This isn’t my first self-published book, but it’s the first time I’ve promoted one

Phil’s Marvellous Machine isn’t my first self-published book. But it’s the first one I’ve actually tried hard to promote.I realise that may seem strange.

Why would anyone go to the trouble of writing and publishing a book, then not tell anyone about it?There is a reason.

I’ve always had social media anxiety. In 2018, I quit all my social media apps and just never went back. I even wrote a Substack publication about how to live without social media. Nobody read it, of course, because I wasn’t on social media telling people about it. I networked on the platform for a while, but eventually reached a ceiling.

I wanted people to find my books, so I had to accept the cold truth: I needed to promote them on social media. It took months to accept that. And then some more months to rationalise it.Last November, with the help of a few books and blogs, I dipped a toe back into the social media waters. This year, I stuck with it, gained a small following and joined Reddit.I still have to be gentle with myself. Sometimes I’m a little shaky and my fingers just hover over the keyboard. But most of the time, I’m able to lock the anxiety in a box and keep it there. I’ve got to the stage now where I’m actually enjoying it.

The effort has been worth it, and it’s all led to this: my first book promotion. Wait! Did you just read that entire tale only to get this far and be offered a free ebook? Well… yes.But also, I know there are aspiring authors, musicians and other creatives out there, fingers hovering over the keyboard, lacking confidence and searching for the inner strength to find some way to just do it. Sometimes you have to do it while your fingers are still shaking.

And I hope you might want to download my short-story collection on Amazon.

Phil’s Marvellous Machine is a collection of ten gentle tales of lost loves, last chances and unexpected new beginnings. a niche, venturing from the zones chill spines and tickle ribs. It’s available in multiple formats, and the ebook is free until 6 September.

Get it here:

UK : https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0H8QGBMP1

US : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H8QGBMP1

AU : https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0H8QGBMP1

CA : https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0H8QGBM

Suitable for teens, and adults of (almost) all ages, this collection brings together ten different tales of comedy, mystery, and a touch of the unusual.

• Phil’s Marvellous Machine: Phil’s childhood friend, old Mr. Murray, becomes an early owner of a brand-new video recorder—and everything changes from there.

Alongside Phil’s Marvellous Machine, there are nine other stories to tickle ribs and chill spines:

• Sally: A soldier gambles for a grotesque prize.
• Sketchers: A teenage girl’s obsession with a pair of shoes becomes dangerously consuming.
• The Terrier Terror: An unrelenting Yorkshire terrier threatens to destroy Ron’s fragile order.
• The Drowning: A surreal dream rapidly turns into a living nightmare.
• The Girl With The Watering-can: An old man steadfastly avoids the idea of grandchildren—until a chance encounter changes his heart.
• Dressed for Death: Private-eye Jeffrey Sterling is hired as a ghost hunter by an unlikely duo.
• Ben and the Factory: A first day at work unravels into metal-twisted oddities and bizarre foot-sterilising rituals.
• A Glitch in Time: Anne Turner receives a visitor bearing a grave, impossible warning.
• Thump!: An old house, a young man, and the unsettling things that go bump in the night.

copyright Martin Gregory 2026