After publishing books we’d generated ourselves, we began publishing other authors.  We’d got a reputation for making attractive, well-produced books, and we started experimenting with different non-fiction markets. Here are a few examples.

The five books in the Mersey Minis series included – as No.3, Longing – a book of new writing by both the famous and the never-before published. This was launched on Liverpool’s 800th birthday in August 2007, and we gave away 2,000 copies as our birthday gift to the city. The series was the brainchild of the editor, Deborah Mulhearn, and published by Capsica.

We made two brief sorties into the catering world. First, we were approached by Paul Heathcote, a highly successful Lancastrian chef and restaurateur with, I think, 15 excellent eateries around the North West. He’d written one cookery book and wanted to do another. The best of that job was scoffing the dishes once the photographer had finished snapping them. Yum. I continue to use several of Paul’s recipes in my lazy way. The polenta recipe goes down very well in Romania. We were then propositioned by an elderly Italian waiter whose passion was folding napkins. It was so weird that we couldn’t resist. We did a deal with a dry cleaning company for 12,000 books which paid all the costs, gave us a modest profit and gave the author three thousand books at no cost, to make 100% from every sale.

In 2008 I became ill and left the publishing business, Liverpool and the UK.