Jonny Brick’s novella about a fan who gets to take over his team captured our imaginations here at The Stand because of its wit and invention. Moz Winter is the lucky (and totally unprepared) man taking the reins of Albion, a team in the league below the league below the Football League home to a passionate but small fanbase.
Chairman Chumly sees Moz Winter’s social media post about how he would run things differently. Chumly responds by putting Moz in charge over a surreal Christmas and New Year period. What follows is Moz’s personal experience of an electrician turned football boss dealing with his haphazard team, a cynical fanbase and local press. The reader is treated to all the angles on his progress: from team podcasts and the local paper, to player reactions and conversations with his mum over Gary Barlow biscuits.
For the reader, the story gets to the heart of the hopelessness and the dreams of football fans, clutching at the essence of what being a fan of the beautiful game is, especially at the non-elite level. Full details are below, including purchase options. We hope you enjoy it!
“Moz Winter has been an Albion fan since 1998. After a Boxing Day defeat, he posts a video to his social media account letting chairman Chumly know he can be of service.
A week later, Moz’s mum Wendy can boast of having a football manager for a son. He and assistant Mick Stephens are in charge of a team of hopeless centre-backs, hapless forwards and veteran midfielders.
Can Moz get Albion back to winning ways? Can he deal with media scrutiny and Chumly’s interventions? And does access to the dressing room change how much of an Albie he is?”
Why start a brand focused on ethical publishing? The answer is simple: experience of the industry. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not alleging that the publishing industry is all bad. Not by a long shot. There is no question that the industry has made many writers famous and enabled them to live joyous and successful lives that would otherwise be beyond their wildest dreams. It’s allowed them to get their ideas out into the public realm, and to spend their lives learning, and researching, and putting pen to paper. And I have the utmost respect for those people.
What I’m less sure of, is that the industry works out well for those writing knowingly niche books. What if you only expect to sell no more than a couple of thousand copies, realisitically? The industry stops working pretty quickly then: the advances are poor, the effort required to get a contract high, and the financial reward likely to be very, very minimal next to the effort.
I went through this. in the end, I didn’t sign a contract. I learnt how to self publish and promote instead, and came out of the experience with a life skill and the right to all my profits in perpetuity (which might be useful if, somehow, my book went on to be big, and if it doesn’t, well at least I get to keep all the rewards of my efforts).
That wasn’t the plan, as it happens. I had a publisher ready to go, and they pulled out after months of engagement, because the regional office concerned had not consulted the head office, who decided the book wouldn’t sell in large enough quantities. They were probably right, but they’d taken my best possible publishing dates from me in the process, so to say it was frustrating that they took so long to come to that conclusion is something of an understatement.
The experience of going it alone, making a modest amount of money (and above the nominal amount per copy you get when engaged with a publisher), and learning that not only could I do it, but it was in my interests, is what prompted The Stand.
So here we are. And naturally, I’m going to tell you about the book. It came out in 2019, and it’s entitled ‘CONIFA: Football For The Forgotten’. It explored the story behind a football tournament in London run for ‘unrecognised nations’ (in footballing and politcal terms, depending on the individual team), from Tibet to Northern Cyprus, Abkhazia to Tuvalu. More importantly, perhaps, it’s about the backstory to those teams.
It’s still on sale, and ticking along nicely more than three years after release, and I don’t have to consult with publisher over printing more, or what happens to my royalties, or whether it’s still relevant to today’s audience. The full details, should you want a copy, are below – it’s rated 4.8 on Amazon and 4.6 on Goodreads at the time of writing, so if you’re interested in the subject, I’m confident you’ll enjoy it. For the rest of you, this is just a short origin story, and perhaps, the little bit of context that will make this all make sense.
The CONIFA World Football Cup took place in London in the summer of 2018. Dubbed the world cup for ‘unrecognised nations’, it saw soccer teams from difficult roots compete for a parallel world cup in a 16 team tournament over nine days. The competitors varied from established countries (Tuvalu) to disputed regions (Northern Cyprus, Tibet, and Abkhazia), minority groups (Punjab, Kabylia and Matabeleland), and regions with distinctive individual identities (Cascadia, Ellan Vannin).
