Bombadil Publishing

As I'm understanding this, you let the cover art be judged by the author's peers, meaning 12, 13, 14 year olds and up to 26. Is that correct?

I understand now that you are a swedish-based company, currently expanding into the UK, but would you be averse to listing the titles of some of your older works so that we have more to go on than the few that are currently on your page?

We obviously need a new website!
If you click the Spanish or Swedish flag, it will take you to those versions of the site. Usually a translation, but in the case of titles, there are the titles in each language.

I'm 23, with years of experience in page (if not purely graphic) design, and I think the covers are bit chintzy. Not the worst I've seen, but they stand out, and not in a good way.

I don't have way too much to add here except perspective...

I'm 24. I went to school for graphic design (two years) and my focus was on cover design. No, I don't have a degree. But even though I studied it I would not jump at the chance to design my own cover. In fact, I'd be put off by being asked to do so.

It's great to see a company have an age group focus and I can understand why moving from Sweden to the UK would give y'all a hiccup in production. Honestly, it's probably a smarter business decision to move to the English language market and if you've operated at profit in the past, you can hopefully do so again.

That being said, a lot of those covers look like something I would've made when I was anywhere between 12-18... and it's exactly the kind that drove me away as a reader at the same age. Many preteens and teens and young adults are inspired when they find something creative done by someone around their age. The idea that someone could write a novel AND get it published at age 12 is enough to get a class of 12 year olds (or younger) to buy the book.

I think what most people are saying in regards to the covers is more that most of those covers won't appeal to anyone outside of that age range. Or, at most, they'll illicit a mediocre response. So having trained professionals making really awesome looking covers means a wider audience is reached and the author and publisher get more money.

Now, there's only one more thing I'd like to say here... you have this pay-out plan dealing only in 20s (and occasionally splitting them in half). Why is that? Furthermore, when you mentioned the option for a cover artist you included another 20. Where does that 6th 20 come from? Or is it taking the place of one of the other 20s? Does the author get less if he or she doesn't make the cover? Why should that be a thing? The author's still putting in most of the creative endeavor.

I hope I didn't come off too harshly, I just feel like a response from your target age-range was needed. Have a wonderful day.

Thanks, folclor, and no, you do not come across as hash at all. Or maybe I am getting into the jargon here.
I take your point, and it is obviously a common opinion. I would say though, that most authors appreciate having an influence on their cover And although many would probably prefer to just tell someone how it should look, they grow from having done it.
It is the author 20% that would be reduced if we pay an artist to do the cover. We wouldn't do it quite like that, though, and there have been cases where a friend of the author did the cover. We consider the cover to be part of the creative production of the book, and the split would depend on how important the cover is, and if there are pictures inside the book. We have a team of two friends sharing 50-50, (or 10-10, rather), where one is writing and the other illustrating.

Niklas said:

I take your point, and it is obviously a common opinion. I would say though, that most authors appreciate having an influence on their cover And although many would probably prefer to just tell someone how it should look, they grow from having done it.

Click to expand...

There's a difference between an author being asked for an opinion and an author shouldering all the responsibility of designing the cover.

My publisher asks for my input - as in, what motifs or elements I'd like on the cover, whether to include the series name, if there's anything I don't want, etc. But if I was told, "Design your cover yourself", I'd be looking for another publisher. Because I want to "grow" as a writer, not as a cover designer.

If youre not an artist...then dont worry about the cover art....I'd just worry about the art contained between the front and back page. Of course...If you are an artist...be worried about the art contained between the front and back page. Otherwise...quit your bitching and let us publish you....

Queen of Swords said:

There's a difference between an author being asked for an opinion and an author shouldering all the responsibility of designing the cover.

My publisher asks for my input - as in, what motifs or elements I'd like on the cover, whether to include the series name, if there's anything I don't want, etc. But if I was told, "Design your cover yourself", I'd be looking for another publisher. Because I want to "grow" as a writer, not as a cover designer.

Click to expand...

We do have graphic designers on hand...and in the mode of being hired....I could promise you a couple book cover designs...I cant promise that you will like them.

jay@bombadil said:

Otherwise...quit your bitching and let us publish you....

Click to expand...

I'll just quote that as an example of how professional this company can be.

jay@bombadil said:

If youre not an artist...then dont worry about the cover art....I'd just worry about the art contained between the front and back page. Of course...If you are an artist...be worried about the art contained between the front and back page. Otherwise...quit your bitching and let us publish you....

