Seán O'Connor's Blog

Greetings,

It’s been nearly one year since my last blog post and even longer since I last wrote something or had anything worth sharing. Truth be told, I dropped off a cliff when it comes to all things writing. Nearly every aspect of the writing game grinded me to a halt. As a result, I downed tools and went into a hiatus. But, as I slowly merge from my cave, I thought I’d post here in the hope that many of you are still here and are still interested in hearing from me… 

I actually published a new novella back in January called, The Swarm. And believe it or not (in my non-bias opinion!) it's my best book to date. However, I did zero promotion for it and it became a ghost very quickly in the fast paced world of book promotion on social media. And I think there lies the main problem for me. I started out writing and publishing back around 2016 and being new to the game, I made some fundamental mistakes. The main one was not balancing my workload between my family, day job and writing. I looked to my peers and others in the Horror Fiction community and felt keeping pace was the only way to be somewhat successful in this game. In my mind, I had to churn out at least one or two books a year, be on social media engaging with readers and fellow writers on a daily basis and lick certain holes to get invited to cons, events and anthologies and I was basically becoming an extremely fake person in an attempt to find my place within the Horror Community. After taking a leave of absence, I can now see how wrong this approach was as it is impossible to please everyone and while it may work for others, it certainly doesn’t work for me. It didn’t bring me joy, only fustration and the worst part of it was my writing suffered. And ultimately, that’s all I wanna do with my spare time. I rushed some releases, one book in particular is way below standard and I think at this stage I’ve completely lost whatever readership I built up.

However, it’s not all bad. I did learn a lot about myself and I’ve been fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with and been blurbed by some of the biggest names in Horror Fiction. But more importantly, I have made some genuine friends through my writing.

Earlier this year, I pulled all of my books from print. For the reasons above, but mostly because the print costs crippled me. I focused a bit too much on quality over practicality. No point having a great looking book if the print cost is coming in more than what the damn thing sells for. I misjudged this and a harsh lesson was learned for me as an independent publisher. As a result, the imprint I created, Idolum Publishing, is no more and its titles can be found in a graveyard somewhere - I do have a stock of returns that I’m selling off at a low price - list below.

So, now that I’ve brought you up to speed on where I was at, let me tell you about where I’m going… I’m going to re-release my books (No big to-do, same covers, but revised text, cost effective) over the next few weeks and will only be focusing on Kindle and Paperback editions. No AudioBook or Hardback editions… sorry, folks!

To my surprise, I can see The Swarm somehow made it to the recommended reading list for the Bram Stoker Award. And considering I did zero promo for the book, this has given me a little boost. So, if there are any Reviewers or HWA members who’d like a digital or physical copy for consideration, please get in touch for a free copy.

Regarding social media, I’ll be keeping my Facebook, Instagram (Probably the best out there for book stuff?) and X (Gone seriously downhill for book related stuff, mostly use it now to follow football updates) accounts, but only for book related stuff and the odd engagement with writers and readers I have a genuine connection with. My aim is to restart my circle, keep it close and try to build an organic readership. I know this comes off as all about me, my apologies, but you see, I’ve trusted people and been let down by people over the last couple of years, so I think it’s the only way to have a healthy boundary to continue existing in a balanced way. This might change over time, but for now, this is how I plan to go forward.

So, to close this blog post off, I just want to say that I’ve realigned my priorities and will have a stronger focus on my family, day job and mental health going forward, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up writing or reading. I have a lot of ideas that need to be shat out onto the page and I will be doing that and will continue to release new books, but at a rate that suits me and not what the market dictates.

Thanks for reading this far and I hope you’ll continue to have an interest in my work.

All the best for now,

Seán.

