Ever wondered what goes on behind the scenes of Beyond the Walls anthology?
You have come to the right place.
While readers often only see the final product, a lot of work takes place behind the scenes to bring everything together. From selecting submissions to promoting events and creating content, each team plays a significant role in shaping the anthology.
After the recent showcase, we spoke to the team leaders to find out more about their progress, challenges, and plans moving forward.
The editorial team worked closely with authors to keep their creative visions while curating a broad and engaging anthology. Alongside this, they have also developed a cover design inspired by the York city skyline, represented through sound waves to reflect the anthology’s theme. One of the biggest challenges they mentioned they faced was the high volume of submissions. While this highlights the level of talent within the university, it also made the selection process more difficult, particularly when having to turn down so many talented writers. Despite this, they still enjoyed it, going as far as describing it as a rewarding experience. Moving forward, they are now focusing on the proofreading stage, with the manuscript already sent to Valley Press and the next phase of the process about to begin.
Supporting the project from another angle, the marketing team has focused on promoting key events such as the Beyond the Walls showcase and the Beyond the Walls and Folklore fundraiser, while also building awareness around the upcoming anthology and its launch. Their role has needed close collaboration with other teams, ensuring that promotional content reflects the needs and goals of the wider project. One of the main challenges has been communication across teams, particularly in understanding different expectations and translating them into effective marketing strategies. Despite this, the team has found success by finding individual strengths within the group and organising smaller sub-teams to manage tasks more efficiently. Moving forward, they are now concentrating on promoting the anthology launch event, with plans to build excitement and engagement around its release.
Bringing the project to life through life experiences, the events team has already planned and hosted two major events, with a third currently in development. Their work has included the student showcase as part of York Literature Festival, as well as a collaborative Bookish Pub Quiz fundraiser supporting the Folklore anthology and contributing towards the final launch event. One of the biggest challenges they have faced has been communication and coordination within a larger team, though this has improved over time through collaboration with other groups and shared responsibilities. Organising the showcase itself was described as both exciting and daunting, particularly as their first major event, requiring trust in both their team and the audience. Despite first concerns, especially around audience participation, the event was a success. The team is now focusing on the preparation for the final launch, including promotion, venue setup, and overall event planning.
Finally, the blogs and podcasting team has been focusing on creating content that explores Beyond the Walls theme and creative process, well also engaging with key moments such as the student showcase and the upcoming anthology launch. Their work spans both written and audio formats, requiring the team to balance multiple roles including writing, editing, recording, and content planning. As a smaller team, one of their biggest challenges has been managing workload and effectively multitasking across different areas. This has been accomplished through consistent communication, with team members supporting each other where needed. Looking ahead, the team aims to develop an audiobook-style version of the anthology, featuring writers reading their own work alongside interview- style content. In addition, their blog content will continue to explore the history and development of the module, offering further insight into the project as a whole.
Overall, a lot of work goes into creating the Beyond the Walls anthology. Each team has played a significant role in shaping the project, from editing and promotion to events and content creation. As the anthology continues to develop, it will be exciting to see how everything comes together and is shared with a wider audience.
–Qnwan Altaib