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Anna Featherstone

@annafeatherstone.bsky.social

410 followers 330 following 110 posts

✍️ 🐝 🌱 ❤️ 📚 I help authors write, publish & market books | Publishing consultant Australian Society of Authors (ASA) | Non-fiction advisor & podcast host Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLi) | judge Australian Business Book Awards | Bold Authors

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Nov 20

Writers, readers, travellers - here's your list of writers, readers & literary festivals in Australia in 2025...time to start dreaming...and planning! annafeatherstone.com/writing-reso...

List of Australian Writers Festivals 2025

Writers festivals are oxygen for the mind and heart. Whether you call them literary festivals, readers festivals or writers festivals, the best of them illuminate, motivate, inform, inspire, shift us,...

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Aug 18

It's taken me a while to get this post together, but hopefully lots of food for thought on the current state of the book market in Australia. Some brilliant tips from literary agents and more for aspiring authors out there. #author #books

annafeatherstone.com/the-australi...

The Australian Book Market August 2025: What Writers, Publishers and Literary Agents are Talking About

L-o-n-g blog post ahead with current (as at August 2025) insights on the Australian book market, book marketing, writing craft, AI, and what literary agents are looking for right now and how to approa...

annafeatherstone.com

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Jul 29

Have you or would you get a tattoo to celebrate the launch of your book? Spotted another author with a gorgeous one at this week's mini-writers festival in Castlemaine. annafeatherstone.com/poets-author...

Poets, Authors and a Day in Castlemaine

Enjoyed a literary feast today at a mini writers festival curated beautifully by Kristin and Graham from Northern Books at Buda Historic Home, Castlemaine. How did I end up in Central Vic? I’ve been o...

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Jul 29

So great to see! A win for writers and the community at large.

Alice Grundy @alicektg.bsky.social · Jul 29

The funding for the new literary programming, a SWF and SLNSW partnership, is $1.5m ... or nearly 20 per cent of the total literature budget for Creative Australia in 2023-4. It's a boon for Sydney lit-lovers, as I say in @theconversation.com
With thanks to @jocaseau.bsky.social for the edit.

Sydney Writers Festival will program year-round, partnering with State Library of NSW. Is this ‘Sydney’s Wheeler Centre’?

Sydney’s new year-round program of literary events is budgeted at $1.5 million, creating over 300 paid opportunities for writers over 12 months.

theconversation.com

Reposted by Anna Featherstone

AFP News Agency @en.afp.com · Jul 24

Joint statement on Gaza from AFP, AP, BBC News and Reuters

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Jul 23

The Australian Society of Authors has updated its recommended rates of pay for authors at events www.asauthors.org.au/news/asa-upd...

ASA updates recommended rates of pay for public appearances - Australian Society of Authors

The ASA has conducted a review of recommended rates of pay for public appearances including festivals, libraries, and community groups.

www.asauthors.org.au

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Jul 4

What nonfiction trend excites (or worries) you most right now?

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Jul 4

Non-fiction authors: between AI, short reads and global opportunities there's plenty on the horizon. I had a great convo with Matty Dalrymple from ALLi about non-fiction trends and an indie author approach.
👉 annafeatherstone.com/the-future-f...

The Future for Non-Fiction: Trends, Tidbits & Tactics for Indie Authors

As the Alliance of Independent Authors’ Non-Fiction Advisor, I recently sat down (across the world via Zoom) for one of my regular catch up sessions with ALLi Campaigns Manager Matty Dalrymple. We wer...

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Reposted by Anna Featherstone

Dr Annetta Mallon PhD @gdepau.bsky.social · Jun 13

Got plans today at lunchtime?
Join me today at 1pm AEST to learn what works for me and how to maximise your presence on this platform.
FRIDAY 13 June, 1PM AEST – “Exploring Bluesky”

Facebook link is here: lnkd.in/gX46ETtU
On Zoom:
Meeting ID 893 7026 9599
Invite Link lnkd.in/gmUteBgS
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a green, black and white graphic poster inviting people to an online event for Exploring Bluesky with Dr Annetta Mallon. There is an inset picture of a smiling woman with white curly hair, a big smaile and a denim jacket to the lower left.

