Thread:ShadowVixen/@comment-24190515-20150121183354

ShadowVixen,

I have identified your work, “Ignorance Or Bliss,” as a short story of superior quality. Most of the short stories that can be found at Creepypasta.com and similar sites are very poorly written, juvenile, or simply written for cheap thrills. Your story, however, is well-written, insightful, and unique.

That being said, I would like to ask your permission to include “Ignorance Or Bliss” in an anthology of short horror stories that I am compiling for publication in the Spring/Summer of 2015. It will contain a variety of exceptional short stories that have as yet gone unrecognized for their excellence. There is no cost to you. This is not a sales pitch. The only incentive that I have to offer is exposure of your writing to a large audience, and possible promotion of your other work. Unfortunately, I cannot offer royalties, as the book will be priced very close to the publisher’s production and distribution cost.

In addition, it will contain the works of multiple authors. Being a published author myself, I can tell you that royalties do not amount to much. As an example: for a paperback priced at $10, bookstore and library distribution pays royalties of less than $1 per unit, and web retailers just slightly more. Divided up amongst a handful of other authors, the amount would be miniscule. Personally, I consider the sole purpose of publishing a book to be the enjoyment of my readers (and the occasional piece of fanmail). Nielson Bookscan (free service) provides a weekly report on unit sales and geographic distribution across the US, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a great number of books were selling in the UK, Europe, and Asia. Bookscan is a great tool to see how and where your work is being seen.

If you would like to check out examples of my work, a portion of my first novel, “The Remover,” can be found at http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Remover or you could check out my author page at http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00M8H7BLE. I also have another serial novel entitled “The Bicycle Day” available online at a webzine called Fiction Terrifica: http://www.fictionterrifica.com/TheBicycleDayHome.html, and another soon to be published novel titled “Mamzer.”

I sincerely hope that you take my offer into consideration. If you decide that you are interested, please sign and return the attached release agreement to [mailto:kohlkenneth56@gmail.com kohlkenneth56@gmail.com], along with a short bio of yourself. You may want to include such things as your real name (or pen name, if you wish to use one), age, hometown, hobbies, family or pets, other published works, and what inspires you to write.

[I can send a release agreement once you respond and provide an email address.]

Best wishes, and I hope to hear from you soon.

Regards,

Kenneth Kohl  