S.2 Ep. 91: The Secret Life of Special Editions: Inside Faentasy Designs

🎙️ Welcome back to The Mythic Mic Podcast, where beautiful books become works of art, fandom turns into careers, and every special edition tells a story long before you open the first page.

This week, host Bethany Amanda is joined by co-host Amara for a behind-the-scenes conversation with Max, co-founder of Faentasy Designs, to uncover how some of the most stunning special edition books come to life.

Max shares how a lifelong love of fandom, fantasy, and commissioned artwork evolved into one of the fastest-growing special edition companies in the book community. We dive into everything from choosing the right books and collaborating with authors to working with artists, designing covers filled with hidden Easter eggs, and why passion for the source material matters more than following trends.

We also discuss the realities of running a special edition business, why Faentasy Designs chose a non-subscription model, the explosion of Bookstagram and BookTok, the future of collector editions, and why supporting human artists will always be at the heart of everything they create.

📚 What does it actually take to create a special edition book?
🎨 How do artists hide story clues inside every design?
✨ And why are special editions becoming just as collectible as the stories themselves?

This episode is perfect for readers who love special editions, sprayed edges, book art, collecting, fantasy, and getting an exclusive look behind the curtain of the publishing world.

🔥 IN THIS EPISODE, WE TALK ABOUT:

✨ How Faentasy Designs got its start.
✨ Turning fandom into a business.
✨ Choosing which books become special editions.
✨ Working directly with authors and artists.
✨ Designing covers filled with hidden Easter eggs.
✨ The complete special edition production process.
✨ Why Faentasy Designs refuses to use generative AI.
✨ The rise of BookTok, Bookstagram, and collector culture.
✨ Why non-subscription models benefit readers.
✨ Plushies, standees, and bookish merchandise.
✨ Upcoming special editions and future projects.
✨ Advice for aspiring creatives and entrepreneurs.

CONNECT WITH US

🎙️ The Mythic Mic Podcast – @MythicMic
👤 Bethany Amanda – @BethanyinFantasyland
👤 Sara Santillan – @the_magical_quill
📚Faentasy Designs  – @Faentasydesigns

✨ If you enjoyed this episode, please rate and review. It helps more fantasy readers and aspiring authors find their way to The Mythic Mic.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Mythic Mike Podcast, where myths, magic, and the art of storytelling collide. Join your hosts, Bethany Amanda and Sarah Santilla, passionate authors, book collectors, and champions of the writing journey, as they share the tools you need to write, finish, and publish your own epic tales. From insider tips with best-selling authors to insights for industry experts, the Mythic Mic is your guide to crafting worlds, conquering writers' blog, and bringing your story to life. So grab your favorite writing fabric, open that manuscript, and let's turn your ideas into legends.

SPEAKER_01 0:36

Now, here are your hosts. Hey everyone, welcome to this episode of the Mythic Mic Podcast. This is a fun one for us today because, as you know, if you have listened to this podcast for any length of time, I am a huge special edition book lover, as are my co-hosts. And because of that, we love to go behind the scenes with book boxes and book companies whenever we can to learn about their processes, their designs, and get all the behind the scenes scoop. I am here today, joined by Max from Fantasy Designs. Welcome, Max. Hi, thank you for having me. I am a huge fan of your books. We were talking about this before jumping on the show today, but they are absolutely gorgeous. And I just cannot wait to dive in to how this business started and everything that is on the horizon. Joining me today for this interview as well is my co-host Amara. Hey Amara. All right, let's dive in. So, Max, before we get started, just tell us about yourself. You know, what you love doing, you know, anything about yourself that you would want our listeners to know.

SPEAKER_02 1:36

Well, honestly, I'm not super exciting. I am 30-something years old. I have two dogs that you can see in the back. I have a master's degree in structural engineering. I love to read and to draw. And well, that's mostly it.

SPEAKER_03 1:53

What is your background before starting this business?

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Honestly, I don't have like a business-specific background. I'm a structural engineer by trade. And like I would say most of my experience comes from fandom related events. I've been a nerd my entire life. So I've been participating in fandoms one way or another throughout it. So I've like organized community events, contests, I've modded servers and stuff like that. So I'm like pretty good with organizational and admin stuff. But I also like really love collaborating with artists' friends, and I love commissioning artists. So like that's that's the connection. And also my uh friend and business partner, Tyler. She she like has experience with merch production. As you can imagine, that comes in very handy. So that's pretty much it.