PS - If you’re interested in any of the books below, get in touch:

Mass Market Paperbacks:

The Swarm (€5 + Shipping)

Keening Country (€5 + Shipping)

The Blackening (€4 + Shipping)

Weeping Season (€4 + Shipping)

The Mongrel (€4 + Shipping)

Hardback:

The Swarm (€10 + Shipping)

Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action (FREE + Shipping)

Keening Country (€10 + Shipping)

The Blackening (€8 + Shipping)

Weeping Season (€8 + Shipping)

The Mongrel (€7 + Shipping)

Greetings!Happy New Year to you all. I hope 2023 is a great year for you and yours. This is my last blog post of the year and I've a few things to run through really quickly before I sign off...First up, my newsletter... My plan for next year is to roll it out quarterly. Reasons being, I feel monthly is too short and I don't want to be spamming your inboxes with emails that aren't interesting or have anything of value in them. So, my aim is just to give some updates on my writing, a little bit of personal news and maybe the odd book/film recommendation.

Second... I recently posted this image on my social media accounts. It's everything I have published since I started out in 2018 to my latest which launches in two weeks. When I look back at this body of work, I'm pleased, but already feel like two of those books need revision. That said, I do have a little sense of accomplishment and hopefully over the next five years can expand my shelf. On a minor note, all books are available from the usual places and I've recently restocked my webstore - so if you'd like a signed copy, please do check it out.Third... I disclosed some information about some personal issues that I faced this year. I just wanted you all to know that I'm doing really well and am excited about the new year and all that it might bring. I've made some changes and cut out some aspects of my life that I felt were not doing anything beneficial for me. The big one was "retiring" from music. Creatively, I didn't feel this was working for me anymore and it also had began impacting family time and writing time. It's been a few weeks since my departure and the time regained has been really valuable. I hope this upward trend in mental health will continue.Fourth... I'm FINALLY feeling the desire to write something new. I've two story ideas swimming around my head. One is another Horror tale (it involves a bog) and the other is a dark drama set in the place where I grew up. Still not sure which one to run with, but am currently plotting both and maybe in my next newsletter, I'll have something more to share.Finally... a gentle reminder that THE SWARM is almost upon us!

Synopsis:

A swarm of deadly creatures came one night, forever changing the world in this post-apocalyptic horror, leaving a father and son stranded near the Arctic after their plane crashed. Lost in the wilderness, they must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of their makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek into the bitter unknown.

Releasing on Friday the 13th of January 2023... eBook, Paperback and Hardback editions are all available to pre-order now from all the usual major online retailers:

Signed CopiesIDOLUM WEBSTOREAMAZON UKAMAZON USBOOK DEPOSITORYBARNES & NOBLE

EARLY PRAISE“With echoes of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, The Swarm is a tension-filled apocalyptic nightmare… as stark and unrelenting and chilling as its Arctic setting.”— Richard ChizmarNew York Times best-selling author“Shocking and brutal, The Swarm explores the gruesome, desperate distances we'll travel to protect those we love. You can feel the cold, smell the death, and taste the terror on every page.”— Tim LebbonNew York Times bestselling author of The Silence & The Last Storm“A chilling tale for the end of the world.”— Priya SharmaBritish Fantasy & Shirley Jackson Award winning author of Ormeshadow“If ecological, apocalyptic, survival horror is a thing, then O’Connor has tapped the vein of those genres and bled them dry. A gripping and tension-filled read.”— Ross JefferyBram Stoker Award-nominated author of Tome

And that's it for now. I hope you all enjoyed the holidays and have a great new year. I wish you all good health and happiness. Keep reading and look after yourself.Cheers,Seán.

I've been sitting a novella for a long time now and its a very personal story about a father and son's struggle for survival shortly after a global collapse. Yes, this was inspired my favourite book, The Road, but also from my own experiences with fatherhood. It's called, The Swarm.Synopsis:

A swarm of deadly creatures came one night, forever changing the world in this post-apocalyptic horror, leaving a father and son stranded near the Arctic after their plane crashed. Lost in the wilderness, they must decide whether to remain in the relative safety of their makeshift camp or to embark on a deadly trek into the bitter unknown.

