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Pointing ahead


It all started for Salisbury subscriber Pam Pointer, with an article in her local church magazine but things really took off when she decided to self-publish a book of short meditation pieces, some of which had appeared in church magazines and the diocesan paper for which she writes a regular column.

Since self-publishing her first book Why didn’t God create me with green hair? which she describes as: ‘a great learning experience’ she has had three more books published by religious specialists, Kevin Mayhew: Forgive us…as we forgive, based on the Lord’s Prayer which looks at the difficult subject of forgiveness in a practical and sensitive way; The Also-Rans, a set of 40 cameos of little-known men and women in the New Testament; and her latest, a children’s book, Roy Green’s Brilliant Ingenious Venture.

For Pam, the experience gained early on was invaluable. ‘I was determined not to cut corners in self-publishing but had to work to a tight budget,’ she explains. ‘I had 400 copies printed and then set about marketing the book.

‘My hit list of kind friends and family bought multiple copies and I sent free copies to as many big names as I thought might be interested – a boldness I didn’t think I had.

‘The local SPCK bookshop and theological college bookshop took copies and the local paper and radio station gave me good publicity.’

Pam now regularly broadcasts Morning Thoughts for BBC Radio Wiltshire; writes the And Finally column for The Sarum Link, the Diocese of Salisbury newspaper and the Church Window column for The Salisbury Journal and contributes to The Upper Room, an international Bible devotional guide.