Spotlight on Illumicrate & Starbright
DAPHNE TONGE is the founder and CEO of Illumicrate, the UK’s first specialist book subscription box. She is also the founder and MD of Daphne Press, a science fiction and fantasy publisher. She’s judged for book prizes and is an event chair. Previously, she was an award-winning book blogger. She lives in London, but is Chinese-Filipino born and was raised in Manila.
Tell us about your book subscription box service, Illumicrate. When was it founded, what inspired you to start it, and how does it work?
In 2011, I started a book blog. I was lucky enough to be based in London, so I was able to go to a lot of in-person events and meet authors, other bloggers, publishing professionals – and learn more about how books are made. When subscription boxes started taking off in 2015, I thought it would be great to do something similar for books.
Illumicrate started in my living room as a curated box of books and merchandise, giving me a new way to connect with my book blogging audience and reach like-minded readers. It’s evolved a lot since then, and now each book we sell is a special edition, with exclusive artwork, beautiful edges, and bonus content whenever possible. We now have four subscription options across different genres, as well as offering special editions through our online shop.
You create lavish deluxe editions of the books you choose. How does the design process work?
This part of the job is extremely fun! The team starts off by reading the selected manuscripts and picking out all the elements that combine to make great boxes and books: themes, settings, key scenes – as well as the general feel of the book. Once we have those, we think of artists who would be a good fit, and then we brief the different elements – the cover, the endpapers, the edges, the ‘‘naked’’ hardback – just like a publisher would do for a cover brief. When we’ve got all the different pieces ready, our brilliant in-house designers bring it all together to create a truly spectacular package!
You’ve expanded over the years to offer several different subscription options. What choices are available to your subscribers?
As we grew, we wanted our offering to grow with our audience and the reading tastes of the Illumicrate team. Our main subscription, Illumicrate, is fantasy focussed, and we offer a book-only and a book and merchandise option. These boxes have everything in them from fluffy socks, to mugs, to replica weapons – and of course our book pots. Then there’s Afterlight, our monthly contemporary romance box; Evernight, our quarterly horror box; and Starbright, our brand-new quarterly science fiction subscription launching in February!
What are some of your most noteworthy packages over the years? Do you have a personal favorite?
One thing I’ve loved about Illumicrate is the way we can always push the boundaries with book design. I’m a particular fan of using interesting materials or techniques, like see-through acetate covers or die cuts, to really enhance the design. We did an edition of Starling House by Alix E. Harrow with an acetate dust jacket which let us peer through the flock of birds to the house on the case behind.
With our Deluxe Editions, these are made using higher quality materials and feature some extraordinary art. We’ve recently finished The Old Kingdom series (Sabriel, Lirael, Abhorsen) by Garth Nix, complete with beautiful slipcases and incredible Tommy Arnold wraparound covers – they are some of my favourite books we’ve designed.
You now also run Daphne Press. What prompted you to start your own genre publisher?
We as a team felt that we had a good understanding of what our readers want to read, and we wanted more flexibility in what we could offer, so Daphne Press was born in early 2023. Our main aim with Daphne Press has always been to publish books creatively in a way that uplifts underrepresented voices. At the time we started planning, science fiction and fantasy (SFF) was still relatively small in terms of UK market share. We wanted to create another option for those authors, and it has been a real privilege to help them get their words to our readers
In our first year, we’ve been lucky enough to have published several Sunday Times bestsellers such as The Sun and the Void by Gabriela Romero Lacruz and A Dark and Drowning Tide by Allison Saft, and bestselling authors like Susan Dennard, Andrew Joseph White, and Wesley Chu. We’re so grateful to everyone for the support.
What else is in store for the future? Will you continue to expand your offerings?
I’m thrilled that Illumicrate is launching Starbright, our quarterly science fiction subscription. We’ve always been huge sci-fi readers at Illumicrate and we are delighted to be able to give the genre space to shine. The book-only subscription will start in February 2025 and feature newly released titles with exclusive customisations – and we’ve already got some great titles lined up.
On the Daphne Press side, we have some very exciting debut titles in the pipeline for next year! Seven Recipes for Revolution by Ryan Rose is The Bear meets Attack on Titan in an exhilarating, food-based epic fantasy filled with high stakes and monster steaks, perfect for fans of Pierce Brown and Jay Kristoff. Then we have Danielle Knight’s A Rather Vengeful Accord, a rivals-to-lovers dark academia fantasy of necromancers and gladiatorial combat against eldritch abominations, perfect for fans of Gideon the Ninth and A Deadly Education. We can’t wait to see what readers think!
–Daphne Tonge
Check out their upcoming science fiction sub box: Starbright!
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