SPEAKER_01 2:46

I love commissioning artists as well. So I'm working on my debut fantasy novel, and I have like, I don't know, 60 pieces of art commissioned yet. Like the book is not even done. Wow. Okay, I love this. I love this. I do too. My book has major Sailor Moon vibes, so I I just love commissioning the art for it because it looks so gorgeous. And then I sit there and stare at it instead of writing. Honestly, that is the way to go.

unknown 3:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 3:14

I love book art myself too. Like I I should be you know, reading my arcs, the 50 million of them that I have, and yet I'm scrolling on Instagram, literally just looking up book art. And I'm just so in awe and fascinated, and kind of, which is why we're probably all addicted to all these special edition books.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Yeah, absolutely. Like, I just I don't know. I love all these scenes that's come to life. It's just so amazing. I and every artist has a different interpretation of everything. So I just man, I just love art. What can I say?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yes, I fully agree. And I'm so curious, right? Because you mentioned that you've been part of these fandoms forever. So then what drew you to saying, nope, I'm gonna start a business focused on special edition books? I mean, honestly, the fandoms have nothing to do with books.

SPEAKER_02 4:03

It was mostly anime stuff. So at some point recently, I've gotten back into reading. Like most of the people in my high school years and college, I've neglected reading anything. So like I think I read one series and that was it for the span of 10 years. So when I got back to it, the obsession kind of restarted because I can't be I can't be normal about things. I I have to be obsessed. So my friend Tyler is pretty much the same. Like we we live the same life. So yeah, and we got back into reading and love, love fantasy books. So, and obviously we have the history of loving art and fandoms and stuff. So this just it just felt like a really good combination of all our passions combined.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Yeah, I feel that I'm also 30 something, and I feel like there was just a time in our life where books weren't that big of a thing. And then all of a sudden, even though I've always been a reader, but then all of a sudden it's like book talk, bookstagram, like everything is book, book, book, and we all are just like, what took us so long to get back to books? And I'm loving it that it's kind of having like a I don't want to say a comeback per se, but it's like blowing up and I love it. Yeah, that that's that's the life pretty much. Now I'm curious, when did you first start the company and how has the growth been for you?

SPEAKER_02 5:24

So we started developing the idea sometimes in 2023, but our first big launch was in January 2024, and we had officially licensed SJM merch. That was our first big thing. So we like we kind of started with officially licensed merch and merch in general, and it was always the plan for us to transition into making special editions at some point. We aimed for 2025, but 2025 ended up being a hell of a year for us personally. Like Tyler, especially, she has been through hell and back. I can't even explain this. So we kind of like postponed things, and like this is the first year that with that we have been doing uh special editions consistently throughout the year. As for the growth, like I feel we've both been pretty prepared for the challenges and knew what was coming and like knew how to deal with everything. But there is definitely like a learning curve, and yeah, it took some time to adjust to everything, but I I feel like we're doing okay.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah, that's amazing. And one of the things that I love about your company too is it's not a subscription, right? So you so you're not tied in, you're able to evaluate the books, look at the designs, right, see if it's something that resonates with you and make the purchases that way. I love that model. I'm so curious, um, you know, kind of what was the thinking behind that model um instead of doing, you know, a subscription book.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

It was exactly that, because like we wanted we wanted our books to be available to people without the obligation, if that makes sense. But I will say there is a downside here, which is that for pre-orders, like the numbers for pre-orders can vary a lot. So when we have to order like low quantities, the production is very expensive. This is why we sort of have to price our books the way we are pricing them, because like we have to assume it's just gonna do the bare minimum. Because we don't have these subscribers that we know we're gonna have like this number for sure, and we don't have to worry about it. So that's that's basically it.

SPEAKER_03 7:30

Do the numbers change per book, like how many you order, and or does it differ per book and like the author and whatnot?

SPEAKER_02 7:38

Well, so far, well, yeah, basically every every book it's so every book has been different so far, and you know, we just go off of that. And also when we are pre-ordering, like if we want to pre-order a certain amount and we don't need more books than that, it also happens that if we want to pre-order double the amount, the price is pretty much the same. So, like the production prices can be really crazy. I don't know if that made sense actually. So if it didn't, I'll try to explain it better.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

I don't run a yeah, I don't run a business, so uh all of that, like any business jargon is gibberish to me. No, that makes perfect sense.