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Reposted by Anna Featherstone

John Warner @biblioracle.bsky.social · Jun 1

As @adambecker.bsky.social makes clear in his new book, More Everything Forever, we’re not going to colonize Mars. What’s underneath the desire of tech oligarchs to take us there is deeply disturbing. open.substack.com/pub/bibliora...

We're Not Going to Colonize Mars

On Adam Becker's new book and the people who are going to destroy the universe in the name of saving "humanity."

open.substack.com

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · May 12

"Authors shouldn’t have to always be so suspicious of unexpected outreach...That gushing out-of-the-blue review or fan letter may be exactly the day-brightening surprise it appears to be…but there’s also a non-zero possibility that it’s a prelude to a scam." writerbeware.blog/2025/05/09/t...

Two to Avoid: Book Order Scams and Fake Reviews - Writer Beware

Scammers are nothing if not inventive. As writers become wise to their techniques, they invent new ones. Here are two newish frauds that appear to be on the rise. As with most writing scams these days...

writerbeware.blog

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · May 12

Writers - there are some incredible pitching sessions, literary agent one-on-ones, signed books, manuscript appraisals & more up for auction today from the auslit and kidlit community…even a crocheted reading blanket by Hannah Kent airauctioneer.com/authors-and-...

Crochet reading blanket, handmade by Hannah Kent, PLUS signed copy of any of her published books

Award-winning, best-selling author Hannah Kent will make you a crochet reading blanket in your colour preference PLUS send a personalised, signed copy of one of her books: Burial Rites, The Good Peopl...

airauctioneer.com

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

For a post about 'Can Writers, Authors, Readers, Bookstores and Librarians Save the Planet…or Have We Shelved the Future?' this might be of interest too! annafeatherstone.com/can-writers-...

Can Writers, Authors, Readers, Bookstores and Librarians Save the Planet...or Have We Shelved the Future?

Why what we choose to read or write might be having a WAY bigger impact on the state of the world than we realise. What can you do as a writer, reader, publisher, librarian or bookseller about the sta...

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

For more on albert and the Sustainable Screens Australia workshop: annafeatherstone.com/what-screenw...

What screenwriters can teach authors about writing to inspire action on sustainability

Have you ever wondered how what you put to page, might positively alter the future? As writers, we hold the power to shape perceptions, inspire action, and create change. And attending Sustainable Scr...

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Sustainability doesn't necessarily need to be the plot in our books-it can live in the margins, and still make a difference.

In a park-like setting with lots of trees, a writer in yellow lies on a picnic blanket and taps away on a computer

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

We can help the future through how we write our characters, settings and plot lines – and even by choosing what genre to write in.

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Tessa de Josselin who led the workshop quoted: "the future isn't this distant place; it's a verb." i.e. the future doesn’t exist yet, the future is what WE create. She urged us to portray sustainability not as a far-off goal but as an active, present-day endeavour.

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Setting: we can weave sustainability principles into the setting without directly addressing climate by including descriptive elements such as solar panels, community gardens, bike paths or electric vehicles to normalise sustainable living.

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Does one of your characters shop at op shops, mend things, use public transport, have a herb pot on the balcony, volunteer, wear grandma's old jumpers, guerrilla garden etc

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Narrative: screenwriters may use a climate related theme as the basis of their production, or just to drive a story arc or a particular episode. Likewise, we can do this with our books too, so that a scene, character arc or a chapter may be driven by a climate related theme–or the entire book.

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Is there a way in your writing you can show the benefits of sustainable living and make it aspirational?

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Replacement: Swap out environmentally harmful activities with sustainable alternatives.

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Discussion between characters: Create dialogues that address unsustainable behaviours.

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Omission: If certain unsustainable actions aren't crucial to the plot, consider removing them. E.g. does the character need to drive 1km down the road to get a coffee…or could they walk and take a Keep Cup with them?

Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 23

Any authors out there doing a 'climate edit', 'climate read' or 'climate pass' on their manuscripts? Loving this concept from albert and Sustainable Screens Australia - there's so much we writers can be doing to create a better world. Some info from the workshop...

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Anna Featherstone @annafeatherstone.bsky.social · Apr 20

Love it! Congratulations all!