w o r d s m i t h
MY BOOKS
Ultimately, the reason for this website existing at all is to support my writing endeavours. All my books are available in both paperback and digital formats, and can be found on Amazon and Kindle sites worldwide, iBookstore, Barnes & Noble, and many other sellers, as well as directly from the publisher I use, which is Lulu.com
Each of my books has a dedicated page on this website, where you will find some information on what each book is about, as well as the relevant ISBN numbers. I've also written a "Story Behind The Story" article for each book, which has some background information on what inspired each story and what (or who) motivated me to write it.
Finally, each of the pages also contain the text of any reviews that I've recieved - whether they are good or bad. I may be a spin-doctor by trade, but when it comes to my own work, I want to be upfront and honest. We've all got different tastes, different opinions, different likes and dislikes, so it's highly unlikely that any author is going to create something that is universally loved. I have no reservations about reproducing reviews, good or bad, as I fully appreciate that my own writing style and sense of humour will not necessarily be everybody else's cup of tea (although it is, of course, much better to receive positive reviews than negative).
Clicking on the cover images, below, will take you to each of my book pages, or you can access them through the drop-down menu from the 'Books' button on the main menu bar.
Click on any of the book cover images below to take you to the specific page for each of my books.
BUY MY BOOKS
All my books are available in paperback and digital formats.
You can order them directly from the website of the company I use to publish my books, www.lulu.com.
They can also be found on Amazon, Kindle, iBookstore, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Scribd. and many others.
Coming soon (ish)...
Self-publishing - my story
Like many aspiring authors, the 'dream' was to send my 'three chapters' plus synopsis to some publishers/agents carefully chosen via the Writer's & Artist's Yearbook, then be asked to send the full manuscript, and then to be awarded a lucrative publishing contract, that would enable me to quit the day job and earn a living from my writing, the icing on the cake being to walk into any local bookshop and find my paperback on the shelf.
Several of my books did go to publishers and agents. Many an enquiry received no reply at all. Others received polite 'thanks but no thanks' rejections. My earliest ideas around a Doctor Who parody did result in a fairly short email exchange with a publisher (Gollancz), but they were concerned at my initial ideas of - perish the thought - turning the title character into a woman!
A few years later I got over-excited when an agent told me he had enjoyed reading the first three chapters of The Big One and wanted me to send him the entire manuscript, which I did. The outcome of that was that, while he told me he had enjoyed the whole book very much, he felt it was 'too English' to be able to market internationally, and therefore he was not inclined to represent me as, presumably, I would not turn into a Rowling-esque cash cow.
What I didn't want to do - mainly because I couldn't afford it - was go down the 'vanity publishing' route, paying hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds to have a limited quantity of my books published for me to sell/give away as I see fit. Somehow, that would be 'cheating'.
Time went on, and then the forthcoming 50th anniversary of one of my favourite TV shows, Doctor Who, in November 2013, prompted me to resurrect my parody idea. Not only did I think I might cash in on the anniversary, but I thought there is a 'captive audience' of sci-fi fans, which might make my book attractive to a publisher.
Again, the rejections came. But the difference now, of course, was that this was now the 'digital age'. It was another author who suggested I look at a self-publishing website called Lulu.com. I looked at it, and, in short, I've never looked back. Through Lulu, my books are available worldwide in paperback and digital formats. And it doesn't break the bank to do it, either. If you can design your own covers, then the ONLY financial commitment is to buy - at a heavily reduced rate - ONE paperback copy of every book I publish, as a proof-reading copy. Of course, if I want more copies, I can buy as many as I want (all discounted!).
Of course, I make very little money from each book; Lulu take a share, the likes of Amazon take a bit, and then it's up to me how much I charge on top of that, but clearly I don't want to charge £20 for a paperback, because no one will ever buy it. And as much as I would love to live the dream of being able to sit at home and write all day, it was more important to me to get my work 'out there' and see if I could attract some interest, and perhaps generate some positive reviews.
So, in October 2014, I finally got to fulfill at least part of my childhood dream, by holding in my hand a paperback book written by myself, which was available for people to buy all over the world. My personal experience of Lulu has been excellent and if anyone else out there thinks they've got a book in them, and wants to self-publish without taking out a second mortgage, I highly recommended Lulu.