Chris Eboch

      Did you know that it takes a couple of years to publish a book, even after it's written and a publisher says they'll put it out? It's just a bunch of words on paper, right, so what's the big deal? But an editor has to read it and tell the author all the things to change. And then a copy editor looks for bad grammar and spelling mistakes. The art director has to design a cover, and get an illustrator to do the picture. Then there's the printing and getting it in the catalog and everything.
      Even picking out a title was this huge thing. I mean, the author had a title, then a new TV show came out with the same name. So the author and editor and marketing people went through this huge list of names, trying to find one that sounded good and wasn't already taken. Ghost this and Haunted that.
      The author even went to the thesaurus to find a list of spooky words: Illusion, specter, supernatural, apparition, paranormal, phantom, shadow, spirit, wraith, demon, poltergeist, spook, ghoul. Yeah, most of them would be pretty bad in a series title.
      In the end, the name was simple – Haunted. I like it. Because that's what it's all about – our haunted world. Visiting haunted places, and being haunted by a whole bunch of weird ghosts.
      Using Haunted as the series title had a funny side effect, though. The first book was called The Haunted Hotel. But it sounds funny to say Haunted: The Haunted Hotel. So then we went through the whole big debate again, to come up with a different title for book 1.
      The story is about this crazy ghost who got abandoned on her wedding night, and still haunts the hotel wearing her wedding dress. But "The Ghost Bride" sounded too girly, and nothing else felt quite right. I'm the one who suggested The Ghost on the Stairs. That's where she shows up, after all. And I like how it sounds kind of mysterious. Like, what's she doing there?
      Haunted: The Ghost on the Stairs. Sounds good, doesn't it?