--- title: "Book writing software for a novel in Galician" description: "Write and typeset a Galician novel: guillemets as you type, Galician hyphenation, fifteen book faces licensed for sale, and a print-ready PDF for Amazon or a Galician printer." source: https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-galician --- # Book writing software for writing a novel in Galician TL;DR Galician gets its own hyphenation patterns, its own EPUB tag and its own quote pair instead of being filed under Spanish, and Amazon takes it in all three formats. The whole point of a language setting is that it is not a guess about which bigger language you meant. Galego ## Como escribir unha novela en galego Galley é onde escribes a novela e onde fas o libro. Escribes desde a primeira frase nunha páxina de libro de verdade: o teu formato, as túas marxes, a letra do libro impreso. As comiñas son galegas, a partición de palabras segue as regras galegas, e hai quince tipos de letra de libro, todos con licenza libre para vender o que imprimas. Ao final tes un PDF listo para a imprenta e un EPUB válido. A interface está en inglés; o libro está en galego. ## Why Galley is the right book writing software for a novel in Galician The thing that happens to Galician in most software is that it becomes Spanish. The spellcheck is Spanish, the hyphenation is Spanish, the EPUB gets tagged `es`, and a reader’s device is told it is holding a Spanish book. Every one of those is a small wrong that nobody notices until an accessibility check or a store’s metadata pass catches it. Galley carries Galician as its own language. Its own hyphenation patterns, its own `gl` tag in the EPUB, its own quote pair, and its own collation for a cast list. Spellcheck runs against your browser’s Galician dictionary if you have it installed, and nothing is uploaded to make that happen. The second useful fact: **Amazon lists Galician in all three formats**, Kindle ebook, paperback and hardcover. Every publishing route is open. Everything else is the same app: a [true book page](https://usegalley.com/features/make-the-book) at your trim, the [story bible](https://usegalley.com/features/story-bible) beside the manuscript, a print-ready PDF and a valid EPUB. ## How Galician gets typeset **Hyphenation follows Galician rules**, in the justified print PDF only. **The diacritics go all the way through**, including into the download filename. **Sorting is Galician**, so a cast list comes out in the right order. **Italics work.** The italic in each of these faces was drawn, not computed. ## The typefaces you get for Galician Fifteen faces, all under the [SIL Open Font License](https://openfontlicense.org/). **EB Garamond** is the safe first choice for a novel. ![Sample sentence in EB Garamond](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/eb-garamond-en.png) **Alegreya** was drawn for literature. ![Sample sentence in Alegreya](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/alegreya-en.png) **Newsreader** sets an even, unfussy page at body size. ![Sample sentence in Newsreader](https://usegalley.com/images/specimens/newsreader-en.png) The rest of the shelf: Crimson Pro, Cormorant, Lora, Libre Baskerville, Literata, Source Serif 4, Spectral, Vollkorn, Cardo, Gentium Book Plus, Libre Caslon Text and Charis SIL. The [typeface documentation](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#typeface) lists every face by language. ## Exports for a Galician novel - **Print-ready PDF** at your trim, mirrored margins, real gutter, font embedded. - **EPUB 3** with your cover, tagged `gl` rather than `es`. - **Store-ready EPUBs** for Kindle, Kobo and Apple Books. - **Word and Markdown** for a corrector or an archive. - **Manuscript format**, double-spaced. - **A proofreading PDF** two pages to a sheet, and a **large print PDF**. - **A watermarked copy per beta reader**. The [KDP preflight](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#preflight) checks the file first. ## Galician punctuation Guillemets you get automatically. Galician dialogue is set with a raia at the head of the line in most fiction, and that is a character you type. The [dialogue punctuation rules](https://usegalley.com/resources/dialogue-punctuation-rules) and [dashes, hyphens and ellipses](https://usegalley.com/resources/dashes-hyphens-and-ellipses) sheets cover the general cases. ## How long a Galician novel is Galician publishers quote length in words and printed pages. Galley counts words and projects a page count at your trim, which is the number the printer works from. The [word count to page count converter](https://usegalley.com/resources/word-count-to-page-count) should be a helpful resource for you. ## Trim sizes for a Galician book Six standards, from mass market at 4.25×6.87 inches to Royal at 6.14×9.21. Galician trade fiction is commonly issued around 14×21cm, between the Digest at 5.5×8.5 inches and Royal. The [spine width calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/book-spine-width-calculator) and the [trim size comparison](https://usegalley.com/resources/book-trim-size-comparison) would be helpful here. ## Metadata and the copyright page The [copyright page](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#copyright-page) writes itself from the metadata you filled in. A Galician book takes a Spanish ISBN, because the agency is national, not by language, and the book’s own language field is what tells a store and a reading device what it actually is. ## Translating into or out of Galician A translation in Galley is its own book: its own language, its own typeface shelf, its own ISBN, its own cover, still linked to the original. A Spanish or Portuguese edition of a Galician novel is exactly that case. There are pages on [writing a novel in Portuguese](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-portuguese), [writing a novel in Spanish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-spanish), [writing a novel in Catalan](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-catalan) and [writing a novel in Basque](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-basque). No machine touches the prose. Galley has [no AI anywhere near your writing](https://usegalley.com/blog/no-ai-in-your-prose). ## Self-publishing and traditional publishing in Galician **Self-publishing.** Amazon takes Galician in all three formats, and the same print PDF goes to a Galician printer or IngramSpark. **Traditional publishing.** Galician publishing has its own houses and its own institutional support, and it reads submissions directly. The [submission package](https://usegalley.com/docs/publishing#where-it-goes) assembles the synopsis, the bio and the opening chapters. The same book exports both. The longer arguments are in [Galley for self-publishing](https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-self-publishing) and [Galley for traditional publishing](https://usegalley.com/blog/galley-for-traditional-publishing). ## Where to go next - [Writing software for novelists who don’t write in English](https://usegalley.com/blog/write-a-novel-in-your-language) covers every script Galley sets. - [Book design and typefaces](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#typeface) lists every face by language. - [Series and translations](https://usegalley.com/docs/series-and-translations) covers the full language list. - [From manuscript to published book](https://usegalley.com/blog/manuscript-to-published-book) is the whole route. ## Questions people ask about writing a novel in Galician ### Is Galician a real language setting or does it fall back to Spanish? It is its own setting, with its own hyphenation patterns, its own EPUB tag and its own quote pair. A Galician book is never treated as a Spanish one. ### Which quote marks does a Galician book get? Guillemets, « and ». The rule follows the book's language. ### Can I sell a Galician book on Amazon KDP? Yes, in all three formats: Kindle ebook, paperback and hardcover. ### Does Galley hyphenate Galician? Yes, on Galician patterns, and only in the print PDF when you justify. ## Other languages - [Book writing software for Portuguese](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-portuguese)Write and typeset a Portuguese novel, European or Brazilian: the right quote marks for your side of the Atlantic, hyphenation for Portugal, fifteen book faces and a print-ready PDF. - [Book writing software for Spanish](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-spanish)Write and typeset a Spanish novel: comillas latinas as you type, hyphenation by Spanish rules, fifteen book faces, and a print-ready PDF for Amazon, a Spanish printer or a Latin American one. - [Book writing software for Catalan](https://usegalley.com/book-writing-software-catalan)Write and typeset a Catalan novel: cometes baixes as you type, the punt volat handled as a letter, Catalan hyphenation and a print-ready PDF for Amazon or a Catalan printer. Start the book. Galley sets it in Galician from the first sentence to the print PDF. [Launch Galley](https://app.usegalley.com)