Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-27035584-20151002183646/@comment-26908800-20151016060646

I think comes down to effect, the more popular stories fit into the camp fire jump scare type of stories, you can include urban legend style stories into that category too. People like those stories, they are quick, they grab the reader, and they weird out people. They are also relatively easy to write and meet expectations easily, unless the story is too derivative.

The second kind are the more literary horror stories/weird fiction which appeal to the physical book reading crowd. Unfortunately that means those type of readers are less likely to spread the piece around on social media or get caught in long drawn out internet discussions.

I know in the publishing and writing world, different equals editor rejects, because publishing houses want the next hot young adult novel series. That type of writing lends itself to being formulaic and simple in structure. For example, take a look at Stephen King's early stuff, Cujo, Salem's Lot, the Night Shift short story collection. It is stuff that varried in structure and tone, which is exactly why it would not get published today.