A FORMER Holyrood Academy student has published an eco-friendly bedtime storybook and decided to leave Amazon which left “little control over quality or environmental practices”.

When children's author Richard Heddington, who published the Henry the Hedgegnome bedtime stories, started work on his latest children’s book, the first thing he did was to move away from Amazon.

He said he wanted to be sure the book was published in an eco-friendly and carbon-neutral way.

He added Amazon might have credentials in place, but it was not easy for him to find out.

Mr Heddington said: "The reason is that all Henry the Hedgegnome books, so far, have been produced directly through Amazon, leaving little control over quality or environmental practices.

“I wanted to improve the quality and the green credentials of my books, so my first task in publishing this book was to find a printer in the UK with positive environmental policies.

“After some research, I found one that is not only eco-friendly but is part of a company that was the first CarbonNeutral® printing company in the world."

“I haven’t seen anything that states what their credentials are. I wanted my book to be published in an eco-friendly carbon neutral way.

“Going through the Amazon process I saw there was no option to select any of that. I was looking for something that was openly stating that it was eco-friendly and carbon-neutral.

“The quality that I was getting from Amazon was not what I was hoping for.

“I was also looking to get the book printed in the UK rather than Poland to reduce the mileage of the product in the first place, but it was printed in Poland and then shipped.

“It is so important to get the message across and let people know.”

Henry the Hedgegnome and the tongue-tied Snake is available from the author's website www.hedgegnomes.co.uk or to order from all good bookshops.

It can also be ordered from most online booksellers including Amazon.

"Amazon might not produce it, but I’ll still let them sell it," Mr Heddington added.

An Amazon spokesperson said: “We offer a print-on-demand service for books and we are continually looking at ways to reduce carbon emissions from paper, manufacturing, packaging, and transportation.”