Rowing upstream together with Galiot Press

An interview with small press founders Anjali Duva and Henriette Lazaridis and how they're trying to create a better way to do publishing

In case you missed it, my linked short story collection, Sex of the Midwest, will be published in fall of this year by the amazing people at

Galiot Press Substack

. This week, I have an interview with the two women behind Galiot, but first a little backstory.

For two whole years, I sent Sex of the Midwest out to small presses and agents. I entered it in contests. It was a slow and steady sort of thing. I had a lot of faith in the stories. I felt they were probably the best writing I’ve ever done.

But I also felt the chances of the stories getting published, especially by one of the big publishers, were slim. The stories are set in a small town in Indiana and publishers often seem less interested both in small towns and in Indiana. On top of that, the small town the stories are set in defies most prefab stereotypes about small towns. Like, there are gay people in the town. Quite a few of them. And drag shows. And old people who drink…a lot.

The stories are also obviously not a novel, though I would argue, they could pass for one (I mean, what is a novel, anyway?). Short story collections are a hard sell in today’s publishing world.

I also just have to stop and say here that the stories are funny and poignant and still make me cry after having read them 5 million times and the whole collection is a big love letter to small towns and the people who live there, so, yes, you are going to want to read this book.

Still despite all of that, I didn’t have a lot of hope that the stories would find a home with a big publisher, but I kept trying. Then I found Galiot and thank the universe for them and for small presses in general, who are willing to take a risk on work like mine, which doesn’t fit neatly into the boxes laid out by the world of traditional publishing.

Because of their streamlined query process (which Henriette and Anjali discuss below), I sent a query in August and was having a conversation about signing with Galiot just 6 weeks later in early October (for those outside the publishing world, this is like light speed compared to most publishing timelines).

There are so many things to love about Galiot, as you’ll read below, but one of the things that really sold me on them is that Anjali and Henriette are both writers themselves. They’ve been there. They get it. They understand how publishing works from the inside and now they’re trying to forge a better path.

Who doesn’t want to be a part of that kind of project? I felt that after my first conversation with Henriette and Anjali and in every conversation we’ve had since. After reading the interview, you’ll want to be part of the Galiot team, too. They’re currently looking for people to join their street team and for any and all input on venues/partners for getting books into the hands of people who want to read them. Check out those opportunities here. You can submit a query for your book project to Galiot here. Also check out the roster of amazing classes being offered through Galiot Press on topics like author platform and writing about social issues and so many more topics, here.

And without any further ado, here are Henriette Lazaridis and

Anjali M Duva

in their own words!

So, we can read some of the story of how Galiot Press came to be on the website and the newsletter. But specifically, how did the two of you meet? How did you decide to start a press together? Was this something you’d both wanted to do for a long time or an idea that evolved more recently?

Henriette: I met Anjali back in 2013 after my debut had come out and someone suggested she get in touch for my tips on promotion, since her debut was forthcoming. It turned out that I learned more from Anjali than she did from me. She was way ahead of my own efforts! I eventually joined the long-time writing group she was part of. And over the years, we would joke about how we would fix publishing. The jokes became more serious, and then we began to have real ideas, and then when I said I was going to start a publishing company when I was 70, Anjali said she was on board for real. We then realized there was no need to wait until I was 70 as we could see improvements to make, and books to publish, now!

You’re both writers yourselves and, given that, I’m impressed with the generosity that feels necessary to starting a literary press. That is, potentially sacrificing your own writing time for some of the work of running a press. How do you balance that work with your own writing lives? Do you think your work running Galiot contributes to your own creative lives and how?

Henriette: Teaching has always been part of my worklife, starting with my first career in academia. Then, for many years, I balanced my own (ample) writing time with teaching fiction-writing at GrubStreet. But when we started Galiot Press, I eliminated my teaching almost entirely. Now it’s GP full time, and I try to spend an hour or two a day on my own writing, with occasional retreats where it’s possible to get a month’s worth of work done in a few days.

OK, this is turning into a long answer because those are just the practicalities of being a publisher who is also a writer. The abstract side of things is that running the press feels, to me, like being on a team–and as a lifelong athlete, there is nothing I relish more than being on a team and helping my teammates find success. Identifying great books we want to publish, working with the writers to make those books even better, shaping means and methods to get those books out to eager readers: all this feeds my soul. Collaboration and community are an important part of my experience of creativity (to balance out the delightful solitude of the actual writing). Galiot Press is an extension of that. Not to mention that learning something new–like the inner workings of publishing–is an excellent way to keep your creative brain working at its peak.

Anjali: I’ll add that for me, I’ve always wanted, even needed, to have multiple things going on. I have a very practical mind and I do love a checklist and an Excel spreadsheet. I was trained as an urban infrastructure planner, and I have been missing that aspect of my life–complex planning, juggling many pieces at once, working as part of a team–and so, just like for Henriette, creating and running Galiot Press has fed my soul, too. Galiot feels like a great way to bring together my experience as a writer, as an editor, as an urban planner, and as the executive director of an arts non-profit. Not to mention that even if I did have all day to write, I wouldn’t be able to focus on writing for that many hours.

Along similar lines, what’s a day in the life of a start-up small press like?

