Almost a year after TJ's War was published through Amazon it is only stocked by one friendly bricks-and-mortar bookshop, and that is in the North of Scotland,

This is not for the want of trying; we have visited hundreds of bookshops throughout the kingdom over the last 12 months and the answer is always a version of 'we do not stock self-published books.'

I laughed the first time I went to a bookshop proudly shouting its 'Independence' where the owner stated that they had a policy not to stock 'independent books'. The irony of it! But since then I have discovered that this policy was not a one-off, it was a maxim. Some bookshop owners looked ashamed, but others smirked, all but screaming their pleasure at my naivety.

'Please read this book before making a decision', was treated with complete derision.

And so I wonder how the public are supposed to gain access to new thinking - the industry appears to have become a form of Facebook, where an individual's existing ideas and opinions are always re-enforced, and no challenge to the status quo is ever entertained. Is this truly what we have become, 'Where the public want what the public get' as the Jam sang/predicted back in the 1970s.

If you are an independent bookseller with a truly independent mind then please get in touch, I have a great book for you to stock, and I am certain I am not alone.