So You Want to Write a Book?

Writing a book is easy. Getting it bought by the public is the hard part. Just when I thought I’d completed the task of researching, writing, editing and finding a publisher – I was then faced with the real challenge of getting people to read my work!

To give you an example, “From Handbags to Hand Grenades” was released in January 2025. Since then, I’ve repeatedly contacted over 800 media outlets from newspapers to TV – yet so far, all I’ve managed to do is secure just three interviews in obscure and hard to reach far corners of the British Isles.

I also have multiple social media profiles and make bi-monthly contributions to over 440 specially targeted groups to those who I think would like the book. After combining all the figures from each group I’m looking at a collective potential audience of roughly seven million views of my posts every two weeks. Yet, this again was slow on the uptake and all I seem to attract are hordes of fake marketing agents and scammers who try and offer me their services. It’s been a bit of a surprise with how little the overall response has been, and a very steep learning curve.

However, there is something positive in all of this. Despite the knockbacks, the mistakes I’ve made and the constant worry of whether I’ll make any money; I can be proud to say I’ve produced something out of nothing. And that something is now being read by others who are enjoying my work and leaving a string of five-star reviews across the board. I found out recently my book is being sold in multiple countries which was a real boost and has now recently become available in audio format – as well as Paperback and Kindle.

Promoting and selling is like a rollercoaster, full of highs and lows and you never know what’s coming around the corner. If someone had told me before I embarked on this three-year journey what I was going to be facing, then I may have had second thoughts. But here I am, and I’m glad that despite the difficulties faced, I’d say to anyone who’s thinking about doing this to go for it. The feeling of something tangible in your hand that you’ve created is like nothing in this world - even more so when you see that others are enjoying it too. It’s quite awesome and something I’d highly recommend. If this is one of your dreams in life, then you ought to give it a go.

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