Speaker / Performer

The evolution of the town crier and the relevance to today

Oyez, Oyez, the fabled cry of the early bellman started the process of spreading  information and news to a generally illiterate public. Imagine the joy (?) of hearing a man ringing his bell and shouting outside your bedroom window at three o’clock in the morning. 

The Crier was a key figure in protecting the public from the ever present dangers of fire, burglary and even murder.  He was also a news spreader, an announcer of Government declarations, a ‘wife seller’, and hangman’s assistant - and had a key rrole in the evolution of newspapers. 

The ‘succinctness’ of a town crier ‘shout’ and posted notice is in complete contrast to the indiscriminate information overload we endure today. 

But the philosophy of the Crier is fighting back.

Oyez!  Oyez!  Oyez!

'EVERYBODY HAS A BOOK IN THEM'

The no-frills guide to self-publishing

I first regarded this comment as fanciful but now I truly believe it - although it depends on what you mean by ‘book’ and what you are hoping to achieve. For example, are you aiming to be the next J.K.Rowling or are you hoping to get articles published in periodicals and on-line?

I call myself an author because I’ve had both 'physical' and electronic books published and made modest sums of money from my witing and cartoon work.    

In this talk, I tell my story. I explain my purpose, my methods and the various routes to market I explored.  You will discover the things I learned during my publishing journey (both good and not so good).