Ashley Scrivener (what a perfect surname!) crafted the layout of our novel. There’s so much meaning in the fonts, the headers and footers, the spaces filled with words and the empty spaces too. And when we say meaning, it’s worth a quick peek at the definition of that word from the realm of Diffusion of Innovations research:
What are the form, function, and meaning of an innovation?
Form is the directly observable physical appearance and substance of an innovation.
Function is the contribution made by an innovation to the way of life of members of a social system.
Meaning is the subjective and frequently unconscious perception of an innovation by members of a social system.
–Dr. Everett Rogers
When it comes to books, words carry meaning of course–and yet so do the esthetics that surround those words. There’s a fine line between superb kerning and a total kerfluffle. Ashley has an outstanding and refined design sense, and we greatly appreciate her work on our novel. Here’s Ashley’s website, in which she shares her varied artistic and design endeavors:
https://ashleyscrivener.com/
When it came time to make the attempt to capture in words the horror that was producing tetra-ethyl lead in the 1920s, I turned to Bill Kovarik, PhD. Dr. Kovarik is professor in the School of Communication at Radford University.
https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/comm/faculty/bios.html#par_text_11
He is also today’s finest authority on the dark history of leaded gasoline and the still-present global environmental disaster it brought about. His work in progress, Ethyl War, will bring to light the history of one of corporate capitalism’s greatest externalities–a terrible cost passed on to us all.
http://www.ethyl.environmentalhistory.org/
We thank Bill for graciously allowing us to work into our story his detailed description of the tetra-ethyl lead manufacturing process as it existed in the 1920s. That process, carried out by workers who were kept in the dark about its risks as long as possible, is downright terrifying. Thanks, Bill, for the specifics and the accuracy.
Even with all the best editing and design, self-publishing on Amazon is fraught with many technical pitfalls. We recall a friend, an early adopter of computer tech, once saying, “Until they make these things like toasters, people are going to experience catastrophes on a regular basis.” And, well, they haven’t made them like toasters yet! We engaged the remarkable document preparation and formatting services of Leigh Anne Aston. Once she worked her magic with those numberless sizzling electrons, the cascade of Amazon errors ceased and we had a novel, standing ready before the world!
http://astonadminservices.com/