The Painted Darkness by Brian Keene, Brian James Freeman
Authors: Brian Keene, Brian James Freeman
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our designers for the look of a new book, or I’m discussing the artwork plans with the artist, or I’m revising the sales copy with the author, I’m working with some of the most incredibly creative people in the genre. A ton of work goes into taking a manuscript and producing a beautiful Limited Edition and I think most readers assume that it’s all templates and there’s no real heavy lifting in the process, but some of our designers are extraordinarily creative and really make our books shine. Working with them is always a lot of fun.
Being the Managing Editor of Cemetery Dance magazine is a lot like working on the book production, only with even more contributors to juggle. Luckily, everyone involved is really dedicated to making every issue of the magazine the best it can be, so that makes the job a lot easier.
CD: What else are you doing to help promote the new book?
BJF: The first step was to finally revamp my website, which was long overdue. I’m blessed in that I’m married to a very talented designer. Kate came up with a beautiful new design for the website, I refreshed all of the content, and we launched it late last year. You can see the new look at www.brianjamesfreeman.com .
Probably the biggest change to the site is my byline. I started publishing short fiction in 1994 and little did I know there was already a Brian Freeman who wrote some books in the 1980s about Native Americans. And then in the late 1990s came another Brian Freeman who contributed to computer books. And then there’s also a mystery author with our name who started writing a few years ago.
Thanks to the Internet, it’s easy these days to see that someone is already using a name and add your middle initial or go with a pen name, but back when I started writing, it took a bit more research. Plus I was barely in high school and just selling stories for the fun of it. I had no idea about the marketing and brand building and everything else that goes into modern publishing. Had I know then what I know now, I would have added my middle initial to my byline right away because I’ve since realized that it isn’t cool to step on someone else’s byline. If someone else got there first, you just come up with something a little different. It’s not a big deal, but it’s good publishing etiquette.
So as of now, I’m officially using Brian James Freeman for all of my writing. This will prevent confusion and make it easy on the readers who are looking for my work and not one of the other creative people with the same name. There will still be a few works published that were already rolling before I made this decision, but most everything else can be updated to reflect the new byline.
CD: If people haven’t read any of your previous works, what might be an easy way to sample your writing?
BJF: Well, downloading this eBook was a good place to start! The next stop I’d recommend is the new eStore on my website where you can download some very cool eBooks containing my short fiction.
CD: Any new projects in the works? What might we expect to see next from Brian James Freeman?
BJF: My agent is shopping around my new novel and I’ve been writing some short stories that should be seeing print this year. Coming up pretty soon should be “The Last Beautiful Day” in Shivers VI and “Among Us” in Allen K’s Inhuman, and I also have something pretty cool in the next Book-of-the-Month Club Stephen King Desktop Calendar. Check out my website at http://www.brianjamesfreeman. com for news and announcements.
NORMAN PRENTISS is Associate Editor of Cemetery Dance magazine. His Bram Stoker award winning fiction has appeared in Tales from the Gorezone, Damned Nation, Postscripts, and the Shivers anthology series, and at the Horror Drive-In website. His first book, Invisible Fences, is available as part of the Cemetery Dance Novella Series.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION:
BESTSELLING AUTHORS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON EBOOKS AND THE FUTURE OF
Being the Managing Editor of Cemetery Dance magazine is a lot like working on the book production, only with even more contributors to juggle. Luckily, everyone involved is really dedicated to making every issue of the magazine the best it can be, so that makes the job a lot easier.
CD: What else are you doing to help promote the new book?
BJF: The first step was to finally revamp my website, which was long overdue. I’m blessed in that I’m married to a very talented designer. Kate came up with a beautiful new design for the website, I refreshed all of the content, and we launched it late last year. You can see the new look at www.brianjamesfreeman.com .
Probably the biggest change to the site is my byline. I started publishing short fiction in 1994 and little did I know there was already a Brian Freeman who wrote some books in the 1980s about Native Americans. And then in the late 1990s came another Brian Freeman who contributed to computer books. And then there’s also a mystery author with our name who started writing a few years ago.
Thanks to the Internet, it’s easy these days to see that someone is already using a name and add your middle initial or go with a pen name, but back when I started writing, it took a bit more research. Plus I was barely in high school and just selling stories for the fun of it. I had no idea about the marketing and brand building and everything else that goes into modern publishing. Had I know then what I know now, I would have added my middle initial to my byline right away because I’ve since realized that it isn’t cool to step on someone else’s byline. If someone else got there first, you just come up with something a little different. It’s not a big deal, but it’s good publishing etiquette.
So as of now, I’m officially using Brian James Freeman for all of my writing. This will prevent confusion and make it easy on the readers who are looking for my work and not one of the other creative people with the same name. There will still be a few works published that were already rolling before I made this decision, but most everything else can be updated to reflect the new byline.
CD: If people haven’t read any of your previous works, what might be an easy way to sample your writing?
BJF: Well, downloading this eBook was a good place to start! The next stop I’d recommend is the new eStore on my website where you can download some very cool eBooks containing my short fiction.
CD: Any new projects in the works? What might we expect to see next from Brian James Freeman?
BJF: My agent is shopping around my new novel and I’ve been writing some short stories that should be seeing print this year. Coming up pretty soon should be “The Last Beautiful Day” in Shivers VI and “Among Us” in Allen K’s Inhuman, and I also have something pretty cool in the next Book-of-the-Month Club Stephen King Desktop Calendar. Check out my website at http://www.brianjamesfreeman. com for news and announcements.
NORMAN PRENTISS is Associate Editor of Cemetery Dance magazine. His Bram Stoker award winning fiction has appeared in Tales from the Gorezone, Damned Nation, Postscripts, and the Shivers anthology series, and at the Horror Drive-In website. His first book, Invisible Fences, is available as part of the Cemetery Dance Novella Series.
ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION:
BESTSELLING AUTHORS SHARE THEIR THOUGHTS ON EBOOKS AND THE FUTURE OF
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