Start Up Stories: Deunant Books, opening a new chapter

Financial expert Les Broad spent many years working as a tax adviser. Inspired by a start-up advice session he decided to go-it-alone with an electronic book publishing business. 'Deunant Books' is run from Broad's home in rural Wales and gives unpublished authors the chance to get discovered.

Broad had spent many years travelling around the UK offering financial advice to clients.

Typical of Broad's hectic lifestyle and on one of his business trips he found himself taking part in a local radio broadcast in Ayr, Scotland only to have to turn around and race back down to Prestatyn in North Wales to meet another client.

After the meeting, Broad decided he needed some food before the journey back home to the North East.

"I asked someone where there was a place to eat and they directed me to the local watering hole," he recalls.

"While eating I sat next to an attractive young lady. I've been doing what she tells me ever since," laughs Broad.

The woman he met in the pub that day is now his wife. Being a local girl she persuaded him to up-sticks and move to Bylchau, a small town in Denbighshire where they are now based.

The idea

"I admit my mouth often works a lot faster than my brain."

I heard myself saying he should publish on the internet. Then I thought, there's an idea," recalls Broad.

Broad conducted some market research and discovered that many talented authors were struggling to find a publisher, he quickly realised that e-publishing could provide the answer.

The leap

So he decided to do the groundwork himself and approached a web design firm Blue Sky Technologies. After outlining his business ideas, Blue Sky took just 6 days to create a fully working and well designed site costing only £750.

When it came to naming his new company Broad took inspiration from his local environment. The Deunant river flows past his home making, 'Deunant Books' a natural choice.

With the company now fully operational, Broad began to receive requests from authors to be featured and much interest from readers wishing to buy the books. Deunant Books charges a contingency fee to authors and a fee to users who wish to download the books. In return the new authors get a share of the royalties for every book sold.

An e-book publisher is quite a difficult company to market and Broad's attempts at direct advertising generated limited response. Word of mouth, client recommendations and press coverage now provides the core of his new business.

"An internet publishing house is deemed very newsworthy so it has been quite easy to get stories in local newspapers and writers' handbooks," he says.

Broad has also been lucky enough to stumble across some publicity goldmines.

While chatting to Deunant Books author Liam Leddy, the Scottish writer mentioned he was in Blantyre, the birthplace of famous explorer David Livingstone. In an amazing coincidence, Broad related how he was located in Denbigh, the hometown of Sir Henry Morton Stanley. Stanley was the journalist who in 1871 uttered the immortal line "Dr Livingstone, I presume?" after tracking the explorer down in Africa.

Seizing on the opportunity to gain some valuable publicity, Broad wrote a press release outlining the Livingstone/Stanley connection.

A reporter based in Blantyre contacted Broad who arranged a meeting with Leddy. Within a few days a full page story featuring Deunant Books was published in the Hamilton Advertiser.

A journalist at the Sunday Post, a Scottish newspaper with 1.3 million readers, latched onto the story and Deunant Books received even more publicity.

"Following the Sunday Post coverage," Broad comments, "Our traffic increased by 30% and we now have nine Scottish writers on our books."

This summer, the company received further unexpected exposure. On 20 July Broad joined millions of television viewers across the world to watch one of the year's biggest sporting events - the British Grand Prix.

Just 11 laps into the race, a man wearing a kilt ran onto the track. Initially Broad thought nothing of it but after a double take he leapt out of his seat.

"I jumped up and screamed 'oh god! I know him!

"It's Neil Horan! I've got two of his books on the website!," he says.

Broad admits he went to bed feeling unsure about how he should respond. But the next morning his questions were answered. The telephone did not stop ringing with inquisitive journalists asking for information about the catholic priest who had risked his life at Silverstone.

Within a few hours, Broad had spoken to several reporters giving his reaction to Horan's actions. The next day he was quoted in newspapers ranging from the Richmond & Twickenham Times to the Daily Mirror.

Broad believes the technical quality of his website was responsible for generating the publicity. The reporters commented how after entering 'Neil Horan' into internet search engines it came up with Deunant Books.

The future

Broad believes that in the near future the convenience and capabilities of electronic books will be further realised. He has recently completed 'a labour of love' by downloading the 821,000 words in the Holy Bible to his website.

"If someone wants to know about Isaiah, for example, they can never be sure of finding all the references when reading a traditional book," Broad says, "But by using an e-book and a computer search engine you can."

As Broad comments: "Where can you read a printed book where you can't read an e-book?"

Holidaymakers who enjoy reading novels on the beach can carry the equivalent of four books in one PDA and children can simultaneously improve their reading and IT knowledge.

Broad is hoping to break into the international market. Readers in the US and Australia have been using e-books for a while and Deunant Books is expanding its range of foreign authors to appeal to international bookworms.

The company also plans to launch a range of interactive publications over the coming months.

Books featuring video clips and others that allow registered users to add and comment on the text are just a range of ideas that Les Broad has in mind as he begins a new chapter in the life of Deunant Books.