At Creative Hats Press, we believe books should open doors, not put obstacles in front of them.
That’s why we’re developing our Publishing With Purpose approach, making even more conscious choices about how our books are written, designed and published.
You may start to spot new Creative Hats Press stamps inside our books. These will highlight things such as dyslexia-conscious design, shorter reads, accessible language, large-print options, neurodiverse and lived-experience voices, community projects, young writers and charity editions.
The stamps aren’t awards or certifications. They are our way of telling you that we’ve made a deliberate publishing choice and explaining what that choice means.
Stories for Everyone
This begins with something particularly close to our hearts.
Our writer and friend Tricia Ramsay, who sadly passed away before we were able to publish her own book, cared deeply about making writing accessible. Tricia’s work lives on in several of our collaborative books, but we want her belief in accessible writing to live on too.
Our Dyslexia-Conscious Design: Stories for Everyone stamp will appear on books where we’ve consciously considered features such as clear fonts, spacing, page layout and manageable reading lengths.
We know we won’t remove every barrier for every reader. But we can keep asking a very simple question:
What can we do to make this book easier for more people to enjoy?
Sometimes small changes can open a story to a whole new reader.
And that’s worth doing. We will start rolling out only if and when we can hand on heart say a book fits one of the following categories:
Dyslexia-Conscious Design | Stories for Everyone
Books carrying this stamp have been designed with accessibility in mind. We consider clear type, generous spacing, manageable chapters or sections and uncluttered page layouts to make reading more comfortable.
Quick Read | Already Top on Our List with Grab Books
Not every good book needs to be 400 pages long. Our shorter books are designed for busy readers, reluctant readers, people rebuilding a reading habit and anyone who simply fancies a great read without the marathon.
Accessible Language | No Gatekeeping
Clear writing isn’t lesser writing. This stamp identifies books where we’ve made a particular effort to avoid unnecessarily complicated language and make the content easier to follow, without stripping away the writer’s individual voice.
Large Print Available
Where you see this stamp, a larger-print edition of the book is available, because accessibility should involve practical choices rather than good intentions alone.
Neurodiversity | Different Minds Welcome
Some of our books feature neurodivergent voices, characters and lived experiences. This stamp celebrates those perspectives and helps readers find them.
Lived Experience | Own Voice, Own Story
Some stories are most powerful when people are given the space to tell them for themselves. This stamp identifies books rooted in the writer’s own lived experience rather than somebody else speaking on their behalf.
Mental Health | Stories Without Shame
Books carrying this stamp explore subjects such as mental health, OCD, grief, trauma or recovery with care. It isn’t a claim that a book is “mental-health friendly”. It means we’re committed to allowing honest conversations about difficult experiences without shame.
Community Voices | Publishing Beyond the Usual Doors
Publishing shouldn’t belong only to people who already know how to get through its doors. We work with schools, charities, hospices, community organisations and writers from many different backgrounds to help more voices reach the page.
Young Voices | Written With, Not Just For
Young people deserve to be writers as well as readers. This stamp appears on projects in which children and young people have contributed their own writing and ideas.
Charity Edition | Stories That Give Back
Some Creative Hats books do a little more once they leave the bookshelf. This stamp identifies titles where money from sales supports a named charity or cause. We’ll always explain what is being donated so readers know where their money is going.
Planet-Conscious Print
We want to think about the environmental impact of publishing too. We’ll only use this stamp where we can explain the choices behind it, such as paper, production methods, printing arrangements or print-on-demand. It’s about making better choices where we genuinely can, rather than making vague green claims.
Representation Matters Too
Accessibility isn’t only about how a book looks on the page. It is also about who gets to see themselves in books, whose stories are heard and who gets the opportunity to tell them.
At Creative Hats Press, we want our books to reflect a wide and varied world. We welcome stories and voices from people of different cultures, backgrounds, identities, abilities, beliefs, families and lived experiences.
But we also believe representation needs to be handled with care. Our publishing stamps describe our books and the choices behind their publication. They are not labels we place on our writers.
Where an author’s identity or lived experience is relevant to their work, it is for that writer to decide how they wish to describe themselves and whether they want that connection highlighted.
When writers explore experiences beyond their own, we encourage research, conversation, thoughtful editing and, where appropriate, input from people with relevant lived experience.
We won’t always get everything perfect. What we can promise is to listen, learn, ask questions and keep trying to make our publishing more inclusive.
Because Stories for Everyone should mean more than making words easier to read. It should also mean more people being able to find themselves among those words.
If you want a stamp added to an already published book or have a new project that fits and wants to connect with some of these values talk to us kelly@creativehats.co.uk
Leave a Reply