Dear Abyss...

 September 2026

Dear Abyss,

The summer fair went very well, I even sold a Christmas book, which is always a bonus in the summer months. I have sold my Christmas book in every month of the year, so they’re always worth putting out throughout the year. I have also been invited back to the library’s Christmas fair, so that is booked in, and something to look forward to.

I am happy to see the end of the summer heat waves (at least I hope so), and now we head into autumn, the perfect time to snuggle up with a book. Or maybe the season to publish and launch a book…

Bye for now

AMS

Dear Abyss, there has been a hiccup...

 August 2026

Dear Abyss,

There has been a hiccup. The printer who has done such an excellent job printing my previous books is sadly no longer printing, leaving me looking for a new printer for my book. I want this book out in time for the Christmas markets, so hopefully I will find a printer soon.

In the meantime, I have a summer fair to attend at Clifton Library in York on Saturday 15^th August. I’ll be gathering my books together and taking them out to find new homes at a book signing. Please pop in if you are in the area!

 

Self Publishing To Do List

 July 2026

Dear Abyss, 

There has been progress! 

I made myself a to do list to try and order my thoughts and get this project over the finish line. Here is my to do list, and as you can see there are more ticked than tasks still to do:

To do list
• Write book  ✔
• Illustrate book ✔
• Edit book ✔
• Write blurb ✔
• Rewrite… ✔
• Make cover ✔
• Write dedication
• Purchase ISBN ✔
• Get print quote
• Set price
• Register book with Nielsen
• Take files to printer
• Breath

So at the moment I’m waiting for a print quote, and having a bit of downtime before the next step, because otherwise I would plod on without a break and become frazzled. And there’s plenty of time to get frazzled further down the line…

Bye for now
AMS

Self Publishing UK where to buy my books

 Self publishing

The hardest part is selling online

In my self publishing journey I’ve tackled many obstacles, most of them technical ones, and the one that still remains the hardest is selling online. Most of my books have been sold direct to customers at book signings and fairs.

Book signings at many different venues, from book shops and libraries, to swimming pools and at the dentist… so you’d think that sitting at a computer would be an easier option, and yet online sales remain my nemesis.

·        I’ve tried ebay, where I came up against repeat listing charges.

·         I’ve tried Etsy, where I sold a few, as well as a few sheep…  

·        I’ve had my own website, both with a shop and with links to mainstream book sellers, but again only sold a few.

 

So what next?

Let’s have a bash at linking to a well known book seller from my blog! So here goes, because if one thing doesn’t go quite to plan it’s just a sign to do a U-turn and try something else.   

Here are a couple of linked book covers to get the ball rolling:

Dear Abyss... hot tip for today

Lost in a Book UK

 June 2026

Dear Abyss,

Is a project ever really finished, or do we at some stage just need to call it a day? I’ve just looked in my draft bin file, and there are many versions of my work in progress, why? Because when editing a book, it is a good idea to save the different versions as you go along, rather than just saving and overriding the old version, that way if it all goes to pot, there is always the previous version to fall back on. Of course these files soon mount up, so filing them into a draft bin puts them out of sight and out of mind, safely waiting for if they are needed.

So that is my hot tip for today:

Save old versions of work, and file them into a draft bin in case they are needed to save the day in case of major disaster.

 What major disaster could possibly happen during formatting you might wonder? Well for one thing, a new format can send illustrations scrambling to hide behind each other. Can they be found? Yes, probably… but sometimes it can be easier to just go back to the last time everything worked, illustrations can be very good at hiding.

Dear Abyss, Picture book brewing

 May 2026
Dear Abyss,

It seems that the closer the book comes to being finished, the more bits and pieces I find I need to adjust or add. I’ve painted a whole new picture for the final page, as the original was not quite right.

The cover is almost finished, putting pictures and words together in adobe, and I learnt a few new things as I went along. It seems every time I produce a new book I learn some new things; I’m still playing with some fancy word art to bring the story to life even more. At some point soon I’m going to have to stop playing and get this project finished.

