Booksquare

We actually can’t say what our fascination with self-publishing is. But we do have a fascination. Let’s face it, getting published isn’t easy, and sometiems, you have to take risks. Now, we’ve read a lot of bad self-published books, and, to be blunt, we’ve read a lot of really bad self-published books. But there is ample evidence that there is plenty of good writing not noticed by the big publishers. And with that, we bring you another self-publishing success story.

• If you want something doing … Mark Blayney’s self-published novel has won a Somerset Maugham prize for young authors. He tells Michelle Pauli about being noticed by literary agents, getting an endorsement from Beryl Bainbridge and the importance of a round-numbered price