Publishing Talks: Brooke Warner of She Writes Press 2026

I originally began Publishing Talks as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology, mostly talking about the future of publishing, books, and culture. I continue to enjoy my conversations with people in the book industry about the evolution of publishing in the context of technology, culture, and economics. This latest episode features a conversation I recently had with the wonderful Brooke Warner, publisher of She Writes Press (which is only one among the many other roles she somehow manages).

It was ten years ago that I first talked to Brooke for Publishing Talks about her work with She Writes (which she co-founded with Kamy Wicoff in 2012) when the publishing world was a very different place. She Writes was and is a hybrid publisher, requiring support from its author for the publishing process. Ten years ago that was far less common than it is today.

Since Brooke not only keeps a close watch on everything that is happening in independent and commercial publishing, she also writes, talks and podcasts herself about book matters, and now she is also publishing a weekly newsletter about writers, books, and writing. So she is an ideal person for me to talk to about what is happening in the book world today, and I think you will find our conversation to be interesting and educational, no matter your role – reader, writer, publisher, book marketer – or your degree of knowledge about books and publishing. I always enjoy speaking with knowledgeable publishing folk and I think you will enjoy hearing what Brooke has to say. Please have a listen.

Brooke is also is a memoir coach and author of Write On, Sisters!, Green-light Your Book, What’s Your Book?, and three books on memoir. She’s also a TEDx speaker (“Green-light Revolution”), weekly podcaster (of “Memoir Nation” with co-host Grant Faulkner), and publishes a weekly newsletter, Writerly Things, on Substack at brookewarner.substack.com.

In March 2025, SWP joined The Stable Book Group as one of the inaugural imprints in this new publishing collective. Brooke became Stable Book Group’s COO while maintaining her role as Publisher of She Writes Press.

During the course of its existence SWP has worked with over 1300 authors.

Brooke’s own website is here.
She Writes Press website.
The Stable Book Group website.

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David Wilk interviews Brooke Warner of She Writes Press

Publishing Talks began as a series of conversations with book industry professionals and others involved in media and technology about the future of publishing, books, and culture. As we continue to experience disruption and change in all media businesses, I’ve been talking with some of the people involved in our industry about how publishing might evolve as our culture is affected by technology and the larger context of civilization and economics.

I’ve now expanded the series to include conversations that go beyond the future of publishing. I’ve talked with editors and publishers who have been innovators and leaders in independent publishing in the past and into the present, and will continue to explore the ebb and flow of writing, books, and publishing in all sorts of forms and formats, as change continues to be the one constant we can count on.

I really enjoy talking to the innovators in our industry who are creating new modes of publishing and opportunities for writers. Brooke Warner and Kamy Wicoff founded She Writes Press in 2012 to provide writers with new publishing opportunities. Kamy operated the online community, She Writes, which was created to connect and serve women writers, both established and aspiring, and Brooke came from independent publishing.

Brooke’s first job in publishing was with the renowned North Atlantic Books in Berkeley (founded by Richard Grossinger and Lindy Hough). Subsequently, she was Executive Editor at Seal Press, working there for eight years. Toward the end of her time there, she felt she was witnessing firsthand the contracting publishing environment, where as editor, she was frequently rejecting well-written books, simply because the authors she was working with did not have the kinds of “author platforms” that commercial publishers now virtually require.

Kamy and Brooke envisioned a new kind of publishing company that would enable authors to be invited to publish based on the merit of their writing alone. They wanted to establish a publishing business for women writers that would itself enable the kind of a platform that could launch – and grow – the writing careers of their client authors. In 2014, She Writes Press became part of SparkPoint Studio, LLC., whose CEO is Crystal Patriarche.

She Writes is now a solid publishing partner for authors who might otherwise struggle with self publishing. With a strong editorial effort, traditional book distribution (through Ingram Publisher Services) and an in-house marketing and publicity team (through Patriarche’s publicity company, BookSparks) available to SWP authors, She Writes Press has become successful in the emerging category of “hybrid” publishers.

In this interview, where Brooke explains how She Writes works and the problems it is solving for now more than a hundred writers, and talks about the current and future of trade book publishing.

In addition to being publisher of She Writes Press, Brooke is president of Warner Coaching Inc., and author of Green-light Your Book, What’s Your Book?, How to Sell Your Memoir, and the co-author of Breaking Ground on Your Memoir. She currently sits on the boards of the Independent Book Publishers Association, the Bay Area Book Festival, and the National Association of Memoir Writers. She blogs actively on Huffington Post Books and SheWrites.com. She lives and works in Berkeley, California.

Length alert – we had a good time talking so this interview runs just over 45 minutes.

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