Do people turn away from horror fiction when times get tougher?

[Tony Richards]

It might be only my imagination, but I'm detecting -- yet again -- a slight loss of interest in horror fiction. And I've seen this happen before, when people are concerned about the future or when there has recently been some kind of startling disaster. Am I right ... does your current situation affect what you read?

[SawyerKing]

Interesting... I have never heard that, but I have heard that interest in crimes and thrillers increases during a recession.

[Krista D. Ball]

There are a few articles and the like on the cycles of fiction. The closer a subgenre is to the current world, the less likely it will be popular. It's comes up and down.

[QuantumIguana]

I'd have to see more evidence, but it is plausible. During tough economic times, people are more inclined to want to see displays of wealth. Look at the movies during the Great Depression. People live in a fantasy for a couple hours. When the economy is better, people talk about giving up the rat race and engaging in simple living. That too is a bit of a fantasy, as many people could easily get off the rat race that they claim to hate, but they tend to stay with it.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

I've seen the opposite.  What you may be noticing is the wearing out of the current popular version of what qualifies as horror, but the genre as a whole is relatively stable.  I just bought a few vampire books over the weekend and was pleased to find that they were actual REAL vampires and not twinkling or sparkling vampires. 

I think what we see is the same thing that happens in all genres.  A book/movie hits it big.  Then we get a flood of copycats on the market trying to do the same thing.  Eventually the copycats go away and the core fans of the genre remain. 

[BTackitt]

Amen, I love horror novels. Give me a good creepy chillfest any day.

[Krista D. Ball]

I think what we see is the same thing that happens in all genres.  A book/movie hits it big.  Then we get a flood of copycats on the market trying to do the same thing.  Eventually the copycats go away and the core fans of the genre remain. 

This is what I think is actually the case more than anything

They say epic fantasy is about the hit heavy and hard again. GRRM's book is out now, so epic fantasy readers have 8 years before there's another one for them to read. Sanderson's nearly done the Wheel of Time. The Hobbit's going to be out this year. Twilight's just about done. Harry Potter's done. What else does fantasy have to offer? 

[jabeard]

So, I remember this sci-fi/fantasy con I attended in the late-90s. Pre-internet bubble burst. All the news was filled with talk of the "New Economy" and endless economic expansion. 

At this convention, a panel of horror authors spent an hour complaining about how "horror doesn't sell anymore" and "people don't want any darkness when the world isn't dark" and "horror is dead as a genre."

I mostly agree with Krista and and Julie. Although arguably the world situation does potentially impact the cultural zeitgeist and what kind of books may break out*, I think in general most individual genres just go through various cycles either because of massive success or just because that's an existing trend in those genres for whatever reasons and people get tired of it.

Also, without significant data, how can a person even be sure what the trend is? I mean an individual book or even a small cluster of books (or sub-genre) might sink like a stone, for instance, and that might not mean anything about the overall trends.

*Vampire-high school paranormal romance books were around before Twilight, for instance.

[Tony Richards]

Amen, I love horror novels. Give me a good creepy chillfest any day.

More power to you, friend.

[Bards and Sages (Julie)]

*Vampire-high school paranormal romance books were around before Twilight, for instance.

True, BUT before Twilight nobody stocked them in the horror section of the store.  They didn't get put on horror bestseller lists.  They weren't even considered horror by the publishers.  They were considered YA books.  You no more put those books in the horror section of the bookstore than you would have listed Groovy Ghoulies as a horror movie.

[jabeard]

True, BUT before Twilight nobody stocked them in the horror section of the store.  They didn't get put on horror bestseller lists.  They weren't even considered horror by the publishers.  They were considered YA books.  You no more put those books in the horror section of the bookstore than you would have listed Groovy Ghoulies as a horror movie.

My comments about Twilight were just to reinforce that timing (and its general relation to certain macro-cultural trends) plays an important role in the success of books. I have nothing particularly against Twilight (neither hate nor particularly love it), but I do strongly feel that had it been published in say, 1998, it wouldn't have become a mega-phenomenon regardless of what they classified it as.

[Glen Krisch]

Horror has always been a fringe genre.  When traditional publishing went in the toilet, horror, being a small niche to begin with, took a precipitous fall.  The Twilight books, etc, seem to bolster the category saleswise so that's why innovation and new blood aren't being published as often. 
I say this being a horror author.  I've found success as an indie author, but shortly before I went the self-publishing route, I fully expected to be in the next wave of mass market authors.  Indie publishing might just reinvigorate the genre.  It lets readers find new, fresh voices, regardless of genre.   

[Atunah]

Interesting thoughts. I know that when I was a teenager and in my early twenties, I devoured Horror. I got hooked on it with King and then went from there. Now, I can't read them anymore, it makes me ill. I think I could still read some of King's though, depends. I'll never touch Misery again though 

Maybe life gets in the way for some of us and I don't want to be made to feel as creeped out anymore. I want to be taken on a journey and feel good when I am done. Or emotional, thoughtful. But not scared, freeked out.

I used to read some strange stuff in the past, depraved and really dark. I don't even like watching brutal stuff on TV anymore, I am talking someone being beaten to a bloody pulp kind of stuff. I don't mind seeing the graphic, its the act I think.
I love True Blood though, so I don't know if I am explaining this right. Or making sense for that matter 

As someone that has read Twilight, there is nothing horror about them. They are firmly planted in the YA genre. Nothing scary going on there. Just teenage angst. And I don't really find that scary