Self-publishing with a twist

‘Like a lot of people, I had always thought I’d like to write a book one day, writes subscriber Michael Church.

‘And for many, that’s all it remains – a dream. But fate intervened and led me to do something about it.

‘After spending my working life trying to keep my head above water, and battling mental illness, it took a boating accident to get me to devote more time to writing. During the ensuing months spent in hospital and rehab, I grew tired of reading (is that even possible?) and my thoughts turned to writing.

‘I have always enjoyed Roald Dahl’s Tales of The Unexpected, so I decided to try and write one myself. And I was surprised how well it turned out. That proved to be the spur which drove me on to write more.

‘By this time, we were into lockdown, which also helped to facilitate the writing process. I thoroughly enjoyed the plotting and planning to end up with the twists. At night, I would spend ages in bed trying to work things out in my overactive mind whilst waiting for sleep to come. Then the light would go on and I would scribble down notes before they were lost to the amnesia of sleep.

‘I eventually ended up with fifteen stories, which are all quite different and of varying lengths. So, there it was: I now had my first book – a book I’m really proud of.

‘Given that it can take a long time to find an agent and a publisher, and that I was an unknown author of a book of short stories, left me with only one option – to self-publish.

‘It’s still early days, yet; the book didn’t come out until the beginning of March this year. But it has already attracted some five-star reviews on Amazon, which I took as a validation of my arrival amidst the ranks of published authors.

‘I am now well into my next book, with lots of new ideas to explore.’