Getting a novel published these days is not easy. Even established writers are finding it difficult to find a publisher – lateral thinking is required if you want to see your book in print.

Six enterprising women writers from South Oxfordshire decided to set up their own publishing company called Queenbee.

After two years collaborating together, their first book, The Leap Year, is proving a great success. Through savvy PR, the women have been mentioned on BBC Radio 4’s Women’s Hour, and made it into the pages of the Daily Mail and several glossy women’s magazines. The idea began around a kitchen table in the Henley home of novelist Miranda Glover, who has already had two novels published by Transworld.

Tesco, who stocked her first two novels, are no longer selling her books, which means Miranda’s chance to place her novels on the shelves of retail outlets is getting narrower.

“Established writers are losing their contracts because they can’t compete with celebrities such as Katie Price,” she said.

The six women who are all in their 30s and 40s, formed the Contemporary Women Writers’ Club two years ago. It wasn’t long before they realised that by working together they could create a new, independent space for emerging women writers to showcase their work.

The women met through friends of friends, at the school gate and at Miranda’s creative writing lectures, and all have publishing backgrounds.

Because they live in villages near Wallingford, meeting once a week has been easy. At first, their meetings were social affairs, but it soon became clear that by collaborating, reading, checking and editing each other’s work they could come up with a book of their own, and perhaps encourage other emerging women writers to form similar groups.

The group started after Lucy Cavendish, a mother of four, met Miranda at the Henley Literary Festival. She has published two novels with Penguin, with another out in February. She says the club has enabled her to explore new styles and material.

Alexa Hughes Wilson, a Texan-born mother of two, lives in Mapledurham, where she is able to focus on her own writing thanks to the club.

British-born Rachel Jackson, 35, of Preston Crowmarsh, who has Jamaican and Nigerian roots and who is now working on her first novel, has found the ongoing dialogue with members of the club provides genuine inspiration.

French-born Anne Tuite-Dalton, who moved to south Oxfordshire 20 years ago, says the club has filled her with creative energy and given her new insights.

Jennie Walmsley, 41, from Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, has worked for many years as a TV and radio producer for the BBC, where she wrote and edited scripts, but even she admits that it’s through interaction with the other women writers that she has had a chance to write creatively.

Realising that they got on well together, the women spent a few days in France working on an exercise that Miranda devised.

Miranda said: “I thought we needed a structure, and a unifying theme, so I set up an exercise which called for each of us to write two short stories highlighting those unexpected moments that can transform a woman’s life.”

Together, their stories make up a 60,000-word book. As Miranda said: “It’s just long enough to see a reader through a plane journey.”

Thanks to family and friends who helped with the photographs, cover design and graphics, they were able to kick-start their idea without paying for outside help.

Each woman invested just £250 into the venture to pay for setting-up expenses, and with more than 7,000 copies already sold, they have covered these costs already.

Modern technology means their book can be printed on demand, making it financially viable, as the books don’t have to be paid for in advance and are not mouldering away in a warehouse.

* The Leap Year is published by the Contemporary Women Writers’ Club at £6.99. It is available from queenbee.co.uk.