Share Your Scare

 Shiver and Fears always has something set for Halloween. This year we are giving a way a smart watch. This is the last chance to win this watch for this is our first gift given to give a way. I'm sure you are wondering how to enter this contest... WHY ARE YOU NOT VISITING MY WEBSITE???

Fine, fine. You want to know?

 First of all you have to take a picture of Halloween decor. That means a piece of decoration that represents Halloween. You can find this in a store, a neighborhood, or make it yourself. Film it or take a picture. 

Then you post the picture on your profile. This includes Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Youtube. After you post it, you have to tag Shiver and Fears. If you don't, then I'll never be able to see it. 

That simple! Now there are a few do not rules. Like:

DO NOT repost a video made from another profile.

DO NOT use filters and Special effects

DO NOT post anything PG. (You know, ADULT EYES ONLY)

DO NOT post more than one entry.

Sound easy right? Because it is! And yes, If you win, you will receive a smartwatch. But remember, turn it in before Halloween night!! You got time!

I Want the Prize

 Now I can make a full story about how this started, but instead I'll get to the point.

Friday is my birthday. I had received  a special gift yesterday, and what was so special about that gift was that it came with a free gift as well. I made the choice to use that extra gift as a give a way prize!

Now, if you are wanting this prize, then here's what you have to do:

1. Go to https://www.audible.com/acx-promo 2. Redeem the audiobook by using one of these codes: E98EZUGGSEWJ5 ER6L86UL66Y9R HCESN98RE2ANU 3. Email shiverandfears.gmail.com and let us know you've read the book 4. Be present for the next live video 9-18-2024 at 9 PM 5. Answer 3 questions about the book

Now, if there is anything that I'm leaving out in this information, let me know. Because it's simple to me.

The book you have to read is Shiver and Fears: Rules of Horror. Now the only suggestion I have for you (If you tried a code and it didn't work, ) is to just purchase the audiobook. Hopefully, you can answer the three questions that will be received this coming Wednesday on the live video. So be sure to be there.

Now, I will say this. If every person who tries to answer the question does not get all three correct, then the give a way will continue. Want to know what this prize is? Go to YouTube!

You've Haven't Been Around

Gosh where have you been?

Here I am making videos and all over social media and what have you been doing?

That's right, I've been making tons of videos, because content has been growing wildly! I've met with dozen of vendors and been reeling in (like for real) new followers ever since then. You want to know a few?

Got a sweet tooth? Go to The 3 appleteers! They have something for you to sink your teeth into! Or do you need some peace in your life? Check out some cool wear from 🚫B+E  No B plus E?? NO! Nothing But Positive Energy! And the amazing things I found at Blossom Creations by Jess That's just a few amazing places to go to. But if you want more, then you should be more present on my social media areas.

 I have gotten my hands on some interesting content. Have I already told you that? Well what are you waiting for? Go to Youtube, Instagram, Facebook and see what I'm talking about!

 I mean you already missed the monster adoption!

Shiver and Fears shopping

Well, I've done it again. Shiver and Fears is growing... more! We just set up a store! No not a public local store, of course. As of now Shiver and Fears is only local online. Maybe we'll talk about the reason why later.

As of now, there's not much there. Just the three most common talked about products: Cups, stickers, and audiobooks. Check it out here.< But before I tell you more about that...

Let me introduce you to: S

hadale Creates

This business is ran by Shadale Thomas. Her business sells bacelets, necklaces, earrings, keychains, and rings. There is something outthere that is calling your name and believe me, Shadale has it! Check out her site which is located here > Styles you'll like < You can find her social media pages in every location. TikTok, Facebook, and of course Instagram! So don't be shy and find a style calling you.

Now, back to the blog story!

So Shiver and Fears still have a few more merchandise to sell. One of the main reasons is to get rid of our monsters Blaze and Monster Ghost. Now, that might sound a bit harsh. but it's not as harsh as it seems. It's not that we're trying to toss them and forget them, they are Boo's friends. Boo wouldn't like the thought of forgetting them for new friends.