Releasing this winter on Friday the 13th of January 2023, which is hard to believe as I wandered through the publishing process for this one in some sort of catatonic auto-pilot state of mind... eBook, Paperback and Hardback editions are all available to pre-order now from all the usual major online retailers:

Signed Copies

IDOLUM WEBSTORE

AMAZON UK AMAZON US BOOK DEPOSITORY BARNES & NOBLE

“With echoes of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, The Swarm is a tension-filled apocalyptic nightmare… as stark and unrelenting and chilling as its Arctic setting.”

— Richard Chizmar

New York Times best-selling author

“Shocking and brutal, The Swarm explores the gruesome, desperate distances we'll travel to protect those we love. You can feel the cold, smell the death, and taste the terror on every page.”

— Tim Lebbon

New York Times bestselling author of The Silence & The Last Storm

“A chilling tale for the end of the world.”

— Priya Sharma

British Fantasy & Shirley Jackson Award winning author of Ormeshadow

“If ecological, apocalyptic, survival horror is a thing, then O’Connor has tapped the vein of those genres and bled them dry. A gripping and tension-filled read.”

— Ross Jeffery

Bram Stoker Award-nominated author of Tome

I'm pleased to announce the publication of my anthology, Revelations: Horror Writers for Climate Action, through Stygian Sky Media. This is by far my most ambitious project to date and all proceeds will go towards Climate Outreach.

Available from Earth Day 2022 - Pre-Order HERE

It's been a few months since my last blog update, so I wanted to sit down and kick off the new year with a post giving you all an update on how 2021 went and what I hope will happen in 2022.

2021 was a strange year on the writing and reading front. And I'll admit that I have not wrote a single word of fiction in well over a year. And I only managed to read one book in the whole of last year... shocking carry on from someone who claims to be a writer and believe me, I beat myself up many a time over it. That said, the more I beat myself up, the worse the feeling of having to read and write intensified and before I knew it, I was overcome with guilt for not doing either. To make matters worse, I'd hop onto social media where all day everyday, writers, colleagues and the Horror Fiction community had daily updates about new books, new projects, vague book posts, good reviews, publishing deals, bumper sales, new agents, award nominations/wins and before I knew it, my confidence was shattered. I'd fallen into a 'Keeping up with the Jones' mentality and everytime I tried to begin, I started running before crawling and fell flat on my face, everytime. So that was it, time to RETIRE and give up this writing effort as I'll never be able to keep up with the pace required to be successful in this game...

Ever heard or experience a 'Moment of Clarity'? Thankfully, I had one in the later half of the year and a realization came over me... and that was that none of the above actually matters right now and putting pressure on myself to write and read was making things worse. In Stephen King's On Writing and his interviews about his working habits, he explains that he usually hits six pages a day and devours books on a weekly basis. When I start publishing back in 2018, this was the standard I tried to live up too... and my God, has it been a disaster because as useful as King's insight and book is, it is totally unrealistic for a writer who is only in the door... and here's why...

Throughout the pandemic, there have been some huge life changes for me and my family. My wife and I bought a house and moved to a new town (Huge ordeal!) and in June 2021 my second son was born. My oldest son started school and before I knew it, family life took all my time and energy. During one of the night feeds it dawned on me that if I want to continue writing, I'd need to establish a new work life balance of priorities, but also realise that while I enjoy reading and writing, I'm not actually in a race with anyone nor do I have to have a standard of one of the most successful writers of all time. Or any other writer for that matter. So, if you're like me and have a young family, pets, older/sick parents and a full time day job, then reading and writing should be your escape/downtime activity and not viewed as a career at this point in your life. It's okay not to write while you work on your priorities. Scribble when you can and read when you can. Reject worry about making money from your craft, that's what the day job is for. If you're lucky enough to find a readership that'll allow you write full time, then worry about making money from it, but until then, I'm heading into 2022 with the view of enjoying the craft for what it is right now and nothing more.

