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as he fought to pull himself free from his
mother.
But his mother kept holding Henry as tight
as she could, as if she planned to never let him
go again, and the State Trooper returned to the
living room to give them some privacy while
he called off the search for the missing boy.
165
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
rian James Freeman is the author of
many short stories, essays, non-fiction,
B
novellas, and novels. He is also the publisher
of Lonely Road Books where he has worked
with Stephen King, Mick Garris, Stewart
O Nan, and other acclaimed authors. Brian
lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, two cats,
and a German Shorthaired Pointer who is
afraid of the cats. More books are on the way.
AFTERWORD:
DID I REALLY COMMIT CAREER SUICIDE
BY GIVING THE PAINTED DARKNESS AW
AY
FOR FREE?
hen I told some friends I wanted to
give this book away for free months
W
before the publication of the hardcover, there
was a wide variety of reactions, but one person
was really quite blunt: You re committing
career suicide if you do that!
Let s hope not.
Why would introducing my work to
thousands of potential readers be career
suicide? My friend s fear was simple: if
everyone could read the book for free, they
wouldn t buy the hardcover, leading to
appalling sales numbers, which could become
a reason for publishers to reject my books in
the future.
BRIAN JAMES FREEMAN
In the end, I decided to try this experiment
anyway.
Like most authors, I write because it s
something I enjoy doing and there are stories
in my head that demand to be written& but
without readers, a story is just words on the
page.
Finding readers is difficult, especially with
all of the other entertainment options in the
marketplace, and over the years publishers
have told me they just don t know how to sell
my work. For example:
My newest novel was called too
commercial by every major literary imprint.
The novel was also called too literary by
every major commercial publisher.
The novel was much too dark for a
mainstream audience.
The novel wasn t dark enough for a genre
audience.
You get the idea.
Essentially, none of the editors who read
the manuscript felt they could find enough
readers for the book. Fair enough. I certainly
understand where they re coming from.
Buying a book to publish is a judgment call
you make from your gut and your heart. Do
170
AFTERWORD
you love this book enough to champion it
into the marketplace? Once there, will there
be enough readers to buy the book to justify
the decision you made?
Ultimately, what we enjoy reading is a
matter of personal preference. What I love,
you may hate. What you hate, I may love.
That s what makes discussing books (and
short fiction don t forget the power of a
good short story) so much fun.
Which is why I m going to admit
something here that a writer should never,
ever say anywhere near a publisher in this day
and age where selling a ton of copies seems to
matter more than anything:
I have no idea if anyone really wants to
read what I write.
I mean, yes, there are readers I hear from
on a regular basis, asking for more. (God
bless them.) But maybe there really isn t a
big market for these stories I feel compelled
to put on paper. Maybe it s a small market.
Maybe it s a medium-sized market. Maybe
there s no real market at all.
So how exactly do I figure out how many
readers there are for my particular brand of
fiction?
171
BRIAN JAMES FREEMAN
I ve been intensely curious about that
question for a few years now, and that s why
we re giving The Painted Darkness away for
free.
After all, there are millions of readers in
the world, lots of them enjoy dark stories,
and everyone likes FREE stuff& so what better
way to find the readers who might like my
work than to give them a free book to sample?
We think there are readers who will
enjoy The Painted Darkness, and now there s
no excuse for them to wait to find out for
sure. And hey, if they weren t interested in
the premise enough to read the book when
it was free, they were never going to buy the
hardcover anyway, right?
We believe there will be three different
possible reactions from readers who take the
time to download this eBook:
1) If you ve liked what you read today,
I hope you ll consider ordering the
hardcover for your collection or as a
gift for another reader in your life, and
be sure to sign-up for my free mailing
list or follow me on one of the social
172
AFTERWORD
networking websites for occasional
updates on my work:
http://www.brianjamesfreeman.com/
newsletter.html
http://twitter.com/BrianFreeman
http://www.facebook.com/
BrianJamesFreeman
If you sign-up for my email newsletter,
you ll also receive another FREE
eBook later this year. And hey, the list
is free, I don t send a lot of newsletters,
so you really have nothing to lose,
right?
2) If you re just happy having read
The Painted Darkness for free and you
don t need a copy of the hardcover,
that s okay, too. It s why we re doing
this, after all. Please consider using
the links above to be notified about
my future works. And like I said, I ll
be sending another free eBook to my
newsletter subscribers later this year.
173
BRIAN JAMES FREEMAN
3) If this book wasn t your cup of tea,
thanks for stopping by and giving
my work a fair shot. I appreciate you
taking the time. Maybe we ll meet
again down the road.
No matter what your reaction, if you
know anyone who might be interested
in what we re doing here, please consider
spreading the word. We d certainly appreciate
any readers you could send our way. You
might just introduce someone to a book he
or she will love, and every reader knows
there s no better feeling.
(If you talk about this on your blog or in
a news article, be sure to email webmaster@
cemeterydance.com so your link can be
added to the website.)
Some people are confident this experiment
is doomed, but that doesn t make them right,
so let s give it a try and see what happens.
Worse-case scenario, I ve committed some
form of career suicide. Best-case scenario, a
lot of readers who didn t know my work will
soon and hopefully some of them will come
back for more.
174
AFTERWORD
Now go read a new book and tell a friend
about it& because without readers sharing
their favorites with other readers, we re all in
trouble.
Best wishes,
Brian James Freeman
P.S. Please feel free to pass this file or the
download link (www.DownloadTheDarkness.
com) to anyone you like. And please drop
me a line with your thoughts: author@
brianjamesfreeman.com.
175
A CONVERSATION WITH
BRIAN JAMES FREEMAN
by Norman Prentiss
ver the past few years, Brian has quietly
amassed an impressive collection
O
of short stories consistently among the
most memorable works in each anthology
he appears in. Who can forget Answering
the Call in Borderlands 5? Or in Shivers II,
Marking the Passage of Time, which in a mere
four pages manages to deliver a devastating
emotional punch. His prose style is direct
and efficient, while still managing to convey
the atmosphere and intensity necessary for
the best horror stories. And as proven by his
bold debut novel Black Fire (published under
the James Kidman pseudonym), he s also not
afraid to experiment with structure and point
NORMAN PRENTISS
of view I still remember the I can t believe
he pulled that off admiration I experienced
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