Dear She Writers,

It’s been more than five years since Deborah Siegel and I pushed the “live” button and launched this incredible community into the public sphere. From our first days we were joined by a generous, talented group of writers who instantly seeded our site with the commitment to quality, seriousness of purpose, and passion for the craft and profession of writing that distinguish it to this day. The personal journey for me has been beyond anything I could have imagined, from our first years taking a crack at entrepreneurship as an online startup, to a quieter period during which I withdrew from the fray to work on my first novel, to our most recent incarnation as a publisher, with Brooke Warner at the helm. This last iteration is the most exciting to me, but also the most unexpected. If you had told me, when I started my novel in 2011, that I would turn down an offer my agent secured from a Big Five publisher to publish with my own indie press, I would never have believed you. But here we are, and I couldn’t be happier.

Which leads me to what I believe is the most important development in our short history (though long by the standards of the Internet): as of late last year, She Writes and She Writes Press have become part of the SparkPoint Studio LLC family. SparkPoint Studio is a multi-faceted company with communication at its core – helping start-ups, established businesses, publishers and authors with all their story needs, including public relations, branding, marketing, social media, content strategy, advertising, platform building and even publishing. SparkPoint Studio is mostly recognized for its leading BookSparks division, an innovative publicity arm that has become a powerhouse in helping debut and bestselling authors and publishers navigate the changing landscape of traditional and digital media. But it is much more than that, almost entirely due to the leadership and vision of its chief executive and our newest partner, Crystal Patriarche. From our first conversations (after being introduced by two trusted friends), I recognized in Crystal the business acumen and experience She Writes Press and SheWrites.com needed to realize our full potential. (Can you say World Domination? Or maybe just, Awesome Thriving Community Site and Major Player in Publishing?) I came to the table as an author seeking to create the community she needed; Brooke came to the table as a publisher seeking to reinvent the business she loved; Crystal comes to the table as a sophisticated entrepreneur and publicist with deep knowledge and experience in publishing, tech and start-ups, with a focus on female-driven work and a track record growing online communities and stunningly successful success stories with authors of her own, seeking her next challenge. Brooke, Crystal and I are aligned in our values, our mission, and our ambition: to put a woman-owned publishing company at the center of the indie publishing revolution, and to make SheWrites.com the best place in the world to be for women writers everywhere.

No small feat, but I have high hopes.

It will take time of course. And our high hopes will only be realized with continued support and engagement from all of you. In the past five years we grew from a community of hundreds to a community of twenty-five thousand women from all over the world. With Crystal and SparkPoint Studio guiding us through our next five years, the possibilities are truly limitless. As ever, we will share each step with you as we go, and call on all of you for resources, knowledge and ideas. It takes a village to change the world. Thank you so much for being mine. 

Kamy