Meet the Team: Helen Blakeman and Chris Arnold
Each month, we’ll be shining a spotlight on members of the Heroic team, exploring their role within the company and their background in the creative or publishing industries. This month, we speak to Heroic’s co-founders, Helen Blakeman and Chris Arnold, to learn about the inspiration behind Heroic and their plans for the coming year.
First off, what motivated you to co-found Heroic Books?
Helen Blakeman: I’m a screenwriter and playwright, so writing and creativity are vital to me. But I’ve also produced my own work, and have always been keen to start my own company. For me, Heroic is joining those elements — putting words and creativity at the heart of everything we do. Meeting Chris was a shared meeting of minds and vision. Both of us wanted these elements to be served equally and so the motivation for Heroic Books was born.
Chris Arnold: My ultimate ambition was always to become a full-time writer of fantasy novels but, before getting to that, my journey included founding a number of businesses, including Smaller Earth Group and World Merit. I met Helen just a year ago, after I’d stepped back from the running of my businesses and charity, and her drive and determination immediately matched my own. In creating Heroic together, we each bring unique strengths and experiences to the table, as well as the drive to build a new model in contemporary publishing.
What sets Heroic Books apart from other publishers?
HB: Heroic is a transmedia publisher. That’s what makes us different. As a writer myself, when I read, I envisage the whole 360 of a book. Would it make a good TV show, a game, a movie? Heroic is served by great media industry connections via my background in TV & film, which we intend to utilise to bring our authors’ work to as wide an audience as possible.
CA: Now more than ever, there are lots of ways to innovate within the publishing industry. Traditional publishing is adapting to fast-changing tech and media worlds, and Heroic is at the cutting edge of those developments. We have a team with strong, traditional experience but we also want to use modern practices to best-serve our authors and readers.
“In creating Heroic together, we each bring unique strengths and experiences to the table, as well as the drive to build a new model in contemporary publishing.”
What exciting things can we expect in the coming year?
HB: We’re hard at work on the development of our debut titles, so you can watch out for some exciting announcements soon. As well as that, we’re currently open for submissions of fantasy and science fiction novels, and we’re busy building lots of exciting elements for Heroic behind the scenes.
CA: We’re excited to be able to announce our debut authors very soon! But until then, we are in the process of developing a digital, on-demand platform which will be the global home of fantasy and science-fiction for those with vast imaginations — and we can’t wait to share it with you.
To find out more about our Heroic co-founders, Helen and Chris, head to heroicbooks.com/people
And if you’re a fantasy or science fiction novelist and you’re looking for a platform for publication, visit heroicbooks.com/manuscript to read our guidelines and submit your work.
