Horror World talks to Cemetery Dance's Richard Chizmar
by Nanci Kalanta

Anyone who’s been a horror fan for a while has heard about Cemetery Dance, one of, if not the, oldest genre publishers around.

Cemetery Dance has published some of the giants in the business including Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Peter Straub, and David Morrell.  They’ve won every award there is to win; a testament to their quality, longevity and customer focus.

We recently had an opportunity to speak with Richard Chizmar, founder of Cemetery Dance.

Horror World: Let’s start out with the big news – BLOCKADE BILLY.  How did that come about?

Richard Chizmar: I was in the process of working with Stephen King’s agent (Chuck Verrill) about another project when he mentioned to me that King felt BLOCKADE BILLY would be a perfect fit for Cemetery Dance.  Stephen King and I have been corresponding for years about baseball and he knew what a fan I was.  I read the manuscript the very next day and loved it!

HW: You sold out the first print run of 10,000 within a couple of weeks of the announcement.  Were you surprised by that?

RC:  We never expected all 10,000 first editions to sell out to directly to readers, it was never meant to be “Stephen King’s Next Book,” however, demand was so great that Stephen King allowed us to print an additional 10,000 copies, which were sold directly to libraries.  There were none left over to be sold to the book distributors who wanted more than we printed. 

HW: What happened next?

RC:  Because of the high demand, Scribner and King decided to release a mass market copy of BLOCKADE BILLY.  However, Scribner’s copy will not include the amazing interior artwork, the BLOCKADE BILLY baseball card and Cemetery Dance’s edition is out a full 6 weeks before Scribner’s (at this printing, CD has confirmed that all of their pre-orders have been shipped to customers).

HW:  How has all this attention affect you?

RC:  Cemetery Dance has a much higher profile and has caught the eye of several NY literary agents who have sent us manuscripts that we never would have seen in the past.  We’ve been featured locally on ABC News, in Sports Illustrated, New Yorker Magazine, and the LA Times just to name a few.

HW: Let’s talk a little bit about Cemetery Dance.  You started CEMETERY DANCE Magazine while you were still in college, correct?

RC:  Yes.  That first summer we started accepting submissions and sending out invitations to various authors to submit.   Initially, we only published twice a year and are now working on a bi-monthly schedule.  In fact, CD 63 is now just landing in subscriber's mailboxes.

HW: Recently we’ve seen a lot of “tribute” issues of Cemetery Dance, is this a new trend?

RC:  We decided we wanted to honor some authors as a way for us to go back to our roots, which have always been firmly placed in the literary world.

HW:  I love the new look, how did that come about?

RC:  I always envisioned a new layout, new design and new columnists.  Kate Freeman did an amazing job of redesigning the magazine to meet my vision.

HW: Tell us a little bit about the operation.

RC:  Cemetery Dance is celebrating its 22nd year in business.  We have a staff of 5 full time employees and many freelancers including Thomas Monteleone, Ellen Datlaw, and Ed Gorman in addition to Stephen King expert, Bev Vincent, who pens our “Stephen King News from the Dead Zone.”

HW:  Magazines have come and gone and yet, after 22 years, you are still printing Cemetery Dance magazine.  With your success in publishing books, why continue printing the magazine while so many others are moving to online/electronic formats?

RC:  I love the magazine.  It is what started everything for me and I am determined to keep it alive.  Our subscription base is growing and the submissions never seem to stop.

HW:  How many submissions does Cemetery Dance receive?

RC:  We receive, on average, 500 submissions a month.  Of those, maybe 20 reach my desk.  Right now I have a few stories that I’m considering, 4 that I will definitely keep, 4 that I may keep, but I need to re-read them and 12 that will most probably be rejected.

HW:  You have some detractors who say that Cemetery Dance isn’t playing fair by announcing books and not publishing them, in some cases, for years.  How would you respond to them?

RC:  Folks have a legitimate complaint.  We have dropped the ball.  Our focus, going forward, is to clear up the backlog, including IN LAYMON’S TERMS and LEGACIES.

I take full responsibility for the delays.  I have surrounded myself with the best and the brightest team but was never able to let go.  I’m a bit of a control freak but I’m slowing learning that my team knows what needs to get done and are damn good at doing it and have been allowing them more freedom to get the work out.

After the death of my father to prostate cancer, I fell into a long-term depression (Note: you can read Rich’s story here).  My team had a lot to deal with, projects couldn’t go forward without my final say.   However, they hung in there with me and now we’re back on track.

Cemetery Dance isn’t a fly-by-night publisher.  We employ a full staff of 5, rent office and warehouse space and send out hundreds of books daily to customers all over the world.  We aren’t going anywhere and plan to be around for a very long time.

HW:  So, what is the story with LEGACIES?  That book was announced back in the fall of 1998.  Will those who ordered it ever see it?

RC:  Yes.  LEGACIES will be in the hands of the collectors.  I promise that.  LEGACIES has had an unfortunate history.  We set out to make the most beautiful, collectable book; however, a lot went wrong.  LEGACIES has been through three binders and, at times, has gotten lost in the shuffle of other publishing events.  I have to say that those who have hung in there for all these years are the nicest, most patient folks and I hope they will feel rewarded when they finally hold LEGACIES in their hands.

HW: Do we know when that will be?

RC: I don’t want to jinx anything, but soon.  Sooner than most expect.  I can say the same for IN LAYMON’S TERMS.

We currently have 18 titles at the printers and anticipate sending out 12 more before the end of the year.

As I said earlier, I have an awesome team and we will clear the backlog as quickly as possible.

HW:  Why such a large backlog?

RC:  We had a habit of announcing titles before we even had a manuscript in hand.  A lot can happen between the signing of a contract and when the final files are sent to the printer.  Sometimes the author falls ill, illustrations are late, signature sheets get lost, a slipcase maker goes out of business.  A series of unforeseen events can delay a book for months, even years.

The lesson learned for us is that we will no longer be announcing any new books until they are ready to go out the door.    This causes some frustrations for the authors who want to make early announcements but we feel that this is the best policy going forward.

HW:  What do you think about ebooks and epub?

RC:  I admit to owning a Kindle and I think it is great; we even have a few ebooks up on the site, however, I don’t think they will ever replace physical books.  There is just something about holding a book in your hand that an ereader will never be able to duplicate.

HW: Thank you Richard, for your time and your candor.  Is there anything else that you would like to add.

RC:  If I haven’t said it enough, there is no way I could have accomplished what we’ve accomplished in the last few years without my amazing team:

Mindy Jarusek
Brian Freeman
Kate Freeman
Andrea Wilson

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