Becky's Horror Highlights 2022 via The Line Up and an Announcement

I will be spending the next 2 weeks looking back at 2022, both here on the blog and with my annual Year in Review program I prepare for PCI Webinars each year. (For your reference, here is a link to last year's slides for the 2021 Year in Review)

I find that taking the time to really assess what happened over the course of a year helps not only to put the year we just experienced in context, but also it makes it easier for me to move forward leading all of you. I have the time to spend combing though the information in order to see the larger picture. You are on the front lines dealing with the day to day. I know this because I did it for 15 years and it is exhausting. I am here to help fill in the gaps you do not have time to pursue; gaps that when filled will make your day to day work easier and more useful to your readers.

Here is a great example. For the last two years, I have been hired to do this look back from the Horror fiction perspective by The Lineup. Here is a link to my 2022 Horror Book Highlights. It is organized into 4 major trends with 4 books in each category. Click here for the full article with annotations for each title, but for your immediate purposes, here are the 4 trends:

1. Short Scares Are Going Strong
2. Retellings: Everything Old is New Again
3. Verisimilitude is Terrifying
4. The Most Breathtaking Debuts are By Women

For context, here is 2021's Horror Book Highlights where the trends I presented were:

1. Queer Horror Moves Front and Center
2. Horror Fiction Framed as True Crime
3. Final Girls Fight Back
4. Marginalized Voices Reclaim the Troops of Old

Just like with awards and best lists, it always important to include a peek further into the past than just the immediate year in order to see larger trends emerging. Yes, I am talking once again about the backlist because the backlist is ALWAYS key to everything we do. It is not a shiny and sparkly as the new books, bit it is key to serving readers.

As I said above, I will have much more to say about the year that was both from a wide angle in my formal presentation AND from a closeup look at myself. That close-up look will begin tomorrow and and conclude Thursday. 

But first, I have a announcement that involves The Lineup. As you can see here, I have written a column for The Lineup sporadically over the last year. But as of yesterday, I have agreed to a formal contract to write 4 pieces for them in 2023 as part of my "From the Haunted Stacks" column. The agreed upon topics for 2023 are:

• Middle Grade Horror for Adult (March)
• Stoker Awards Wrap-Up (June)
• Horror Cover Artists (September)
• 2023 Horror Trends and Highlights (December)

We are also still discussing another series of posts which focus on.....you guessed it....backlist titles!

I am very excited about  my formal arrangement to be a part of what editor Lisa Quigley is doing with this website. It is reader focused, and they love promoting the backlist, so the content is extremely useful for you as you help patrons. The Lineup covers True Crime, Horror, and the Paranormal, so the reach is broad and popular.

Please consider signing up for their newsletter as well.

Back tomorrow with my personal assessment of my 2022 Resolutions.