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ explores the organisation and the hardships of these teams through the lens of the tournament. The organisation’s roots lie with a Sapmi minority President from Northern Sweden – a businessman and reindeer herder called Per-Anders Blind – and an obscure shirt collector from central Germany, Sascha Duerkop.
The 2018 tournament was their fifth, and biggest tournament to date. CONIFA’s sides came through intense difficulties in preparing for the London tournament. Kabylia could bring only expat players, and saw their coach arrested and questioned by Algerian authorities. Matabeleland trained with a single functioning ball and no nets in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, before an English trainer from Latvia and Bruce Grobbelaar combined to get them to London.
Cascadia, representing a region on the west coast of the US and Canada, formed on internet forums, and hauled a team together just in time for the tournament, meeting for the first time the day before kick off. Northern Cyprus – the largest region of Europe that’s totally ineligible for UEFA club competition – brought a team of their best league players, treating the tournament as their own world cup.
The tournament itself also came under threat: almost all the sponsors threatened to withdraw at late notice, after CONIFA refused to throw out Tibet. They suspect Chinese influence. The Sri Lankan and Cypriot governments objected in writing in advance of the games, and when it was all over, the Ukraine banned an entire team’s players from competing in their country again.
‘CONIFA: Football for the Forgotten’ is the story of all the battles to play, all the action from the tournament itself, and more.
The book is based on around 50 interviews with those involved in the tournament, and running the teams, as well as attendance at 16 games of live football in just 6 playing days. It reveals previously unpublished information about the inner workings of CONIFA (including its finances and response to allegations the organisation works on behalf of Russia).
It’s a book about football, but also a book about diverse political architecture in different parts of the world, and the struggles that their desire to simply play the game for a shirt they love have created.
—15 x 21 cm Paperback 215 pages April 2019 English 9780244173630
We’re delighted to announced our first book under The Stand Publishing brand, entitled Missionaries:the Brits and Irishmen at the Centre of Asia’s Footballing Revolution, and written by Asian football journalist Chris Foley. Chris has worked in Ireland and Hong Kong, covering football and the GAA for the likes of the Kildare Nationalist, Offside, and is the former sports editor of The College Tribune. Born and living in Irealnd as he wrote his book, he has lived in Hong Kong and Thailand, and developed a passion for unlikely football sides like Bangkok side Port FC and the Hong Kong national team.
Chris’ book is inspired by his own Asian experiences, but written about those of others: those from the UK and Ireland who have ended up inspirational in the increasingly progressive and modern world of Asian football, his book covers ten stories, ten countries, and ten fantastic ‘Missionaries’, each with their own story to tell.
Association football, from humble beginnings, now has a foothold around the globe. From modest beginnings on the fields of British public schools, the early work of footballing missionaries has succeeded in spreading the game worldwide. International football competitions of today are incredibly competitive affairs, with national sides from Europe, the Americas, and to a lesser extent Africa, enjoying a taste of the glory on offer.
However, there remains one vast portion of the world which almost never achieves podium finishes at a global level. To this day, no Asian international or club team has ever been crowned world champion, and just one Asian footballer has ever been part of a victorious team in the UEFA Champions League.
Much like the burgeoning European powers of the early 20th century, Asian football is now beginning to see an influx of foreign talent in the hope of sparking improvements in nations with a broad scope of sporting ambitions.
Across ten chapters, Missionaries examines the footballing ambitions of various regions in Asia, with a specific focus on the British and Irish men who have somehow found themselves playing a central role.
These characters range from players competing at the elite level, coaches working in grassroots development, and even executives driving decision-making in the boardrooms.
Meet the Limerick-man taking Cambodia by storm, the non-league defender playing at the request of a petrostate’s royal family, the university graduate who became the world’s youngest national team manager (sort of), and many other unbelievable tales of footballing nomadism.
Chris’ Asia-wide stories visit: Cambodia, Mongolia, Guam, Pohnpei, Myanmar, Bhutan, China, Bangladesh, South Korea, The Phillipines, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Brunei.
