Obtaining a copy of 'Memories of Max'

I have been trying to to publish ‘Memories of Max’ since the middle of 2000. My agent approached 11 major UK publishers but each time the reply was the same. Generally the book was well received and I was praised for the writing but the content made the publishers nervous. They felt that the book would not be commercially viable because childhood cancer is a parent’s worst nightmare.

I totally understand their concerns and have been surprised and delighted at the response to the website. When I created the website I did not really expect many visitors but at the end of July 2003 I had received over 111,000 page hits on the site with a significant proportion of those coming from people who read at least a chapter and many who have read the book in its entirety.

I was approached by a couple of readers and asked to print copies of the book. I have now decided to offer this as a service for those within the UK at £10 per copy. If you live in the UK or Northern Ireland and would like a hardcopy of the book on A4 paper, then please contact me at

If you would like to buy a paperback copy and live in or outside the UK but then I would also like to hear from you. I am currently considering using print-on-demand technology to self publish the book as a normal paperback. This means that once published the book could be ordered through bookshops throughout the world like any other book. Self-publishing is quite a time consuming and costly process and it would help me considerably if I knew that I was able to recover my costs.

If you are interested in purchasing a paperback copy of the book, I would be very grateful if you contacted me, obviously with no obligation to purchase, at

I will reply to every email I receive.

Allan Buchanan - June 2003