It's really to make more room for our new monsters, which will be announced in October. But let's talk about this store!

Well for one thing, with so many cool, amazing subscribers it's time to connect a store to this YouTube channel, which apparently is attracting mostly in New York! Yep, I did the research. The more time that passes, the more we learn how to improve.

We will be working a lot on public attention outside of  just books. With posts becoming more popular, and more store adding Shiver and Fears it is time.

Shiver and Fears fan fiction

 We have recieved a book cover illustration from a young boy, who has an art for story telling. This  young artist made a Shiver and Fears cover to be placed in the art gallery. His story idea: The Farmer and the Werehare has impressed me.

When hearing the title, it made me think about fables. Now, fables are not scary, but are life lessons within stories. So this is very unique to me. This cover makes me want to write the story in the form of a fable. It would be something different is Shiver and Fears history! However due to this title not being my idea, I can't do so. But that doesn't mean that Shiver and Fears can not start an idea from this.

Now, I won't give it away, but maybe one day I will create a book with this fan art as my inspiration. The ideas are endless!

Now, as for you, maybe your book cover idea can do the same. I saw give it a shot. Create a perfect title for Shiver and Fears to want to read and create the cover for it. Kids can do it, and they tend to draw a lot of fun shapes. So I encourage you to give it a shot. 

So, what are you waiting for MAKE THAT COVER!

Shiver and Fears: in color!

Do you like Shiver and Fears? Well get ready for another Shiver and Fears item to start passing around. Shiver and Fears coloring sheets! The first idea for a coloring page starts when the new cover template was created. So now fans can create their own Shiver and Fears books ideas

cool right? Well then the idea came that with so many images we have to use, why not make it used for creativity. We have just a few coloring sheet ideas, but we plan to branch out in the future. Our 2025 monster of the year, Shiver and Fears logos and icons will also be used in this process.

One thing this project requires is how you and anyone else who wants to color Shiver and Fears picture can get to it. 

We could do the obvious and place it on our website, but we actually want to place it somewhere more noticable. So we are looking into that.

As of now, we have a book cover sheet, Boo with friends sheet, and we plan to recreate some book images for this project. As well as get some fans to draw some as well. This will take a lot of time. So don't espect this to be complete right away.

What do you think about our new idea? Comment!

Tough Butter

I wasn't really planning on doing a blog story today. But this had to be announced, because I can't hold this information any longer. Before I tell you what it is that's got me pacing the floors, let me tell you what's rolling through my mind first.

So this month is the author Fest at Enid Library. If you've seen any posts on social media you know I've been bringing this up for a while now. It's almost getting to the point of being annoying. But you can understand the concern when you've made an announcement about this and you end up questioning if anyone has seen it. Let me tell you, Facebook keeps no record of views, just likes and that's not much since facebook mostly presents to close related people. Let's talk about Instagram. That is a site that might get attention, but only for popular information, funny clips, and celebrity content. It seems to only reach out to those who have a relation to the topic, and (correct me if I'm wrong)  new author's don't have a place in that. Youtube does no good. Once again, it's mostly the attention for movie/ tv buffers, pointless "funny" clips, video games, and sometimes music.

Lastly there is TikTok. Now you an get away with a lot on Tik Tok. But it's mostly for good laughs. 

What is the point of all this bashing on different social medias? This all leads to the point I'm trying to make about what it takes to get attention from an audience from social media. It's the quick terms that seems to spread out the most. Those are the videos that stand for about 60 seconds or less. Hard to get full information of that. Reels seem to spread pretty far, but they only seem to spread to the best categorized audience. Which of course are for those who make pointless funny videos.

Now this is coming from experience. Because some videos reach to 200 views, others reach to 1000. What makes them different? What your audience care about more. Art, TV, and jokes.At least, that's what I tend to notice.

This all leads to the question of who is interested in the Author Fest in Enid?

Now that's half of the story. If you want more, read the next blog, coming tomorrow!

4th Grade Contest- Shiver and Fears Madlib

 4th grade kids have started entering in Shiver and Fears new contest: It's called The Shiver and Fears Madlib contest. Kids will choose between 4 different MADLIBS I've created and have them read on youtube. 

