History
Wilfred Books was set up at the end of 2013, primarily to publish Black Shirt and Smoking Beagles, the biography of Wilfred Risdon, my grand uncle, whom I never met, I regret to say. I discovered him in the course of my family history research, and the more I found out about him, the more interested I became in his life & work, so I thought there might be at least a few other people out there who could share my interest in him enough to also want to read his fascinating life-story — for what seemed, to me, to be very sound reasons, namely: he was not a household name; he was involved in contentious politics and activism for most of his adult life; it would probably be a strenuous & stressful (and, probably, ultimately futile) task to find an agent and/or publisher to take an interest; so I decided to bite the bullet and publish the book myself.
Having gone through the somewhat tortuous process of extensive research & collating all the information into a, hopefully interesting, readable form, and achieving what I considered to be a successful result, I felt inclined to help others who might be in a similar situation by offering a publishing service under the Wilfred Books banner: see below. The intention is, therefore, to invite aspiring new authors to contact me with regard to publishing their work: I am happy to consider both non-fiction, like my own book and fiction, given the continuing appetite for it, and preponderance of its availability in many different genres. The main requirements I would prefer to preserve for Wilfred Books imprints are that they should be interesting, enjoyable, and perhaps even educational.
As related above, the first book published under the imprint of Wilfred Books was Black Shirt and Smoking Beagles, and it is available as a print paperback (product code WB01), but also downloadable digital versions: PDF (product code WB02), ePub (product code WB03) and Kindle versions (product code WB04), in both popular formats (.mobi & .azw3); the ePub version can be read using iBooks on iOS devices, and on a wide range of other platforms; the Kindle version required can be selected from the link in the email confirming the purchase. The catalogue of books available will inevitably change over the course of time, so please check the New Items section on this page from time to time, for additions to the catalogue.
DO YOU HAVE A BOOK
THAT YOU WANT TO PUBLISH but you don't know how to go about it? If you are interested in publishing your own work, and you have no knowledge of, or any appetite for all the work involved in doing it yourself, then please email me in the first instance with your details, and we can discuss what you have in mind. I use a small, but very efficient & reasonably-priced local printer who is able to give me a good deal for short print runs, rather than one of the online corporates; you might prefer to find a similar business local to you, because if you are outside my area of North Yorkshire, it will be more practicable for you with regard to collection of print books for onward dispatch. It will also be worth making the maximum possible use of the potential presented by digital download technology, as many people now are happy to read content in digital form as well as print.
New items
Paint it Jack is the newest addition to the Wilfred Books stable of publications. It is written by Whitby author John Ogden, and it is the story of Will, a Durham lad who, tired of his dead-end factory job, joins the army where he goes to fight in the “War on Terror”. He becomes a man able to save and take lives until one day his world falls apart. Broken and despairing he meets Jack, another lost soul, in the shadows of Old Portsmouth. Jack, a Scottish painter and once England’s most wanted man, also fought for freedom but his fight was many years ago. The book, 244 pages, is available in paperback, WB06 for £8.99, and PDF downbload, WB07 for £2.99. For more information, please visit the page in the above link, or to buy the book, go to the buy page.
Lawson Tait: A Biographical Study was written by Wilfred Risdon, and published in 1967, not long before his death. Robert Lawson Tait was an Edinburgh-born surgeon, who was a staunch anti-vivisectionist, working most of his career in Birminhgam, specialising in the diseases of women. A PDF download facsimile version, with the catalogue code WB05, of the original publication, is currently available for £5.00. For more information, please visit the page in the above link, or to buy the download, go to the buy page.
Discounts
Wilfred Books is prepared to offer retail purchasers a reward incentive on items purchased from the current range, subject to the conditions stated below, to encourage further purchases. All non-account purchasers are given a reward code that can be redeemed for a discount on future purchases as follows: the purchase of one print version of any book will allow the customer 20% discount on additional copies of another print book, or 20% discount on the purchase of a digital download; the purchase of a digital download will allow the customer a discount of 10% on the purchase of a print book. (PLEASE NOTE: Discount given on the purchase of a download cannot be redeemed against a further purchase of any download)
Individual discounts for significant quantities of WB01 (>10) can be negotiated. Please feel free to email me with your details to discuss what is possible. Thank you for your interest and custom.
Delivery costs
PLEASE NOTE: Parcel delivery prices for print books are subject to fluctuation, so please check the overall price, including delivery, before making a purchase. Outside the UK, parcels will be sent using the Post Office International Standard tariff: delivery to Europe* (EU) within 3 to 5 working days; delivery to the rest of the world as stated for each zone. The rest of the world is divided into 3 zones — World Zone [WZ] 1: Canada & S America, Africa, Middle & Far East and SE Asia; WZ3: USA; WZ2 everywhere else, including Australia, NZ & Singapore. For country by country details, please go to the Royal Mail page. *Please also note (effective from 4 April 2022) that the EU zone, consisting of countries across western & eastern Europe and Russia, has been divided by Royal Mail into 3 zones: for details and/or changes, please visit the website.
Social media
As well as having a presence on FaceBook, where you will see posts about Wilfred Books and subjects which are relevant, it has a book review blog on WordPress. Please take a look, follow the blog, and leave a comment to let me know what you think!
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