To buy copies of Chris’ book, please click on the sales links below:
Chris can be contacted by email here and is happy to take part in promotional press related to the book on request.
Practical information: Publisher: The Stand Publishing ISBN: 978-1-7396989-0-4 Editing by James Hendicott, cover design by Sarah Ryan Released: May 2022. Retail in Ireland: Personal Website – €9.99 + postage. Amazon – €14 + postage
First of all, it feels important to say that The Stand is an ethical collective, and not a traditional publisher. As such, it won’t suit everyone. In fact, if you think your book has the kind of mainstream appeal that will see it grace every bookstore, we’re confident enough in our own place to say that we’re probably not the publisher you’re looking for.
Our aim, primarily, is to help authors get books to market under a brand that can help promote those books, without impeding on what might be modest profits. Just to be clear, we’re not a vanity publishing project. We won’t be taking every book we’re offered, and we won’t take payment from you to write a book for you, or to include you in our roster. We have to feel what you’re producing fits. When we do take a book on, it will be as a supportive network of authors, cross promoting our work and providing useful assistance in getting the book to market. All we ask in exchange is that you get involved, and that our books carry our publishing brand.
As part of the process, we will assist in getting you to market, and work with you to use our contacts in the media and book shops to help you sell copies. Generally speaking, as part of that process, we don’t intend to take any of your money, either as an up front or as a commission (with one optional exception, see below). In line with that, generally, we don’t intend to pay for the printing of your book, either, though if we’re really enthused by something we might consider a small loan against future sales.
Here’s a quick overview , then, of how we typically work:
What we offer:
An increasingly established brand under which to launch books, which makes you more appealing to stockists and connects you with experienced authors. Part of the appeal of this, over self publishing, is the support, but another part is the cross promotion: all our authors are expected to engage with us. Ideally, our links to each of you might help to sell other people’s books, as well as your own.
Assistance in reaching publication, taking in cover design, ISBN advice (and provision at less than the cost rate to buy ISBNs individually, and at no profit to us), feedback on the text, assistance with press, assistance with getting into bookshops, a network of contacts, and the benefit of our experience selling niche books.
The use of our branding, and promo space on this website, including links to sales locations, detailed information on what your book is, and press information hosting.
Editing (due to the time involved, this is the only aspect of what we do for which we will charge, as it is unsustainable not to do so. This will be at a fair price, and is entirely optional, you are free to go elsewhere).
Experienced writers who have published their own books willing to answer your questions and give advice, without payment. In exchange, we hope you’ll do the same down the line.
What we don’t offer:
Up front payment for a scipt in the form of an ‘advance’. In fact, we don’t get involved in the financials of your book at all. You will sell your book yourself, but with our assistance, either directly or through an on-demand print company. To put us in the middle introduces tax complications and costs money, so goes entirely against the ethos of our whole concept.
We don’t offer to do all of the above for you – think of it this way, it’s your book, you’ll be getting the glory. In football terminology, we’ll be providing the assist, you’ll be hammering the ball home, and we won’t be charging you for our role in it.
Perhaps most importantly – we don’t take any of your money. You pay your costs, you control your set up in terms of book production (you may take or leave our advice, providing you’re not sullying our brand), you keep your profits. If you don’t have funds to put into print runs, we have plenty of experience dealing with print on demand publishers that will significantly reduce your up front costs.
Who we might suit:
Somebody who will write, or has written, a book, and will follow through on publishing once they have done so regardless of whether they obtain a traditional publishing deal. We’re happy to guide you in a great deal of different ways, but ultimately, you will be the driving force in bringing the book to market.
Someone prepared to be self-starting to at least some degree. We sit somewhere between a traditional publisher and self-publishing, and while that means you get to keep all your profits, it definitely means more work on the writer’s end, too. We will help you as much as we can, but most of the time, you’ll be pulling the trigger.
Experienced writers operating in a niche that they know doesn’t suit traditional publication.
Someone who values ethics behind publishing, and feels that as the writer, or co-writers, they should be entitled to the full profits of their work, rather than the paltry percentages often offered by traditional publishers.
Our project was set up primarily to carry sports books, but plans are already stretching well outside of that area. Give us a shout on any area you might want to cover.