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Uh you know, and it's it's interesting too, because you all feature such unique and exciting authors. Like, I mean, you have Rachel Fallon's book coming up, and then you know, I just saw uh Tides and Thunder is getting one too, which I am so excited about. So, how do you choose which authors you want to work with for your special editions? Honestly, like our main requirement is that we love the book.

SPEAKER_02 8:42

So if we have read it and loved it, sold. But we do have like an eliminating factor. So if we see that the author is using generative AI in any way, shape, or form, that's gonna be a no. But yeah, like we just we just want to make special editions of books we love. I feel like passion for what you're doing is very important, especially like when you're doing art directing. If if you don't care about the source material, I don't think you'd be able to do like proper art directing with your artists and designers and everything. So it's just not going to look the same.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Yeah, I love that business model. I would be the same exact way if I had my own business. It would be just essentially, I liked this book. I want a special edition of it, so I'm gonna reach out, kind of a thing. Yeah, I'm in love with the one that you just announced between tides and thunder. Like it's been on my TBR for a while, and I already like put it in my calendar to buy that book, like when it comes out. So beautiful. I I'm curious about how you came up with the name of your company. Like, I think it's so like fun. Like you're just like, I don't want to say it's simple, but you're like, how could I not have come up with that because it's so clever?

SPEAKER_02 9:57

Thank you. So honestly, we're just messing around and pitching these silly ideas. We have a running joke that we're twins because there's a lot of similarities between us. And we were also born in September. And oh my god, for the longest time we thought we were we had we were the same age. And then last year we found out she's one year older than me. Like, I don't know how that happened. But anyway, so most of our original ideas revolved around like the words twin and Virgo and stuff like that. And then all of a sudden, like at the time, I was in my Faye era, like most of the people, and I just realized that like the words Faye and Fasy could be like combined in this silly little in this silly little world. Sorry, in this silly little uh wordplay. Did I say it right? I did. It's perfect, and I pitched the idea to Tyler like jokingly mostly, and she ended up loving it, so yeah, fantasy designs was born.

SPEAKER_01 10:55

Love that origin story. It is such a cool word play. Um, and and yeah, I'm with Amara. Like, I would not have come up with it because I'm not that creative and clever, but I have mad respect for it. Okay, so I am curious next uh about the process of making a special edition book. I collect them, I have a billion of them, but I have no idea how they're actually made. So let's say that you read a book and you say, Yes, I love this book. I want to work with this author, I want to create a special edition. How do you do it?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I love it. I read it, I love it. The next step is to contact the author and basically see they are interested in doing something like this. Sometimes, even if they're they are interested, sometimes they just can't give us permissions because there's other things going on in the background. So, but like let's say we do get the permission from the author, we sign the contract, and I made that sound so easy, but it's actually like a very long process. There's a lot of back and forth, especially if you're not dealing directly with the author, but also have like agents and publishing houses, stuff like that. So, yeah, but like when we sign the contract, our first next step is to like prepare an overview of our ideas or concepts of what we want to do with this edition. And we basically give that to the author to to approve if they like. Like sometimes I have we both have too many ideas and we don't know which way to go. So in this case, we ask the author if if they have any preference, like specific preference from all the things we pitched. The last concept pitch I sent was like three pages long. So yeah. Like when I'm reading books, I'm assuming it's like that for other people, but apparently I've been told it's not. I have a whole movie planned out in my head. So like I'm very visual and I'm already imagining these scenes, how how how they would look like translated into art. So I love, I always mark it when I'm reading, I'm always marking these unseen and ideas for the cover because for the covers, we sort of want the cover to tell a little story on its own. And so I'm always like trying to know down subtle Peter eggs and details and things we can include that maybe you wouldn't notice necessarily right away, but after you read the book, and if you like analyze the cover, you see it. So that's that's a very exciting part. But yeah, once once the concepts are approved, uh we reach out to the artist. Sometimes the artists need to be booked like way ahead in advance, as I'm sure you already know. So if I'm booking super in advance, I don't know right away what I'm booking them for. But usually a project in the meantime would come up that I would feel and or Tyler would feel is a great fit. So we go that way. But yeah, we usually have a strong sense of the kind of art style we would want for a specific story, if not already a specific artist. And if we have them booked, that's great. But if not, we try to like get something in as soon as possible. And yeah, basically, when the artists, when they send us sketches and works in progress, we show all of that to the author because we want the author to like be up to date with everything. We want them to see everything and approve because we just it's important to us that they are happy with what they are doing.