The most popular one now is "The Mystery Shadow". Here's the original story:

He didn't know a shadow was behind him. Until he walked down the dark alley outside the school. He started to run as the sound of moaning made his heart pound. He turned around, all he saw was a tall shadow. He ran faster, but could not escape the shadow. He tripped on a rock and landed on his shoulder. The shadow laughed as his hand gripped him by his shirt. He wanted to scream, but his scream was silent!

Now when the 4th graders start including their own words, some pronouns might have to change. I'm aware of that. And it might not be that scary in the end, or make a lot of sense. That fine. They aren't really for scarying, just for laughs and giggles.

If you want he hear these stories being read, go to Shiver and Fears youtube page > here< to be exact! Right now we're starting off with our first two entries with their choice "Ghost Eyes". See if you can figure out which words were replaced in this story. Does it make you shiver or just laugh? If you don't comment on the blog, comment on the videos!

Shiver and Fears New Book

 

    So Shiver and Fears JUST finished another book. This is the 2nd Terror Tales book written for 8 characters. The book was written to explore 3rd grade kids and their interest in writing. The new Terror Tales: Into the Legendary Store was created to give young readers a feature in the power of creative writing. 

    After making the choice of the 7 best story titles. I wrote the story best to fit the title. The hardest one, I think was The Masked Giant. This was a challenge because the title already reveals the plot. Not to mention there is not a very good plot twist that can lead into a giant wearing a mask. The reason why this book was chosen, was because of the challenge of coming up with a plot. This will show kids that no matter what a story is behind a title.

    Into the Legendary Store has been published but only as a preview edition. This gives our 3rd graders a view of the book before it's officially ready. The reason for this is that although the book is done, there is no cover illustrated for it. When will the cover be ready? Not even the Shiver and Fears artist: Cameron Dunk knowns. But what is important is that the book get done for future projects such as the book written by multiple other 3rd graders called What a Story!

This book will feature the creative minds of the rest of the 3rd graders who didn't get into the Shiver and Fears novel.

    So far The Whispering Box, The Little Neighbor, and The Whispering Monster are the only stories written for the next project What a Story! So although this book will feature a small amount of students tales, it'll also feature artwork based on the tales too. (Once again, made by 3rd grade kids)

When will these books be ready? And what kind of stories are we looking at? It's a surprise, even I don't know!

Finally done, the first book of 2021

 

And there it is!

I have just finished the writing of Shiver and Fears: Invasion of the Dog-Snakes. I think this was my most difficult story. About part way through chapter 15 I wasn't sure where the story would lead. I kind of had an idea where I wanted it to go, but where I was,I didn't know how to lead it in that direction.

One thing I never really done in story writing is get the characters in such a big situation, the only solution is the item revealed from earier in the story. I didn't really have that and with only 5 chapters left I wasn't sure how I'd get there.

Lucky for me I was able to find a solution and fit it within the 5 chapters. I really think this story is different. Most Shiver and Fears stories don't include families involved in the problem. This one had to be different due to how the whole family was in danger.

Another thing I think that is different is the ending. NO SPOILERS! But I will say I think it ended very similar to a Goosebumps book. And the one thing that is surely unique about this book is the cover. This including "The Happiest Show Ever" and "Sibling Subtraction" are all edited by pictures, not drawings.

What's next in the series? Shiver and Fears is having a sleepover! Similar to "A Creepy Christmas" 5 mini stories are being told about 5 different teens spending the night at their friend's house. How fun!

Let's Meet an Author: Aaron Lebold

You ready for another author?

Here's another good one: Aaron Lebold

Aaron wrote the book "Genocide" (interesting!)

 click over here to check out the book yourself> Aaron's book

Aaron likes spending time with his family, exploring, camping, and hanging out with his cats.

Aaron doesn't have a website, but you can find him at https://www.facebook.com/aaronleboldblogs/

Aaron doesn't have a favorite genre, but Jack Kerouac is his biggest inspiration.

he chose horror mixed with thriller as his genre to write. but finds it difficult to figure out which genre his writing actually fits in.

