The Publishing Cupboard’s existence is the culmination of an experiment that began in 1991 when scud and patriot missiles first entered English-language dictionaries. This was when Caroline Smart left London to see if she could continue working in publishing but not in London. She had secured an editorial job in Glasgow and planned to stay for a couple of years. Fifteen years later she was still in Glasgow but sadly her job was made redundant as increasingly work from Glasgow was moved to London. Ironically, during those fifteen years advances in technology proved that one could be based anywhere and publish books. So minus a job and inspired after reading The White Ladder Diaries which describes how Roni Jay and Richard Craze set up White Ladder Press, Caroline decided to follow in their rungs and set up as a micro publisher producing books that brought together her three passions – yoga, language and lying down. In 2006 she established her company, not so much a publishing house as The Publishing Cupboard.

Caroline’s interest is in non-fiction. She believes that people have a great appetite for learning, but sometimes the subject they want to access is either too dumbed down or bogged down with information. With languages, in particular, mention the word grammar and it is likely to provoke terror or a belief that it is some kind of no-go area for ordinary people. Yet grammar is just a set of rules just like the highway code, telling you when to stop, use lights, indicators and so on.

Which is where yoga comes into it. Many people simply tense up at certain subjects, especially if they had a bad experience at school. Yet they still want to (or have to) learn. Research has proved that being relaxed is the best state for our brains to absorb information. In yoga there is a relaxation technique called a yoga nidra which puts the student into a blissful sleep but where they are still actually listening. Aldous Huxley in Brave New World describes something similar as sleep-teaching. Actors also use this kind of approach by recording their lines and listening to them when they go to sleep.

Believing relaxation can break down any negative barriers towards learning, Caroline created the Nod off in… series. It is an eye-catching and user-friendly way of learning a language that allows the learner to listen to information rather than read it.

This light laid-back approach eases you into this receptive state by introducing the subject with a short relaxation session. Then it’s time for a clear explanation of how the language works (yes, grammar) illustrated with numerous examples. All the information on the CD is clearly laid out in the accompanying 48-page booklet. It’s ideal for:

• Beginners
• Students revising for Standard grades, GCSE and beyond
• Rusty learners
• Parents who want to reactivate their language skills
• Teachers who need to refresh their knowledge
• Students who have difficulty reading

The first title in the series, Nod off in French was published in April 2007 with Spanish and Italian scheduled for the autumn. Bénédicte Paviot who presents the French CD works for both television and radio and has a voice to die for. It is essential to get the voice and tone of the presenter just right. Bénédicte is bilingual and can glide smoothly from English to French without any of the jerkiness you get from using multiple voices. And her pronunciation in both English and French is impeccable.

The Publishing Cupboard is planning to bring out further languages and subjects in the Nod off series with Portuguese and Grammar & Punctuation scheduled for early next year.

As with other small independent publishers, it has not been the creating of a series that has proved the difficult rung to climb, it is persuading the book buyers to take stock. A small piece in the June easyJet inflight magazine has meant a captive 3.5 million readers have been made aware of the Nod off series and it has brought thousands of visitors to The Publishing Cupboard website. All it needs now is for bookshops to have copies to fly off their shelves.

The Publishing Cupboard is also pleased to be publishing Freedom to grow – celebrating 75 years of the Notre Dame Centre in Scotland later this year. Written by staff and colleagues, this book brings together the different strands involved in running the Centre which is at the forefront of child, adolescent and family guidance.

And what about the experiment? It is proving that publishing can thrive outside London and that there is a wealth of talented people at the click of a mouse all based in their own space. That space could be Bellshill or Bergamo, it doesn’t actually matter as long as there is someone to commit the project to paper, or CD, or iPod, or mobile. The Publishing Cupboard is trying to do just that.