On January 15, 2010, a handful of passionate, unpublished writers set out on a bold new experiment: to create a blog where they could share their journeys, lift one another up, and make their voices heard in a rapidly changing publishing world. We called it the New Authors Fellowship.
It was my idea. Fresh off a competition that brought a huge part of the Christian speculative world together, I saw a need. We were all trying to do the same marketing stuff we were told by the experts to do, but it was all just white noise. I believed that if unpublished authors banded together, we could amplify our visibility and build a collective digital footprint strong enough to cut through the noise and attract publishers. But we became more than just writers looking for a break. We became a fellowship. A community. And for a season, we were a beacon in the small-press and indie Christian fiction world that encouraged other authors just like us.
The original team included me, Diane Graham, Ren Black, Kristen Stieffel, P.A. Baines, Mauricio Hance, Zoë Demaré, and David James. Together, we built a site that became a home base for creative musings, personal reflections, theological explorations, and honest looks at the writing life. And while we never took ourselves too seriously, we took the mission seriously: to support each other, and to be a light in the world of Christian speculative fiction.
Over the years, the Fellowship evolved. Writers came and went. Alumni found success in all kinds of ways. Many found their publishing path they’d been looking for. Some went on to become publishers themselves. One, Rebecca P. Minor, launched the industry-shaping conference Realm Makers. I still remember the phone call with her when she was first forming the ideas and needed to bounce them off of someone. Other former members made waves with Havok Publishing and Lorehaven. We grew up. We grew out. And we did it all with our roots in this little WordPress blog that had no business being as impactful as it became.
By 2012, I passed the torch of forward leadership to Kristen Stieffel as I stepped into fulltime ministry. I took more of a background supporting role for a while before letting go of even that much by 2016. By 2018, the final lineup included Gretchen Engel, Josh R. Smith, and Kristen herself. They, along with returning alumni and special guests, kept the spirit alive for as long as they could. Gretchen posted the last official article on July 6, 2019.
Then it grew quiet. The Fellowship had served its purpose.
Now, in 2025, after nearly six years of silence, we’ve officially laid the blog to rest. The publishing world is not what it was in 2010. We were born at the dawn of the POD and Kindle revolutions. Back then, social media was just beginning to stretch its wings, and all of us were trying to figure out how to navigate this strange new world. That world has since matured, and so have we.
There’s no longer a place for a collective blog like NAF. The landscape has shifted. AI rules. Short form video is the social medium of choice. Authors have found their own voices, their own platforms, their own paths, and can now reach their people on their own. And that’s as it should be.
But I’ll never forget what we built.
Through NAF, I met people who became lifelong friends. I had the chance to interview authors I admired, and in turn, was interviewed by others. The blog shaped my early years as a writer in profound ways, and I am forever grateful to everyone who joined me in this grand experiment.
Though life pulled me away from writing for a while, I still feel the call. My reemergence into this world is imminent. And one day soon, I hope to stand again with my fellow alumni, shoulder to shoulder, as we blaze new trails in Christian speculative fiction.
Thank you to everyone. Thank you to all of you who participated and contributed. Thank you for reading, commenting, and for being a part of the community. Thank you to those did interviews for us and to those who did guest posts. You all made this possible and you all made it special. I will never forget any of you, and our time together with NAF will always hold a special place in my heart.
The New Authors Fellowship is ended now. But the road goes ever on.
-Keven Newsome. Founder of the New Authors Fellowship.