Well friends. Here's the first  post of the New Year and it's packed full of news.

It's no secret that I've been self-publishing on the Kindle and Smashwords for the last year or so. If any of you are as frustrated as I was with publishing's lack of interest in new authors, it's a route I thoroughly recommend.

I haven't exactly set the world on fire, but I have managed to establish a small, and for once, printable name for myself. But there's been an unexpected and welcome development.

Before Christmas I heard about Crooked {Cat} Publishing, a new venture set up by Stephanie and Laurence Patterson. Older members may remember Steph from her days as a member of Writelink. She may still be a member, but if she is, I couldn't find her.

I digress. I emailed Laurence before Christmas and asked whether he'd be interested in looking at some of my self-published work. He said, "Submit," I did and yesterday we signed contracts on The Sanford 3rd Age Club Investigates The Filey Connection.

STAC, (the acronym for Sanford 3rd Age Club) is a series of traditional British whodunits, starring amateur sleuth Joe Murray and his sidekicks, Sheila Riley and Brenda Jump, all founder members of the Sanford 3rd Age Club. They first saw the light of day in A Death at the Seaside which I published last May. I was never truly happy with it. At 25,000 words , it was way too short, but as it turned out, it's been my bestseller. With that in mind, I rewrote it as The Filey Connection. There are major changes to the tale and the denouement, but the settings remain the same.

Our present agreement is for this title only, but we've already agreed to discuss Crooked {Cat} publishing other titles in the STAC series and possibly taking over the rights to existing works.

So there you are. Even if you don't sell many copies by self-publishing, it can provide a lever to open doors.