For those of you who track this blog, you know that in 2010 I edited two anthologies while working on a few short stories of my own. The first I started working on was The Best Horror Short Stories 1800-1849. Right in the middle of editing it I published The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849 from the tales I had read for the horror anthology (300+ found in the literary magazines of the day). I expected the werewolf book to attract a small, but specialized audience. The horror anthology I expected to reach a wider audience and sell more copies. I could not have been more wrong. Sales of the werewolf anthology quadrupled sales of the horror anthology in 2010. Yes, the horror book costs 20% more than the werewolf anthology: $12.98 to $10.98, respectively, as a result of the horror anthology containing over twice as many stories. This is because there were only a handful of werewolf short stories published in this time period, not for lack of quality, mind you. The horror anthology even has photos of the authors, unlike the werewolf anthology since photos for half the authors were unavailable. Despite all this, I was dead wrong on which would be the most popular. Quadrupled? Jeez. So much for an author trying to forecast book sales.
P.s. In the month of January anyone who likes my Facebook page (Andrew Barger's Official Facebook Page) will be included in a random drawing to win an autographed copy of The Best Werewolf Short Stories 1800-1849. Good luck!
