Publishers reveal creepy deals ahead of Halloween amid sales surge

Publishers have revealed a cluster of creepy book deals ahead of Halloween, in particular from dastardly debut authors, as the thirst for horror themes continues apace. 

Back in the spring, The Bookseller heard from the trade about how editors and readers were gobbling up gruesome tales with the highest ever sales in the Nielsen BookScan category. TikTok critics have also delved into ghostly canons while many in the industry recently highlighted the horror of the recent Frankfurt Book Fair with exports "cannabilising" sales in Europe.

Among the many debut offerings, Penguin Michael Joseph has acquired the Yorkshire-set horror debut, We Call Them Witches, of 2023 Discoveries Prize long-listed author India-Rose Bower. Set in the misty countryside of Yorkshire, and richly inspired by Pagan folklore, the story takes place in a post-apocalyptic Britain.

Meanwhile Simon & Schuster UK has inked a deal with debut novelist and US tech worker, Bonnie Quinn, a software developer from Ohio—How to Survive Camping, a four-book horror series based on the popular Reddit r/NoSleep thread.

On the children’s end, Hachette has just bought three YA novels—the Society of Free Spirits series—billed as "tongue-in-cheek approach to historical crime fiction, with a supernatural twist" by Kent-based debut author Felicity Epps. It follows a society of underestimated heroines investigating murderous goings on. 

Fellow children’s author Christopher Edge has signed a six-figure deal with Walker Books for an experimental-style series, Fear Files: "Taken from a mysterious database called the ‘Darkive’, each book will recount these eerie experiences and share ‘evidence’ in the form of audio transcripts, video descriptions, screenshots and drawings."

Craving even more crafty goings-on? Read about The Bookseller team’s favourite frightening reads.