Press for a new press--in the Boston Globe!
Plus an inside peek into our fall classes, our Cape Cod workshop, and staff growth in the works
Here in Boston, the sun is starting to set early. This past week, sunsets dipped to 8:00 pm for the first time in months. You can sense the change, even as we all know there are still two full weeks of August left, and thus two full weeks of unofficial summer. There’s a sense of what the French call the rentrée, the return—to work, to school, to home after holiday travels. It’s starting to be that time—and, no, I don’t mean Pumpkin Spice Time, which should be deferred into eternity. It’s starting to be that time when, for a few weeks anyway, we relish the mood of hunkering down, getting back to work, feeling and being productive.
At Galiot Press, we’ve been maintaining our productivity despite the call of summer, taking our work on the road with us to various far-flung locations, as well as sitting at our usual kitchen tables for regular Zoom meetings. Ands… drum roll please…
… We’ve received great press for the press
Yesterday, The Boston Globe published a wonderful story about Galiot Press, which you can read online here with a subscription. We spoke with Adri Pray, the reporter, several times, and she put together a thoroughly researched and very engaging profile of what we’re up to. We’re quite pleased with it. And thank you to all the many new subscribers who joined us in the day, likely because you saw the Globe story!
What else we’ve been up to
The article, of course, just covers the main gist of what we are doing. But you all get more detail. Here’s what we’ve been up to:
reading manuscripts, of course!
refining our financials with spreadsheets galore
developing a valuation for Galiot Press so we can issue equity in exchange for investments—stay tuned for an new opportunity to be a real part of the press!
honing our custom distribution plan (early summer saw us brainstorming in a back yard around take-out Indian food with artists, marketing specialists, an industrial design student, and a business consultant)
interviewing candidates for staff expansion
continuing to take in and respond to submissions through our reservation system
We’re getting ready for our Fall classes
If you’re interested in improving your craft while being a part of a community of writers, do check out our schedule of classes for this Fall—on topics from publishing info, to revision strategies, to motivation and planning, to working with historical research. Our one-hour “Publishing Info No One Talks About” is a real eye-opener and full of very useful tidbits to help any writer who is considering getting their work published.
Writing Workshop in Wellfleet, MA November 8-13
The Sept 1 deadline is approaching! Now is the time to apply for the Galiot/Eastwind Writing Workshop, taking place in Wellfleet, MA on Cape Cod. Twelve students will work in small workshop groups with a 4:1 student to instructor ratio. Each day, you’ll have constructive instructor-led critique of your submitted pages in the mornings, and craft talks to attend in the afternoons. Lunches and dinners will offer even more opportunities for writerly conversation. There will be marsh walks and beach strolls, chances for downtime on your own, and the beauty of Cape Cod in the autumn. The fee is an extremely competitive $2,500 per person. Click here for more info.
We’re interviewing for a new position—might you be the one?
In our previous newsletter, we mentioned that we’re looking for a Business Development and Partnership Manager. As we said back in July: “This person would need to share our vision and mission, be open to thinking creatively and unconventionally, and have a track record with helping to launch and grow a start-up. They do not need to have publishing-specific experience, but some experience and contacts in the realms of retail, the arts, and/or the hospitality industry would be a big plus. This would be a part-time position, with a compensation structure to be negotiated—likely a combination of equity and performance-based compensation.”
We’ve begun interviewing candidates for this position. It’s an ongoing process, so if you feel you fit the role, or if you know someone who does, don’t hesitate to chime in! Email us at info@galiotpress.com.
Kickstarter Fulfillment is in process!
A large box has arrived today, containing all the t-shirts and tote bags and buttons that make up just one part of the rewards to those of you who supported our Kickstarter campaign. We’ll be mailing them out to you very soon! If you’d like to buy some our great merch now, you still can, from our shop! Some of you selected query-letter critiques, or the critique of a 25-page excerpt or of a full manuscript. Those critiques are under way, with just a few to be completed. And of course many of you opted for the reward of copies of our first books. We’re excited to be homing in on our first selections, which we’ll be announcing over the course of this fall.
Next up. . .
We continue to balance the two sides of running a publishing startup: the editorial side, and the business side. Our workdays are a combination of things like considering the pros and cons of certain numbers of authorized stock, and helping writers make their narratives more compelling. We wouldn’t have it any other way. Both of us thrive on this kind of harmonic opposition, for lack of a better phrase. As we shift from business brain to editor brain, we’re energized.
Next time we write this newsletter, it will be (eep) September. Until then, warm wishes for these last summer moments, and please always feel free to contact us with your comments and ideas, and to let us know if you’d like to join our crew in any way. And of course, send us your writing!
Henriette & Anjali
So exciting!
What an achievement. You’ve hit your goals and are officially on the map. Well done to you both for your determination in making this happen.