31 Days of Horror: Day 2- RA for All Horror Tutorial

Near the beginning of this blog-a-thon, I like to spend at least 1 day highlighting this resource because while I get the most eyes here every October, it is important to remember that there is a lot of information here for you to use all year long.

Let's start with the tag line of this website-- "The online home to the Readers' Advisory Guide to Horror, an ALA Publication."

The entire reason this blog exists separately from RA for All is because of the book [left]. When I was writing the second edition of this guide to the genre, I knew it would be out of date even before it came out, but I also knew I had the power to do something about that.

I took it upon myself [read: no one is paying me for this], to create a free update to the book. Yes the book came out in 2012, but if you combine the book with this website, it is fairly current. I have posted reviews, booklists, articles, updates to appeal and trends, and more on a regular basis over the ensuing years.

I have been rewarded for this effort in a few ways. First, even though the book is older, it has been an October bestseller for my publisher every year. Second, my continued effort on keeping you posted on the most current horror in libraries issues has allowed me to become more involved with the Horror Writers Association, becoming the first librarian elected to the Board. This means that issues and concerns to libraries are in the forefront of the organizations efforts.

And third, and this is the most important part, I am currently working on the third edition of the book. I will be turning it into the publisher in exactly 1 year. Because of my work on this resource since 2010, however, the new edition will be not only easier for me to write, but also, it will be better.  You see, not only have I kept all of you more up to date since the last edition came out, but I have also kept myself more entrenched in the genre.

All of this means that the website you are looking at right now is an excellent resource for you to help horror readers all year long, but you need to know how.

The most important point I want to get across to you today is that after almost ten years of working on this site, there is more information here than you could ever use. There is literally a book suggestion for every reader who is seeking a scary book. And the backlist access is amazing. Remember older titles that were good reads 5 years ago, are still good reads now. And the reviews, lists, and information I provide is among the only resource that speaks to library workers specifically. Our issues and concerns are different than those address in resources that are for hardcore horror fans only. I understand where you are coming from, who is coming in to ask you for help, and your collection development concerns [from budgets, to violence levels, to access to reviews and more], and my advice and suggestions reflect this unique position.

Obviously you can use my extensive list of tags to target specific types of books or to find trends. But I know that most of you need as quick as access as possible to book lists both because you are not well versed in horror or because you need a quick answer for a patron in a hurry. So, that is what I am going to highlight today, access to quick book suggestions.

The Horror Review Index: While this page mostly houses my reviews, organized alphabetically by author, I also have links to other review sites.

However, I know that for many of you, looking for horror titles by author is not very helpful. The whole problem is that you don't know enough about horror authors to simply pick a review for a reader in front of you based on the author's name. Rather, you need access to themed lists. Don't worry, I have that too.

The best place for you to access lists by me is on my Original Horror Lists, Articles and Presentations page.  Here I have my Horror Genre Spotlights for Library Journal, my Readers' Shelf Columns, also for Library Journal, and, probably the best lists for you to use to help readers, my annual year in horror recaps. Those are sure bet titles you probably have on the shelf that you can confidently suggest.

I also an archive of some of the irregular features I run here on the blog here. That page also has easy access to each year of this 31 Days of Horror event organized by year.

And, the newest edition to the RA for All: Horror stable of easy to use and library friendly resources is the Summer Scares Resource page. Summer Scares is a program in conjunction with the Horror Writers Association, Library Journal/School Library Journal, United for Libraries and Book Riot that aims to make it easier for library workers to suggest horror titles to all ages of readers, all year long. 2019 was the very first year of the program but there are already many lists and resources you can use to help patrons right this minute. And at the end of the month, I will be announcing all of the details about year 2 of this program.

Basically, if you need a horror suggestion for any aged reader, today, tomorrow, or in 3 months [because remember, people do like to read scary books in other months too], I have you covered. You don't have to be scared that you don't know anything about the genre. I have done the work for you.

[I also have a favorite horror resources page, but I am going to highlight that later in the month in more detail. Of course you are welcome to go visit it anytime on your own.]

Click here for more information 

Finally, one of the best side effects of my work on horror for libraries are all of the library workers I have inspired to up their game as they work with horror readers. I will be highlighting a few of them over the course of this month, but to inspire you to think about what you can do at your library, here is a program happening in Cape Cod, next week.

Now get out there and suggest a scary book. You have no more excuses not to.