From London Bookshops to a Cornish Bookshelf: A Personal Publishing Milestone

Books published through MA Publisher have always been available beyond Cornwall.

They can be purchased online, ordered nationally and internationally, and can also be ordered through bookshops.

Over the years, bookshops in London have stocked our publications. The books have found readers in different places, and MA Publisher has continued to publish books representing authors, poetry, history, communities, languages and creativity.

But after moving from London to Cornwall, I found myself facing a very different challenge.

The challenge of finding a local independent bookshop

One of the things I wanted to achieve after settling in Penzance was simple.

I wanted to be able to walk into a local independent bookshop and see books published through MA Publisher on the shelves.

That proved more difficult than I had expected.

Cornwall has fewer independent bookshops than London, and many of the larger book retailers are part of national chains. Some of the more local bookshops in towns around the area are connected to publishing companies and operate as their own retail outlets, rather than taking on books published by other independent publishers.

This meant that finding the right opportunity locally was not straightforward.

I approached the independent bookshop in Penzance.

They declined.

That was disappointing, particularly because this was the town where I now live and work, and where I have continued to develop my publishing and community projects.

But publishing teaches you something.

A closed door does not mean that every door is closed.

Discovering The Bookshop Helston

Earlier this year, I discovered The Bookshop Helston.

I approached the shop and eventually had the opportunity to meet its owner, Ginny.

Ginny took the time to consider the publications, but quite rightly made her own decisions about what was appropriate for her bookshop and its customers.

The result was not an agreement to stock everything.

Instead, Ginny selected a narrow and specific range of books that fitted the genres and content she wanted to represent within the shop.

And for me, that made the outcome all the more genuine.

This was not about someone doing me a favour.

It was about a professional independent bookshop owner making a decision about which books fitted her shop.

The books selected

The selection currently includes publications in three particular areas:

📚 Children's books

Children's books featuring quality artistic work and storytelling were selected as being appropriate for the bookshop.

📖 Penny Authors poetry

A Penny Authors poetry anthology has also been included.

Penny Authors has always been about creating opportunities for voices and experiences that may otherwise remain outside the public domain, and seeing one of those publications available through an independent bookshop is particularly meaningful.

🌍 A tri-lingual language book

The third area represented is the tri-lingual language book that we worked on.

This publication reflects another important part of the work that has developed through MA Publisher — collaboration, language and making publications accessible across different linguistic communities.

A local achievement that means something

It is important to be clear about what I am celebrating.

MA Publisher books were already available.

They could already be ordered.

They were already reaching readers.

This is not the beginning of MA Publisher's distribution.

The significance for me is different.

After moving from London to Cornwall, after seeing our books stocked in London bookshops, and after finding it difficult to establish a similar physical presence locally, I can now walk into an independent Cornish bookshop and see a selection of our publications available on the shelves.

That is the achievement.

It may sound like a small thing.

For me, it isn't.

Independent publishing is about persistence

MA Publisher has always operated independently.

That independence brings freedom, but it also brings challenges.

You have to create the books.

You have to support the authors.

You have to find the artists and collaborators.

You have to finance the work.

You have to promote it.

And you have to continue finding ways to connect those books with readers.

There is no guarantee that a bookshop will take your work.

And nor should there be.

Independent bookshop owners have their own identities, readers and commercial responsibilities. They have to decide what fits their shelves.

That is why I respect the way this has happened.

Ginny did not take everything.

She looked at the work and chose a limited selection that she believed fitted the shop.

That makes the relationship honest and professional.

And I am proud of that.

A photograph that represents a journey

When I visited Helston on Saturday and took a photograph outside The Bookshop Helston, I felt a genuine sense of achievement.

Not because the journey has suddenly ended.

But because another part of it has opened.

From having books stocked in London…

To moving to Cornwall and finding the local independent bookshop landscape more difficult to access…

To approaching The Bookshop Helston…

To having a carefully selected range of MA Publisher and Penny Authors publications available there.

That is worth celebrating.

Books can still be ordered

The selection currently held by The Bookshop Helston is deliberately limited.

However, MA Publisher has a much wider catalogue of publications available online and through book ordering systems nationally and internationally.

The books can be ordered through bookshops.

But there is something special about being able to walk into an independent bookshop and physically discover a book.

To take it from the shelf.

To look through its pages.

To see the artwork.

To read a poem.

To discover an author.

And perhaps to take home a book that you never knew existed before you walked through the door.

That is why independent bookshops still matter.

And that is why this moment matters to me.

Website

I am proud that, after my journey from London to Cornwall, a selection of MA Publisher and Penny Authors publications now has a physical home on the shelves of an independent Cornish bookshop.

Not every book.

Not every genre.

Not through exaggeration or hype.

But through a genuine, carefully considered selection.

And sometimes, that is the most meaningful recognition of all.

📚 MA Publisher
Independent publishing. Independent voices. Stories worth sharing.

www.mapublisher.org.uk