A young woman wrote a novel that was accepted by a book publisher. Then she heard no more from them, her enquiries ignored. By chance, one day she then found her own work on sale in a shop under another author’s name – so she took the company to court. That case took two years, but she won. By then, having learned so much about the publishing business, she set up her own company with the vision of supporting and protecting new authors. Thus was born Local Legend Publishing.
In our lives we sometimes face huge challenges. Sometimes, these are to do with our health, career or relationships. Sometimes, those who believe they are stronger or somehow more important seek to take advantage of us. Yet Beth proved that we can overcome them when we are determined and have a profound belief in truth and honesty. Not only that, wonderful new opportunities can emerge for us when we refuse to give up on our dreams.
The company passed to the present owner in 2012, renamed Local Legend and focused on the Mind, Body and Spirit genre. Since then it has developed greatly, expanding its marketing outreach, developing excellent relationships with others in the MBS community and running biannual spiritual writing competitions to attract new talent. We are proud to represent around thirty authors, forty paperbacks and twenty digital books, both fiction and non-fiction, whilst still abiding by exactly the same original ethical and non-profit motives.
Local Legend is now an independent MBS publisher with a friendly and personal approach, dedicated to supporting fine new authors especially (though not exclusively) whose writing contributes to greater awareness and understanding of human consciousness and of the natural world.
We know very well that the journey to publication can be a daunting experience, however deserving the author and their work, especially in these days of economic stringency. The established, traditional publishers are often unwilling to take risks, particularly in a specialised genre like ours, and offer far less editing and marketing support than in the past. Even finding a helpful agent can be stressful, with no guarantee of success, and many authors become disillusioned.
But then, writing has always been a challenging path. Agatha Christie was rejected for five years, and now only Shakespeare has sold more copies. J K Rowling was rejected twelve times and advised to “get a day job”. Stephen King, James Joyce, George Orwell… there’s a long list proving that triumph over rejection is possible.
And whilst most authors will never join that celebrated company, we believe in giving those with genuine talent and something important to say a chance. At the very least, they will have the deep personal satisfaction of seeing their work professionally and beautifully designed, edited and marketed, and available at any book store worldwide. We have received national praise for the quality of our books, several of which have won prizes. Importantly, our printers are part of the international Ingram Group with facilities across North and South America, Europe, India, the Far East and Australia, with distribution by the market leaders Gardners.
So, exactly what kind of books are we talking about here? Mind, Body and Spirit is a genre that embraces and supports the wellbeing of people and of nature. Thus our books should all, in some way, encourage their readers to be the best that they can be and offer guidance on their personal spiritual paths. They enlighten our relationships with one another and with our home, the Earth.
Some of the deepest and most important questions in life are posed by paranormal and psychic phenomena, by mystery and mysticism, by the psychological and the spiritual.
We explore these themes, for example, in the stories of those with very special gifts such as Glynis Amy Allen. Her #1 online bestseller Ghosts of the NHS gives one astonishing true story after another of spirit beings alongside her during her decades as an A&E nurse. Then there’s the eye-opening and funny autobiography of international clairvoyant Alison Wynne-Ryder, The Quirky Medium, co-host of the TV series Rescue Mediums.
Back down to earth, literally, we have the beautiful, fully colour illustrated The Spirit of the Hedgerow by professional herbalist Jo Dunbar who describes the medicinal properties and folklore of our common plants and trees. Another author of vision and deep experience is Ann Bridge Davies, a professional artist and teacher, who spent over fifteen years researching her book The Art of Spirit, illustrated by photographs of some of the most enigmatic artworks ever created, many seen here for the first time.
These and many other special titles offer readers guidance, inspiration and knowledge for the spiritual journey. Yet it’s not just the type of work that makes Local Legend a beacon of MBS, it’s our relationships with and the personal care shown to our authors. We talk to one another regularly, our contracts are generous and written in plain English, and our royalties are about three times higher than any other publisher we know of.
That’s because we’re actually not in this business to make money for ourselves. All administration and editing is given free and the owner even receives no payment. Local Legend simply wants to support the Mind, Body and Spirit.
