One of the questions I’m often asked is how many copies of my books I have sold – and there is often a lot of secrecy around revealing sales figures within the industry.

After my royalty update for 2024 came through I’m celebrating The Barra Boy reaching over 2700 copies sold (ebook and paperback combined) and All We Cannot Leave Behind managing over 1100 since publication in February last year.

Whether you judge that a success or not is all about perspective. For the big traditional publishing houses, these might be seen as disappointing. For an independent author working with an independent publisher without a big marketing budget, these are reasonable figures.

For the author who would have been happy if a handful of readers had picked up their work and enjoyed it, these numbers are a reason to celebrate.

Thanks to all those who have chosen to pick up a copy of my books, and taken a chance on an independent author – and I hope a few more may choose to pick up copies in the future.