Magnolia Studio | Portfolio Item |

Abuse Antidote Publications

Abuse Antidote Publications
Sonoma County, California

For the Love of Benjamine — 2013

Every village in Sonoma County, California has it's own organic farmers' market and I was introduced to Marta May at the downtown Sebastopol market by my previous client, Jill Nussinow, The Veggie Queen I had just designed Jill's whole foods cookbook, The New Fast Food and she wanted me to help Marta get her manuscript published.

For the Love of Benjamine is Marta's survivor's memoir about chronic abuse and domestic violence. She is a community advocate and teaches classes on teen dating violence. She retired from catering and is now a "slow foods" organic produce and herb grower living the good life in Sonoma County. When we began the project, Marta was very concerned about privacy and so we endeavored to keep this process under wraps so that her abusive ex-husband would have no knowledge that she was telling her story about his abuse.
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I created a ribbon/heart logo for her company and the text was designed using classic fonts and a very readable style. This design style was intended to be used for her next two books.

For the Love of Benjamine is a 203-page, 5.5 x 8.5 inch, perfect-bound volume. This book is available for purchase at her web site: AbuseAntidote.com
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image: For the Love of Benjamine Cover — For the Love of Benjamine Cover

image: For the Love of Benjamine Title Page — For the Love of Benjamine
Title Page

image: For the Love of Benjamine Dedication — For the Love of Benjamine
Dedication

image: For the Love of Benjamine — For the Love of Benjamine
Chapter Opener

image: For the Love of Benjamine Chapter Text — For the Love of Benjamine
Chapter Text

Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) — 2013

Production of Marta May's political autobiography was a journey on many levels. Her prose was as wonderfully colorful and expressive as her Cuban soul, but it was clear that she needed design and layout assistance with her manuscript. We worked together line-by-line improving the content and consistency throughout, and we added translations of the Spanish dialogue where needed.

For the interior pages, I used the same template design created for her first book For the Love of Benjamine. This allowed us to produce this volume more quickly and efficiently. I also chose identical fonts and company logo that I designed to create a consistent look and style for her publications. I provided proofreading and a quality control check before uploading press files to her online printer.

Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) is a 168-page, 5.5x8.5 inch, perfect-bound volume. This book is available for purchase at her web site: AbuseAntidote.com

image: Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) Cover — Cuando Sali de Cuba Cover

image: Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) Title Page — Cuando Sali de Cuba
Title Page

image: Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) Chapter Opener — Cuando Sali de Cuba
Chapter Opener

image: Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) Chapter Text — Cuando Sali de Cuba
Chapter Text

image: Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba) Song Lyrics — Cuando Sali de Cuba
Song Lyrics with Text

Lost in the Valley of the Apples: Alzheimer's and Beyond — 2019

This was a project that I felt very close to as Marta and I have worked together for many years and this subject hit very close to home. Creating her memoir was a monumental effort for Marta. It required drawing together the information from her diary and various correspondence documenting her emotional ordeal as she guided her mother through the awful maze of Alzheimer's and Dementia healthcare.

Because the material was so personal, she clearly needed unbiased editorial assistance with her manuscript. We worked together improving the presentation and creating clear, consistent styles representing the different voices, quotes, diary entries, emails, and other documents that she used to illustrate her story.
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The cover design came from a stock photo search for Gravenstein apples, the most common apple variety in the Sonoma County area. For the interior pages, I used the same design I created for her first two books, For the Love of Benjamine and Cuando Sali de Cuba (When I Left Cuba). I provided final proofreading and a quality control check before uploading the press files to her online printer.

Lost in the Valley of the Apples: Alzheimer's and Beyond is a 156-page, 5.5 x 8.5 inch, perfect-bound volume. This book is available for purchase at her web site: AbuseAntidote.com
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image: Lost in the Valley of the Apples Cover — Lost in the Valley of the Apples Cover

image: Lost in the Valley of the Apples Title Page — Lost in the Valley of
the Apples Title Page

image: Lost in the Valley of the Apples Introduction — Lost in the Valley of
the Apples Introduction

image: Lost in the Valley of the Apples Chapter Opener — Lost in the Valley of
the Apples Opener

image: Lost in the Valley of the Apples Diary Entry — Lost in the Valley of
the Apples Diary Entry

Client Testimonial

October 6, 2019

"I wrote the books... That was the easy part. Without Phyllis Peterson of Magnolia Studio, I would not have been able to publish them and they would still be in limbo.

"Phyllis is knowledgeable, passionate and talented. She is the absolute best at copyediting, putting my writing into a book format, and following through until the actual books were delivered to my front door.

"Not only is she an expert at what she does, but she is also a great, trustworthy human being, that has become a close friend. I love her forever!"

Marta May — Author and Publisher
Abuse Antidote Publications

Magnolia Studio Portfolio Item, Abuse Antidote Publications