My biggest Achilles Heel is promoting my books. I never had or never will feel comfortable pitching sales on social media. Evidence of this can be seen with my collection, Keening Country and it's whopping SEVEN reviews on Goodreads, ZERO Amazon reviews and poor sales, so I'll use this paragraph to inform you that the hardback is currently on sale for only €7 on Amazon right now. If you pick it up and enjoy it, perhaps consider giving it a signal boost where you can.

Moving on... I wrapped up a big project last week with Stygian Sky Media that will be announced later this month and I will share the news via my mailing list as soon as I can. In the meantime, be sure to follow their social media channels so you don't miss it.

I've also completed a new post apocalyptic Horror novella that is currently out in the wild gathering blurbs. The title is still not confirmed, but I have both digital and physical ARC's available for any reviewers who might be interested in an advanced read for your blog / socials - feel free to get in touch. All going to plan, I'm hoping to release it later this year.

And that's about it from me for now. Other than a official announcements, I aim to start sending my newsletter/blog updates out on a quarterly basis. I hope 2022 is a good year for you and yours. Until next time, stay safe.

Seán.

It's been a few months since my last blog update, so I wanted to sit down and kick off the new year with a post giving you all an update on how 2021 went and what I hope will happen in 2022.

2021 was a strange year on the writing and reading front. And I'll admit that I have not wrote a single word of fiction in well over a year. And I only managed to read one book in the whole of last year... shocking carry on from someone who claims to be a writer and believe me, I beat myself up many a time over it. That said, the more I beat myself up, the worse the feeling of having to read and write intensified and before I knew it, I was overcome with guilt for not doing either. To make matters worse, I'd hop onto social media where all day everyday, writers, colleagues and the Horror Fiction community had daily updates about new books, new projects, vague book posts, good reviews, publishing deals, bumper sales, new agents, award nominations/wins and before I knew it, my confidence was shattered. I'd fallen into a 'Keeping up with the Jones' mentality and everytime I tried to begin, I started running before crawling and fell flat on my face, everytime. So that was it, time to RETIRE and give up this writing effort as I'll never be able to keep up with the pace required to be successful in this game...

Ever heard or experience a 'Moment of Clarity'? Thankfully, I had one in the later half of the year and a realization came over me... and that was that none of the above actually matters right now and putting pressure on myself to write and read was making things worse. In Stephen King's On Writing and his interviews about his working habits, he explains that he usually hits six pages a day and devours books on a weekly basis. When I start publishing back in 2018, this was the standard I tried to live up too... and my God, has it been a disaster because as useful as King's insight and book is, it is totally unrealistic for a writer who is only in the door... and here's why...

Throughout the pandemic, there have been some huge life changes for me and my family. My wife and I bought a house and moved to a new town (Huge ordeal!) and in June 2021 my second son was born. My oldest son started school and before I knew it, family life took all my time and energy. During one of the night feeds it dawned on me that if I want to continue writing, I'd need to establish a new work life balance of priorities, but also realise that while I enjoy reading and writing, I'm not actually in a race with anyone nor do I have to have a standard of one of the most successful writers of all time. Or any other writer for that matter. So, if you're like me and have a young family, pets, older/sick parents and a full time day job, then reading and writing should be your escape/downtime activity and not viewed as a career at this point in your life. It's okay not to write while you work on your priorities. Scribble when you can and read when you can. Reject worry about making money from your craft, that's what the day job is for. If you're lucky enough to find a readership that'll allow you write full time, then worry about making money from it, but until then, I'm heading into 2022 with the view of enjoying the craft for what it is right now and nothing more.

My biggest Achilles Heel is promoting my books. I never had or never will feel comfortable pitching sales on social media. Evidence of this can be seen with my collection, Keening Country and it's whopping SEVEN reviews on Goodreads, ZERO Amazon reviews and poor sales, so I'll use this paragraph to inform you that the hardback is currently on sale for only €7 on Amazon right now. If you pick it up and enjoy it, perhaps consider giving it a signal boost where you can.

