Jeremy Taylor

Hi, I'm Jeremy Taylor, writer, teacher trainer, photographer, traveller and enthusiastic cook. I wrote my first short story in 1984 and thought it was so brilliant I sent it to Roald Dahl. A few days later I got a reply: "I hate and normally do not read stories by other writers however you blackmailed me with a stamped addressed envelope. You are better than the average amateur but there is still some naivety which is not quite on.

Not too discouraged, I have continued to write, and have recently published my 50th printed book and now have 40 eBooks. As I have worked as an English teacher for many years, I wrote many short novels suitable for foreign learners of English but also for 'normal' people. Most of them are written for teenagers though I have some books for adults as well.

When I was twenty five I left England and headed for Germany and although I was unable to speak German, I was very keen to learn. I found one way of practising my German was to tell jokes in my lousy German. Later, I had the idea of writing a collection of jokes. With my first pay packet in Germany I bought a second hand ex US army typewriter (electric!)and typed out my very first book: The English German Joke Book. (A woman I met in a pub translated it for me though I had to type it myself). I sent it to a school publisher who told me they couldn't publish it but recommended another publisher who snapped up the rights and sold 11,000 copies in the first year.

Following that success I headed off to the Frankfurt Bookfair armed with my book and went around various foreign publishers. As a result I got contracts for a Norwegian, Polish, Danish and Spanish version of the joke book. (You do need VERY thick skin to go to Frankfurt as a writer).

With the advent of eBooks I have enjoyed giving the books a new lease of life and they are selling well.

I also kept writing short stories (I'm up to 125 so far) and sent a collection to an educational publisher. They liked my style but asked for something longer. I wrote 'Doctor Schnitzler's Dog' for them which is still selling well 17 years later. I then had short novels published by Penguin, collections of short stories published in Europe and still write as much as I can.

So, twenty eight years after my letter from Mr Dahl, have I improved? I would like to think so but that is up to you to decide. If you like my stories, please consider adding a review so that others can enjoy them as well.

Happy Reading

Jeremy

P.S. To find out more about me and my books, have a look at my website: www.jeremytaylor.eu