A history of Writes4Women
If you’re joining the Writes4Women community for the first time, here’s a short intro to the pod and your host Pamela Cook (aka Pam) …
Writes4Women was dreamed up all the way back in 2017 when co-founder Kel Butler was chatting to Pam about all things writing and feminism and tossed out a question: Do you want to start a podcast? Never having listened to one before Pam immediately said yes. The chance to talk to women writers about writing craft, books and their writing lives was way too good an opportunity to pass up. Writes4Women was born and the very first episode featured a conversation with Mia Freedman. Over the next few years so many guests joined Pam and Kel on The Convo Couch, honing their interviewing and producing skills and getting their heads around all the associated tech. It was a steep learning curve and lead to Kel setting up her own podcasting production company.
When covid hit in 2020 and writers were unable to do live launches for their books the podcast branched out into The Book Launch series, with multiple episodes per week, allowing writers to connect with readers and find their audiences.
Regular episodes moved from monthly to fortnightly to weekly as there were just too many great books out there, and too many fabulous women writers to stick to 12 eps a year. In 2021, with Kel’s business needing more of her attention the tough decision to split was taken. Pam decided to go solo which meant taking on not only the reading and prep, but also learning the editing and production side of things. Pam now had the perfect procrastination tool - how could she possibly write when there were so many episodes to get out?
But she did continue writing and in fact successfully published two independent titles (more on that below) during that time to add to her traditionally published backlist. In addition to distributing the podcast on all the major platforms Writes4Women episodes are also published on our wonderful website designed by the uber talented Michelle Barraclough from Fresh Web Design (side note Michelle is also the host and producer of the awesome Writers Book Club), and on the Writes4Women YouTube Channel.
In the last year, to allow Pam to actually do some writing (and stop procrastinating),a team of awesome writers have helped out as guest hosts including Rae Cairns, Meredith Jaffe, Jo Riccioni, Penelope Janu, Mary Lou Stephens, Anne Freeman, Cassie Hamer and Rachael Johns, each bringing their own skills and flair to the interviews.
There have been too many amazing guests to mention here but you can find the whole backlist wherever you get your podcasts and also at writes4women.com
You can also find us on socials at @w4wpodcast on Instagram and on Facebook at Writes4Women where team member Annie Bucknall is sharing top tips from the pod and some very amusing reels.
Meet Your Host Pamela Cook
Pamela Cook is an author, podcaster and teacher who writes page-turning contemporary women’s fiction, delving deep into the psychology of her characters and the complexity of relationships in all their forms. She has published five novels, all set in idyllic rural locations. Pamela is the host of Writes4Women, a podcast all about celebrating women’s voices and supporting women writers. She mentors emerging writers and teaches writing workshops through her business, Wildwords, and at various writers’ centres. When not writing Pamela loves to waste as much time as possible riding her handsome quarter horse Baloo and whiling away the hours reading on her veranda overlooking beautiful bushland in Dharawal country.
