Hey there, I’m Robin Harford. I write about wild plants and have been a self-publisher since 1995.
I currently spend my time walking and taking photographs of plants. Then I write about those experiences.
When time allows, I write about my self-publishing journey on this site.
I focus on helping self-help writers and authors.
I cannot teach you anything about selling fiction.
I can teach you a ton about selling self-help non-fiction. After all, I’ve been doing it for over 25 years.
I run a ‘tiny’ publishing company.
Tiny because it allows me to better serve and make a difference in the world.
Tiny because it aligns with Kevin Kelly’s principle of 1000 True Fans.
Tiny is simple but not easy.
There’s a difference.
Life is complex. There is no black and white. Only hues and shades that stretch into infinity.
The art of business is to keep things simple.
Like minimalism (which I love) it removes the clutter so only that which is essential remains.
This is the challenge of running a tiny publishing business.
My way to do this is to break rules.
Rule-breaking requires deep thinking. You can learn that.
If you want to succeed. You need to think deep.
Find your place.
Your truth if you will.
Otherwise, you become a copycat business.
Following a template. A blueprint.
I have been a life long rule breaker.
It’s served me well.
When everyone else zigs. I zag.
Because it differentiates me from the haze.
The noise.
The clutter of sameness and lookalikes.
Why in the world do so many businesses end up generic?
Like some type of bland ‘same same’ coffee shop?
No one ever made a difference by being like everyone else. —P.T. Barnum
To break the rules you must first learn what they are.
This website does that.
Teaches you how to be a profitable self-publisher.
Which is why you are here to discover how to build a work of art?
Become a craftisan. A maker. A change maker.
There is only one purpose for doing what we do.
To make change happen. To change the world. The culture.
To leave it a better place than when we arrived.
It’s the only power you and I have.
So I ask you…
- what type of world do you want to create?
- who do you want to change?
- who are you going to serve?
If serving is beneath you, look elsewhere because we won’t get on.
I want you to reach deep into your heart and mind and get very clear on what it is you want to achieve.
When you know that, I can help you get from where you are to where you want to be.
Robin’s 1-2-1 mentoring and coaching helped me successfully launch my online storytelling course, generating more than £13,000 from a tiny email list of 1180 subscribers! Amazing. I am so grateful. He knows his stuff. – Chris Holland
It’s a long, slow process and many give up at the first sign of difficulty.
Or leave and head off looking for quick fixes. Cookie-cutter solutions.
And there are a ton of ‘course hustlers’ out there ready to take your cash.
But I hope you value yourself a little bit more than that.
Business isn’t for wimps. It’s for warriors.
I hope you are a warrior.
Warriors give a shit. Make stuff happen. Even when the journey becomes painful, warriors keep going.
They keep ‘backing themselves’ even when the world feels like it is against them.
I bend over backwards to help people when I see them making an effort.
Struggling with getting their work out into the world.
Picking themselves back up when they fall over only to try again. And keep on trying.
Until the bits, all fall into place for them. Light appears at the end of the tunnel.
I don’t suffer fools. Those that play victim, whine, bitch and moan.
When I see this, I become ‘thick face, dark heart’.
Harsh? No.
I’ve given you a tip on ‘positioning’ your business.
Differentiate.
Don’t be a people pleaser. It’s good to polarise.
It means you end up speaking to your tribe. The people that matter.
People like us do things like this. – Seth Godin
My latest book is Edible and Medicinal Wild Plants of Britain and Ireland.
It was an Amazon bestseller every single day for the first three months of its birth into the world. And I shifted a few thousand copies in that time.
So what?
It’s actually easy to achieve this. I’ll be talking about how I do it in my audio newsletter called DIY Publisher.
I warn you now, the newsletter might at times be a little edgy. That’s code for “I don’t mince my words”. I speak it as I see it. Direct.
What I share comes from over 25 years self-publishing self-help books and online courses.
Are you ready to come on a journey with me?
To look over my shoulder as I mentor you in the art of self-publishing.
Click here to subscribe to the DIY Publisher newsletter >>
Should you ever want out, then you can remove yourself from my mailing list with a single click.
Yup, it’s that easy.
I look forward to seeing you on the other side.
