Fabulous Book Feedback from our Youngest Customers


Fabulous feedback from the readers of our little book is what motivates us most.


Fabulous book feedback from Downs Side Up's youngest customers is what motivates us. Thanks to Brídín Nic Dhonncha for permission to use this photo of his sons.


Publishing your first book is a daunting process 

Really it is. It feels like sending a much-loved child out on their own into the big wide world. There's a little bit of your soul within those pages and you don't know where they will end up.


Have you pitched it right? Will people like the look? Will children find it appealing? Will you cover your costs? Will it make the difference you had hoped?

It's been eight months since we launched I Love You Natty: A Sibling's Introduction to Down's Syndrome, written by our eldest daughter Mia,10, and I. It's been a learning curve for us all for sure, but it's been a positive experience and a success. There have been reviews and articles and interviews and  signings.

I heard somewhere that the average number of copies of a first book sold is 400. We've sold nearly twice as many as that and donated around 200 too. The reviews are all 5* on Amazon. We're looking at a reprint this year, which is very exciting! Then we can give away more, which is the long-term plan.


The personal feedback is what motivates us

But the most important thing in all of this is the direct feedback from the customers. The wonderful surprise emails I get from a parent sending a picture of their children reading the book together. The personal words of thanks from a new parent, written in the night from half way around the world. The smily tale that a small child won't go to bed without reading the book. Tweets of thanks from other siblings, who feel relieved to know someone just 'gets it'.

These messages mean so very much to us all as a family. For this is the proof that there was indeed a need for a book like I Love You Natty: A Sibling's Introduction to Down's Syndrome.



Available at £5.99 from Amazon, Waterstones Click and Collect Service, and Sainsbury's Penzance. 

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