Anjali: Hoo boy! Well. Let’s take today, for example. I spent some time reviewing the submissions list and putting manuscripts on my Kindle, and I’m super excited to set aside some reading time this coming week. I wasted an hour and a half on a useless chat with a Zoom customer service bot to set up an account for Galiot instructors. I added a number of really cool-looking potential sales-partner venues to a spreadsheet for our Partnerships Manager to look into. I gathered our tax materials for our accountant. I back-and-forthed on Slack with Henriette a gazillion times on various topics, including our Street Team and our Advisory Board. I updated our website with new class information. I had a Zoom call with someone who has some leads on potential investors for us. I signed up to join a panel of editors of color to discuss the state of the industry. I could go on…

Also what’s it like being on the other side of reading through the slush pile of queries and submissions? You have a unique system for queries, asking people to make appointments. How has that been working? How many queries do you tend to get per week? What’s been surprising about that process?

Henriette: We do have a unique system for queries, and I think our surprise has been to see how well it really works! We developed this system in reaction to our awareness of how editors and agents are overwhelmed–most of them having to put in hours on the weekends just to get their jobs done. We figured we could borrow from the restaurant industry where no establishment tries to feed everyone every night (how could they?) and instead book reservations for the capacity they can handle. So we schedule queries by our capacity in any given week to read and respond. So far it has worked fantastically. We constantly get thank you letters even from the writers whose query we have passed on, thanking us for the clarity and alacrity of the system.

An actual galiot ship

Galiot has a unique approach to the marketing and distribution of books. Can you tell us more about your vision for that and how you came to that strategy? What was the genesis of that approach? How does it fit with the current conversations within traditional publishing about how to sell (or not to sell) books?

Anjali: This is a topic for a whole interview in itself! Traditional publishing involves print runs before the publication date. This means 1) that publishers bear a (potentially) huge cost upfront, which makes them financially on the hook; 2) that publishers must decide in advance how many books to print, which in turn affects the type of book they will take on; and 3) that vast numbers of books are stored in warehouses, shipped to bookstores, sometimes shipped back when they don’t get sold, and sometimes pulped when they have been sitting around for months. We looked at this system and thought nuh-uhn. We’re not doing things like that. We want to be able to take artistic risk, and minimize financial risk. We don’t want to make assumptions about which books will sell many copies and which ones won’t. We don’t want to add to the industry’s carbon footprint. And then, as if to further validate our stance, Small Press Distributor went bankrupt and left 400 small presses in the lurch. Instead, our print books will all be printed on demand, i.e. when a customer has made a purchase. AND we will be selling them through non-bookstore partners (think cafés, hotels, art galleries) with a nifty distribution system that will double as a marketing tool: an analog object equipped with an NFC chip that will serve as a portal to the digital world. We’ll be meeting readers where they are, and sharing the joy of discovery and serendipity and human connection in spaces already tending toward these qualities.

How would you describe the ideal Galiot Press author? How would you describe the ideal reader for Galiot Press books?

Anjali: Our ideal author is one who is not afraid to take risks. Who loves words and recognizes their power, and writes with intention. A writer who is collaborative and wants to be a part of a community. Someone with a sense of humor, with integrity, and with a deep sense of caring about this fragile world of ours. A writer and person who is comfortable existing outside of traditional categories. And someone whose work teaches us something!

What’s the most surprising thing you’ve learned so far in running a small press? What’s been the biggest challenge? What’s been most rewarding?

Henriette: An early surprise to founding the press was how frequently people expected that we were doing things the traditional way. We felt strongly (see below!) that there was no need to do again what was already being done. So we have had to explain to people that, no, we are not doing print runs, and, yes, our books will be in the Ingram catalogue and available on the usual online platforms in all formats. These facts are not incompatible! The biggest challenge at the moment is raising the capital investment we’re seeking in order to help us get our first products to market. The most rewarding thing is, for sure, working with our authors. Editing, to me, is a kind of teaching, and teaching is a kind of coaching, so I am deliriously happy to be engaged in this work!

Anjali: I’ll add that equally rewarding has been just knowing that we are DOING something to address frustrations in the industry. These days in particular it can feel like there’s little one can control, so actually having an avenue through which to make a difference is huge.

When you envision Galiot Press five years from now, what does it look like? What’s different and what’s the same?

Anjali: Oh, this is a fun one! Five years from now we’ll have published around 30 fantastic books, and we’ll have a vibrant community of readers and authors. We will have made a splash with our distribution system and our collaboration with partners in the travel, hospitality, and arts/entertainment industries. We’ll be making books available in bookstore deserts. We’ll be leading the way with a more financially stable and environmentally sustainable approach to book publishing, and other indie publishers will be taking note. And our authors will be thrilled!

What will be the same will be our enthusiasm and our commitment to transparency, respect, equity, and sustainability. What will be different, hopefully, will be the size of our staff! By then we’d love to have a full-time Business Development and Partnerships Manager as well as a third editor, at a very minimum. And of course Galiot will be a household name! Well, maybe not. But it’s nice to dream.

What advice would you give to other people thinking of starting a small press?

Henriette: There are many excellent small presses already out there. So I would tell anyone looking to embark on this mission to do it only if you are truly able to bring something new to the endeavor. There is no need for anyone to build a small press with traditional distribution, since that duplicates what’s already out there. Instead, try to come up with a better way to reach readers and a better way to sell books. If you can come up with that, then go for it!

Anything else you want folks to know about Galiot Press?

Anjali: Lots of people ask us what “Galiot” means. It’s the name of a type of boat. We wanted to convey the idea of lifting up our authors, keeping them afloat, and moving them forward. A galiot happens to have both a sail and several sets of oars, which means it is nimble and can adapt to changing conditions. We liked, too, the symbolism of rowing together, as a team. In fact, Henriette is a rower, so this was a nice nod to her athletic side. And “galiot” is a word of French origin, and I was raised in France, so there’s a little personal connection for me, too. We both love playing with words, so we bandied about all kinds of ideas, including some really silly ones, but “galiot” encompassed everything we wanted.