We were lucky to catch up with Carolyn Clare Givens recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Carolyn Clare, thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

The story of Bandersnatch Books is one of many streams coming together at the right time. I had been interested in publishing from the time I entered graduate school, but when I finished in 2009, the publishing industry had just been decimated by the economic downturn and there was no work there. I found work in communications for non-profits and have continued to work in that field since.

But the dream of publishing didn’t really leave, and over the years I kept tabs on the rebirth of the publishing industry in new, creative forms—small presses, crowd funded projects, independent publishing, low-overhead publishing, niche genre publishers, etc. There were people out there innovating and finding new ways of getting books out into the world. The written word was not dead—nor was it as anemic as everyone had thought in 2010. There was still an audience and there were still people writing books. It was a matter of who would step into the space between to help authors find their audience.

I was interested in stepping there, but didn’t have the capacity or the skillset to go it alone. When I formed a writing group with friends, Annie Beth Donahue and Rachel Donahue, we realized together that we had complementary skills which would not only help us produce and promote each other’s work, but do the same for other authors. From there was born Bandersnatch Books. We established our company in 2020 and released our first title in 2021. Our mission is to publish treasures found off the beaten path for lovers of all that is good, true, and beautiful.

As writers of—and lovers of—children’s fiction and poetry, that is where we started, publishing books for preschoolers, elementary kids, and teens, as well as poetry for all ages. We didn’t limit ourselves to picture books or to a specific genre, but instead focused on finding those books that should be in the world, but were being overlooked in the publishing industry.

This means we have an eclectic catalogue (now at 18 titles and counting), but every single book in it is one that we could hand to a parent and say, “We love this story, and we think your children will, too.” Every single book for teens is one that we believe any teenager can read without worry that it will hurt them in any way. Our poetry is for the readers who don’t know if poetry is “their thing” and are happy to discover that these few words on a page can move their emotions and challenge their thinking. Our picture books are feasts for the eyes and for the heart—ways for parents and kids to connect and take the beauty out of reading time into their lives.

We’re proud of what we’ve created in Bandersnatch Books, and I have seen it filling a need and a space that needed truth, goodness, and beauty in it.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce your company and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Bandersnatch Books is a publisher of treasures found off the beaten path, books that might otherwise be overlooked in the vast world of publishing. We don’t look down on small ventures, but focus instead on making excellent books accessible.

We publish books for all ages, from picture books, to middle grade, to books for teens and adults, as well as poetry for all ages. Our focus is to create a space for those books that fall between the cracks—often they aren’t easy to categorize by genre or by audience—but that have stories full of hope and truth that inspire readers.

For many parents of voracious young readers, there is a challenge in keeping ahead and knowing that the books we hand our kids are ones we want them to read. One of our goals is that the Bandersnatch Books brand can be completely trustworthy, and that a parent can give their child one of our books without hesitation, knowing that they will be inspired by truth, goodness, and beauty.

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

There are three owners of Bandersnatch Books, Carolyn Clare Givens (CEO), Annie Beth Donahue (CBO), and Rachel S. Donahue (CCO). You may notice that two share a last name—they are married to brothers and have been friends as well as sisters-in-law for over 20 years.

I met Rachel through an online arts and faith community called The Rabbit Room, and we quickly discovered that we lived only 20 minutes apart. Both of us were looking for and praying for a good friend, and that desire was answered in one another. We connected immediately on so many levels, including global travels and writing.

The writing interest became a shared passion, and we hosted community Writer’s Brunches for several years, which led me to get to know Annie Beth as well. Out of the Writer’s Brunches grew a small critique group, and out of the group grew a publishing company.

Okay – so how did you figure out the manufacturing part? Did you have prior experience?

Printing books isn’t cheap. And printing good quality books in small quantities is even less so. There is a reason so many publishers use Print On Demand as their primary means of production to begin.

However, from the start, we had a company value of excellence in all things, and we wanted to be able to trust that our books would look and feel good as well as contain good stories. We also managed to get started during 2020 and 2021, which meant that we had to navigate the world of COVID pandemic supply chain and shipping and production issues.

I had a few friends who worked in publishing already, and I reached out to them for wisdom. Some had great insights that didn’t apply to us at all—we’re not printing 15,000 books at one time, which means that we need to account for scale. Some had helpful connections here in the US. In 2021, production and shipping around the globe was a massive challenge. If there was not a shutdown of a major production factory in Asia due to a pandemic outbreak, there was a ship stuck in the Suez Canal stopping shipping between India and the West. Finding a printer who could produce a short run (approximately 1,000 copies) at a reasonable price who was located in Illinois meant that—worst case scenario—we could go get the books ourselves if the trucking industry shut down.

Having a background in print communications meant that I had experience with creating book files in InDesign for a printer to use and knowing how to communicate our desires with a printer. The experiences in my communications career—and the training I received from older designers who worked in the industry before the digital era—gave me the tools I needed to express to a printer what our needs were and to have a knowledgeable conversation with them about the best and most cost-effective ways to accomplish them.

Book printing, even in small quantities, has still provided its surprises, though. There’s nothing like getting an email from a customer saying that the final signature (last 16 pages) of their copy of your novel is not the conclusion of the fantasy story they were reading, but instead, the reference notes for a nonfiction book about mass murders. Our printers have been excellent at customer service, however, and have responded appropriately when we’ve brought such mistakes to their attention—and fortunately, they’ve been few and far between!

Finding a printer, or a set of printers, that you can trust to create a good quality product is essential. Equally, finding a printer who treats their customers well and responds promptly when their are problems is necessary to run a business. Customer service trumps cut throat pricing in my book any day.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bandersnatchbooks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bandersnatchbooks/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bandersnatchbooks
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bandersnatch-books
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bandersnatchbooks5648