nothing in the rulebook

Writers, take note. A group of over 20 authors, with over 40 books published between them (including by major houses) have formed a collective with an emphasis on literary freedom and mutual support. The Breakthrough Books collective is launching onto the literary scene at the Margate Bookie festival, with two short story anthologies and five further titles already in the pipeline. 

The collective has been founded on the principles of transparent accounting and fair remuneration, as it aims to put power (both creative and financial) back into the hands of writers. The group value quality writing and production, originality and the courage to pursue one’s own path when necessary, regardless of commercial gatekeeping or the threats of AI, are fundamental to the ethos. 

Commenting on the launch of the collective, Managing Director, Breakthrough Books Collective Ltd, Stephanie Bretherton, said:

“While each of us have unique writing journeys, we wanted to maximise what we had in common, especially considering the struggle it can be not only to publish the kind of books we want to create (and for which we believe there are audiences) but to earn fairly from our own work. 

“We remain free agents, however, many with much-valued relationships and full respect for traditional and other independent or hybrid publishers – and we still hope to build those relationships. We have no David and Goliath pretensions. We know that making and selling books is highly challenging and expensive work, usually undertaken with great passion. However, we have all experienced the frustrations of pitching new work in a celebrity-obsessed culture, or of books with further potential going out of print, not to mention ever dwindling royalties and industry capacity for author support.”

Breakthrough Books’ breakthrough books

The first offerings from the collective are two anthologies of short stories. The first, Taking Liberties, was published in April 2023. The notion of liberty has been much debated by philosophers, activists and poets alike. To the writer, freedom can have its own particular flavour and resonance. In Taking Liberties, it is met in a dozen different guises and in worlds where nothing is quite what it seems. Mirth and myth, mystery and magic, noir and memoir lay the imaginative ground from which this often surprising collection has emerged. 

Authors featured in Taking Liberties include Stephanie Bretherton , Sue Clark,
Jason Cobley, Stevyn Colgan, Samuel Dodson, A.B. Kyazze, Virginia Moffatt, Ivy Ngeow,
Eamon Somers, Paul Waters, and PJ Whiteley.

The second anthology, Order and Chaos, is due for publication in mid-October. Forthcoming titles include the re-issue of In Truth, Madness, a novel by Al Jazeera reporter Imran Kahn and The Fire in Their Eyes, the second novel in The Children of Sarah series, by Stephanie Bretherton.

You’ll be able to catch members of the collective at various literary events across the UK this year, including: The Margate Bookie, Chiltern Kills, Southam Book Fair and the Oxford Indie Book Fair.