About Yvonne

Invernesian Yvonne Marrs (1982-present day) has loved writing for as long as she can remember, moving to the London area at the age of 19 to pursue her dream of becoming a published author.

Yvonne graduated from UHI (Inverness College) with an HND in Administration and Information Management, a set of skills she puts to good use to organise herself and her own publishing company, WTSMP Publications.

 Currently Yvonne has four complete fictional series published – the ‘When The Sax Man Plays’ series, the ‘Football Crazy’ series, the ‘Aiden Lewis’ Octet and the ‘Undeserved’ series. There is another series, the ‘Can’t Buy Health’ series, which is two thirds published at the moment.

Regarding standalone titles, Yvonne’s first NaNoWriMo novel Inexorable took just 18 days to complete! 

You will find Castiliano Vulgo – a fictional work on 16th Century London life written in two parts using both Elizabethan English and Modern English.

In February 2020, Yvonne undertook a similar challenge to NaNoWriMo to produce a proper murder mystery book, Harbourtown Murder.

Yvonne’s 40th book was published earlier than her 40th birthday in the summer of 2022, as it is a fundraising book. Between main character, Mike Izzard and Yvonne, they have raised around £1000 for Breast Cancer Charities in the UK with the book – Termination at the Halt. Amazing!!

You can check out Yvonne’s author page on Amazon and follow her for updates about her next books. Challenged to create and publish 50 books, Yvonne has plans for the next 8 titles in the next six or so years… and maybe more!

Follow Yvonne Marrs on Amazon

Yvonne’s publishing story

The first Sax Man book, which Yvonne maintains did start out as just one book (! – as we know, one became three, which became four, then five, then a prequel was released!) was published by Melrose Press’s imprint Lantern Tower in 2008. Back in those days, paying to publish your own book was starting to gain popularity and many small presses sprung up and into business.

Having visited several publishing companies after exchanging communications and meeting with some at the 2007 London Book Fair, Yvonne was hooked by the easygoing Commissions Editor at Lantern Tower. Unfortunately, lots of arguing went on regarding the book’s layout, punctuation, cover image, style etc before it was finally published in May 2008.

Obviously proud to have her work out, Yvonne was thrilled to arrange book signings with Waterstones bookstores in her area – and met with other booksellers to have her book stocked by individual stores. By now, Yvonne had material for the second and third books, but wasn’t entirely convinced about continuing with Lantern Tower. Thus, search began for a second publisher: one with more flexibility to what she was looking for regarding the design of the book itself, as opposed to the standard template used by the previous publisher. Receiving lots of opinions that her first novel looked like a How-To Manual, Yvonne knew this would not do!

Grosvenor House were chosen to produce the second book in the Sax Man series – but there were more limitations with the service provided. More promotional and marketing responsibility was on Yvonne’s shoulders; famously, Yvonne has said that she loves a challenge – this is what she got! However, the pros far outweighed the cons, so a one year deal was signed with them.

Using contacts new and old, Yvonne continued to promote her work and sell her books. By August 2010, electronic books were coming into play and the market was swinging from paperbacks into eBook versions of novels. Interestingly, authors were told to market their eBooks at the same price at the paperbacks – something that is unheard of nowadays!

At the London Book Fair 2011, Yvonne was too ill to attend on the day. Her husband, John, went armed with set questions for set publishers and printing companies on her behalf, updating her on his progress. He was unimpressed with the companies Yvonne was expressing interest in. Already having informed Yvonne that she could become her own publisher and do everything herself, completely free of restrictions, it looked as if this was the best way to go. Sure there were legal obligations to fulfil, but with her HND qualification, Yvonne already had the necessary skills. Aside from this, Yvonne completed a Proofreading and Editorial Home Study course, enabling her to edit her books. Speaking with a representative of Imprint Digital, a printing company in Exeter, John was more than won over by the idea – the last hurdle was to convince Yvonne!

More research later, Yvonne founded her own company to produce her books – WTSMP Publications, the name a nod to her first fictional series, When The Sax Man Plays. Imprint Digital went on to not only produce Yvonne’s third, fourth and fifth books, Yvonne also republished her first and second Sax Man books under her own company – WTSMP Publications.

Yvonne and Jamie, the man who helped create perfect books, at the Imprint Digital stall, London Book Fair 2013.

That was the same year Yvonne had a shelf at London Book Fair’s New Exhibits stand. (Most authors show only one book!) Here she is with her parents, who visited for the occasion from Scotland.

There is space for eBooks and paperbacks in the novel market, both of which Yvonne has created through Amazon’s KDP (old name of CreateSpace) software. Trends are dictating that eBooks are not going to replace paperbacks – thankfully! – thus, readers are still demanding a paperback option for their to-read pile.

After that brief interlude into Yvonne’s publishing journey, below you will find links to other projects by Yvonne that you may enjoy.

After her life changing diagnosis of several chronic illnesses in 2016, Yvonne began crafting. She built an eShop and website for the venture.

Interested in photography? Yvonne and John established Weston Photographics