The objective of this book is to show how Chipmunkapublishing helps people, so what better way to have words from me As CEO trying to sanitise my own manic utopian vision and then include 500 words from over 20 authors about how writing and publishing has helped them.

I know that wanting to help others is somehow a cathartic process and justifies my own label and coming to terms with being labelled a manic depressive for the rest of my life. I knew that I wanted to help people as soon as I realised my own madness six weeks into a six month stretch of my first manic episode at the age of 17 in 1992.

My utopian and manic vision to want to eliminate the world from mental illness actually turned into my day job as CEO of Chipmunkapublishing. Little did I know how much work there was to do… It was a good job I met Andrew Latchford who was equally as determined as myself to somehow make a different and improve people’s lives. I know somehow that my task is impossible but I wouldn’t be challenging myself or doing other people justice if I did not aim to have a positive impact on the highest number of people.

Chipmunkapublishing has a system that works for many people. In our own small way we are making a positive impact in the lives of many of our authors, their families and many of our readers.

We will continue to grow and inspire others through our work by trying and develop our organisation so it is more transparent, more professional and more effective as technology advances, the publishing industry changes and people’s requirements evolve.

When A Can of Madness came out in 2002 I used to go to conferences across the UK and get a free place as a mental health service user and go and sell my books. If someone said that they could not afford my book then I would give it to them. I would make a point of asking a question at every conference after the main speaking event and introduce myself, inviting people to purchase my book during the next break. I was a manic bookseller out to change the world who was pumped full of medication. I would work 7 days a week and give people my home number and say I could help them. I was not well myself at the time. I would flick between manic and depressive moods although mostly manic.

If people rang me up and told me they were suicidal I would go and meet them and give them a copy of my book. If people said they wanted to write then I would say write from your heart, write from your soul, write in a stream of conscious style and just let your thoughts out. Come up with a title in your head and visualise the end.

I was too scared to take a lot of people on as I did not know how to fund their publishing and I had little experience of publishing or how to run a company. If people wanted to volunteer I would let them with no system in place. It was a huge learning curve and as time went by I developed the organisation so that it became more effective. These developments are never complete within an organisation, but it is amazing how many people intuitively understand our vision.