About eighteen months ago, Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr were literally minding their own business (Idiots’Books) at a large AWP writers’ conference when a stranger came up to their booth and told them in so many words to change their product.
While the unexpected critic started with a nice compliment about the couple’s award-winning collection of books on display, the take home message was, at least according to Matthew, “Boy, he thought we had some great, weird books, but if we were doing children’s books, he would have bought six subscriptions on the spot for his nieces and nephews.”
Robbi, while now a mother of three, was the first to say that Idiots’Books didn’t “do” children’s books, but in the back of her head she started to realize that six subscriptions a pop started to sound like “liquid gold.” And in a relatively short period of time, she started to see a very big upside of doing books for kids. But convincing her partner/husband, the one that was actually going to write the books, was going to be a hard sell.
For one thing, children’s books was the exact opposite of what Idiots’Books was all about. With such titles as The Baby is Disappointing and Babies Ruin Everything, Robbi and Matthew had successfully built their business into a popular offbeat brand with high five’s coming from such hip media as the New York Magazine. He didn’t see how he could change his audience to toddlers.
And for another, Matthew didn’t know how to write children’s books.
“I told Robbi on a road trip to Illinois, somewhere near Cleveland, I think, that I simply couldn’t write children’s books. But once we got to Chicago, I started to feel better about it, and decided to see what I could do… So I challenged myself to write one hundred children’s books in a hundred days. And twenty of those we liked well enough to move forward.”
What was important for both of them was to make sure they had their own approach. Entering into an extremely formualistic children’s book industry, they knew they needed to be different.
“Part of the advantage of what we are doing,” said Robbi, “is that we don’t have to appeal to the masses like most of the big publishers do. We just need to appeal to people who want fun, kinda weird, books for kids. The pleasure of reading Matthew’s stories is that he doesn’t follow a particular path one that you would find in a kid’s book at Barnes and Noble.”
One of the different paths Bobbledy Books is following is a plan to create a unique community that interacts with Bobbledly in the same way as IdiotsBooks – a subscription-based model. In this case, they want to create a readership of kids and their parents that not only provides high quality books that entertain, but can share basic values as well.
While Bobbledy Books doesn’t offer a decoder ring yet, it does seem to seek that same kind of special pleasure children experience in joining a club for the first time. Bobbledy has lined up a host of benefits that come with a family subscription.
Over the course of a year, young club members receive three picture books; an album of songs performed by their friend and composer Drew Bunting; a book that is finished by the reader; and even one book authored by a member and professionally designed by Robbi and Matthew. Add to that a five headed crayon, a birthday card, and a daily blog post with new short stories and contests, and you begin to understand Matthew and Robbi’s unique approach in building their new community.
“We are terrible at research,” said Matthew. “We simply do what we want to do, almost pigheadedly so, but we want these kids to have a relationship with Bobbledy. Kids can experience the fun of getting letters from us or reading a beautifully illustrated book, and that’s a great thing for a family.”
Although Bobbledy Books is becoming a large part of Matthew and Robbi’s business, they remain equally committed to keeping Idiots Books going. “We might reduce the number of books we do per year,” said Robbi, “but we love doing Idiots’Books, but it will now be a book division of Bobbledy Books.”
The first book out for Bobbledy will be The Girl With Frogs In Her Ears this fall.
Bobbledy Books can now be found online here or at the Book Plate Bookplate Bookstore in Chestertown, where there will be a reading, Q&A, and signing their books on December 7.
Photography by Jiho Sohn
Melinda Bookwalter says
You guys are terrific! I so marvel at your creativity and the process by which you get there. I truly believe you can become the next great authors of children’s books.
Robbi says
Aw shucks, Melinda! Thanks for the vote of confidence. Had you seen some of the kids stories Matthew wrote that we rejected, you might be singing a different tune. Hopefully we can keep our heads on straight enough not to let any of the really bad ones slip through.
Grannycooker60 says
These are the wonderful, fun books that I will love reading to my granddaughter when she visits. She loves books and I can’t wait to start filling up her book shelves. Thank you so much. Just want we needed.
Trena Will says
What a fun and fantastic idea! Wishing you the best of luck with this endeavor