A new endeavour deserves a little background, right? Here goes…
In 2018, after a dozen years working in journalism, I decided to produce my first book. It essentially combined all my interests: football, travel, unusual and interesting political situations, and being something a little bit leftfield that a lot of people probably haven’t heard of (you can check it out here, if you’re curious – the banner photo for this website is taken from the book). Writing the book was both a labour of love and a real pleasure, fulfilling something of a lifetime ambition. But it’s niche – knowingly so – and being a debut, exposed to a different, small-scale side of the publishing business. I got a deal to publish it, and then, a few months later, around when it was originally due to be published, that deal was withdrawn.
In short, the publisher’s London office had agreed it was a great idea, and then their American one, the head office, had blocked the whole thing. I felt the timeline for publishing the book was already stretched, so I ended up doing it all myself, instead, getting the finished book edited, covers designed, a PR campaign together and sorting ISBNs, printing and making the book available in digital form all in the space of about a month. Connections to shops and other interested parties followed. It was tough, but ultimately I learnt that I didn’t really need the publisher in the first place. The book has gone on to sell close to a thousand copies, with each one earning me around three times the profit it would have if the publisher had been involved.
Another thing I learnt, quickly, is that disillusionment with publishers is extremely widespread. There’s a lot of behind the scenes help in niche communities like obscure football publishing, and people tend to track each other down. Within a few months, I found myself hearing from a writer who had traveled all over the world to write his book and secured a small advance, only to find the publisher wasn’t able to get it into many bookshops, and as he no longer owned the work, it was harder for him to do so, too. I heard from others about books that were considered ‘too niche’ for mainstream publishing, but went on to sell comfortably in the four figures for their writers, making them a decent income.
Naturally, I compared the market to my more common writing market: music and entertainment journalism, where I could pull in a freelance wage each month without much of the stress involved in writing a book and dealing with publishers. Before long, I started to ask myself: in the case of a non-mainstream book, what is the point of a publisher?
This is where The Stand Publishing comes in. Because there are disadvantages to not having a publisher, but they’re all sumountable. Self-published books are not as respected in publishing circles, as there isn’t the inherent quality control required in getting a publisher on board (though, I should note, having read some of the texts provided to one of the key niche publishers in the sporting world, I’m not convinced publishers actually are offering that quality control!). But we’ve worked out a way around that.
The ideas behind The Stand is, essentially, a cooperative. It was pulled together with the help of a number of high-profile sports writers with similar frustrating experiences who will operate behind the scenes to start out with, largely because they are, for the time being, tied to publishers. The thinking is that if we can collectively work as a kind of quality control, edit each other’s work, and use our shared knowledge to access the market, we can create a brand to function under that doesn’t siphon off the majority of our profits.
The down side, of course, is the writers will also be taking on the costs (we will shortly post on how it will work in practical terms), and where necessary we hope to mitigate that to some degree. But the bottom line is, experienced writers, with a bit of support, should be able to back and profit from their own work in a way that goes chiefly into their own pockets, and removes what has become a very, very costly middle man.
After a bit of discusion, we decided to take it one step further than simply providing an affordable alternative: The Stand will be a ‘look through’. That means, by being part of it, you get access to the branding and the expertise – subject to satisfying us on the quality of your text – at no cost. We will provide access to our routes to market, to designers, editors, and so on, as needed. The Stand Publishing itself will take nothing. And because all our books will be available on the platform, sharing space and benefiting from cross-sales, we are fellow writers will ultimately benefit vs self publishing, or inhibiting publishing deals. In time, we hope to grow big enough to be a brand recognised for quality and for having a particular value. Perhaps, even, for taking it to the industry. For the time being, we’ll settle for getting a few good, but niche, books to market as we get established, and setting up the connections we need.
The background, essentially, is we want to be treated fairly. And many of us are not sure we have been up until now. Between us, we feel we have an answer ready to go. Pitch us the right idea, and we’d love to have you along for the ride.
In fact, our very first book is just around the corner.
In solidarity,
James Hendicott (founder) and the rest of The Stand Publishing team.
