Words on a Page

  In the second of my interviews with members of the  Portsmouth Authors Collective   I talk to the filmmaker and horror writer Rob Ulitski. Author Bio: Rob writes visceral, concept-driven horror stories, anchored by complex characters and offbeat narratives. Having trained in filmmaking, and working as a director and producer on everything from music videos to shorts to feature-length anthology films, Rob’s official writing journey started in 2020. When not writing, he can be found watching cheesy 90’s films, baking cakes and haunting local bookstores. ~ Loree: I’ve only met you once—at the launch of Fleshed Out , your collection of body horror short stories (congratulations, by the way)—so perhaps you can tell us a bit more about yourself. Where are you from, what kind of dog do you have…that sort of thing. Oh yeah—and you also make films. Tell us about that, too. Rob: Thank you so much! I’m from Portsmouth, studied at the University for the Creative Arts in Fa...

When Missing Words  was published, I thought I could sit back and let the marketing folks do their business, watching the reviews roll in and the sales figures mount. I quickly learned, however, that's no longer the way things work in the publishing world. If you've been taken on by an independent publisher with a small marketing team and an even smaller budget, you'll already know how difficult it is to get your books noticed.  Within a short time of publication, I'd spent my advance - and more - on Facebook ads and ads in print magazines, doing book giveaways, and speaking to librarians and booksellers on two continents. But it's never been clear to me whether that effort and expense resulted in actual sales.  The situation is even more precarious for authors who've gone down hybrid or self-publishing routes because even more of the burden of promotion falls on their shoulders. Yes, there are indeed self-published authors who have had very impressive sales - b...