Last Wednesday, I launched a new venture with my dear friend Olivia Hambrett, our love project – O&S Publishing.
O&S Publishing is a hub for literary events around the world, industry news, expert advice, interviews and quality e-books. It was born out of a shared love for words, the online and digital arena and good, quality, engaging reads.
It started, of course, with an idea. Quite a humble one, really. We wanted to gather together a handful of top notch writers and have them write a short story in the style of one of their key literary influences. The idea being to publish an anthology that was as much a homage to previous and enduring greatness as a display of undervalued talent. We duly gathered the writers, they duly wrote their stories and then something happened. A bigger idea took seed.
What if we didn’t stop at just one anthology? What if this anthology was just the beginning, the launch of something ongoing, innovative and nurturing? So we asked ourselves, over a flurry of across-the-seas emails – what can we do in order to be able to continually publish collections and titles? Create a publishing platform, naturally. And make it elecontric – everyone has an iSomething or a Kindle or a laptop. Publishing electronically would give us full control over each title – and would make the reach of each title so much further – e-books that can be accessed from India to Italy, Australia to America.
Fantastic. Wonderful. Perfect. Let’s do it.
But what if, we asked ourselves, what if that platform could also act as a hub for writers and readers alike? A place where one can not only buy brilliant, quality titles from original voices, but also read author interviews, industry news and expert advice. Where hungry readers could follow writing and publishing journeys? What if our publishing platform could act as a warm, cosy, inviting bookshop and provide the communal, shared atmosphere of a cafe? What if, what if.
So we did it. Or, perhaps better put, we are in the process of doing it. We aim to build an e-library of quality literature from writers we believe in. Alongside publishing these titles – at a rate that reflects time, effort and quality, so not a particularly speedy one – we will feature interviews with writers, tips and advice, literary happenings around the globe and a blog that tracks each title’s progress.
We hope you are along for the ride.
Please stop by, give us a like or a follow, and let us know what you think.
SANDI SIEGER. 