My first book deal!

Just occasionally something unexpected comes along totally out of the blue that's a nice surprise. So it was when I received an email from a publishing company in Lancaster last month seeking permission to use one of my photos for the cover of a book they were looking to publish!

The company, Carnegie Publishing, has been working with John Blackburn, a local amateur poet, about publishing his work under the title "I Leap The Lune". He'd a picture in his mind about the cover image - a shot of the Millennium Bridge across the river - and had asked them to pop along and take a few snaps of the bridge. Rather than this, they instead opted to browse the web to find a better quality image and stumbled across my effort through Flickr. It seemed to fit the bill for them, with enough space for titles and captions, and John himself was delighted when they showed it to him.

It's not going to make me a fortune but they are paying for their use of the image, and today I heard back from them that the book was at the printers with this as the cover design.

Once the book's back from the printers I've been promised a copy for myself before the book hits the shelves, a permanent reminder of my first 'deal'. Next time I'll drive a harder bargain but for now I'm happy to see my picture in print and the fee we've agreed is already on its way to the charity I asked them to credit.