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Post by Dr Terror on Nov 2, 2009 14:08:34 GMT
I was in a bookshop recently - 6 bookcases of paranormal romance and 2 for horror; some of which were p.r.
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Post by allthingshorror on Nov 2, 2009 14:26:29 GMT
I'm tempted to go into Waterstones with a flamethrower sometimes, I really am. The Ipswich branch has half a a top shelf dedicated to anthos with 8 (!) books on it (two of those are Black Books...) and the rest are a little bit of King - hardly any Herbert or Barker anymore and are just filled up with the aforementioned Vampire Romance etc.
An interesting conversation with a couple of mainstream publishers reveal that the managers of these shops WANT to see the style of books from the 80's and 90's horror books back on the shelves - but the buyers for the companies won't commit....
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Nov 2, 2009 14:46:53 GMT
Sounds like a good idea, Johnny. I'm tempted to do the same in the library sometimes, as the horror section is much the same there.
Last time I was in, they had a booksale & there were a few horror books in there. Seems they were probably selling a few off, to add even more paranormal romance. I completed a library survey, when i got the chance recently & made the point about too much paranormal/vampire romance & made a few suggestions, probably wasting my time, but at least they'll know.
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Post by dem bones on Nov 2, 2009 21:26:02 GMT
i don't think people are asking why paranormal romance is so popular and surely a big factor in its success is down to the fact that it connects with its readership, something mainstream horror no longer seems capable of doing. Vampire/ Paranormal Romance authors unashamedly give their public what they want. Sometimes horror authors come across as being far more concerned with winning the approval of their fellow horror authors and landing as many increasingly irrelevant 'awards' as the various societies can bestow upon them. Of course, those few publishers who still touch horror don't help either with their "the bigger the book, the better value for money" fixation, as if 250 page ideas are improved by being dragged out to three times that length. From what i've seen of Vampire/ Paranormal Romance titles, they are packaged like Vampire/ Paranormal Romance titles, you couldn't mistake them for a crime thriller. Mainstream Horror hasn't seemed that way to me since the late 'eighties.
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Post by andydecker on Nov 2, 2009 23:07:06 GMT
I don´t even think Paranormal Romance counts as horror. Like abbott&Costello meets the wolfman isn´t horror.
The typical audience of those countless novels and series are mostly woman. In the US the Romance sector was the only one who didn´t cave in last year. This audience will never buy a novel by, say Laymon or Edward Lee. Maybe King and Koontz, the mainstream guys, but never horror novels.
It is sad that the soft and cuddly Scooby Doo type of "dark fantasy" has kind of won. On the other hand, if it helps keeping publishing on the map ...
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