Readers may remember this from six months ago, where I posit that making books as a meditation, and possibly a side-business, might be a thing.

Well, I bit the bullet. It is now a thing. I’ve got a couple of projects that aren’t going to be ‘commercial’ in the acceptable sense of the word, and Facebook friends have been watching my attempts to sell practice pieces in order to be able to buy more ink and paper (and cloth and fancy stuff) with some amusement and great forbearance. And so far, I’ve managed to break even, which is certainly something.

But even I recognise that flogging stuff to my mates isn’t a sustainable model, and not just because I don’t have that many mates. So I’m throwing caution to the wind: I’ve opened an Etsy store to sell finished pieces, and tout for commissions (I have one already). So far, I’m just offering the one title (The Alchemist’s Dream – think The Princess Bride meets Arabian Nights), but I’m proofing Thy Kingdom Come for release later on this year (a couple of months, maybe?).

It’d be lovely if I could make a go of this – a bit of extra income in these straightened times is always helpful – as would the knowledge that I’m putting my stories into the hands of new readers (or existing readers, or just people in general…). The books themselves are incredibly tactile objects, and obviously ideal gifts.

So that’s that. Fell Book Press: making books, telling stories.