Paul C Skertich | The macabre and horror.

I dared myself to take a peek at the sample pages of my self-published novels: The House On Elm  and Disturb-o-pedia . At that time, I thought they were great. I read the words out loud, chuckled then really slapped my forehead. How the hell could I put this shit out there?  I questioned myself. One thing is certain, I grew with the negative remarks left on the book's reviews section. I'm not in denial, no sir--I am certainly not, and would agree with those negative reviews. Those negative reviewers, harsh as they seem to be, are extremely beneficial, but I won't curl up into a fetal position, place my thumb in my mouth and sob away until the darkness of the night faded into morning. Here's the few things I've noticed as I re-read the sample pages from my self-published novels. THEY DIDN'T FLOW The words from the pages didn't flow like a river down a stream. Words should flow gently and peacefully together--chaining together like links. The words seeme...

Before I shut my eyes to sleep, I wanted to let those know a couple of updates from my journey as a inspiring writer. First update, I'm working on a new manuscript. If you had liked "The house On Elm", you'll like this new manuscript that is a total remake of my first self-published novel. I'm loving it as I write away in this new manuscript. I'm currently reading: Stephen King's Pet Sematary which had gave me a large boost inspiration and new insights into writing. For maybe a good hard month or so (give or take), I've hit a snag in writing. I wanted to have the next big thing, but I failed to come up with anything really good . I jumped around a bit with some very rough drafts on a few manuscripts, but my focus wasn't glued as I hoped. So, I took a breather from writing a bit--or so to say--and began reading. Something sparked inside, I felt while reading Pet Sematary. I danced about inside my head about rewriting "The House On Elm"...

I've been a busy duck, placing new features on the website, seeking for a job, finishing my manuscript and sending them to literary agents. I haven't self-published a novel in a while or anything on Amazon. I've been mainly focused on getting traditionally published. The self-publishing had taught me amazing things like grind harder to make a dollar. :) On a serious note, I love a good challenge. I want my novels to be in bookstores and global. But wait --- KDP now has the extended distribution. Yeah, that's nice and all, but I still want to get traditionally published. For me at least, a lot of benefits come from being traditionally published. I get to focus on what I love doing -- writing my head off! When you self-publish your novels, you can market on social media or run ads on Amazon Marketing Services. And I need more coffee! I'll figure out what to blog post next time. Until then, stay awesome friends!

I've added a new section to my website. I thought to myself, "well, why don't I give other authors some shout outs and love!" I think you'll love some of these horror novels listed on my website. I'm working on allowing authors fill out a form of their horror novels too. There's a lot coming up on the website, which I think you'll love the most, and I hope you're excited about it. Head over to the Recommended section and check them out. Place them in your shopping cart on Amazon and enjoy reading them. They, too, need all the love! If you have some recommended horror novels, you can comment below! http://www.paulskertich.com

I hope you're excited! Next month, a new horror novel will be released. My writing style, grammar and punctuation had improved. Since, I can't fork over money to a line-editor or a copy-editor. I have to do it alone on the editing side. Sorry, if I make you cringe at the minor mistakes. I'm only human. So, prepare yourself for the next month's horror novel release. Be sure to follow me here, Twitter and Facebook.  If you haven't read my novels (The House On Elm or Disturb-o-pedia), you might as well start right now! Quickly, you would want to head to my website now. http://www.paulskertich.com You should subscribe to my newsletter to stay informed. In addition, click the "About" menu item on the website. You could follow me from those social media links. If you want fast and easy access to my books, they are written below. The House On Elm -  http://a.co/ivAo3yT Disturb-o-pedia -  http://a.co/dxDNDjr There will be more updates soon, so stay tun...

