From our own James Longmore on the creation of HellBound Books!!!
Welcome to my first - won’t be the last, I promise - snippet of wisdom for the HellBound Books Publishing (LLC, everything’s done right here - possibly a future strapline?) blog!
Okay, so why HellBound Books, and why on earth another independent horror publisher?
Firstly, the name is in homage to one of my all-time literary heroes, Clive Barker; Hellraiser (my all-time favorite movie) was adapted from his novella, The Hellbound Heart, plus there’s the delightful connotation of ‘bound’, which pertains not only to direction, but also to the manufacture of books - pretty damn neat, eh?
Secondly, why would you, the reader, want another indie horror imprint? Well, there is a vast, untapped wealth of horror writing talent out there, and not everyone lands that coveted contract with Simon and Schuster on their first outing. So, it is up to we Indie Publishers out there to bring them out of the dark, murky shadows and into the light where their work may be discovered by you, the Great Reading Public! It’s not as if your average, everyday writer of horror and dark things is amassing vast wealth from their labor of love, most hold down day jobs and tap out their most nefarious thought under cover of the night, when children and spouses are safely tucked up in their beds and houses lay quiet as the grave - somewhat fitting, don’t you think?
But, with your muchly appreciated support, Dear Reader, they may earn a few bucks, but most importantly of all, the confidence in their words and the motivation to keep on going, because, after all, even King, Barker, Laymon, Lovecraft, Poe et al had to start somewhere!
Throw in our very own radio show (The New Panic Room, live Thursday nights, past shows on iTunes and our YouTube channel0- where you get to hear the very best independent authors in the (almost) flesh, and the HellBound Books pioneering App (grab yours from Apple or Google stores now!) which resolutely plops the very best indie horror in the palm of your hand and you can see why HellBound Books is a company that we are incredibly proud of.
You’ll be hearing more from me over the coming months, - our awesome blog manager will see to that - and now that my sales pitch is out of the way, I will take great delight in having the opportunity to address the questions that all non-writers (muggles, we call ‘em) are never too scared to ask...
