Sydney Writers’ Festival – Writer’s Edit

Can you believe we're here again so soon? This year has been an absolute whirlwind for us (not that we'd have it any other way), and has seen Writer's Edit and Writer's Edit Press grow massively. To give you a little context, see what we were up to this time last year. We'd had a website upgrade, we'd run a crowdfunding campaign, we published and launched Kindling Volume I and much, much more. But, if we achieved all that in 2014, how could we possibly outdo ourselves? Here's how: The Social Media Milestones: Our online community is constantly growing, which means the Writer's Edit social media channels play a rather important role when it comes to our writers and readers getting in touch with each other and voicing their support. Our biggest achievement definitely lies with our Twitter followers, and this is largely thanks to our Head of Tech, Dave, who managed to increase our Twitter followers from 4,613 to over 36,000. We should have a party just for that! Our Writer's Edit Facebook fans also increased from 3,400 to 4,033. Features/Interviews This year we were lucky enough to have Writer's Edit featured on a number of different websites and blogs. Check out where we were featured below... Northern Beaches Bookclub, Radio Interview with Rosemary Puddy of Northern Beaches Bookclub Publishing Perspectives, Australian Lit Mag “Writer’s Edit” Launches Books, Builds Careers Capital Letters, On Writing and Anthologies with Helen Scheuerer Blots & Plots, Start Your Own Literary Magazine Capital Letters, Not Another Lit Mag Giant Squid Books, Interview with an Indie Publisher Thank you to all the publications who chose to feature us, your support means the world to us! Covering Sydney Writers' Festival For the first time, the Writer's Edit writers were given media passes to various events at the Sydney Writers' Festival. We saw the likes of David Mitchell, Evie Wyld, John Marsden, and many more. 2015 Sydney Writers Festival... It was amazing to be able to send our writers along to these events, so thank you to Sydney Writers' Festival for making that happen this year. Giveaways Some of you may have noticed, we've been delving into the realm of online giveaways in recent months. The purpose of this is to increase our subscriber base, so we can get our writers' work out in front of more wonderful readers. In November alone, we had 2,000 people sign up to receive news about our articles and small press! Small Press Success In 2014, we learnt a lot about being a small press. Compiling a book, going to print and figuring out distribution were all pretty new to us then. 2015 was a very different year for us... Kindling Volumes II and I at our launch in November. 2015 saw the publication and launch of our second book - Kindling Volume II. We're so proud of this book! It's bigger and better than the last in so many ways. And that's a wonderful thing - by reading it, you can see just how much we've grown and how much we've learnt in the past 12 months. You can read more about our launch party here, and view an array of gorgeous photos from the evening here. But now, we'd like to take this opportunity to thank those involved: Firstly, our talented authors - thank you for trusting us with your work, and for working so hard with us throughout the year to perfect your incredible pieces. To our designer, Alissa Dinallo - Kindling looks and feels as good as it does because of your amazing talent. We're so thankful to have you on the team. To our phenomenal editors, Kyra Bandte, Kelly Emmerton, Rory Cole and Claire Bradshaw - wow. What an adventure this book has been. Thank you for your dedication and attention to detail. The Articles This year, we've published some incredible articles for our readers. Here's a glimpse at just some of our favourites... The Ultimate Guide to World Building: How to Write Fantasy, Sci-Fi and Real Life Worlds Everything You Need to Know About Planning Your Novel The Essential Guide for Writing a Series Vs. a Standalone Novel How to Master Conflict in YA Fiction The Plight of the Modern Author: Publishing, Social Media and Risks How to Format Your Short Story for Publications Handy Tips on How to Start a Book Club The Editors Editors Claire Bradshaw, Bernadette Mung, Kyra Bandte and Helen Scheuerer. Writer's Edit has grown in so many ways over the last few months, which has meant that the workload has also grown. We've been operating as our own little company for some time now, but 2015 saw us bring on board two wonderful editorial assistants. Claire Bradshaw and Bernadette Mung started earlier this year, and have been working tirelessly for Writer's Edit every week. These wonderful women have done so much for our site and small press, including: editing, social media work, outreach marketing and more. Their talent, dedication and friendship has meant the world to us. Claire and Bernadette, you've been an invaluable addition to the Writer's Edit family, and we can't wait to continue working with you in 2016. As always, another inspiring individual we have to thank is Kyra Bandte. Kyra started out as a contributing intern for Writer's Edit and has since become one of our most trusted and dearest friends, as well as Poetry Editor of the Kindling anthologies, and Deputy Editor of Writer's Edit. Kyra works full-time as a copywriter, reviews books for NSW Writers' Centre, edits for Mascara Literary Review, runs the Wollongong Book Club, writes her own fiction and still manages to do so much for us. Her support, hard work and loyalty are irreplaceable. Thank you for everything you do, Kyra! The Writers Naturally, Writer's Edit wouldn't be the platform it is without our incredible writers. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has contributed to our online publication over the past two years. Special thanks go to: Kristin Prescott, Dan Murphy, Natalie Ong Lih Tyng, Katherine O'Chee, Dean Elphick, Laura Marshall, Alyssa Boorman, Hannah Gierhart, Jared Catchpoole and Kyla Bagnall for your ongoing support and incredible work. 2016 and Beyond Kindling Volume III You read that right, less than a month after we launched Kindling Volume II, we're announcing Kindling III. In 2016, we'll be publishing the third and final volume of our beloved creative writing anthology. We think three's a fantastic number to finish off our series, before we move onto some new projects. Learn how to submit your writing here. Writer's Edit Membership Here's something that's been in the works for a few months now - a membership aspect to the site. Members will gain access to exclusive writing courses, forums and personalised advice from our editors. We can't say too much more about it at this stage, but we can't wait to finalise things and launch in 2016. That's a Wrap We've had an absolutely incredible year, and there are so many exciting things on the horizon, but for now, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us over the last 12 months. Whether you've liked a Facebook post, bought a copy of Kindling, written for us, attended our launch party or retweeted a tweet - your support means the world to us. To our readers, thank you. There would be no Writer's Edit without you. Your support and encouragement make our jobs rewarding in so many ways. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and an incredible New Year! - Helen Scheuerer Founding Editor