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As she was taking her
BHS exams Hazel noticed that there were no
textbooks to cover the exams. There were
lots of textbooks covering the various
subjects, but these either went into the
topics too deeply or did not cover what was
mentioned in the syllabus. As she was being
taught for her Stage
Three by Jody Redhead, she realised that her
notes for the Stages One and Two, taken
from lectures and practical experience,
were good sources for books. She started
compiling her notes and wrote the Stage One
and part of the Stage Two together with her
instructor Jody.
She and Jody sent out the first two books to
publishers and these were quickly snapped up
by two main publishers in the equestrian
market.
Unfortunately neither of these Publishers
wanted to design and publish the books as
Hazel wanted them. She saw them as being
separate books for each exam, the Publishers
however wanted to group them together into
one book. Cheaper for the publishers and
likely to make more profit.
So Hazel chose to go alone, a brave decision
as neither she nor anyone she knew had ever
published a book, let alone run a publishing
company!
The rest is history. She published and
printed 500 Stage One books, which quite a
few people said would never sell. They were
sold within the first three months and Nova
now publishes thousands of Stage One books
alone.
After the success of Stage One came the
Stage Two. This book included the Riding and
Road Safety Test, another innovative turn
for Nova as no one had ever included this
vital Test with the BHS Exams.
Stage Three followed and hot on its heels
was the Preliminary Teaching Test.
Hazel has now been
persuaded strongly to write the Stage Four
which she is doing at present.
Nova is the success
story rather like David and Goliath. For an
unknown writer so set up a new and unknown
publishing firm in the extremely tight knit
equestrian market was amazing. Nova is the
success story of the past decade and is
going from strength to strength.
Hazel receives
hundreds of letters per month thanking her
for her books and she is thrilled that her
total commitment in the face of daunting
odds paid off and has helped so many
students. Indeed her books are now used as
the standard textbooks by examiners, even
chief examiners, lecturers and instructors
all over the world.
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