When author and astrologer Jessica Adams first met Chris Manby and Fiona Walker 15 years ago she predicted Manby would soon break up with her boyfriend and that the three of them would go on to edit a best-selling book. She was right on both accounts.
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Manby was dumped by a long-term boyfriend just three days later and the three went on to edit the anthology Girls' Night In, which has now raised more than $3.5 million for the charity War Child.
The first e-book in the series has just been released, a re-release of 2010's Girls' Night In: The 10th Anniversary Collection, with a new introduction, featuring collected stories from the previous four books with some of the biggest names in women's fiction including Marian Keyes, Candace Bushnell, Cathy Kelly and Maggie Alderson.
Adams remembers the early days of the idea.
"The idea was to do a book version of Live Aid," she said.
"But back in 1999 it seemed quite peculiar that authors might get together like musicians were doing to do some good."
The three women spent many hours contacting every writer they knew. Keyes, Bushnell and Kelly were all in the first book which was published in 2000. So too were Lisa Jewell, Freya North and Jane Green.
Other authors to be involved over the years include Kathy Lette, Cecilia Ahern, Gretel Killeen, Louise Bagshawe and Meg Cabot. Several men have also contributed including John Birmingham, Mike Gayle, Tim Ferguson, Nick Earls and Adam Hills.
"Ninety-nine percent of people we contacted were keen to get on board," Adams said.
Their Australian publisher at the time, Penguin's Julie Gibbs, was an advocate from the start.
"The first book came out when books were hit with the GST and Julie envisioned this really huge paperback which was good value for money
"People were quite shocked by the price they now had to pay for their favourite authors like Marian Keyes and Girls' Night In was about $20 when it first came out and was really quite a bargain."
People were also keen on the idea that their money was going to a good cause. The first royalty cheque was for £200,000 and the money was used to build a playground in Kosovo. It was built in the centre of Pristina, on an area that had been cleared of landmines and unexploded ammunition, a place where Muslim and Christian children would be able to come together and play safely.
Adams says the money is also being in places such as Rwanda, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
"We have to get into these places and fight for children's education and protect them so they are free to study."
She says it's been interesting watching the evolution of the contributors over the 15 years.
"We didn't think of it at the time but anyone who was in Girls' Night In saw their sales increase. For new writers it was a great avenue for getting their name out there, people like Lisa Jewell and Liane Moriarty, all saw their popularity increase."
Another side effect was the number of friendships that were formed during the process.
"Some of us were already girlfriends, but our circle grew. We're godmothers to each other's children, we've been to weddings and had too many parties.
"From a group of authors who didn't know each other 15 years ago some amazing friendships have been made.
"You could write a book about what's gone on behind the scenes and some of the best stories wouldn't even be fiction."
As well as the five Girls' Night In anthologies, there have also been three Kids' Night In collections which have included authors such as Andy Griffiths, Terry Denton, Garth Nix, even J.K Rowling.
Adams, Manby and Walker have been joined on the editing panel by Alderson, Imogen-Edwards Jones, Earls, Lauren Henderson, Carole Matthews and Sarah Mlynowski.
They hope that this e-book is the first of many digital editions, exposing readers to more authors and raising much needed funds for War Child
* Girls' Night In: The 10th Anniversary Collection eBook Edition by Jessica Adams, published by Penguin eBooks, $14.99.
