The Invisible Press Becomes Manifest

Finding a logo for The Invisible Press is challenging

The Invisible Press started out as a joke.

I wanted to fill in the blank spot on the copyright page of Getting Naked for Money where the name of the publisher is supposed to go. I decided to riff on the fact that the press was a phantom.

Invisible Ink

Then the name began to resonate. I realized that one of the reasons I wrote my memoir was that I had disappeared — or at least a huge chunk of my past had. As I wrote in the essay Paul Blackburn and Me, many people were aware of me as a poetry editor and NYU Ph.D. Others knew me as a dog blogger, and still others as a genealogy blogger. But a large portion of my accomplishments, as a guidebook editor in New York and London and a Tucson-based freelance travel writer and author, had disappeared.

Become invisible.

Invisible Woman

Invisibility for certain segments of the population is not a new trope; Ralph Ellison popularized it as a metaphor for African Americans in our society in his best-selling Invisible Man, published in 1952. Ironically, Ellison was a professor at NYU when I was there, a soft-spoken presence in the English department. Had I not seen the sign with his name outside his office door,  I never would have guessed that he was a literary icon. Ellison was kind of, well, invisible.

Many women over 50 become invisible, too. I’ve noticed myself disappearing — from the center of conversations, from attention at stores, from magazines aimed at a younger demographic. I don’t always mind the stealth role. Being an observer is grist for the writing mill. When it comes to having more difficulty getting published, however, it’s not very amusing. Which brings me to…

The Invisible Press, Manifest

Why not, I wondered, help other deserving women over 50 navigate the choppy waters of this new world of publishing?  The press could start out with a backlist of such authors whose books had fallen into neglect with large traditional publishers; getting copyright back would be job one. After establishing a solid catalogue, we would start publishing original books by talented writers.

By “we” I mean various publishing professionals who have already expressed interest in partnering with me.

But that’s in the future. Right now, I’m focusing on making Getting Naked for Money, the first book in this fledgling venture, as visible as possible.

All suggestions for a logo are welcome. For now, it’s THE INVIS BLE PRESS.

Tags: indie books, niche publishing, small press, women's press