Bye for now

AMS

Dear Abyss ...journey of a self publish book UK

 April 2026

Dear Abyss,

The book is finished (I think), now for all the bits that need adding after the book is finished…

The title page: 

The title is there and my name and publishing imprint name is at the bottom of the page. It still needs an illustration, which may be a version of the cover picture, which I have yet to do. 

The title page verso: 

On the reverse side of the title page, the title page verso is where the copyright information goes, along with publication date and ISBN, which I have yet to apply for, as I have already used all ten of my ISBNs and need a new stock.

The blurb: 

A first draft of the blurb is already written, and will go on the back cover of the book.

The cover: 

The cover is the first thing any prospective reader will see, so it needs to grab attention and convey what to expect inside, as well as a clear title.

So my next job is the cover.

Bye for now

AMS

Dear Abyss, The book is finished, I think... sharing the journey of building a picture book.

 March 2026

Dear Abyss,

The book is finished, I think… all the words and pictures seem to be getting along, so I’ve closed the book (file), and come out from under my rock to have a play with technology.

We’ve already had false spring, and now we seem to be dipping back into winter again, …resisting the temptation to go back into hibernation here, but with a theme of sleep, there is a good deal of yawning involved, from the characters and the author. I really must write something more lively, but it is a bedtime story, so I’m probably on the right track with yawning… zzzz

Bye for now

AMS

Self Publishing in the UK sharing the journey... again

February 2026
February and it’s still raining…

So how is the book coming along?

It’s so very nearly there, and so tempting to just get it finished, but there are some illustrations that don’t quite click as I format them into the book; words and pictures having their usual argy bargy as they settle onto the page together. And I know from experience that this is the easiest time to make any alterations, or even do a new picture, because nothing is yet set in place, things can still shuffle around or be replaced without too much trouble. So it’s back to the drawing board with a couple of pictures.

The theme of the book is sleep, or lack of it, and as the characters yawn their way through their story it’s hard not to join them. zzzz

January 2026

It’s January, and it’s raining…

So… here we are in a new year, well 22 days into a new year if we’re counting. But can we really count days that never seem to get properly light? I think bears have the right idea; we did the gathering of food and stuff ready for Christmas, so now we should be hibernating and living off the stuff we gathered (or just sleeping).

So how is the book coming along?

I think the characters may have gone into hibernation after being neglected over Christmas, certainly the paint brushes had forgotten how to paint! But during these dark days of January the paint has started to flow again, the cogs of the imagination are turning slowly and the characters are coming back out to play…

 

  

Tis the season, well the season to be getting ready for the season at least

Tis the season, well the season to be getting ready for the season at least.

I have two Christmas fairs booked in and around York and will give more details nearer the time. Christmas is a big time for gifts and what better gift than a book! So it is the time of year when I gather my books and a pen, and go out into the world to encourage as many people as possible that mine are the perfect books to wrap and give this season.

And also: the picture book is still brewing, technology has not been my friend this week, and just when I thought I had the upper hand with the new scanner, it had other ideas and decided it didn’t want to send pictures to the file I wanted them in, and would much rather save in a different file type to the one I need. So I’m going to be having another play with the scanner once I’ve finished here, and get the pictures I want, where I want them…

Never a dull moment in self publishing…

 

Books don’t write themselves, they are often dragged kicking and screaming to the finish line.

 Picture book brewing!

September finds me knee deep in paint.

 

There is still a picture book brewing, and at this point I have to remind myself that
books don’t write themselves, they are often dragged kicking and screaming to the finish line. There is always a technical issue of some kind; in this case it has been a dead scanner. I battled with the old scanner to no avail, before giving in to the inevitable and buying a shiny new one.

Shiny new things can often be very nice, but in the case of technology I find that new usually means different, and that means working out how to get the new appliance to do what I want it to do, but we have now come to an agreement, and seem to be speaking the same language.

A few draft scans have been done and inserted into the text of the book, so the first draft is now taking shape and the magic of pictures and words merging together to tell a story has begun…

When spinning plates fall...

