As I’m considering my first author newsletter, here is a bit about me.

For anyone who might be interested in my newsletter or work.

I went to a school where writing 5000 words was a punishment in detention. I always wrote over 5000 on whatever weird subject title they gave me. At that time, I didn’t know I wanted to be a writer. In those days, I also read an awful lot in any genre I could get my hands on. Then I left school, joined the Royal Navy and forgot for a while about writing and reading. Then, when I was around twenty years old, I had a fantasy book idea. I scribbled down all my notes, but then work hit me again, and I lost those notes. But I had the bug. I bought a typewriter (yes, I’m that old) and a bucket of correction fluid and wrote my first book. I tied the pages together with string, and that was my first book submission. It came back with no publisher picking it up. I’m not surprised now, really. I still have it – old, now yellowed pages and bound by the original string through punch holes.

I carried on writing, but I had RPGs in my head, so my work was pretty much YA adventures in fantasy. I still have a few of those in my back catalogue – some finished, most not. I’ve lost a few over the years even though I use a laptop now.

Then I took it seriously – I’d just been relying on luck until then until 2018 (55 years old). I wrote two books with a view to traditional publishing: titles are Hex and Druid Destroyer of Worlds. I had Druid Destroyer of Worlds professionally reviewed, and it got a review that was acceptable, but the criticisms annoyed me. So, I changed my style and approach and wrote two more books with a view to self-publishing. They are on Amazon KDP – The Guardian of Magic and The Power of a Connected. Both were professionally copy-edited and proofread before publishing. The covers and formatting were also professionally done, and each took circa £2,500 to get them ready for KDP, and that was just for the professional services and not for my time and effort.

I was working then and so had a usable budget. Now, in 2025, I’m retired and have no real budget to speak of, but I’m still giving it a go. My next fantasy book is due on KDP, self-published, in late 2025 (at the latest, early 2026). It’s finished, but I’m putting it through the professional services before publishing.

My only advice, and I cannot say my regret, is that if you want to be a writer or an artist, commit to it young and keep persevering. The road is difficult, and the markets are swamped and tough, but if it’s in your soul, let it out and believe, even if it’s just for yourself.