Could you tell us a little bit about yourself?
I am a teacher, a profession
that is very fulfilling. Living in
Describe your book ‘Paperbats 1: Protectors of your
This first book
describes family of creatures known as Paperbats, and how a young boy called
Jack discovers these special secretive creatures in his local park. In the
latter part of the story, Grandpa Times tells young Sunny [and the readers] how
the Paperbats became made of paper.
What was the hardest part of writing your book?
I created and told my stories to my children
over many bedtimes. They are a very tough and critical audience to please. Any
faults, mistakes or monotony were quickly pounced upon and they made me change.
Many stories have sunk, maybe never to rise again! However they also gave me
ideas to add such as the pictures and colouring, so my ‘critics’ have been very
useful. I think all authors should have an initial ‘sounding board’ for their
book story ideas’. The hardest part to writing a book is not
therefore the story itself, but the need to persevere with its final completion
and publishing. This is a very tough road and in my own case took several years
– that’s another whole question in itself with many different responses from
your authors!
What books have had the greatest influence on you?
As a child, adolescent and
adult we read so many different books, whether for pleasure, work, education.
Many influence us in different ways. But for me at age eight, Gerald Durrell’s
autobiographical books instilled a love a reading, animals and conservation
into me. And at around 12 years old I remember being engrossed in
the works of C.S. Lewis. Finally over more recent years when reading stories to
my children, I found a lack of appropriate stories for 4 -7 year olds, and to
my surprise the popular Wombles stories were out of print. So I made stories
for my children which were ‘Womble-like’ in their wholesome nature.
Briefly share with us what you do to market your
book?
I have been taken aback by the positive response
for this first book over the past few months since I promoted the book. I
initially created a website where I highlighted the Paperbat books and
characters, using amongst other things the cleverly designed and user friendly
‘bookbuzzr’ widgets developed by Freado.com. I have recommended them to several
budding authors for marketing. I published the book via smashwords [with its
links to Amazon, ibook, Barnes & Noble], and offered this first book free,
to get interest, before now charging a small amount for the second book. I have
had several thousand downloads via several book publishing sites.
How do you spend your time when you are not
writing?
I enjoy my
work teaching, which gives me pleasure seeing students discover and learn new
things. A child’s mind is so creative, and I sometimes feel our world bashes
these fresh and creative ideas out of us as we get older. I also enjoy
travelling, from which gives me story ideas, as around the world tails from
many cultures can be so enlightening and enjoyable. Finally I am involved in
several animal conservation projects – fruit bats, to be precise. I have been
associated with the Durrell Trust, which is a world leading conservation zoo on
the
What are you working on next?
I have just finished my second Paperbat story book called ‘Metro Saves the Day’. This second Paperbats book and contains two more short stories for young children. In the first part, Herald discovers a fire, which is one the Paperbats greatest fears. With no park keepers around, the Paperbats try bravely to put it out themselves. Fortunately, Metro has invented something that can help. The second part sees the young twins, Metro and Tel, belatedly looking for a birthday present for their dad, Herald. Yet such a simple plan sees them getting into lots of trouble. I have already written, although not edited, a third book of the Paperbat series with new adventures for the Paperbat family, which I will offer a introductory sample on my web site and via Freado.com in the coming months.
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