 It seems that spinning plates was not the best way forward… they all came crashing down and are now going down with the sinking ship that was my website. And why did I allow my website to sink, well, because the shop was an expensive experiment that didn’t bring in the sales I had hoped for. And so for now I’m settling back into my blogger account, where I’ve shared so many of the ups and downs over my years in writing, illustrating and self publishing.

So what is next? I have a book finish! There I’ve said it, so it will have to come true because I am nothing if not stubborn, and I have a gem of a story to tell… The characters are a little different, and consequently harder to pin down into illustrations, especially as drawing is not my first language, but they are well on the way, and now that I’m not spending so much time playing with my website, I have more time to bring this project to a finish line.

The hardest thing about self publishing is having to do everything myself, and sometimes a writer just needs to write, and draw, and paint… and figure out why the scanner no longer scans… OK that feels like more than enough to be going on with, I’ll see you all at the other end of the paint box.

Crash! What was that you might ask? Well it was the sound of plates falling, plates that I am supposed to be spinning...

 Crash!

What was that you might ask? Well it was the sound of plates falling, plates that I am supposed to be spinning, but frankly it is hard to paint illustrations while spinning plates, so a few of them have crashed to the floor, making a dreadful mess behind the counter in my online bookshop. So, as I crunch around on the broken crockery I see that my website has become invisible, and as invisibility is not the best way for a shop to make sales, I’m here sweeping up the broken plates and setting some new ones off spinning.

So if you have just come across my website, and are wondering what the circus act is all about, well, may I redirect you to my shop, where all is calm and the books are waiting to be browsed at your leisure.

There are picture books, bursting characters and colour. There are early reader chapter books where words and picture come alive and jump off the page… and one for the animal lovers… the real life story of how I became outnumbered by cats.

Crash – oh no. there we go again.

Self Publishing is all about stubborn

 Self Publishing is all about being stubborn… why?

·        As a self publisher you’ve likely already come up against some sort of barrier in traditional publishing: not securing an agent, not finding a publisher to publish your work, or simply decided not to send any more work out to squelch about in a slush pile.

·        Finding out that writing the story is not the end of the process, there are more skills to learn: editing, formatting, illustrating and making all of this stick into a memory stick to send to a printer.

·        Then there’s the promotions and marketing, and generally getting the word out there, about the amazing new book that you now have to sell.

·        There are websites, and blogs and a whole host of ways to get a book noticed online.

·        And pretty soon you realise that writing the book is just the beginning, and learning curves keep hitting you, sharper and steeper than you thought possible. The sense of achievement at rising to each new challenge is amazing, but also exhausting.

So what keeps a self publisher going? Sheer stubbornness and an unshakable belief in the book or books, that have to find their way out of the boxes and into the hands of readers…

So that’s where I’m at, feeling exhausted but stubbornly carrying on…

Self Publishing in the UK sharing the journey

 

Self publishing is all about spinning plates.

I’m currently spinning the plate of my work in progress. I’ve formatted the book, to give me a clear view of the illustrations I need, and where they will fit into the story.

I now have a lot of sketches and paintings of my characters in various poses and interactions, and just need to finalise the pictures that will make it into the finished book. Then there’ll be the usual argy bargy as words and pictures come together, working in perfect harmony to create a picture book. Some of the words may have to shuffle a bit to let the pictures in, to tell their share of the story, creating the magic of a picture book.  

 

I’m also spinning the website plate: keeping up with content for my website, and thinking of ways to bring people into my online bookshop. So if you’re reading this please pop along and browse the books, they’re all waiting to go out into the world, tell their stories and find new homes.

 

Turning minor disasters into picture books

The Puppy in the Cat Carrier

Minor disasters happen all the time, but life’s little mishaps make great scenes in picture books, the messier the better.

A rolling dog is very annoying and smelly. Even if you don’t at first notice the smell, the flies soon will… and as you continue your walk, wondering where that awful smell is coming from, and why it seems to be following you home, your first thought may not be to sit down and do a quick sketch. But this is the sort of minor disaster that makes a wonderful scene in a picture book, even if it does bring back unpleasant memories as you draw the picture.