What do you think about Aaron, sounds good to me. We want to hear from you on your favorite author(s) we've found. Which book would you read?

Illustration partner

Before I tell you some fun news let me make sure you know about what you alrweady know. My artist partner Randon Timberlake has re-illustrated a few book covers for Shiver and Fears. and he still is, but as time passes it might be time to work with another partner. So that's where this artwork comes in. If you haven't heard, Shiver and Fears got an upgrade with the book "Why I Don't Play Video Games" more gruesome huh? This was put together by Mei Wu and artist found on social media. We'll see how well this goes. Meantime, we're not sure if Random still wants to work with us. Who's artwork do you like more? Randon or Mei? Randon did his picture for the book "Puppet Family" Awkward don't you think? I think so for sure.

Meanwhile here is another fearing story to tell! We are monsterfying our fans early this year! Why, you may ask, here is what we're thinking: Starting in the month of October give us 10 days for entries, 20 days for votes, and 1 day to reveal winner. (broken up evenly) By starting in August, that's a whole month to enter in the contest, a month to chat with our judges and enough time to choose which monster is the best for the whole year!

 This is an example of one of our monster fans. This isn't really the guy who entered, but he sent a picture of someone, I guess his brother, and we made a monster out of him. That's the fun part of the contest, it doesn't have to be a portrait of yourself, it can even be a drawing! Just as long as we have a name behind it, you're in.

We are encouraging social media fans to send us a picture by DM, but for you blog readers, enter the contest by sending your picture to shiverandfears@gmail.com. Just remember to add your name so if you win we know who it belongs to.

That's all we have for now, but if we have any more news... well, you know how to find us!

What's the result?

 So let me tell you what's planned for this summer. Shiver and Fears is publishing their last book! With this stupid virus being a fake hazard The bookaversary party will be hosted live video and Shiver and Fears is taking the last breaths.
 Books have been selling, but still at a slow rate. If I were living off the sales of these books. My office would be the library and I'd be living in a box on the street. (Kind of depressing huh?) Well, it's come to the conclusion Shiver and Fears don't need to be sold if they are even made for money. Which is good, because they aren't making any anyway.
So this is what's happening to Audiobooks  We're posted samples of them on Youtube, book 31- will be posted on Wattpad for now on, no more contests, events, fewer comments and attention grabbers. Free audiobooks will only be given to the first 5 birthdays of each month until 2021 then free audiobooks will be no longer e offered.
It might sound like Shiver and Fears is closing, but that's not what's happening. What's going on is we're taking out the time and effort to produce and promote it.
You might have questions, and I'm willing to answer. It might help you understand what's going on.

Changes for Shiver and Fears

  Ever since Shiver and Fears started it was always because I wanted to make a real actual book. After one was published I got caught in a few things. I wanted the royalty checks, I wanted the fame, I wanted to be all over the network.

   Long story short- Why did I write these books? To have my written story out in public. That all. It wasn't for fame, it wasn't for the money. Just to have a book published from me and in the hands of others. The question is, do I have that? The answer is with Shiver and Fears at the library, online book stores, multiple websites, so yes. 

   So what does this mean for Shiver and Fears books? No more? Not with all these new story ideas in my head, not to mention, I wouldn't want to leave everyone hanging with Magical Times. As of now Shiver and Fears will publish the 30thbook later this year and then the rest will be posted at Wattpad.

Why this sudden change? What's wrong? Let me just say this, There are people in life who thing being a writ is pointless, and without a thought of encouragement, they will say things to make you feel worthless. Now I have over 200 fans who wouldn't want to stop reading a Shiver and Fears book for nothing, so why is this one critic getting to me?

   Well, it's not really the critic, it's more of his reason. My own cash has gone to dozen of marketers who know the skills to get the word out about people's work. But spending money and not getting anything back out of it, but more views, I guess is pointless. I mean what would you want 1000 people who know your name? Or 1000 who enjoy your work? Because 1000 people who know your work means you say AJ Hard and you know about his work, But 1000 people who know your work means they've seen what you've done and want more from you.