I recently started with Wattpad. I like the interface so far, but I love the exposure. So, why not head over to wattpad and check out my free stories. If you like me as an author, you should follow me. When you follow me, you will be notified of new free releases on Wattpad. Also, follow me on this blog! You will be able to receive notifications when my next amazon book is released. Sounds like a plan? Sure it does! Don't Laugh #Wattpad Horror Short Story

If I decided right now to give my two listed books for free, how fast would you grab the eBooks? Let's say, if I decided to list my eBooks for about a month FREE, would you in the future want to purchase my eBooks or books? It's a gamble, really. A gamble I'm willing to take to get my name out there. Exposure is key to success. Without it, an author's sales are like a little trickle of water. What are your thoughts? I would like you to share your thoughts in the comment section. If you do love reading my blog posts, why don't you subscribe and follow me. Until next time!

Well, if you hadn't been to the website. You should subscribe to the newsletter. You'll receive future updates on upcoming book releases, promotional codes and more! So, what are you waiting for, silly goose? http://www.paulskertich.com In addition, you could share the site with your friends on Facebook! There'll be more updates coming soon on the site. Until next time, friend, always stay awesome!

Well, I'm working on a sequel. I can't indulge more details at this moment. However, there's two novels in the works. More updates will be soon, so you should stick around! The novels will be great! I've learned a lot and overcame a lot of hindering obstacles. So, until next time. Stay awesome, friend.

There's numerous advice online, and they state to not react. Why? It won't benefit you nor the reviewer, and it will make you look like a total jackass. When my first published novel had two negative reviews, it stung for sure. However, you must look at those negative reviews as helpful guides. A person's constructive criticism helps you become stronger. If I took to heart those negative reviews on my first published novel, I wouldn't had the motivation to become a better writer. It's a fact, pain or any unpleasant emotions help shape us to become better as individuals. One could bid the differ, but a person's critique over your work can help you improve. So, instead of whining on the kitchen floor into a fetal position. I stood back up and took another stab at it. I yanked my first novel off of Amazon, and I completely revised the entire novel. I had to focus on the key elements they pointed out were horrible about the book: punctuation and grammar. The...

So, the original version of the book tanked a bit. However, the book "The House On Elm" had been given a new face. It's been reworked from the ground up. A month had been spent revising every sentence, paragraph, and page. Original version of the book had total 236 pages, and it now has 240 pages. So what's new? Grammar and punctuation had been fixed. Dialog tags been implemented (e.g. where brad spoke there was no dialog tag. "Jessie, cut it out!"). Now it's written as: "Dad! Mom!" I cried out. The entire book was riddled with punctuation mistakes, and it was nightmarish. For example, There was something in the room; while --- I couldn't see what it was. Now that's some amazing stuff, right? NO! Alright, so why did I pain-painstakingly decide to revise the entire book? Well, just because a fire has embers only means it can once blaze again. I didn't give up, and it still had a beating pulse. The resurrection of the book will...

The original website had changed significantly, and it's more robust than ever. It's mobile, tablet and laptop friendly all around. Tablets may have slight issues, but I'm on my way of fixing that. I thought creating responsive pages were scary, but I handled it like a champ. There'll be a lot of cool stuff hitting the website avenue. Be there or be square, friend.

Now, I have some free time on my hands. I can now start creating a sequel to one of my books. Which sequel? Oh, I don't know. I won't tell you. It'll ruin the surprise if I did. Next month, I'm targeting a new release of a novel or novella. If you're excited about the new release soon, and you know it then clap your hands! See you on the flip side, friend.

Everyone loves horror and the macabre. Yet, there's some who love butterflies and rainbows. My dear, mother, is that type of person. However, she's the most beautiful and amazing woman I've encountered. I'm at least thankful she adopted me. Sometimes ideas of a story just hit me. If I'm provoked by the thought of an idea, I'll work it into a story. I had published some short scary stories on Reddit, and I'm surprised people loved them. One short scary story I had published on Reddit, stemmed from a previous failed attempt to publish on creepy pasta.  Creepy pasta, is a unique and interesting creature. Perhaps, my short story wasn't favorable to the admin. Other times, inspirations come from my own despair and life challenges. There was an short story from Disturb-o-pedia which had never seen day of light. It resembled too closely to Craven Manor by Darcy Coates.  The beginning of the short story had a very dark introduction, but I had to scrap it bec...