my own; what I do have is time and a willingness to work. ;)
Sable wrote: "Hi Justin, nice to meet you!Finding the audience does seem to be the key, doesn't it? The answers to your questions all seem to interconnect, so perhaps I'll just ramble a bit. One of the reasons..."
Sorry to hear your books aren't selling. You seem to be on the same boat as all of us, or most of us that is. You would think given it's such a small genre that we would have no problem reaching our audience but then again where do weird west people hang out? lol. On Twitter, I try reaching the audience by using the hashtag #WeirdWest. Aside from that, I'm not sure where the audience is at. Perhaps if a few of us got together and did some research but then maybe promoted our works as "The Ultimate Weird West Package" or something like that.
Not a bad idea. I think a lot of people still don't know the Weird West genre exists yet, but they'd love it if they did. Strangely, it's still not mainstream. I'm going to a literary festival full of writers, and explaining what Weird West is as part of my book launch event, which was suggested by one of the locals who's also a contributor to the book. So if he feels that's necessary in a room full of *writers,* that tells me the whole genre probably needs better press!
Sable wrote: "Not a bad idea. I think a lot of people still don't know the Weird West genre exists yet, but they'd love it if they did. Strangely, it's still not mainstream. I'm going to a literary festival full..."It definitely needs better press. I would love to go to a Weird West Con if they even exist...oh man lol. There's got to be a small unique way to reach the audience already aware of the genre.
I just had a thought. Who would be considered the Top 5 weird west authors right now? Perhaps if we agree who the top five are maybe then we could try to look at their social media accounts and follow some of their followers to better appeal to our own works and it would help the genre grow because we gain new readers potentially and they gain a new author to read potentially. Thought it was a good idea and I could've kept it to myself but then again I'm only one guy so this thought was better to be expressed. Here are my own Top 5 weird west authors in no particular order.
1. Tim Curran
2. Joe R. Lansdale
3. Eric S. Brown
4. Edward Erdelac
5. Mike Resnick
Not a bad idea there, but I think you've done a lot more research into it than I have! I'd add Seanan McGuire (did I spell that right?) myself, but not sure who to bump. Do we want to include SF Westerns, since there's a lot of overlap, or keep it strictly Weird West?
You know, I just created a Discord server. You can make public or private servers there. It occurred to me that making a public Weird West server might be a way to reach into the gaming community? Just a stray thought, but I was here.
Just thought I'd introduce myself, as I'm new to the group; my name is Jason. I'm also new to goodreads as well as the genre of Weird Western. Interesting confession; I was deep in the editing process and on the cusp of publication, when I learned that the genre was even a thing and I had actually written one! Imagine my surprise! Suddenly, I feel less alone. My book is called "The Yellow Painted Man" and is easily searchable, not sure about the rules for self promotion here. I look forward to checking out the titles on the bookshelf and meeting you all!
Welcome, Jason!Yeah, the Weird Western genre is a thing and a very fun and intriguing thing at that! I have written one western horror along with two weird west short stories and I've read a few, I really enjoy the genre. Its certainly mot mainstream but there is an audience for it which you'd think because it's so small that as weird west authors we'd be able to find readers but so far no dice. Haven't come across that secret group of weird west reader lovers.
Your book looks interesting. There's a thread somewhere in here to promote books although it may be buried somewhere. Best of luck with your book and feel free to talk shop to get this group going again.
Totally forgot I was trying to put together something 2 years ago but I'm still at it.
Hey Justin, nice to meet you! I saw your message on Twitter but was too overwhelmed to respond at the time, and then it disappeared of course. Did I respond? Did I follow you? If not, please poke me and I will (I do check Twitter more frequently). Thanks!
Hey Sable, no worries at least you saw my message. You did not respond nor follow back but I'll go remind you now lol.
Calling all Weird West Authors. Please return back! lol
Justin wrote: "Calling all Weird West Authors. Please return back! lol"Well, I'm here, Justin. New to the group, but I've just launched a Weird/Horror Western, so I guess I qualify.
I'm here too. Currently writing something else right now, but my Weird West story is on the back burner.
Welcome, guys! Good to see new people in here.
You have some really cool sounding books David especially a rewrite of Carmilla. I actually read the original as part of gothic research for my Wax Factory series.
I'm also a member of the American Westerns group on here. Last I checked they aren't exactly keen on us weird west folks but I do enjoy regular westerns and I stay a member as a way to balance between knowing the basics of a common western and here where it isn't so much.
I've held on to my Western Writers of America membership over the years. (A YA book I wrote on the Battle of the Little Bighorn was a Spur Award Finalist winner a few years back.) Interacting with the members keeps me up-to-date on genre happenings. I have to say, though, the majority of authors are aging out, and Weird West is definitely a sideline, although it has been mentioned occasionally in the WWA's "Roundup" magazine.
That's awesome John, congrats! Yeah, I like a good ole fashioned Western every now and then.
Justin wrote: "That's awesome John, congrats! Yeah, I like a good ole fashioned Western every now and then."I was in 1st grade when I saw my first movies in a theater. In one weekend my mom took me to see "Mary Poppins," and the next day my dad took me to see "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly." Like I was a baby duck, they imprinted in my brain. But somehow the internal circuitry got crossed, and Westerns mixed with fantasy seem perfectly natural to me now.
John wrote: "Justin wrote: "That's awesome John, congrats! Yeah, I like a good ole fashioned Western every now and then."I was in 1st grade when I saw my first movies in a theater. In one weekend my mom took ..."
I was inspired to write A Bloody Bloody Mess..after watching either A Fistful of Dollars or For A Few Dollars More. One of the characters mentioned something along the lines of a bloody mess or something close to it and the idea for the novel popped into my head.
Weird Westerns
Books mentioned in this topic
A Bloody Bloody Mess In the Wild Wild West (other topics)Riding the Dark Frontier: Tales of the Weird West (other topics)
The Reaping (other topics)
The Widow's Gambit (other topics)
Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Diane Morrison (other topics)Sable Aradia (other topics)
So I'll start. Howdy partners, my name is Diane Morrison, a.k.a. Sable Aradia. I'm a Canadian hybrid SFF author. I've been working on a post-apocalyptic weird western steampunk serial for a couple years now that I describe as "Tolkien meets Tombstone." Picture high fantasy elven paladins as gunslingers and now you're getting the idea. It's called the Wyrd West Chronicles. There's six books in the series so far:
Showdown
Vice & Virtue
The Vigil
Way of the Gun
The Reaping
The Widow's Gambit
That's all Kindle-exclusive ebooks. You can get the whole series in epub, Kindle or print as a collection called Once Upon a Time in the Wyrd West.
I'm also editing a Weird West anthology called Gunsmoke & Dragonfire: A Fantasy Western Anthology. 25 stories from a cast of authors at all levels of experience, including several Amazon bestsellers, New York Times bestselling author Diana L. Paxson, and a classic Solomon Kane story.
I welcome y'all to Ask Me Anything, and as a Weird West fan myself, I look forward to adding books to my TBR list! Thanks!
*tips hat*