Hi, and welcome to the Book Stewards.
Do you have a burning idea for a great book, but wonder whether anyone wants to read it?
Do you sometimes struggle to find the time, motivation or energy to be creative?
Do you abandon first drafts when inspiration fails you?
Do you fear that you don’t have the connections, experience or knowledge needed to break into the publishing world?
Do you wonder how you should publish: agent or Amazon? Smashwords or small press? Big 5 or Indie?
If so, this site is here to help. The world of publishing is complicated, ever-changing, and full of tall tales, insider knowledge, and a bewildering array of choices. The art of writing is creative, emotional, laborious, and dependent on mercurial muses and financial uncertainty. Navigating a book from idea to shelf is a formidable task.
Our goal is to help by writing out the things we have learned in witty and insightful blog posts, so that you don’t have to make the same mistakes as us.
If you would like more tailored publishing advice, Teika is available for consultancy work. Feel free to get in touch with her via the contact page to discuss your needs.
Teika Bellamy
Teika founded and managed the Nottinghamshire-based small press, Mother’s Milk Books, from 2011-2020. In the nine years that she managed the press, she published a number of critically acclaimed and prize-winning books. Now an Editor-at-Large at the independent publishing house, Valley Press, she is always on the lookout for talented writers.
A popular speaker and sought-after writing coach, Teika has been invited to chair and sit on many conference panels. She’s also facilitated workshops for organizations such as Nottingham Writers’ Studio, Swanwick Writers’ Summer School and Writing School East Midlands, amongst others. She spends much of her week helping writers along the path to publication, and in spare moments she writes as well.
Tom Bellamy
Tom is an academic neuroscientist at the University of Nottingham, with an interest in the psychology of motivation, productivity and self-discipline. He has published numerous scientific papers, book chapters, and abstracts, on esoteric aspects of neurophysiology, but also writes for fun.