publisher/editor – Jo Derrick

I’ve been writing since I was a child, victim of a vivid imagination and obsessed by the written word. In 1994 I decided to find out if my stories were good enough to be published, so did some quite extensive research into the independent or small press. I sent off for back issues and devoured them. I was surprised by the variety of both content and presentation of these little magazines. I was inspired by the likes of Panurge and Tees Valley Writer (both of which folded shortly afterwards) and dismissive of the ‘fanzine’ type magazines. 

One thing struck me, however. Nearly all the small press magazines at that time were edited and produced by men. Only one of the magazines I came across published exclusively women writers (Writing Women) and very few published just short stories. Surely there must be a gap in the market for a literary magazine, publishing quality short fiction written by women appealing to a more discerning female reader? I knew that women wrote in a different way. They were more concerned with exposing emotional truth than men, for example. Their agenda was very different. Male writers seemed to be preoccupied with plot, action, adventure, blood and gore – at least those writing for some of the small press markets I’d researched.

I was lucky enough to have a very supportive husband at that time (who later sadly died of a brain abscess), who encouraged me to ‘Go For It’ when I broached the idea of starting up my own literary magazine. "I want something which pushes the boundaries of women’s fiction. Something which goes a few steps further than the fiction found in women’s magazines." My husband, Phill, suggested, ‘Extending The Boundaries Of Women’s Fiction’. Exactly. That’s what I wanted my magazine to achieve. When Phill asked what I was going to call the magazine, I mentioned that I wanted to publish ‘Quality Women’s Fiction’. Phill was very much into ‘Q Magazine’ at the time and suggested ‘QWF’. It sounded right.

I knew I’d need to funds to pay for the first print run, so I decided to run a short story competition with a small entry fee. In the publicity I mentioned that the winning stories would be published in a new quarterly short story magazine, Quality Women’s Fiction. I wasn’t overwhelmed with entries (about 65), but it was enough to finance the first issue. My next step was to buy a PC! Out came the credit card!

I produced the first issue of QWF on the PC, all done in Word, printed off, then sent off to a firm who scanned the text and put it all together. My stepbrother’s wife hand sketched the design for the front cover and bingo! Issue 1 of QWF was launched in December 1994, had a total of 48 pages, a glossy cover, looked a bit amateurish, but far better than many of the small press magazines I’d sent away for (with notable exceptions, of course).

It was a struggle to keep the magazine going, surviving on a shoe-string budget. It was just about self-financing on money coming in from subscriptions. I received no Arts Council funding or similar, didn’t receive paid advertising and relied on competition entry fees and subscriptions.

QWF celebrated its 12th year of publication in 2006. However, due to financial pressure and commitments at home, educating my two young children, I decided to hand QWF over to Kathie Giorgio in the USA. She still continues to publish the magazine (www.allwriters.org/qwf.asp) . 

In September 2007 my two children went back to full time education and I was left at home twiddling my thumbs. To cut a long story short, after long and careful thought, I decided I just had to begin a new literary magazine. I just couldn't live without editing, publishing and the camaraderie of other women writers. The Yellow Room was born.