insideKENT Magazine Issue 22 - January 2014 | Page 30
ARTS
CREATIVE KENT cont.
Martyn Barr
Paul Hurst
Where in Kent do you live?
Blean, near Canterbury.
Where in Kent do you live?
Brenchley.
Published Titles:
The Young Person’s History Guide to
Canterbury (2009)
Lewisham’s Got History! (2010)
To Be A Bee (2012)
Garden Science (2013)
Paintings in Light (2013)
Published Titles:
Fortune Reading with Tarot Cards (2012)
Business Survival & Prosperity Guaranteed (2012)
Publisher(s):
Gatton Books.
Genre:
Non-fiction.
Publisher(s):
Out of the Box Publishing Ltd, my own
company.
When did you write your first
book?
In 2009, I self-published the first
edition of Business Survival &
Prosperity Guaranteed.
Genre:
Children’s educational, but also with strong appeal to an adult readership.
When did you write your first book?
In 2009. Being a PR/marketing consultant, graphic designer and history
buff, I’d always fancied combining those skills and interests to create a
book.
Who or what inspires you when
it comes to writing?
Subjects that interest me inspire
me. Most of my work is with ebooks and relates to my work as a
musician.
What's next for you?
I have just finished a BSc in
psychology with the Open University
and have started on a path to a
MSc in psychotherapy. I'm sure
there will be a few books along the
way.
Tell us a little about that process.
I found there were no history guides to Canterbury targeted at young people,
so with financial support from Whitefriars, I set out to write one. I have three
children and saw how uninspiring some of their schoolbooks were, so I was
keen to try and make my book attractive, engaging and informative.
What's the dream?
To carry on as I am now, selfemployed and working from home
with a portfolio of different part-time
incomes.
Who or what inspires you when it comes to writing?
Dorling Kindersley books set the benchmark for visually compelling children’s
books and I wanted to try and emulate that.
What's next for you?
I've published two books to support Canterbury in bloom: To Be A Bee and
Garden Science. I'm hoping to produce another next spring on the wonders
of water.
Tell us a little about that process.
Having worked as a part-time selfemployed bookkeeper for 20 years,
I was concerned that business
newbies kept making the same
mistakes, hence my first book.
What's the dream?
I’d like to produce a whole series of Young Person’s History Guides covering
all the UK’s major cities. Top of my list is York.
What would be your number one tip for a budding author?
Write what readers want to read, not what you want to write.
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What would be your number one
tip for a budding author?
As Steven King said, 'read a lot and
write a lot'. Write from the heart in
your own style.