AN AMATEUR writer who thought he’d never make it as an author is now celebrating the release of his first children’s book.

James Bishop has his wife Jennie to thank for his two-book contract, after she encouraged him to enter a national competition on ITV’s ‘Lorraine’ to find the next big thing in the world of children's literature.

Two years on, and after finished as a runner-up, Mr Bishop has been writing two books whilst juggling a full-time job and being a dad to two-year-old son, Zac.

The competition was aimed at unpublished authors, writing on any subject for 5-7-year olds.

32-year-old Mr Bishop submitted the first 1,000 words of his story, 'Iguana Boy' along with the plot summary to the daytime chat show, which offered a top prize for the contract with Hachette Children’s Group.

The fierce competition saw 3,000 entries from across the nation, including Mr Bishop’s entry - a tale about a superhero whose superpower is the ability to talk to iguanas.

After submitting his entry, the communications manager said he wasn’t confident, adding: “I thought, I’ll never ever have to think about that again in my life.”

But his persistence paid off when he received a phone call from ITV letting him know he has been selected as one of the three top three entries, though he later missed out on the top prize.

He said: “Finding out I didn’t win on live television was pretty crushing in front of 1 million viewers.”

However, before he had returned home from the studios, publishers got in touch to say they wanted to work with him.

And tasked with turning the 7,000-word book into two with over 20,000 words each, and changing the target age to 7-10 year-olds, Mr Bishop accepted a two-book deal.

The author took a break from Oxfordshire to study creative writing at university in London, which he said 'paid off in the end'.

The Didcot resident said: "Writing has always been my dream, since realising I was never going to be a footballer.

"The push I needed was that somebody high up in a publishing company would read it.”

The dad-of-one has written several unfinished novels.

He also works full time for mobile phone company 3 as an internal communications manager, and part of his duties are to write articles for the brand.

He said: “I’m knackered in the evenings, so I’m spending the time to write the book. Three have been very supportive.”

Two-year-old son Zac was six months old when the competition. Dedicating the book to him, Mr Bishop said: “The idea of being able to read this book to my son when he’s older was really cool.”

The first book titled, Iguana Boy Saves the World with a Triple Cheese Pizza, will be released on April 19.

To celebrate the launch of his new book Mr Bishop will be doing a tour of schools, speaking to 2,000 pupils, including a visit to his old school Rush Common.

Part of the Iguana Boy saves the world series, the book will also be on the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge, aimed at challenging children to read six books during the school holidays.

His second book is due to be released on September 6.