Click to expand...

Yeah. Understandably, things can get a bit heated in here. As someone attempting a new business endeavor, getting upset over having your business questioned is understandable. However, we are here to help other writers and we do that here by calling things as we see them. If all your details seem on the up and up, we'll be happy to point people in your direction. If things seem unusual, out of place, or confusing, we're going to point those out too.

Getting irritated and keeping your cool is a good sign of professionalism. Comments like the one above, though, aren't going to win you any points.

jay@bombadil said:

I ask of you...stop being hostile please. I have a contact that can and indeed will design a cover for you. give bombadil a chance?

Click to expand...

This must be a new way of recruiting writers. Tell them to quit their bitching and stop being hostile so they can give you a chance.

jay@bombadil said:

If youre not an artist...then dont worry about the cover art....I'd just worry about the art contained between the front and back page. Of course...If you are an artist...be worried about the art contained between the front and back page. Otherwise...quit your bitching and let us publish you....

Click to expand...

jay@bombadil said:

We do have graphic designers on hand...and in the mode of being hired....I could promise you a couple book cover designs...I cant promise that you will like them.

Click to expand...

jay@bombadil said:

nobody is telling you to design your own cover...I will sit down tonight and read your story. I ask of you...stop being hostile please. I have a contact that can and indeed will design a cover for you. give bombadil a chance?

Click to expand...

Um, yeah. Effective, professional way to represent the company one works for. Not.

jay@bombadil said:

If youre not an artist...then dont worry about the cover art....I'd just worry about the art contained between the front and back page. Of course...If you are an artist...be worried about the art contained between the front and back page. Otherwise...quit your bitching and let us publish you....

Click to expand...

Jay! That tone is completely inappropriate. As is mentioned by several people later in the thread it is not professional and does not benefit the company. I agree with them.

Niklas said:

Jay! That tone is completely inappropriate. As is mentioned by several people later in the thread it is not professional and does not benefit the company. I agree with them.

Click to expand...

agreed...I used an improper tone and I do apologize. I let my emotions get away with me...It will not happen again.

And back to the discussion about covers, if you can pardon that outburst: I do appreciate the input received here - critical questions provide a lot of value.
I have personally not been involved in the later stages of manuscript production in a while, and when raising the topic, I was informed that we actually do engage artists in cover design as part of the final stages. We will, however, keep putting a fair bit more of the responsibility for the cover on the author. Whether we will keep requiring a complete cover design in a beta release is still up for discussion and will be decided together with our author base.

I think the suggestion that us authors are not qualified to critique covers kind of illuminates the issue with having authors provide their own covers.

The first cover I ever had, I hated it. It is still my best selling titles, the cover was spontaneously featured on blogs, people report buying it just for the cover.

I feel this should be cited here: http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/...e/58691-penguin-signs-13-year-old-author.html

If a twelve-year-old can write and illustrate at a professional level, they have a similar chance to succeed in trade publishing as anyone else.

~Marina, a twenty-six-year-old who finds many things said in this thread about 'young people' (especially by Bombadil's staff) rather patronizing.

ETA: And I'm finding it difficult to parse out why twelve-year-olds and twenty-six-year-olds are being lumped into the same group here. At twenty-six there are many people who have spouses, salaried jobs, and children. I wouldn't at all say their position in life is even slightly comparable to a pre-teen's.

MJNL said:

~Marina, a twenty-six-year-old who finds many things said in this thread about 'young people' (especially by Bombadil's staff) rather patronizing.

ETA: And I'm finding it difficult to parse out why twelve-year-olds and twenty-six-year-olds are being lumped into the same group here.

Click to expand...

Yeah, this puzzled me as well.

I'm in my (early) fourties, but the twenty-somethings I know have a lot more in common with me and my life than they do with the 12-year-olds that I know. Seems a very odd grouping.

But what do I know? I'm obviously too old to relate to someone in their twenties

Apology accepted, but there's something I've been meaning to respond to for some time. Just made a deadline, so I have the time now.

jay@bombadil said:

I will sit down tonight and read your story... give bombadil a chance?

Click to expand...

I'm afraid "Give my press a chance" is not the kind of appeal that will work in this forum.

