I've been behind in sharing our monthly Indie Publisher Spotlights to the blog, but here is February's spotlight! In February we are spotlighting a publisher who are slightly different from many of the publishers we've featured so far, the brilliantly named Wordsmithery!
How did Wordsmithery start?
Wordsmithery is an independent literary arts organisation and publisher run by Sam Hall and Barry Fentiman Hall. Sam and Barry have both been writing since childhood; Wordsmithery was founded with the aim of encouraging more people to get into writing and reading.
Sam is a playwright and former journalist and editor, currently getting into drawing comics, Barry is a poet with an interest in site specific writing.
Wordsmithery evolved out of 2 different literary projects that Sam ran – 17Percent, an organisation that supported female playwrights and ME4Writers, a Kent based writing group. Wordsmithery has run small and large literary projects for the past ten years - we just ran our first one-day literary festival over the summer in Rochester Castle Gardens!
We started publishing books as well as running projects about 5 years ago. They mainly been plays, anthologies and poetry collections, but we always wanted to showcase the wealth of writing talent in our local area – so Confluence magazine was born. www.wordsmithery.info/anthologies
Can you tell us a bit about what you have planned and any upcoming titles?
Currently we are working on putting Issue 13 of Confluence magazine together (it’s been a bit delayed due to both of us getting Covid-19). There are poems and stories from UK-based writers and also writers from father afield. We also showcase an artist in each issue, in this issue we’ve got the work of a husband and wife who both make art. It's going to be a great issue. www.confluencemagazine.co.uk
What are the most challenging and rewarding things about running an indie publisher?
The most challenging thing as an indie publisher is getting the books out there! We’re not on Amazon – if they start paying tax then maybe that will change – so it’s all down to word of mouth. We also publish in what you might call a niche genre – poetry books only sell about 25-30 copies unless they’re by the big names.
So face to face sales – which have been difficult the past two years can be the most rewarding things, if people at a reading enjoy the poetry and want to buy the book it's great, but can also be the most heart breaking, if nobody buys the book!
I suppose the biggest reward is helping writers to become better known - particularly in Confluence - we've published work by first time writers who have gone on to win awards. We have launched a poetry award ourselves - the Rosemary McLeish Poetry Prize - so that's exciting! www.wordsmithery.info/prize
Follow facebook group for up to date info. www.facebook.com/groups/61870467336
Find out more about Wordsmithery here.
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