SPEAKER_01 14:31

There are some artists that are booking out to 2028, and my mind is blown at you know just how busy they are. It's a good time to be an artist right now. Especially for books. It really is. I mean, you you have to have the book art today, otherwise your book isn't gonna get noticed online.

SPEAKER_03 14:50

And I'm the same way, like I visualize everything as a movie, like while I'm reading, while I'm right, while I'm looking at a movie. No, I'm just kidding, in everyday life. Like I used to say in high school, like, what would happen if we all just broke out in song? So I love that you already visualize exactly when you're reading it what it's gonna look like. That's amazing that you have that, like, you know, artistic brain, I guess you could say to already visualize it for me. It would be like stick figures or something like that. It's hilarious.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

But my mom told me it's not gonna pay.

SPEAKER_03 15:23

So is there any advice or information that you would give yourself before starting this? Information that you now know that you would give yourself back then?

SPEAKER_02 15:33

I I would tell myself that I need to learn patience a lot of it. It's difficult for me because I'm the most impatient person to ever exist. Like I I send an email and I'm expecting a response before I send it. I yeah, yes, I'm the same exact way. Same exact way. You really do need patience for this, and I probably wouldn't take that advice, but it's good advice.

SPEAKER_03 16:00

So it sounds like uh you're just as stubborn as I am as well, too. How you're like, it's good advice, but I may not just take it. I love it because it sounds like the time frame to get these books like made, it's a fairly long process. So patience, it sounds like is a very key thing to have.

SPEAKER_02 16:16

Yeah, like specifically for between ties and thunder. I've reached out to Lena in I think it was October last year. Oh, okay, yeah. We we agreed pretty fast on it. Like she she wanted, she wanted to collaborate pretty fast. We we didn't have a lot of back and forth there. But like, yeah, it's it's pretty long.

SPEAKER_01 16:37

So, do you typically get arcs of books? Like, for instance, like Lena's book, I know I don't think was out back in October. So did she send you an arc or how did that come about?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Okay, so I she just started marketing that book, and I saw a few posts and I was immediately hooked, and I immediately reached out. Like, I don't know, I just had a feeling that it's gonna be awesome, and it was. She did end up giving me like a very, very early version of the arc, and I loved it so yeah. But in general, uh, I do apply for some arts, and if I if I love them, I always we always reach out to the authors. So, yeah, but sometimes it's a book that's been out for a long time. We just haven't read it until now. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

I think it was so smart that you reached out to Lena early because this is the first special edition of her book that I am seeing, and her following for this book is massive. Like, I cannot imagine this not being a success. So glad I got there first.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

I know I'm jealous because I I I wanted to arc this book, and I don't know why I didn't. Maybe I just because I I tend to go a little crazy when it comes to art. And I had like all of my like ARC friends messaging me about it, and they're like, it's so good, like all the hype, and I I I love seeing all of that. And you just kind of you came in at the right moment, and then those are the perfect like opportunities and moments during your career. So good on you, girl.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

Yeah, it's it's funny, honestly, because none of us had any idea how huge it's gonna be, and it's it deserves all the success. Like, trust me. If you haven't read it, I definitely recommend.

SPEAKER_03 18:16

Now, I I know we talk a lot about your special editions, but you do offer other things on your website, and those standees that you have are absolutely freaking adorable. I need to get one of those for my bookshelf. What made you want to dive into book accessories? Uh you know, and I guess specifically the standees as well, too.

SPEAKER_02 18:36

So, like I mentioned, I think I mentioned earlier, we started with book accessories mostly because we like already had previous experience with making merch. So that was like kind of to walk us into the special edition scene. Um, but yeah, the standees, I really love them because you get to display them on your shelf. You don't need like special frames or anything, yeah, like you would for prints, although I do love prints as well. But standees are just so cute, they look like little characters come to life. I'm obsessed with them. Like they're my favorites.

