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I am one of those authors that got caught up in the excitement of NoSleep and the thrill of getting upvotes when I first started posting my stories under the name KGLewis late last year/early this year. I had several stories that did very well with many of them being narrated, but once the initial "high" of a story's success passed I was ultimately left with nothing to show for it. The upvote system is nothing but a popularity gauge that doesn't really speak to a story's quality. I've seen great stories get very little upvotes and ones with huge plot holes and atrocious grammar get thousands of upvotes. That's not a bad thing within the context of NoSleep, it just wasn't very rewarding for me. I wanted more critical reviews of my writing and I wanted to reach the traditional horror reader base to see how well my stories would be received in the traditional reader markets. That, along with the blatant copyright theft that happens so often here (and to a lesser degree the inconsistent moderation of the rules at the time) lead me to nuke my account and release all of my stories, as a collection through Amazon.

I have no regrets about doing it. I don't feel as rushed when I write new stories now. When I was posting on NoSleep it felt like you had to post frequently to stay relevant. Now I write and my leisure. A part of me does miss that popularity aspect of NoSleep, but I have found a replacement by taking part in vss365 and other writing prompts on Twitter. They are far less demanding on my creativity.

As far as my book goes, I would say it is doing as well as I expected it to. I didn't pay much for advertising and am content to let readers stumble across it. I do promote the book, I just use free platforms which don't have a high conversion rate. The reception of the first book has prompted me to write a followup collection which I am about halfway through. I am also working on a book featuring two characters (Father Cooke and Magister Alexander) from a popular series I was posting on Creepypasta.com, but that project is very slow going.

I have several friends that are writers, a few of which help critique my stories (brutally so, but that level of honesty helps me craft better stories). Most of the people who know me usually ask why I didn't start writing sooner and they aren't surprised by the strange tales I come up with. Growing up, I use to play a variety of role-playing games both as a gamemaster and a player and that is where my love for storytelling started.

Okay, I think I'm done rambling for now.

Hi! So, first off, I'm a big fan of your work. You're a fantastic author. :) I'm not a writer, so I know this post is largely irrelevant to me, but I had a couple questions I wanted to ask you, because I'm not sure I'm understanding everything fully.


• What benefit, if any, does this have for the readers?



There's a lot of avid readers, myself included, who already follow you all on social media and like your posts. I see several authors promote each other regularly as it is, which is awesome! It's a great way to be introduced to new writers. I just worry that if the cross promotion was a regular thing among the same group of people, some readers may find the duplicate posting tedious and actually unfollow authors to reduce redundancy.




• How would your publishing format differ from that of the authors who choose to self publish their work, already participate in the various anthologies regularly produced featuring Nosleep authors (The Creepypasta Collections, for example), or who publish through -30- Press, the existing publishing company run by Nosleep authors? Again, not an author, so it's definitely not my area of expertise, but I'm curious in what ways you feel the quality of the work your alliance would produce would vary from the existing publishing mediums.


Thank you in advance for any clarity you're able to shed on this for me, and best of luck with your endeavor! :)

• Don't worry about plagiarism. Some people believe that there are only seven basic plots while others believe there are Thirty-Six basic plots. The point is that you wish to write, so go ahead and write what you wish. If it seems like someone else's works, you'll be bombarded with people telling you, "Hey, this story was similar to X, Y, Z story". Here's an example of what you are worried about. I've had 2 stories that people mistakenly thought were very similar to other sources. People thought my story called Aiden's Special Power was based on a video game called "Beyond Two Souls" which a character was named Aiden that vaguely had a similar power. I never played the game and yet managed to hit upon two common similarities despite the inspiration coming from a dream that I had and the fact that my girlfriend loves the name Aidan. The other story was Declassified: The Last Transmission which the first comment was saying that this was the ending to Pacific Rim, another movie I never watched, and the inspiration to write this was more Cthulu and monstrosities from other dimensions invading our world.
  
  
• This is unfortunately one of the bad parts about writing online. People like to take credit for your blood, sweat, and tears. My best suggestion is to start an independent blog or website and post your stories there too. Google does it's magic and sifts through the most direction version of what you wrote. For example, I Googled my story I Have Evidence My College Covered Up A Murder and here are the results. The Top 8 results link back to either Reddit or my own Blog page. The 9th result is from another website that posted my story (without my permission) but at least they credited me as the author. It's not going to completely stop theft but at least you'll be able to curb the results in your favor.
  
  
• There's no avoiding people attaching the Creepypasta label to your stories. That isn't a bad thing though. In fact, it might actually help. There have been a few of my stories narrated on YouTube that have reached audiences I never would have gotten. Linking back to my answer to your first question, Aiden's Special Power has 65,000 views and is considered Creepypasta. A Letter to My Future Self has 9,000 views and was read on the NoSleep Podcast. I guess what I mean to say is that you shouldn't try to push away an audience that is willing to embrace you.
  
