Local writer Geraldine Murfin-Shaw has published her first novel on lulu.com, after hearing about it on a Radio 4 talk. Negotiating the hurdles on the website was not easy, and she came up short against some big jumps, but there was an online help facility, which puts the punter in direct contact with a staff member, through a 'chat' window - you type your question and receive an instantaneous typed answer. "The staff were friendly and able to put me on the right track", she says. "All in all it probably took me five hours to get the book up and running, but it will probably only take me 40 minutes next time. I had to do a lot of revising and reshaping to fit their formats. I don't think anyone who is not computer literate could have managed it."

How does it work? You send your manuscript, and cover images to the web, fix a price, include an extract potential buyers can read, and complete a short biography. Up to this point it has cost you nothing. Your book is available to members of the public to buy, and you receive a royalty on each copy sold. You can buy copies for yourself and friends at cost - around £5. You can even opt to have your book remain private, so only you can buy and distribute it.

"It's a godsend," says Geraldine. "I've spent three years looking for an affordable binding machine, now I don't need one. I'm so excited about this project, I feel like a racehorse in the traps - I want to run and run and write and write and stick it all on lulu!"

Geraldine's book is at