SPEAKER_03 19:05

Yeah, they're kind of like Funko Pops, kind of a thing. Like I just want to collect them for no reason other than that they're freaking adorable and just have them like lined up and just like I don't know, they're so cute. That that's such a brilliant idea. You like them.

SPEAKER_01 19:18

Do you have a favorite book or you know, merchandise product that you've designed? Listen, I love everything we've done so far.

SPEAKER_02 19:26

It's very hard to pick favorites. But like in terms of merch specifically, like I said, I really love the standees. I also love dust jackets and prints because I love these cool illustrations with a whole story to them. As for the books, again, these are my babies. I can't I can't pick a favorite. I would say I'm slightly partial to Between Tides and Thunder just because I got to personally design the hardcover.

SPEAKER_01 19:52

And that was so fun. You personally designed it? Yeah. My gosh, Max, it's it's like it is gorgeous. I would I'm so envious of your skills.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

It's so funny. It's like that legally blonde moment where where it's like like it's hard or something like all right. Do you plan on adding any more accessories in the near future? Because I need to know if I need to save some money for them.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

Well, I think we have we have a new plushie coming up. I'm not sure when exactly we are working on getting this done. And I can tell you it's gonna be an animal companion.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

And it's another press. I mean, I I I'm already obsessed. I don't know why. Like my daughter, who is six years old, has an obsession with plushies, and I kind of now secretly have an obsession for plushies, so that sounds fantastic.

SPEAKER_02 20:45

Yeah, Tyler, Tyler loves the plushies, she's obsessed with them, and yeah, they're mostly they're mostly her idea, which is great. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01 20:54

No, I love plushies, I love all the merch. Like, give give me everything, please, because I I need it.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

Do you even have the space for merch on your bookshelves anymore, Beth?

SPEAKER_01 21:05

Judging me, Amara. I would never. So, Max, can you tease us or you know, or give us any hints on what you might be working on next?

SPEAKER_02 21:15

Okay, so I can't give any specific hints yet. I'm waiting for the green lights for all the projects, but I can tell you some vague hints for the books. And I can tell you we will be doing three more books this year. I can tell you one of them is an omnibus and it's gonna be two books in one, actually. So that's four. What else can I tell you? Well, like not much. I can tell you that I've I can tell you that I've prepared a teaser graphic with emoji hints for all three, and as soon as I get the go-ahead for each project, I will be posting that. So hopefully, I'm really hoping we can do that this upcoming week, but it really depends. That's exciting.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

Well, obviously, I'm gonna be buying all of them because I need them and they're incredible.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

Um yeah, no, that that is amazing. If they're anything like your previous books, I'm sure they're gonna be just amazing. Now, for people who are obsessed with your books and your company, I see you've done a rep program in the past. Are you gonna be doing that in the foreseeable future? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:24

We are gonna be doing, I think mid-June to late June, around that time. There's gonna be apps open for the upcoming term July through September. So look out for that if you're interested. Um, we are again, we don't have any specific requirements in your application, just like we want to see that people are enthusiastic and that they like what we do. That's the the main point of everything. And again, we do have that eliminating factor that if people are using generative AI, it's automatic.

SPEAKER_01 22:59

No, pick me, Max, pick me. I'm with you. You know I'm gonna go see her shot. Oh my goodness, Max, this has been so fun. Amara and I have just absolutely loved talking with you today. Thank you for coming on the show and just detailing the behind-the-scenes process and your business and everything that we have to look forward to.

SPEAKER_02 23:22

Oh my God, thank you so much for having me. It's indeed been super fun. And like you said at the beginning, like chatting with a friend. It was so fun, honestly. And yeah, I loved, loved chatting with you guys.

SPEAKER_01 23:35

We loved it as well. We will, of course, be pushing your books out to our followers on social media as well whenever you drop the hints and the reveals. So we are always happy to support you. And to all of our listeners out there, thank you so much for tuning in. We hope to see you at the next episode.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

That's it for this chapter of the Mythic Mike Podcast. But the adventure doesn't end here. Subscribe, leave a review, and follow us on social media at Mythic Mike Pod for updates, giveaways, and all the bookage and writing fun. Want more? Join our newsletter at mythicmic.com for bonus tips, other insights, and behind the team magic. Until next time, stay mythical.