Hurrah indeed as many of you will say. Someone pointed out to me the other day that Life of Pies is currently retailing for nearly £30 for a paperback on Amazon and Ebay at one point. And that’s for a “nearly new” version.

Not to labour the point but I have been half arsedly selling it for half price at £4.99 plus p&p on my own site here, and I still have considerable stock left as follows:

First edition: 3 boxes, circa 60 copies

Second edition: Between 3 and 5 boxes, 60-100 copies (I have no idea how many boxes as they are lodged so far back in my garage I can’t count them)

Slightly damaged copies; around 20 with little markings or slightly creased sleeves. I’m giving these away to anyone who might be able to review and/or publicise it, so if that is you, please get in touch.

I have just requested ChatGPT produce me a business plan to sell the remaining 140-200 books, as we desperately need the space back at home. However, certain things are happening in the background right now, one or two things I have signed up to which I can’t yet reveal that mean these could fly off the shelves very, very quickly at some point later in the year. But I’m not allowed to say any more than that right now!

There’s no scarcity plea here. I’ve already given away 80 copies to the North West Air Ambulance Service for free in the past to sell in their shops. After learning more about how this critical service is entirely self funded, they are welcome to take more. Either way, I’m going to get rid of all but a handful of the remaining stock within the next 6 – 12 months.

I should add I am putting the price up too. The postage and packing price needs to go up from £4 to £4.50 because postage costs have gone up and it is a heavy book (nearly 400 pages!!)

I also don’t need to sell it for £4.99 any more because there’s so few copies left so in a couple of weeks it will go up to the original price of £9.99, which is still a lot cheaper than buying it off Amazon or Ebay. (well it’s £9.99 on ebay now but only because I’m selling it there too!!) So if you want to buy a copy now, it is still £4.99 from the pie shop here: Last chance saloon!

I should say that from the outset, that I LOVED putting this book together but it has been a slog from the very start and I never thought I would still be trying to flog it 12 years later. But as I say, a few things going on in the background have got me my appetite back, and there still is an undoubted niche out there for a quality compilation of the nation’s best pie makers in printed form.

So, the footnote of this tale is that I am also going to get cracking again on the follow up: The Good Pie Guide, which is what the Life of Pies was originally meant to be. You can find more content and details on this here www.goodpieguide.co.uk

In the coming months, the website is going to undergo a bit of a revamp, I’ll be back doing social stuff more. Flogging what’s left of Life of Pies and getting the (can I call it the OFFICIAL?) Good Pie Guide ready for publication. And yes of course, I am open to suggestions for inclusion. Now is exactly the time to do it, so get in touch with your recommendations and I will try and get out there.