The final letter

Dear Damsels,

Ten years ago, we started up a platform to provide a space for women to share their writing, in whatever form it took. Today, we’re announcing our Dear Damsels chapter has come to an end.

After so many years of DD being a part of our lives, this has been a sad and difficult decision to make, particularly amidst the closure of other similar platforms — but we’re so proud of all that we achieved, and of all the writers we were able to publish. Whether that was in response to one of our online themes on the website, or in print in one of our DD Annuals or books. And to have built a community who read the words we shared, bought the books we published and passed them to friends, and turned up to sold out events — this will always be something we look back on with a certain amount of disbelief.

Other DD highlights: a successful Kickstarter campaign for our first book; shooting covers for DD annuals with friends; What She’s Having in the Guardian next to Stanley Tucci’s face; that time we almost did Tate Late (Covid cancelled it); receiving Arts Council funding; the long line outside Waterstones TCR for our Galentine’s event (while we entered fugue hosting states in front of rows of seats about to be filled); the 100+ (!!) writers who showed up to our first SLAYW club; celebrating five publication days for each of our books. These are all really examples of something else that emerged from our platform: women, being there for other women, and listening to their stories. 

But the work that is required to make these things happen isn’t something we’re able to do anymore, and the landscape of independent publishing is too challenging: we’ve spent a lot of time trying to reconfigure and transition DD to make it manageable and sustainable, but the many attempts to scale up that we made just didn’t open up the opportunities that we had hoped.

For so long, DD was able to keep going because of the support we received from our community – who came to our events, made a pledge to our Kickstarter, bought our books and supported us on Patreon. We are incredibly grateful for all of this love, dedication and energy. And of course, for our brilliant, talented writers: it’s been a privilege to publish your work, and we can’t wait to see where your words take you next. Thank you. 

A final DD highlight to share: many mornings and weekends over the past decade, meeting up in cafes around London between our workplaces and flatshares, where we’d spend hours reading submissions and working out what to publish. They were your stories, and we’re so grateful to have had the chance to share them. We hope you continue to write and share your words with the world. 

Love, 

Abby and Bridie 

Team DD x