New Books Now Released!

Nick Castle's post publication pitch invasion

Despite a last minute hitch with the printers (a mix up of sitcom proportions - funny if we weren't the victims!), Show Some Respect and In Some Strange Way are now finished and available. It's been an exciting couple of months getting them ready for print - and then comes the agonising wait until the final product is in hand.

Nick Castle was first past the post with In Some Strange Way - his tale of supporting non-league Hinckley United. I couldn't help reading this as I was trying to format it all and Nick shares some great stories as well as reminding us that non-league football maintains many of those facets of football often regarded as "lost". Terraces, a pint, proximity to the players, obscure players and trialists, phoning the ground to see if the game is on. It all still exists, just not in the Premier League.In Some Strange Way is now available to buy from this site.

Chris Kirkham was motivated to write Show Some Respect from his experiences of coaching junior football. Chris shares some tales of his own as well as many he has researched. The book considers what is wrong and  how progress can be made, with constant reference to the FAs Respect campaign. More information can be found at www.showsomerespect.co.uk

Show Some Respect promo video

We're nearing completion of Show Some Respect - The Sound and the Fury of Junior Football. Here is a promo video for the book:

New Titles Coming Soon

The site may have been quiet for the last few weeks but plenty has been going on behind the scenes, with two books scheduled for the summer. Both are in the final stages of writing but as soon as they're ready to go, they will be available. That's how I like to do things - not pencil it in for six months later.

The next scheduled release is "Show Some Respect - The Sound and the Fury of Junior Football" by Chris Kirkham. As a qualified coach running a junior club, Chris has been looking at how the Respect campaign has affected football at that level. Chris has put hours of research in and it promises to be an eye opening read.

Next up we have "In Some Strange Way - Another Nine Month Sentence" in which Hinckley United fan Nick Castle gives us a insight into following a club in the Blue Square Conference North. Nick's got some great cover art and a draft front cover can be seen below:

Watch this space for release dates...

A thank you from Luke

I asked Luke Williamson, author of I Had a Wheelbarrow, if he'd write me a few words for the website. Here's what he said:

Luke being interviewed for the
Notts County website 

I first got in touch with Stewart in late January 2011 after a small publishing deal I had fell through. I was at a difficult stage at the time as I had a book more-or-less complete but suddenly without any support. However, from our first e-mail to release, little more than twelve weeks passed us by. The support and encouragement I received was fantastic the final product was excellent, so much so, Stewart became involved in its release as well. It can be quite daunting making those final steps across the finishing line but I fortunately had someone on hand to help me along the way and for that I will always have much respect and gratitude to Stewart.

His own book, ground opened up for him and the local press
swarming round - not a bad mornings work for Luke!

Thanks Luke. From my perspective, I've loved doing this project. A book I've really believed in and an author I've built a good rapport with. Sales are off to a steady start and its yet to hit the High Street or Amazon yet (official publication May 9th), so its a case of so far, so good.

Click here to buy I Had a Wheelbarrow

I Had a Wheelbarrow now available

After a white-knuckle ride with the printers, I Had a Wheelbarrow is now officially available. Initially, the book is available exclusively at the Notts County club shop, as well as on-line here and at www.ihadawheelbarrow.co.uk. The author Luke has had a busy week, being interviewed for the Notts County website and well as having a photo shoot with the Nottingham Post. Click here for an article on the book from the official Notts County website.The book will be released officially on May 8th 2011. Click the "Buy Now" button to buy direct...

£11.99 (Free P&P)

Watch this space!

In the next couple of weeks, I hope to be announcing publication details for "I Had A Wheelbarrow - a Fan's story of a Notts County adventure"

I'm really excited about the book's release and Luke (the author) and I are currently working on a few things to make the sure the book is as successful as it can be. Notts County are on board with the project and will be stocking "I Had a Wheelbarrow" in the club shop very soon. For more about the book and the author, go to http://www.ihadawheelbarrow.co.uk

February 2011 update

The big news for me this month was a favourable half-page review of Bad Worse Worst in When Saturday Comes. WSC are very thorough in their reviews and I've seen many a book politely slated by their reviewers. I escaped with just one sideswipe (about the editing) and a bit of praise - overall a good result.

In terms of publishing, I've been discussing a Notts County book with an author which will hopefully become part of the series sooner rather than later. The book is focussed around Notts' "Sven" season and I'm sure it will be a great read. Without the authors passion, the season would probably never be documented and become little more than a future pub question. Whether its released via me or not, its great that it exists and I look forward to reading it.

Another project gaining momentum is a book about the Respect campaign, focusing on junior football and the associated  parental (mis)behaviour - I'm sure that will contain some toe-curling anecdotes! The author is beavering away as we speak and hopefully it will see the light of day in the next few months.

Finally, I've started working on some artwork for the Hinckley book, with a brilliant team-photo supplied by author. Its a team group of painted lego men! I'll share it with you once I've done a bit more.

Bye for now,

Stewart

January 2011 Update

January has been quite an interesting month. After Christmas, New Year and back-to-work were all out the way,  a few interesting enquires started to come in. I think the feeling of "back to work" probably prompted a couple of people to dream of doing something different!

One of the enquiries was a compilation of football related poems. One of my main motivations for starting the series was to publish books that may not otherwise exist and this is a good example. Poetry books are notoriously difficult to find a publisher for, whilst football books generally have to have mainstream appeal. Combining football and poetry is quite unique, so even more reason to exist in my eyes. I'm actually working on a non-football poetry book for an acquaintance at the moment, so maybe I'm carving myself a niche!

Another enquiry was regarding a book on Czech football, written by an Englishman living in Prague. A long way from publication but there's some good ideas there. No such book currently exists so the author is keen to fill the gap.

Finally, I've had a glimpse of what I'm hoping will be the next publication in the series - a book on Hinckley United. The author has made a promising start and we're looking at publishing sometime during the summer if everything goes to plan. I'll post some excerpts as further progress is made (if the author agrees!)

Feel free to get in touch if you require any further information about anything you've seen on the site.

Cheers,

Stewart