Moving on... I wrapped up a big project last week with Stygian Sky Media that will be announced later this month and I will share the news via my mailing list as soon as I can. In the meantime, be sure to follow their social media channels so you don't miss it.

I've also completed a new post apocalyptic Horror novella that is currently out in the wild gathering blurbs. The title is still not confirmed, but I have both digital and physical ARC's available for any reviewers who might be interested in an advanced read for your blog / socials - feel free to get in touch. All going to plan, I'm hoping to release it later this year.

And that's about it from me for now. Other than a official announcements, I aim to start sending my newsletter/blog updates out on a quarterly basis. I hope 2022 is a good year for you and yours. Until next time, stay safe.

Seán.

Friday the 13th is also publication day for Keening Country!AMAZON US

AMAZON UK

BARNES & NOBLE

BOOK DEPOSITORY

One week until the release of Keening Country...Paperback and Hardback copies are available to pre-order now:Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/b47kp8zm

Book Depository: https://tinyurl.com/wfzecjx8

Barnes & Noble: https://tinyurl.com/f3ff87nk

Greetings & Salutations,

At long last, I'm pleased to announce and reveal the cover for my new book, Keening Country.

A four story collection of experimental fiction ranging from creepy horror to powerful explorations of the human mind... ...In Aerials, strange antennas dot the landscape from out of nowhere and a tech worker’s sister has been found dead, trusting her into a race against time to discover the truth before lies become fact… ...Down Below is a story about a boy who stumbles upon a dark family secret beneath the garden shed. A secret his father would do anything to keep buried… ...Seven Years Gone is a creepy tale of loss and suffering in which a train driver struggles to overcome haunting visions of his dearly departed... ...In The Obsessed, a young girl is infatuated with the older man next door. However, her dream crush has a lust that she will never be able to quench — unless she acquires a similar appetite…

eBook, Paperback and Hardback editions will be available to buy from all major online retailers on Friday the 13th of August.

Keening Country is also available to be added to your "To Be Read" pile on Goodreads HERE and I have digital copies (PDF, ePUB and MOBI) available for Advanced Review. If you're interested in a copy for your review, blog or book club, please feel free to reach out to me HERE. And that's it from me for now. I will be sending out another newsletter around the release date with sales links, signed copies and an exclusive newsletter giveaway. Until then, stay safe and enjoy some early praise for my debut Collection...

“The stories in O'Connor's strong debut Collection offer the reader a guided tour of the secret sins and obsessions lurking behind the doors of contemporary Ireland. Unfolding with the patient pace of novels, these stories draw the reader into a world where there really is something in the garden shed, there really is something sinister going on with those new cell phone antennas, and there really is something deeply wrong with the neighbour you've been spying on. Visceral, compelling, Keening Country packs a considerable punch. Read it — and keep your eyes peeled for O'Connor's next work.”

— John Langan

Author of Children of the Fang and Other Genealogies

“Keening Country is a collection of novelettes that dually produce horrific chills and admiration for the style that pervades all four tales. There is a running theme throughout each story involving characters seeking some form of escape — from their home, lives, current circumstances, even from this world. The collection rings with personal and visceral chills and imagery that call to mind classic short-story collections like Stephen King’s NIGHT SHIFT and Clive Barker’s THE BOOKS OF BLOOD. O’Connor has proven his ability to master horror in the short form, not an easy thing to do, and the end result is a must-read collection for the true horror connoisseur.”

— Ray Palen, Hell Notes

★★★★★

“At times shocking, though unique, with shades of

David Cronenberg thrown in for good measure.”

— Phantasmagoria Magazine

★★★★★

“Toe-curlingly nasty, be sure not to eat before reading!”

— Gemma Amor

Bram Stoker Award nominated author of Dear Laura

“Creepy, brimming with shudders, harrowing, and unforgettable, O'Connor is the master of skin-crawling horror whose characters continue to haunt your sleep long after you’ve turned the final page. Definitely not for the swoon-brigade!”

— Nuzo Onoh

Author of The Sleepless