31 Days of Horror will begin this week, I would like to get us ready here with some baby steps today by sharing the conversation between Alma Katsu and myself that People Magazine published yesterday.

You can read our piece-- Why Horror is Having a Moment? Authors Alma Katsu and Becky Spratford Break it Down Here. From the intro:

In their conversation, the horror-lovers sat down to discuss exactly why horror has made its way onto readers' bookshelves worldwide, and how the genre has evolved over the last decade.

Yes, I was a part of this, but that is not the reason I am sharing it. I am posting it here because having this conversation about horror and its current best authors (not just King and Hill) in a mainstream magazine, with a huge reach, a place that does not only talk about books and reading, a place that is not "literary," all of this means horror is really entering the mainstream conversation. It's not just that more people are reading it, more people are talking about it.

By the way, we talk about Horror for teens and kids as well. So pass this on to your YS staff,

This conversation came out of Alma wanting to take the conversations the two if us have had for years (going back to when she was the Summer Scares spokesperson in 2022).

This is part of a larger argument I have written about many times-- Use the Resources Our Readers Use. From the beginning of that post:

Too often we library workers who help leisure readers get too caught up in the weeds of the book world, only reading and checking the most bookish of resources as we try to stay up to date on the newest books and trends.

But here's the thing we need to remember, our readers are not looking at book specific sites for book info, rather, most of them are identifying titles from the places where they already are visiting and/or reading that also happen to have book coverage.

So listening to NPR, reading their local papers, watching morning news shows, and places like People Magazine-- which just had this list of their Best Books of June 2024. 

Actually, People Magazine is the best example of today's reminder post. They have solid book coverage on their site and in their print magazine-- both of which are very popular with a wide swath of American readers. 

People was one of my examples, but the point remains-- using the resources our readers are consulting in their daily lives and noting their books coverage will help you help them.

This is huge for Horror. We are having a conversation about the genre as it is RIGHT NOW. Not the old authors of the past. Not Stephen King. There is a vibrancy in the genre that people like Alma and myself know and we want to share it.

Getting this conversation into a mainstream-- non book specific-- publication means the conversation will spread outside of bookish circles this coming October. My book tour and the national coverage it is receiving (my NYPL event was listed in the NYT last week as well...gift link here) will continue the conversation.

That was always the goal of this book. To spotlight what horror is today and get the authors and the titles and the very best of horror right now out to as many people as possible. It is working. But I need your help. Please use this article to start your Horror displays now. Please use the 18 authors in my book and their 18 readlikes as the base of your displays. DO NOT put out Stephen King. Remember my rules about book displays-- we are here to show people the books they could not find without our help.