Getting knocked over is another scenario that doesn’t instantly feel inspirational. While sitting on the ground, assessing if limbs are still all pointing the right way, and giving an excited puppy the sort of look that conveys, even to him, that he should probably stop running around with the hat that fell off with the impact of the landing. And just maybe shaking the hat until it was dead, may not be the best idea, although the flying strands of wool would suggest that it was already too late for the pompom.

But it wasn’t all disasters, there was the joy of watching a tiny puppy grow and grow, until he grew into himself…

And all this from a puppy who came into the family masquerading as a cat, you’ll just have to read the book to see how that went.

The Blurb:

“Orphaned puppies” they said. “Won’t get very big” they said…

But has he really been mistaken for a cat? 

And if he’s not a cat, then what breed of dog can he be?

He just keeps getting bigger and bigger until…

Book Dedication: (and a little insight into the story behind the book)

For Kim, who persuaded me to “come and see the puppies”, though in truth I only actually ‘met’ one. The others were being carried around in the peripheries, working their own magic.

For Finley, I’m not sure who chose who, but when the moment came to hand you back, no one was letting go, though no one quite knew why. So we took you home and loved you, not really knowing what you would turn into, or when you’d stop growing.

For Phil, for putting up fencing, and then more fencing…

For Jessica, Mitchell, Fraiser, Rosie and Willow; Finley hopes you’ll all carry on dropping food and playing, but mostly the food bit! (Except for greens… you’re on your own with them.)

For the cats, for learning to live with a dog. 

32 page full colour picture book.

IBSN 978-0-9560232-9-2

New Picture Book Brewing - the writing and illustration process

 New Picture Book Brewing

In order not to give too much away, I’m calling my characters A, B and C. They’re not your usual characters and came about by turning a story on its head and looking at it from a different angle – do I have your interest? I hope so, because I’m very excited about this story. As in many picture books it’s written to entertain the adult reader as well as the child it’s being read to, because that is the joy of a good picture book, to entertain multiple age groups.

So what is the hold up with this book? Well as the characters are quite unusual, they’re also putting up some opposition when trying to get the right look for them, and as for characters 1 and 2, they’re proving even harder to pin down into an illustration. Character 3 is a lot easier to draw, and 3 is all ready, and getting impatient with the rest of the cast of the book.

So how are they progressing? There are sketches, many, many sketches, and some of them might even go for a walk through the paint box, next they’ll have a lie down in the scanner, well they would, if the scanner was working… once scanned they can be formatted together with the text to work their magic, words and pictures in perfect harmony, creating a picture book.

So off I tootle to get on with the illustrations.

Meanwhile, there’s a book sale going on in my bookshop, so please pop along for a browse.

 

 

Hi, welcome to my blog, which goes back for quite a few years now, through all the trials and tribulations of creating my books and self publishing. I've overcome many hurdles to get to this point, but the biggest hurdle of all seems to be online sales, so if you're reading this, maybe you'd like to follow the link in the picture above, right into my online bookshop, where there's a sale on right now. Have a rummage around and meet the books, all lined up and ready to be personally signed and sent out to new homes. 

Bringing the personal touch of a book signing to a wider audience. You'll find me behind the counter, working on the next book, which is taking shape in fits and starts. I'm working on the illustrations, still in half a mind to send it out to a few more agents before self publishing, just because it would be nice to share some of the process of getting books into the hands of readers.

Picturebook Brewing

 There’s a picturebook brewing, the words have assembled, shuffled and assembled again – several times. The pictures are gathering, filling more and more sketch books. Paint has been introduced, and splashed about. 

The scanner has been… well that is where the process has ground to a halt. The scanner was plugged into the laptop, nothing happened. Different cables were tried, troubleshooting tried and failed. Things were turned off and turned on again…

Anyway, while technology is sitting there idle, I’m getting on with the illustrations, so that once the scanner is fixed, or replaced, I will have artwork to scan.

Every book throws up some problems along the way, but the ten books already in my online bookshop are testament to the fact that it can and will be done.