   I don't really have that, and no one knows how to have that, not even me! So why work so hard to become famous if all everyone is going to say is "AJ Hard writes books" and not "I loved his story, can't wait for the next one."? But if you're still receiving "Keep writing, you love it" and of course it's true should you really throw all your work away? NO of course not! 

   Maybe in ten years, when I learn the steps of R.L. Stine I might go back to publishing my work. For right now I've done what I wanted to do. And I just have to remember that!

What's up Writer?

A few days ago Shiver and Fears 29 book was published. It's about a boy and his friends coming encounter with the town's legend The Burning Ghost. Things had been crazy lately. I spent a week in a hospital, then right when I was released was the moment the virus started to attack. Life is like a horror story itself now. I feel like I'm part of a zombie attack, aboard Noah's ark, or just hiding from the world itself.
I wasn't sure with this disaster if The Burning Ghost was going to get published in time. What was the hold-up? Once I returned from the hospital I spent a few days recovering from a sickness I wasn't even sure I had. Then I heard a virus was spreading all over the world, killing over 1000 people in its path. At this point, it was a depressing time. I mean it seemed like even the Earth itself couldn't even splash a light of sunshine without the darkness clouding over it.
Gruesome story huh? You would think with a story that gruesome Shiver and Fears would be inspired to write another book. Truth is, as much as I want to write the next story: The Happiest Show Ever or Magical Times without Granny what's really the point? Everyone is mostly at home spreading depression with stupid jokes about toilet paper and the virus and how April will be a total fun sucker, so they aren't really interested in to the contests and books I have to offer.
Plus I just finished The Burning Ghost after rushing the ending, I don't think now is a good time to start another book. I mean I wrote a couple of children fables on Wattpad and they only took 30 minutes. Am I really that good? Or am I just not enthused to write?
Work has been deadly slow lately. I work three jobs and now because of Virus X (That's what I call it), I'm on work lock-out. Maybe with everyone doing nothing I can sell a few audiobooks... We'll see.

"Love" Horror Fiction

Shiver and Fears are sending love to many fans in different ways. One way we are doing this is by having a giveaway. Fans are commenting "Love That Book" and are receiving audiobook codes. You can get your audiobook code by commenting "Love that book" on the blog.

We are also giving codes to the first 5 birthdays on Facebook. So far we've given over 11 codes so far.
Another way we are sending love to our fans is by having them meet Creeps. Who is Creeps? If you really don't know Creeps, you're really behind. He's our pet mascot, for the 10,000th time:

< This is Creeps!

He's Shiver and Fears mascot, we found him. He may look a little mean, but he's nice.

especially when you give him a Valentine!

This Valentine's Day we are passing out Creeps' cards to a bunch of children at a public school. Shiver and Fears actually will be making a few appearances to a lot of kids for St. Valentine's Day.

Now, you might think Shiver and Fears isn't very scary if the author is celebrating Valentine's Day because Valentine's Day isn't scary. If that's the case, you haven't read: "The Dangers of Love" a valentine favorite from Shiver and Fears <click here

Word of advice, you should wish Creeps a Happy Valentine's Day on social media, He doesn't like feeling alone for Valentine's Day and might go on a rampage if he feels left out. I mean just because he's an ice monster doesn't mean he doesn't have feelings. I mean, he does love his fans... especially for dinner!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

New audiobook

Publishing audiobooks can be complicated. No Body Park was supposed to be ready January 10th, but there's always an issue that puts your work on pause. I was starting to think Shiver and Fears 28th book wouldn't be ready until February. That's when I saw this: No Body Park< (click here).
Now the question is when will it be ready on Amazon and Itunes? Truth is, now. January 10 I was messaged that I had to resend in the files and wait up to 14 days for the book to be published... it's been 16!! And I'm still not seeing any progress.
So then what do I have here?^^^ Well, I work with another audiobook company that not only publishes to more audio companies but doesn't have authors and their illustrating partners waiting. I've emailed the company and let them know I want an answer on why my work is being kept hostage.
My thoughts are ACX isn't very helpful. So far it's the only audiobook site that you can hire a person to read your book just with the share of royals. Other sites, such as Fiver cost 0.05₵ per word for narration, and then there are sites that just request files of narration. So you have to do it yourself.
Being an author is a difficult job, but after years of work you get used to the traffics of a task and find a few short cuts along the way.

