cmrosens

Women In Horror (Spotlighting Myself)

Thank You So Much!

I’m so grateful to all my supporters and fans (I didn’t think I’d have ‘fans’, but apparently I do, and you’re all amazing!).

I’ve really enjoyed playing in my fictional worlds with everyone who has joined my Ko-Fi so far. I didn’t think I’d get single figures of members, let alone double figures, so again that’s been amazing.

You can check out all the posts, the short fiction available, the rewards to claim, and all the perks, via “My Fiction” in my main menu, above.

Find Out more about my ko-fi

My Publishing Journey

It seems very odd to use my own website to highlight myself as a “Woman In Horror”, because you probably know that, or why are you here? But it also seems a bit odd to totally ignore myself while highlighting everyone else.

I started off self-publishing. I had intended from the start to self-publish The Crows, and I had already lined up an illustrator (Tom Brown) to work with. I had been in writing groups on Facebook for years, and had spent a long time querying my Wattpad fantasy series without success. A few people in our group had gone on to get traditional deals or had a very successful self-publishing route. I felt that self-publishing was the way to go for The Crows.

From Twitter Pitch to Self-Publishing

I pitched it on a whim in a Twitter event, and it got a full manuscript request from an editor at Rebellion Publishing, whose imprints include Abaddon and Solaris. It wasn’t what they were looking for in the end, but I had a real boost from the rejection and the feedback. It also cemented for me that I wanted to continue with the self-publishing route.

The Crows went through several beta reader rounds, multiple edits with a professional editor, and I believe it was the best it could have been at the time I wrote it. I think if I wrote that story again, now, it would be a different book; I’m not the same person or writer as I was in 2018-2019.

Its loose sequel took me in a very different direction to the one I thought it would go, and I still think there are stories to be told with a focus on Carrie & Ricky in the intervening months between those two timelines. It had a completely different tone and focus to the one I’d envisioned, but then, The Crows was never meant to be a series.

Thirteenth was received really well – much better than I expected. It was released in 2021, and I am still very proud of it.

How I got Trad Pubbed by Accident

In 2023, I was cold-pitched by the commissioning editor of Canelo Books’ new Horror imprint, Canelo Horror, completely out of the blue. I still don’t know how he found the books in the first place, but he had read both and loved them. I sold the print rights to Canelo for The Crows and Thriteenth, but I wanted to keep to the proposed timetable for The Day We Ate Grandad, which I had advertised to come out in April 2023; the cold-pitch came in March, and was for the first 2 books only.

The Crows and Thriteenth were re-released by Canelo in 2024; Canelo was bought by DK Publishing in 2025, which is in turn an imprint of Penguin Random House, and I now have a Penguin Random House author page.

It’s the consequence of having a good product to start with, and completely random, extreme good luck, that I can’t replicate or explain.

Where We Are Now

I have since published loads more novels and short fiction, and am very happy to be a hybrid author.

I am still unagented – I had a nibble from an agent in 2024, when I was still blown away by the Canelo contract and thought about seeking representation more seriously, but that didn’t come to anything in the end. I remain without representation at this time largely by choice.

I am now an active member of the HWA and British Fantasy Society, and look forward to the next chapter of my author journey.

Pagham-on-Sea at Penguin Random House

What’s Next?

You can:

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    I’m very easy to locate!
  • follow me on GoodReads or find me on StoryGraph.

You can also:

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#GothicFiction #WomenInHorror
Mar 9 at 10:30amWeb