I don't gamble with my manuscripts. Too much hard work goes into them for me to take chances with them. So when I sign contracts for them, I'm not taking a chance. I'm taking a calculated risk, and that risk is based on a press's reputation in this forum, the books that press has already published (cover design, editing, etc), distribution, how much in royalties authors are likely to earn, and so on.

If a publisher believes this is a matter of chance, or asks me to take a chance, that alone is a warning. It means the publisher and I are not on the same page when it comes to doing business.

And that doesn't even cover the fact that I'm not in your target age group (though I am under the 40-year cutoff point).

I'm actually more interested in the mentors than the covers. The purpose of a mentor is to help a new author grow into stronger writing skills, meaning the mentor needs to have top notch skills. How do you vet (establish the credentials) of the mentors you assign to a new author who might sign on? Are they, themselves, published authors of some note in Sweden or other countries?

Cathy C said:

I'm actually more interested in the mentors than the covers. ... How do you vet (establish the credentials) of the mentors you assign to a new author who might sign on? Are they, themselves, published authors of some note in Sweden or other countries?

Click to expand...

I think this will be an important consideration if the author is underage, especially below 16 years old. Would parental permission have to be granted for an extended back-and-forth email conversation between a (strange) adult on the internet and a child?

I just feel that a child with a manuscript/project they've worked hard on is in a terribly vulnerable postion. There's not the adult sense of perspective there, and unless the parents are involved it could present a problem for either side. Could something be misinterpreted? How close a relationship is it, and will the mentor know when it is inappropriate? I'm not a prude by any means, but we've seen how adults act with a dangling publishing carrot...

Three questions since my last post, and quite pertinent ones:
1) Why do we "lump together" 12 to 26 year olds, and seem patronising about young authors? We do not "lump together". Our target author group is below 26, because somewhere around 26 - in our experience - authors go from writing what they want to read to writing for an audience. It is not universal, of course, but the boundary works for us. The limit 12 is because too young and most people are not mature enough to sustain the ardour of revising the text enough to make it good. Having said that, though, we have published a book mainly written when the author was 9.
2) How do we vet mentors? This is a very good question and a difficult issue. We currently have a limited set of mentors that we know well and we are working on a Mentor accreditation scheme as part of our process. The mentors are not restricted to published authors although we welcome that, but we do require language and coaching skills. We do not keep a set of prerequisites, though, as those skills are sometimes found with unexpected backgrounds.
3) Do we require guardian approval for under-age authors?
We do require guardian approval at the manuscript revision stage, i.e. when assigning a Mentor. Also, all mentor-author correspondence will be stored safely for reference in case of misconduct or plagiarism issues. We will have an author umbudsman if an author or parent wants to discuss the mentor behaviour.

Niklas said:

Our target author group is below 26, because somewhere around 26 - in our experience - authors go from writing what they want to read to writing for an audience. It is not universal, of course, but the boundary works for us.

Click to expand...

I've never noticed a trend to writers changing their work methods as you describe, and I've never noticed the age of 26 being a cut-off in that way, either.

Can you point us to any studies or evidence for this? If not, and this is purely something you've observed, what sample size did you work with to reach this conclusion?

2) How do we vet mentors? This is a very good question and a difficult issue. We currently have a limited set of mentors that we know well and we are working on a Mentor accreditation scheme as part of our process. The mentors are not restricted to published authors although we welcome that, but we do require language and coaching skills. We do not keep a set of prerequisites, though, as those skills are sometimes found with unexpected backgrounds.
3) Do we require guardian approval for under-age authors?
We do require guardian approval at the manuscript revision stage, i.e. when assigning a Mentor. Also, all mentor-author correspondence will be stored safely for reference in case of misconduct or plagiarism issues. We will have an author umbudsman if an author or parent wants to discuss the mentor behaviour.

Click to expand...

As you're putting together children and mentors, what child protection measures have you put in place? In the UK, anyone working with children has to undergo very specific background checks: do you require something similar? And how do you ensure you comply with the laws regarding this area?

Niklas said:

Bombadil Publishing

Click to expand...

Name inspired by Tom Bombadil from The Hobbit ?

Cool if so!

Ken said:

Name inspired by Tom Bombadil from The Hobbit ?

Cool if so!

Click to expand...

Erm..............

Niklas said:

We have permission from the Tolkien estate. We thought that Tom Bombadil, although old as the world, has a timeless youthfulness that suits our ideals.

Click to expand...