The results of the survey we ran over the past week are in, and they’re quite illuminating. Here are the answers you gave to each question.

What is your sex/gender?

82.6% Male
17.4% Female

Contrary to mainstream publishing’s claim that men don’t like to read, men are Terror House’s primary audience. This is in line with our internal Quantcast data, which shows that 74 percent of our readers are men and 26 percent are women.

What is your age?

25 to 34 45.7%
18 to 24 19.6%
35 to 44 10.9%
45 to 54 6.5%
55 to 64 6.5%
65 or older 6.5%
Younger than 18 4.3%

Terror House is the official literary magazine of zoomers, with 69.6 percent of its readership aged 18 to 34 or younger. We can legitimately claim to be the voice of a new generation.

What is the highest educational level you have attained?

College, graduate 39.1%
College, undergraduate 37%
High school or less 23.9%

Terror House attracts an unusually educated readership, even with many of our readers too young to have completed college yet.

In what country do you currently live?

United States of America 73.9%
United Kingdom 8.7%
Sweden 6.5%
Canada 4.3%
Australia 2.2%
Spain 2.2%
Japan 2.2%

This is also in line with our internal analytics, which show our readership to be concentrated in English-speaking countries or countries where English fluency is widespread (Germany, Sweden, the Netherlands).

Are you fluent in other languages aside from English?

No 71.7%
Yes 28.3%

If you answered “yes” to the previous question, check all languages you are fluent in.

Spanish 38.5%
French 30.8%
German 15.4%
Swedish 15.4%
Russian 7.7%
Portuguese 7.7%
Norwegian 7.7%
Hungarian 7.7%
Japanese 7.7%

Not too surprising, but given that one of our future plans is to publish material in other languages, we needed some hard data beforehand.

How would you describe your political beliefs?

Right-wing (conservative, nationalist etc.) 52.2%
Left-wing (liberal, socialist etc.) 13.3%
Apolitical/don’t care about politics 8.7%
Centrist/moderate 4.3%
I prefer not to answer 4.3%
Pro-Labor Reactionary tending towards apolitical 2.2%
Spiritual Nation Christian 2.2%
Libertarian 2.2%
Libertarian/conservative 2.2%
Center Right 2.2%
Anarch 2.2%
I love Paul Town 2.2%
A nice mix of libertarianism, anarcho-capitalism, nationalism, and a little bit of objectivism. I’m never afraid to contradict myself. 2.2%

With the exception of “Anarch” and “I love Paul Town,” all of the write-ins are various flavors of right-wing. In total, 65.4 percent of Terror House’s audience is politically right-wing; large, but not overwhelming, despite our enemies’ claims that we’re a “Nazi” or “alt-right” site.

How did you find out about Terror House?

Twitter 34.8%
Matt Forney’s blog or other social media 26.1%
Other word of mouth 13%
Other social media (Facebook/Instagram/etc.) 6.5%
Poets and Writers 6.5%
Duotrope 4.3%
Terror House published a writer I like 2.2%
Writer’s Magazine U.K. 2.2%
ROK 2.2%
I love Paul Town he makes me harny 2.2%

Contrary to our enemies’ claims that Terror House is my vanity project, barely a quarter of our readers came from my blog or other platforms. Our largest source of readers is Twitter, vindicating our aggressive approach to trolling and owning people.

How long have you known about Terror House?

6 months or more 50%
3 to 4 months 21.7%
1 to 2 months 19.6%
4 to 5 months 6.5%
Less than one month 2.2%

Our readership is split down the middle between long-time loyalists and newcomers, showing that we’re growing rapidly and expanding our reach.

How frequently do you visit Terror House?

Several times a month or less 28.3%
Several times a week 26.1%
Once a week 23.9%
Once a day 17.9%
Several times a day 4.3%

Most of our readers don’t check in daily. Not too surprising.

What is your favorite type of work published at Terror House?

Fiction 58.7%
Analysis/Criticism 17.4%
Poetry 15.2%
Literary Nonfiction 8.7%
Art/Photography 0.0%

The vast bulk of what we publish is fiction and we publish very little art/photography, so this also isn’t too surprising.

What kind of work would you most like to see more of at Terror House?

None, the site is fine as is 37%
Analysis/Criticism 19.6%
Fiction 15.2%
Literary Nonfiction 13%
Poetry 6.5%
Art/Photography 4.3%
Essays 2.2%
please have paul town post photos of himself and essays 2.2%

The largest share of our readers think we’re doing just fine as is, with the second-largest share believing we should publish more analysis/criticism pieces. We’re unfortunately limited by what people submit to us, so if you have book, movie, music, or video game analyses, send ’em in!

Terror House currently publishes two submissions a day on weekdays: a long-form prose submission in the mornings and a shorter submission (poetry or flash fiction) in the afternoons. Do you think Terror House should publish more submissions per day and if yes, how many more?

No, keep publishing two submissions per day 58.7%
Yes, publish three submissions per day 19.6%
Yes, publish four or more submissions per day 15.2%
No, publish only one submission per day 6.5%

Because of our growing backlog of submissions (we currently have a line of accepted works that will last well into January), I’d been tossing around the idea of publishing more pieces per day to speed things up. We won’t be doing that now that the majority of our readers like our current approach.

