Standing on a beach one day, I had a great idea for a poem so I wrote it down. Then I had a few more great ideas and wrote those down too. I thought to myself about writing a book of poetry, but knew how difficult it was to get published. I tried the usual routes, sent manuscripts to publishers and waited for the replies, which were all the same - 'Not looking at this time', 'interested but limited', etc. I knew I couldn't roll over and give up on this, so I designed a book at home and printed one side of the pages off. Then I turned the paper over in the printer and printed the other side off...
After designing a very simple cover, I got hold of some card for £2.99 (which wasn't quite square) and printed a few covers off. I experimented with how to put the pages and cover together, finding that stapling would not be an option. The only way to marry the two up would be to hand stitch them. To achieve this, I also had to fold each page individually, push a thumb tack through the pages and then stitch the books.
The whole process took about an hour per book, so after working all day I would come home, print some pages, fold them and then stitch them. A night's work left me with around four books, which I sold for £3.50 to friends. I knew I could self-publish, but I couldn't afford the printing fees and continued on in this way for the best part of two years. By this time I had sold a few copies and written another book of poetry.
Eventually I found a printer that was cost effective enough, so set upon the admin required to set up Lyvit Publishing. When the printer was in place I found £3.50 would give me less than no return, but the books I was now selling were professionally printed and bound. I set up Lyvit online and added a shop, allowing me to sell my books anywhere in the world. I had also taken on Dave Coad's book, "Vibrant Eons", by this time, so the online shop had a total of two books for sale. Both of these had been produced in the same way from my home PC, but both were now published and shelf-worthy.
Since then, Lyvit Publishing has produced thriteen books by five authors and a book by a local school. This is where we see ourselves today, with a MI77OR IM46ES gallery and a new, indie vision.
After designing a very simple cover, I got hold of some card for £2.99 (which wasn't quite square) and printed a few covers off. I experimented with how to put the pages and cover together, finding that stapling would not be an option. The only way to marry the two up would be to hand stitch them. To achieve this, I also had to fold each page individually, push a thumb tack through the pages and then stitch the books.
The whole process took about an hour per book, so after working all day I would come home, print some pages, fold them and then stitch them. A night's work left me with around four books, which I sold for £3.50 to friends. I knew I could self-publish, but I couldn't afford the printing fees and continued on in this way for the best part of two years. By this time I had sold a few copies and written another book of poetry.
Eventually I found a printer that was cost effective enough, so set upon the admin required to set up Lyvit Publishing. When the printer was in place I found £3.50 would give me less than no return, but the books I was now selling were professionally printed and bound. I set up Lyvit online and added a shop, allowing me to sell my books anywhere in the world. I had also taken on Dave Coad's book, "Vibrant Eons", by this time, so the online shop had a total of two books for sale. Both of these had been produced in the same way from my home PC, but both were now published and shelf-worthy.
Since then, Lyvit Publishing has produced thriteen books by five authors and a book by a local school. This is where we see ourselves today, with a MI77OR IM46ES gallery and a new, indie vision.