We had the good fortune of connecting with Jason Henderson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jason, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
We started Castle Bridge Media with a series of short story collections called the Castle of Horror Anthology, named after the long-running Castle of Horror Podcast that I host. It’s a show where we talk classic horror and also interview directors, writers, actors and other creators.
I’ve been a professional writer for many years, publishing adult, middle grade, and YA novels, comic books, video game scripts– for a lot of really great companies like Marvel, EA, Activision, Macmillan, and HarperCollins. My partner In Churl Yo had been a writer and designer working in magazines for some really great brands. We had known one another since, no joke, we were in the fifth grade. And we decided that we’d like to create a publishing company where we could find and publish books and stories we were interested in. Most of all we wanted to treat writers the way we would like to be treated– with openness and honesty.

What should our readers know about your business?
Headquartered in Denver, Castle Bridge Media publishes books and podcasts. We’re the creator of the popular Castle of Horror Anthology series, which are horror collections, usually with themes like “Thinly Veiled 80s” or “Revenge” and we tend to release a new novel every six weeks or so.
What sets us apart is I think our responsiveness and transparency. It’s very, very hard to make a writing career, and we’re an independent publisher. But because we’re founded by writers, we want to treat writers the way they want to be treated. We want to answer your questions and let you the writer know what to expect, so we can be in this together.

The most exciting thing that’s happened is the response we’ve gotten– Castle Bridge Media titles like Castle of Horror Anthology: Revenge and our nonfiction titles Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter and Nightwalkers: Gothic Horror Movies have been bestsellers, and we’ve even optioned a number of titles for film, including a book I wrote, 18 Miles from Town.

One of my goals is to help writers find their voice and publish their work without getting ensnared in the traps that lay out there. There is a lot of information to pick up for any one writer, and you don’t know what you don’t know. So I always tell writers– even if your book or story doesn’t suit us for our list, I want to help you not get ripped off. So feel free to come to me if you have an offer and you don’t understand it or want a second opinion. For instance, no publisher should charge you a fee. Traditional publishers only let money flow towards the author, you never take money from an author– for advertising, for editing, what have you. You can pay a publisher for copies but never for publishing services– the publisher is supposed to make its money by selling the book. It may not be much money! But it needs to come from sales, not from the author.
If you have a “genre” book, definitely submit to us!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a big fan of easy hikes and easy vibes. Because I’m in South Suburban Denver, I’d want to go hit the driving range at the Lone Tree Golf Club, and then maybe hike somewhere beautiful but not challenging– Castlewood Canyon or the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) trails in Boulder, followed by the mini-museum at NCAR. For movies, I really recommend the home of Denver film, Sie Filmcenter on Colfax, especially if Theresa Mercado of the film distributor Vinegar Syndrome is hosting one of her monthly “Scream Screen” events. The Alamo Drafthouse in Littleton, meanwhile, is still the king of the filmgoing experience, with amazing pre-shows and menus.
And I absolutely wouldn’t let my friends escape without stopping by my favorite bookstore, Fahrenheit’s Books on Broadway, which is a great place to find the kind of vintage stuff I like, like original Dark Shadows books or original Michener paperbacks.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Castle Bridge Media is made possible by the efforts of over a hundred different writers scattered across the globe, writing books and short stories in the thriller, horror, fantasy, nonfiction and science fiction genres.
We couldn’t have made it without advice from Kevin J Anderson of Colorado Springs– Kevin is a best-selling author and publisher at Colorado-based Wordfire Press, who do amazing work. I am so grateful to him. And we got huge support for our nonfiction books from Vinegar Syndrome and Archive Colorado.

We’re also hugely thankful to the University of Colorado in Boulder for the amazing CU Interns we have gotten to work with. They are always challenging and inquisitive.

And each one of our writers is as kind as they all are talented. But my greatest thanks go to the partners of the partners– Julia Guzman-Henderson and Rachel Yo. They put up with the fact that running a publishing company takes up our nights and weekends, and we’re always thinking about it.

Website: https://castlebridgemedia.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/castle_bridge_media_publisher/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/castlebridgemedia

Image Credits
All covers designed by In Churl Yo, publisher and designer, Castle Bridge Media

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