The all-important inside of a book

and we don't mean the words on the page!

During a Zoom book group last year for my latest novel, a reader asked me how “we’d” come up with the design for the little doohickeys between sections of the narrative. She might have said something besides “doohickeys” but the gist was “those little things that are showing up on the page”. I answered that the “we” in question didn’t include me at all, but that my publisher’s interior designer had come up with the marks. I had assumed that the doohickeys were simple typographic marks the designer had inserted where a different novel might have had chapter divisions (my novel has three “parts” within which there are breaks in the narrative, demarcated by the aforementioned doohickeys).

Thanks to Zoom and the book group’s interest in these marks on the page, somebody held the open hardcover right up close to their camera. And lo and behold, the doohickeys were in fact tiny, beautiful renderings of a palmette—or a stylization of an anthemium. The interior designer had created them, in a perfectly fitting symbol for a novel that takes place in contemporary Athens.

Maria Fernandez' work, and a possible inspiration

The lesson here was truly how much goes into the interior design of a novel. It’s not just about choosing a font, though that’s certainly part of the process. It’s about every element that you might not even notice consciously but that plays a crucial role in your experience of reading the story. Font, margins, the treatment of the title or chapter title and author name running across the page-tops, the page-numbering conventions. Each of these elements involves research and careful decisions and design to create the desired effect, to complement the story’s meaning.

With Galiot Press’ first several books in various stages of production, we’re engaged in choosing an interior designer even as we speak. If you’re a paid subscriber, read on, past our next announcements, to learn more about the kinds of questions we’re asking as we choose from among several great artists in their craft.

Typewriters!

It’s not every day that you get to go and collect 17 typewriters you’ve purchase and load them into your two (mine and Anjali’s) cars. But indeed, a couple of weekends ago, we stopped by the Cambridge Typewriter Repair shop run by Tom Furrier (more about him in a minute), and scooped up these machines he’d set aside for us. They don’t function properly and can’t be repaired or refurbished, and so they were perfect purchases for Galiot Press. Why?

You may recall that, back in September, we took an old typewriter—spray-painted in Galiot colors—to the Brooklyn Book Fest where it proved immensely popular despite a pounding rain that challenged even the tents beneath which exhibitors like us were housed. We’d set that typewriter up to serve as an analog portal to the digital world of our website, where we offered three free stories (for which we paid the authors) for download.

We’ve done it again—this time at the Kickstand Café in Arlington, where another one of our machines offers digital access through analog charm.

We confess that, on three separate occasions, Anjali and I have gone and sat quietly within eye-shot of the typewriter, to see how people interact with it. It’s been interesting. So far, interactions are outpacing our projections. People fill in their email address and then go directly to the page where they can choose one of three prose pieces—an essay by Linda Button and short fiction by Cathy Elcik and Val Wang. We’re taking note of how people interpret the signage, thinking of where it needs tweaking, redesigning. If you’re local to Arlington, Massachusetts, swing by Kickstand and grab some tasty food and drink, and a great piece of prose that you can only get through the typewriter’s access to our otherwise-hidden website page. (With your email, you also get entered in the drawing for a gift-card at the cafe, in case excellent writing wasn’t enough of a temptation!)

It’s write-up season

We had the pleasure of being interviewed recently by the lovely people at Black Lawrence Press’ Sapling newsletter. A Sapling paid subscription is required to read the full text, but the Sapling is a great resource for writers and readers, so it’s worth it.

And Women Writers, Women’s Books asked us for a piece on how we came to start up Galiot Press. The piece is linked here. Their very active Facebook group is another great place for news and info pertinent to readers and writers alike.