  
• As the common advice goes, "Read alot. Write alot". I also suggest listening to the Writing Excuses Podcast which is pretty awesome. The Round Table Podcast is awesome too. Read On Writing by Stephen King. Mostly, try to read the works by the masters of horror, Clive Barker, Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Peter Straub, Edgar Allan Poe, and H.P. Lovecraft. Also read outside of the horror genre. You'll get ideas from places you never imagined if you combine horror with elements of something else you might be interested in.
  
  I hope I helped.

Nooo. :O No one's trumping everyone! Everyone is happy for everyone's successes! They're all equally awesome and valuable.

Yes, it's on Amazon! :D

What exciting times!

You should make outlandish demands in order to appease your desire to continue working with those dudes.

Like make them watch the Original Star Wars Trilogy with you. Or request that they give you a thirty foot wide pizza. The sky is the limit!

That's also really exciting that you're getting published! Congrats!

And I didn't even think to link to the book! I suck, haha.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1507203039/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496936448&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=mrcreepypasta&dpPl=1&dpID=416vAYcM4lL&ref=plSrch

Thank you so much!! I'm glad you like it! This is the link for anyone curious: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07R6Y34PQ

There is a list of authors with Amazon pages on the NoSleep authors' non-nosleep pages.

If it needs to be updated, then just let /u/ALooc know.

Also, I was just looking at buying a bunch of these to support the nosleep community. I know the following authors have pages as well (links go to amazon, not their reddit profiles):
/u/bloodworthOOC
/u/1000Vultures
/u/theworldisgrim
/u/AsForClass
/u/The_Dalek_Emperor

Anybody wanna sign a copy for me? :)

Here's one.

Here's another.

Here's one of my favorites.

This one is pretty freaking sweet.

I'm pretty sure this one qualifies...

Don't read this one before bed.

Here's an interesting read.

This one is a compilation of several of the above.

If you want to pick up a great anthology of flash fiction and also help out The Scares That Care charity, pick up Horror d'Oeuvres.

If longer stories are your thing, try Vices and Virtues.

Or maybe anthologies aren't your thing? Try out The Laws of Nature.

Perhaps you're into science fiction? Go for Space, and Other Bad Ideas.

Publishing a book of short stories. I'm hoping my next achievement will be a full fledged fantasy novel, but we'll see! Fingers crossed (:

As the great /u/Pippinacious said, I have Transfigurations available here, as well as stories in each of the Creepypasta Collections compiled by Mr. Creepypasta, available here and here.

Hey, thanks for the mention, man, I appreciate that. Just wanted to say that I also have this one out.

Hayong, Bigsp00k, Lifeisstrangemetoo, and I just published an anthology last week. It'll be free until 11/14 if you want to check it out ;)

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771RBLW2

I can personally recommend /u/AsForClass ' Laws of Nature

And also /u/manen_lyset 's brand spankin' new novel From the Ashes of Pompeii

On Writing is the most useful thing I ever read.

It is, actually! Thank you for letting me plug my books. Vol. 1 [Vol. 2] (http://www.amazon.com/Cold-Thin-Air-C-K-%60-Walker/dp/1517039916/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1453911535&sr=1-1&keywords=cold+thin+air+volume+2)

Sure chief.

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Farm-Elias-Witherow/dp/1945796502

there's lots of them! if you allow the self-promotion, i'm in daughters of darkness

I've been in a few anthology books with other NoSleep authors:
Sirens at Midnight
Daughters of Darkness
Dark Dreams
And the soon to be released Killer Collection

Do you mean this book? https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0771RBLW2

Tony published Spire in paperback.

Spire on Amazon

Here is the link

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TWJG9PK/ref=nav_timeline_asin?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Keep an eye out for announcements regarding “Into Midnight”, a potential series whose pilot is being developed from stories published in The Monstronomicon, an anthology featuring 100 stories by 70 authors, including Blair Daniels, Tara Devlin, Nick Botic, Kyle Harrison (Colourblindness), Tobias Wade, E.Z. Morgan (EZmisery), J.D. McGregor, Jesse Clark, P.F. McGrail (ByfelsDisciple), Dopabeane, and so many more.

Here is the desktop version of your link

Books!? I got books! Some of these are actually based off my nosleep stories.

Find them HERE

HERE

HERE

And finally, HERE

https://www.amazon.com/24-Hour-Game-Novella-Suspense-ebook/dp/B07L61LLYT

https://www.amazon.com/Monstronomicon-100-Horror-Stories-Authors-ebook/dp/B07KRNXB8R/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1549961222&sr=1-1

https://www.amazon.com/Goregasm-Seductively-Stories-NBH-Publishing-ebook/dp/B07MCLZ4MH/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1549961222&sr=1-2

https://www.amazon.com/Trees-Have-Eyes-Horror-Stories-ebook/dp/B07DMQPPTC/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1549961222&sr=1-3

https://www.amazon.com/Cure-Chaos-Horrors-Hospitals-Psych-ebook/dp/B07JJLTMGT/ref=sr_1_4?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1549961222&sr=1-4

Here is the desktop version of your link

https://www.amazon.com/Spire-Woods-Tony-Lunedi/dp/1521132518

https://www.amazon.com/Black-Farm-Elias-Witherow/dp/1945796502

As a tip, use . .

