I set out to write a blog this week about the importance of the physical quality of books, and the value of books in society. It’s half written but then my butterfly mind got distracted by this book:

It is a very useful book, “the bible” as Phil Earle has said (quoted on the cover). It contains listings for publishers, agents, theatre, TV and other media. As well as all those, it also has lots of articles which are genuinely encouraging and inspiring. I will read them all. However, this week I read the first article in the book “The children’s publishing year“. And that is when the distraction came in.

From this article, I learnt that in 2025 Julia Donaldson surpassed JK Rowling as the UK’s biggest-selling author ever! It is so cool for a picture book author to achieve that. Everyone’s favourite seems to be the Gruffalo, but my daughter loved Tabby McTat and I loved Room on the Broom. My daughter plans to name her cat (when she has her own home and gets one) “Tabby McTat” whether it is a tabby or not!

I also discovered that the latest Gruffalo book will be published on 10 September. Just before my latest book, Brave Brian. I’m just a little discouraged by this poor timing. I chose my publication date (22 September) as that is World Rhino Day. And to be honest, there is still so much for me to do before then that it still isn’t guaranteed – but I’m going to try.

The publication date of Gruffalo Granny might have been chosen to coincide with my parents’ (aka my children’s Granny) 60th wedding anniversary. Yep, that’s unlikely! More likely to be chosen for the all-important Christmas book-buying season.

Is Writing a Competition?

Well, I’ve never thought of it in that way. But I suppose it is. Authors write, illustrators illustrate and then books are published with the hope that lots of books will sell and readers will enjoy those books.

Consumers have a finite budget and it is a special moment if some of that money is spent on a book.

So yes, we’re all out there competing: for space on bookshelves (in physical shops, in homes); for media mentions; for stops on your scroll; for your time.

And it is making me feel a little bit sad and a big bit overwhelmed by the enormity of the task ahead of me. To compete with Julia Donaldson for Christmas book sales is kinda ridiculous. I don’t think Julia is taking photos of books on her office floor and sharing them on a blog! I doubt that Julia is working out how she can tell every bookshop in the country that her new book will be available next month.

But the great thing about books is that they are there forever. If I don’t tell every bookshop before publication date, I can tell them afterwards. Hopefully they’ll love Brave Brian as much as Gruffalo’s Granny and make room on their bookshelves so that families can buy them and make room on their bookshelves at home for both too.

How You Can Help

Support the smaller authors!

Whether that is buying a book, telling your friends or sharing on social media – it all helps.

And you can pre-order Brave Brian today!

Thank you for your support x

I shared the Brave Brian pre-order details with the amazing, supportive people on my newsletter mailing list earlier this week, and am thrilled to have received two pre-orders already. Thank you to those special supporters. It made me smile and jump around in joy!

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