The next questions after these were write-ins. We can only share a sample of these due to space constraints. If your answer isn’t here, that doesn’t mean we didn’t like it.

What is your favorite work (or works) published at Terror House so far and why?

Natural American Spirits. Was different than many of the other posts on the site – optimistic, almost.

The Crowman, Dummie’s Dummies, Why can’t we have nice things, the most beautiful question in the world, Frenemy, Pull the trigger Mitzi, Nagasaki boy, Saturday under the house, Bubble gum cigarettes and my own stuff

The Most Beautiful Question in the World by James Nulick, because the man knows craft and beauty, a true original.

Poetry. It’s important.

White Dwarf because it made me laugh and I imagine Samuel L Jackson from Black Snake Moan as the black man who owned the dwarf

A Friend of the Church

I love the hard-boiled detective fiction (I’m a Robert B. Parker fan). The excellent storytelling and the ending where all he wants is a young virgin woman a house in the country, and enough money so they don’t have to work encapsulates what I myself am working towards. The best fiction is one where you can easily fit yourself into the protagonist’s shoes and understand/would have made the decisions he makes.

Self Destruction. It’s an interesting format — brave and experimental, very creative — and the writing is good.

Thot Control, Psych Ward, Occupied, Hunting With Neil, NEET, Panama Hat

Well, I’ll probably have to vote for my own story, “Natural American Spirits”. But “White Dwarf” is iconic.

The Pussy review, very insightful

Anything by Calvin Westraa, Glahn, and Kai Edward Warmoth

i look for paul town work, i crave paul town work

Letters From a Heartbroken Pervert, Ian McDonald’s “Glen Levin” parody

There are many good ones, so it’s hard to say. One that has stuck with me the most is probably “A Lesson in Justice.” Again though, I do enjoy a lot of what is published.

Pull The Trigger Mitzi by Patty Fischer

piss

Book reviews (The Pussy, Game, Bronze Age Mindset)

What do you like the most about Terror House?

Diversity, courage, You print things that most editors would skip and it’s sometimes totally brilliant. You recognise the difference between great writing and great art.

Actual free thought writing, no compromises, saying what you actually believe.

That it’s a break from the ever more conformist publishing of today, where only approved ideas and favoured demographics get published.

I like the name Terror House and the Twitter shit talking and the guys running the mag and the jimmies they rustle

I like that it’s brave enough to publish disturbing or otherwise inappropriate work. I think the editors are funny; I enjoy their snarky updates. Overall, the quality of the work published on this site is impressive.

I like that it refuses to follow the norm. It fills a much-needed and much-welcome gap left by the squeamish, clique-loving zines.

Rapid response to submissions

I’m just here for the forney/sterzinger drama

Discovering weird authors that leads one into groups of obscure indie-like writers you wouldn’t think existed in this crevice side of the internet.

I like that because they’re not afraid to be politically incorrect, you find far better content there than anywhere else

The aesthetic is excellent, and you publish really unique works (not always things I like! But they are often very unique.)

i do not care about anything other than paul town

I like the subversiveness of it, as well as the “outsider” aesthetic that you really can’t find anywhere else. It has a nice counter-culture feel to it. I sound like a fucking hispter, but I’m a millennial, and I think we’ve all been bitten by that repugnant little bug. So I guess I just go with it, man.

I compare Terror House somewhat to Dagger Mag (I bought the first and to my knowledge only print version), which was really excellent and seems to have died out. Sad. Terror House feels like it has more staying power, which is badly needed.

piss

What are some ways that Terror House can improve?

easier navigation now that you have big archive

Site format. Have to go through pages if you wanted to go through the backlog. Having an Author Index.

Feature a core group of writers alongside the submissions for consistency.

A hard copy magazine once a year or even every quarter.

Maybe a weekly newsletter with brief info about works published during the week. Something liked spiked magazine’s. I’ll forward one of theirs to Forney.

I think one publication a day would work better. Two a day kind of washes out the others — one a day, and that will give it a chance to better shine.

Make the ability to like and respond to stories and poems easier. I had to open a WordPress account? And I’m still trying to figure out whether this is necessary, and if I want to start a website.

“Rerror House” is a limiting title that does not reflect the variety of works it publishes. Develop a broader title, which would have the added advantage of attracting a wider spectrum of writers.

This is the common boringness I find about all lit mags–it’s lack of community interaction; I don’t know how to fix it but it’s as if a short story is posted than nothing pertaining to that story happens, no one talks about it, no one reviews it, it just ends when the story or poem is done being read.

PERHAPS RUN AUTHOR INTERVIEWS

It might be cool to do a “podcast” where you either have the author read the best of the month fiction, best of the month poetry, or someone on staff do it.

General website features, some way to see all the works in one place, a list of all the authors in one place etc

make it a paul town site, he makes me harny

Be even crueler on twitter and consider avant-garde short film submissions

Design a logo

more yungpec

Do you read other lit mags? If yes, list them below.

Soft cartel, new pop lit mostly

Only one other: Expat Press

805 Lit, 3288 Review.

Yes. Beat Scene.

