Self-Publishing My Children's Books

I really struggled at school and, at eight years old, I was sent to an all-girls convent school where I was taught by nuns - it was strict, scary and very tough for someone who wasn’t very academic. I'd sit at the back of class wondering what was going on while all the other girls were putting their hands up to answer questions that I had no idea about, and nobody seemed to care.

Then, one day in my English lesson, we were asked to write about the 1987 hurricane that had happened a few nights before. I went home, thought about it and wrote every detail down about that night and what I had experienced. A few days later, my teacher took me to one side and told me how amazing my story was and that it had totally taken her to where I was that night.

From that day onwards, I dreamed up stories, wrote poetry and always believed that I would one day have my own book published. In April 2013, I did just that.

I wrote Harriet the Hedgehog for my twin nieces who, at four years old, were diagnosed with leukaemia within a week of each other. The book is about a hedgehog that doesn’t have any spikes, and so is afraid to go out and see how the other hedgehogs might react to her. When I wrote Harriet the Hedgehog, I was doing a creative writing course and I decided to show the book to my teacher. She said that she definitely thought there was a market for it and that I just needed an illustrator - so I contacted a family friend who did the illustrations for me. I felt it was so important to have an artist do the illustrations rather than try and do it myself.  Two months later, she sent it back and I totally fell in love with Harriet.

From there, I sent the books to various agents and publishers to hear either nothing, or just a polite ‘no’. I was unsure what my next step was until a friend who had read my books suggested that I contact the East Anglian Daily Times. The East Anglian agreed and did an article. From that, I had some lovely emails suggesting self-publishing. A charity even donated £300 pounds to help me.

By April 2013, Harriet the Hedgehog was in print. With the £300, I printed copies of the book and as I was giving £1 of every book sold to Starlight Children's Foundation,  I sent it to over 40 hospitals and charities. From this, an organisation bought 50 copies from me and the first book shop I contacted bought 20 copies on the spot – as well as booking me in for a storytelling event. It was also stocked by my local Waterstones and I did another storytelling event with them. After six months, I had the book in over eleven shops in Suffolk.

With sales going well, people were starting to request my second book - Harrison the Hedgehog - so with the help from my talented illustrator and my graphic designer neighbour, I had Harrison the Hedgehog self-published in November 2013; selling 100 copies in the first month. I then had a website designed and started promoting my books with flyers, posters and by attending craft sales. I also got the local paper involved in any events that I was doing.

Since then I have had a new edition of Harriet the Hedgehog printed and Alopecia Awareness are promoting me, as they felt Harriet the Hedgehog would hugely help children with Alopecia.

During this process, I have learnt so much about myself, made so many mistakes, had so many sleepless nights and have at times felt a lot of self-doubt, but I knew I couldn’t give up when I have had such a huge amount of support from friends, family and the public. Hopefully, my dream will come true and soon all my books will be in print - and my little boy will be proud of his mummy who worked so hard for him!

To find about more about Victoria and her books, take a look at her website.