First Post, New Decade

Happy New Year to the next decade of fans. Shiver and Fears has been growing lately, and I know it's because of the partners I have. That includes cousins, my illustrator, Randon, my voice narrator partner, Deontae my promotor, Tina, My support group on facebook, and my reliable friends.
Because of these people: books have been selling, more fans have favored AJ Hard, books and songs have been listed to places like iTunes, Walmart, libraries, Spotify, and still is growing over time.
In fact, Pier88 has AJ Hard labeled on their wall:

 

Not quite sure what's in store for Shiver and Fears this year, but one thing is for sure The work pays off. and maybe one day my work will reach something like 31K, but for now I'm just glad it's making progress.

You know they say I'm not famous because I'm not on tv, or because I'm not nationwide with fans, or even because I don't know a lot of celebrities. My thoughts are, that's not what makes you famous. What makes a person famous is being known out of your peers. When you write something, like a song or book, if it's good enough, people will let others know. And over time it'll grow. Everyone in the world may not know AJ Hard, or Asia Hardwick, but there are people who don't know Deon Mitchell or Kevin Hart or Ant Blades but they still have fans and thanks to you, I do too!

The winner of "What's Your Story?"

   So if you haven't heard, hear it now. Shiver and Fears had started another contest! A title will be created by your first and last name and then naming a random street. The winning title is The Burning Ghost.
   Now you might be thinking if maybe I predicted this book would win and already had an idea, you'd be wrong, I was voting for The Masked Baby or even The Burning Baby. Now don't give me that 'you evil monster!', because you can't really judge a book by its title. And there were some that if were chosen, would be difficult to put together like, "The Cold Eye" or "The Floating Channel" and truth be told I really didn't want to do another ghost story, but it is what it is.
So what is The Burning Ghost about? (Like you wouldn't guess.) Well, I don't want it to be about a ghost that's on fire, that's WAY too obvious! So check out what I have here:

   Only the toughest of the tough can be entered The Night Club. It's located deep in a swamp on 21st Blvd. Ethan and his friends meet there every night to think of plans to scare the rest of the town. But things don't go as planned one night as they find their club burned down. Who could have done this? Ethan's annoying brother? A lightning strike? Or could it be the burning ghost?

   This story will be placed in the winter to give the story more suspense. Now the kid starring in the story will be the only realistic thing about this story. The other characters, his location, and his personal (although not too much) will be different. My partner, Randon Timberlake, will be the illustration of this masterpiece. You ready for another Shiver and Fears story? Hear more about it in 2020! 

Get Monsterfied

Sending out a message to everyone about this October

Yes we're back at it againShiver and Fears is bringing back your monster pictures, but this year we're making it a contest. Because this year we have these: Now you might be thinking Oh wow, a picture frame!😴 But it's not just the picture frame, it come with your monsterfied picture! Don't want to send a picture of yourself? No problem! We accept ANY face picture. Send a picture of your sister, aunt, some random neighbor, or even a picture you googled, you're favorite tv star, singer, athlete, or even a cartoon character! We accept any photo you send to shiverandfears@gmail.com

Now here's what happens: That photo will be placed on youtube (october 31), facebook.com(Shiver and Fears page and Read It-group), and instagram find it under #getmonsterfied. Oh, and of course the Shiver and Fears website! > Shiverandfears.com (under NEWS > GET MONSTERFIED) The site will also include a poll for you to vote.

Right now we're working on schools allowing students to enter. 🤞Hoping it all goes well. Want to enter now? Go ahead, but I promise you, you won't get a picture back until September12. But if you do enter, I hope you win!