I feel like (now that it’s mid January…) I’m finally getting back into the groove of things. However, before I really dive back in, I wanted to take a moment to collect my thoughts and get things back in order. I also wanted to let you know what new projects have joined the fray and which ones are going on the back-burner for this year.
Top 13 Horror Made Posts of 2016
Here’s how my top 13 posts for 2016 did for numbers in case you’re curious:
| Post Title | Views in 2016 | |
| 1 | Top 10 Horror Story Podcasts that Will Terrify You | 35788 |
| 2 | Home page / Archives | 7447 |
| 3 | How to make money with your short horror stories | 471 |
| 4 | Top Ten Horror Podcasts of 2014 | 372 |
| 5 | 337 | |
| 6 | Book Reviews | 265 |
| 7 | 238 | |
| 8 | 233 | |
| 9 | Scary Stories to tell in the Dark | 225 |
| 10 | Podcasts | 225 |
| 11 | POST ELECTION DEPRESSION | 216 |
| 11 | Horror Home Decor – The Nightmare Before Christmas | 215 |
| 12 | Top 5 Coolest Frozen mummies of the World | 177 |
| 13 | Review and behind the scenes look at The Fly (1986) | 165 |
Side note: I don’t mind sharing the behind the scenes on these things because I really love it when other bloggers are transparent with their numbers etc. If you ever have any questions about the business side of this blog, just ask. 🙂
Seeing this, Immortal Alexander and I have been asking the following questions:
1) How do we serve the audience searching for horror podcasts better?
2) What’s our personal end-game? I.E. What “brand” or story are we trying to create around our own goals?
Horror Podcasts
So, there is going to be a ton more discussion about podcasts this year. Why? Because 35,788 views for this blog were directly to my Top 10 Horror Story Podcasts post. Obviously I’m not the only one ravenous for Horror Podcasts. Here’s how we’re connecting to that a little more this year.
9th Story Podcast
Immortal A and I have now taken over the 9th Story Podcast, the one I’d been co-hosting with Dan Foytik for the last year. We’re changing the format a bit though. We will be entirely focused on Horror Narrative and their makers. Horror podcasts, horror authors, and even a few horror filmmakers here and there. We’re still finessing the format, but we’ve decided on sharing a short horror story at the beginning of each episode along with the interview portion. It’s going to be a lot of fun! And now- it will connect seamlessly with the content we’re creating here.
The Wicked Library
I love that podcast and now I’m not just creating artwork, I’m doing all of the post show interviews with the authors of each episode! So I’ll be posting links to the episodes again once we’re back from hiatus on the 25th of January.
Thursday Reviews
The book reviews are something I adore doing. I love reading, I love talking about what I’m reading, and I love helping indie authors find their audience. However, one book a week was very ambitious and with all of the other things I’ve piled on my plate I’ve had to cut back a bit. There will continue to be book reviews here, just more like once a month or twice a month rather than weekly.
On the Thursdays in between I’ll be expanding my posts about podcasts. Spotlights, list posts, and episodes of the 9th Story with interviews and stories. I have sooooo many to talk about! It’s going to easy writing for an entire year on the subject.
Art
My big focus for the year is to get more work as an illustrator. I have some interesting projects coming my way *fingers crossed*. But I’ve also hit a point where I really need the money some more devoted freelancing could bring in.
I’ve started to set up a portfolio site and have been hunting down the emails and names of people who might need my services. Â It’s kind of nerve-wracking. “Hey Stranger! I see you do creative things that I would like to do. Do you need an illustrator? Will you give me money? We should make some awesomeness happen.”
I plan to be taking some new classes and going to some conventions to get things moving. I’m looking forward to taking this journey.
Horror Haikuesday
For the blog, my art focus means posting portfolio building projects and practice pieces. Which means Horror Haikuesday is going to shift a little into “Here’s something to inspire your poetry.” Type posts. And after the overwhelmingly positive reception I saw on this week I think it may actually be a better way to do this on multiple counts.
This also helps because I have 60 or so illustrations to revise before Patrick Rahall and I can publish our Haikuesday collection. That’s a project now going on 3 years in the making and I really want to check that off of my to-do list by March at the latest.
 Stories
This is Immortal Alexander’s department, mostly.
His goal is to get more of his short stories published and to finish some of the bigger projects he’s been working on. He’s been kicking butt this year with all of his stories though. He’s been knocking out one almost every week.
I (still) have a story I’m finishing for The Lift podcast. But I’m calling in help to get it completed. Co-author time! I have a few projects in mind for how to bring more story into my art, but I’ll share those once they’re a little more fully baked. Although one I can announce is the video version of Alice in the Basement. This Spider’s next episode will be out in February of this year.
Now you’re up to date.
To sum it all up, we’re focusing more of our time on
- Horror podcasts
- Horror short stories
- Horror art
Laser focus! Let’s see where this year takes us!
Horror Made 
Looking forward to it
LikeLiked by 1 person