I’ve been a self-published author since 1994, originally selling my books through classified ads in Exchange & Mart, FHM, GQ, and even Viz.
What began as a UK-based venture soon expanded to the US. I discovered a larger audience and immersed myself in direct-response marketing and self-publishing.
By 2000, I’d moved my business online, selling ebooks and paid newsletter subscriptions, long before it was common.
I helped beta test one of the first shopping carts and became deeply involved in the early days of digital publishing.
For a time, my work focused on freedom, wealth and privacy. Perfectly legal in the UK but controversial in post-9/11 America.
After being hounded out of business and burned out, I stepped away from publishing libertarian stuff altogether.
In the following years, I worked as an internet marketing consultant, mentored by pioneers like Jonathan Mizel.
But it wasn’t until 2008 that I returned to what I love most, plants and people. I launched Eatweeds and began teaching foraging across the UK.
In 2019, I published my first foraging book (as a paperback) on Kindle Direct Publishing. I went travelling, came back, and found thousands in my account. The demand was still there.
When COVID hit, I lost my in-person income overnight, but I had a back catalogue of unpublished writing and turned it into a digital plant library. It took off.
I now run a six-figure independent publishing business from home, focusing on wild food, herbal medicine, and for the purposes of this site, non-coercive marketing.
I teach others, especially those in the wellness world, how to share their knowledge through self-publishing without relying on manipulative sales tactics. Get in touch to discuss what you are trying to achieve.
I believe in long-term customer relationships, non-coercive marketing, and creating beautiful, valuable work that makes the world brighter and gentler.