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01NAKH66A/

To add on to the list of above NoSleepers:

• The Laws of Nature by /u/AsForClass
  
• Tripping Over Twilight by /u/theworldisgrim
  
• The Worst Kind of Monsters by /u/Elias_Witherow
  
  

Time to sound like a pompous ass... I self-published On a Hill, which bizarrely became a top 10 bestseller on Amazon. I've also put out, The Face of Fear & Other Stories and The Horrors of Christmas.

I've also been published by Adams Media, with six stories in the Creepypasta Anthology.

Lovecraft for sure if you haven't read his stuff already. /u/bloodworth's book Handbook For A Teenage Antichrist is a perfect mix of horror and flat-out WTF. 10/10 would hound him to get to work on the sequel.

^^See ^^Bloodworth, ^^I ^^got ^^it ^^right ^^this ^^time...

100 monster stories, all by NoSleep authors.

Monstronomicon: 100 Horror Stories from 70 Authors https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07KRNXB8R/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_bzvCCbCG1Y94A

I've found two or three multi-part stories--the one about the dead cats and the one by 1000Vultures that got turned into an actual novel come to mind--I've really loved on NoSleep, all of which have been at least novella-length, and none of them recent. Unfortunately, many don't have quality with quantity (or even the word count quantity to justify their post quantity) and don't actually NEED to be broken up into multiple posts.

I took a long time to get back to you, which means I need to delete my reddit account and hide forever. I mean apologize. That one.

Anyway. Junji Ito is awesome. Not sure which of his stuff you've seen, but I think his best works are the short The Enigma of Amigara Fault (not for the claustrophobic!) and the longer series Uzumaki.

Thomas Ligotti is sort of the best-kept secret of modern horror - he's very reclusive due to severe anxiety and bipolar disorders. It gives his work a grounding in the sort of horror that comes from inside your own mind, and a sense that reality is a weird, broken place, or maybe something even worse. There's a couple of his stories online here if you want to check him out. "Nethescurial" is one of the creepiest things I've ever read.

One of my favorite books is House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. It's sort of experimental with how the text is laid out in parts, which can make it kind of weird to try to read, but the overlapping narratives are really strong and chilling in a number of different ways.

Are you familiar with the SCP Foundation? If you like /u/ParanormalAdvisor's posts it should be right up your alley. There's so many different kinds of scary there, plus all kinds of awesome.

As somebody also just starting out in the horror genre myself, my first advice is to try reading some horror novels. If you're trying to write something tense and psychological, read a psychological horror story. If you'remaking something gory, try and find something close but not too close. Once you have an idea of how they achieve what you're trying to achieve, give it a practice.

I would say the best way to achieve strong horror writing is to focus on a scary experience of your own and extrapolate. Think of how you felt. If you have to, simulate scary experiences. Go down the basement in the dark (or just generally around your house if you don't have one) after watching a scary movie (just make sure nothing is going to injure you like stuff on the stairs), or go on a rollercoaster, or whatever scares you. There are plenty of places like escape rooms as well that offer scarier packages too. Concentrate on what being scared feels like, both mentally and physiologically. Or even just play a scary game. I can recommend plenty if you want.

The only thing left is just to practice. Your first story is probably not going to be great. But that's fine.Do your best. Then write another. And another. And another. I personally recommend writing different types of horror as well - try your hand at slow burning horror, ghost horror, creature feature horror, haunted house horror, serial killer horror etc. Once you begin to understand how the horror works in each of them it should help you understand how to construct it in your work.

What name you submit your work to is up to you. Whatever you are most comfortable with. If you're not sure orr afraid, by all means do it under a different name until you feel more confident.

Lastly there are plenty of online articles and even books to give you guidance on writing horror and building tension. I quite like Rayne Hall's guidance books. They give step by step guides that allow you to slowly build it layer by layer and give you little exercises for each. Try this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Writing-Scary-Scenes-Professional-Techniques-ebook/dp/B008IEJTSE

If you have any other questions, feel free to reply or send me a direct message. I do have a sci-fi horror published. Well more sci-fi thriller but still elements of horror and tension.

The books I'm using are:

1. The Easy Way to Write Horror That Sells by Rob Parnell
   
   
2. Writing Dark Stories: How to Write Horror and Other Disturbing Short Stories (Writer's Craft Book 6) by Rayne Hall
   
   
3. Writing Scary Scenes: Professional Techniques for Thrillers, Horror and Other Exciting Fiction (Writer's Craft Book 2) by Rayne Hall
   
   
4. On Writing Horror: A Handbook by the Horror Writers Association by Mort Castle et al.
   
   
5. Mini Horror Fiction Writing Guide: 7 Steps To Writing Horror Fiction For Fun by Randal Schaffer, HowExpert Press
   
   
6. Horror Writing 101: How to Write a Horror Novel by Steve French
   
   
7. Writers Workshop of Horror by Michael Knost et al.
   
   Anybody have any other book recommendations while we're at it?
   
   Note: none of these links are affiliate links.
   
   Edit: formatting