I did read a few before submitting to TH, but stopped when I realised what they were about – then I stopped. Though a few still remain half decent, like this “spiked” (they like lower case). They’re for open debate, though sadly not with the all-guns-blazing mentality that I’d most like to see.

Atop The Cliffs, The Hickory Stump

Red Fez

the paris jew review

WHITE, GRANTA, NYRB, LRB, TLS, NEW YORKER

New Pop Lit, The New Yorker, Asiimov’s, Dagger, Brass War Insect, New York Tyrant

Other lit mags suck

Soft Cartel, New Pop Lit, and every once in awhile some of the ones that Hanson Oak RT’s when a story premise looks good

ExPat Lit, After the Pause, Tipton Poetry Journal, others I can’t recall.

total equality now blogspot com, paul town essays

The Missouri Review, Narrative Magazine

used to read n+1 but I’m not gay anymore

How many fiction, poetry, or literary nonfiction (memoir etc.) books do you read per year?

10 to 20 26.1%
21 to 30 23.9%
More than 40 21.7%
Less than 10 21.7%
31 to 40 6.5%

Terror House’s audience are big readers.

What kinds of books would you be interested in reading from Terror House Press? Check all that apply.

Novels/novellas 84.8%
Literary nonfiction 67.4%
Art/photography books 34.8%
Poetry anthologies/chapbooks 32.6%
Short fiction anthologies 2.2%
Short story collections 2.2%
Plays/drama 2.2%
Short story collections. 2.2%
short fiction collections 2.2%
Outlines of internet subcultures or anthologies from a subculture on the internet; Possibly an anthology of a group of writers connected to each other with a manifesto. 2.2%
A magazine would be sick too 2.2%
paul town book 2.2%
Short films 2.2%
More Short Stories 2.2%
Guys like Roosh and Quintus Curtius 2.2%

Not too shocking that novels/novellas and literary nonfiction led the pack, but short story collections was a popular write-in, totaling 11 percent of all responses. Art/photography books ranking so highly was also a surprise.

In what format do you prefer to read books?

Paperback 69.6%
Hardcover 15.2%
Audiobook 8.7%
E-Book 6.5%

This came as a genuine surprise, as I figured that e-books and paperbacks would draw even. Instead, 84.8 percent of our readers want physical books. This is likely due to the backlash against Amazon and other Silicon Valley giants due to their censorious policies (Amazon has been caught deleting peoples’ Kindle purchases in the past and is now deplatforming writers such as Roosh), the public’s decreasing fascination with tablets and other computer technology, and the fact that people prefer to own physical products due to their longevity.

My experience with publishing has primarily been with nonfiction self-help books, which I’m guessing that people prefer in e-book format due to their disposable nature and the fact that they’re often about subjects that readers would rather not broadcast to the world (such as picking up women). In contrast, fiction and literary nonfiction books with flashy covers are the kind of thing that people want to show off. I now understand why many indie fiction publishers don’t bother with e-books.

If Terror House were to release a book in hardcover only, would you buy it or would you wait for a less expensive paperback to be released in the future?

Wait for paperback 56.5%
Buy hardcover 43.5%

This was a bit surprising as well.

How much would you be willing to pay for a 250-page paperback novel? (All prices in U.S. dollars.)

$14.95 39.1%
$15.95 26.1%
$16.95 23.9%
$18.95 4.3%
$19.95 or more 4.3%
$17.95 2.2%

Not surprising that people generally want to pay the lowest price possible for a product.

How much would you be willing to pay for a 250-page hardcover novel?

$19.95 30.4%
$21.95 19.6%
$20.95 15.2%
$22.95 15.2%
$24.95 13%
$23.95 6.5%

Interestingly, while people still preferred the cheapest option here, it was by a notably smaller percentage. This indicates that people view hardcovers as luxury items and are willing to pay more for them.

How much would you be willing to pay for a 250-page e-book?

$4.99 47.8%
$5.99 26.1%
$6.99 10.9%
$7.99 8.7%
$9.99 4.3%
$8.99 2.2%

Again, not too surprising: people don’t want to be overcharged for what amounts to a few hundred kilobytes of data.

Would you buy a book that was ONLY published in e-book format?

Yes 52.2%
No 47.8%

With our audience split down the middle on this question and their already stated preference for physical books, we will likely abandon plans to publish titles exclusively in e-book format.

If you are fluent in languages other than English, would you be interested in buying non-English translations of Terror House books?

I only speak English 69.6%
No 17.4%
Yes 13%

If you answered yes to the previous question, please write what language(s) you would like to read Terror House books in.

Spanish 40%
German 20%
Swedish 20%
I would like Paul Town ASMR 20%

With barely a tenth of our readers requesting non-English translations, it’s likely not something we will focus on initially, though we at least have an idea of what languages would be most popular when we do start translating our works.

I’d like to thank everyone who took the time to fill out the survey. We’ve already made some small changes based on your feedback: for example, we’ve added an Authors page since it was one of the most requested features. As we move closer to the launch date of Terror House Press, we’ll also be implementing more changes that you suggested. Stay tuned: the future is bright.