Ted Adams, former CEO of graphic novel publisher IDW, along with another IDW cofounder, Robbie Robbins, an executive v-p and art director at IDW, are teaming up to launch Clover Press, a new publishing house that will release prose works, graphic novels, art books, and other works.
Adams, who stepped down as CEO of IDW in 2018, described Clover Press as a “joint publishing venture” with IDW that will be directed by him and Robbins. He said that “IDW is investing in Clover,” but emphasized that Clover will be a separate company. “IDW and Clover will share no infrastructure or overhead,” he said emphasizing that Clover is not an imprint of IDW.
Also joining Adams and Robbins at Clover Press will be Elaine LaRosa, Adams’ longtime assistant, and Nate Murray, who will oversee Clover Press sales. The house will use freelance editorial and production staff as needed.
Clover Press, he said, will focus on “the book trade and the direct market (or comics shop market) with an extremely eclectic list of titles,” including genre fiction and licensed properties.
He said the house will be, “a boutique publisher,” and release no more than two to three books a month offering both original titles and reprints of classic works. He said that the new house will experiment with crowdfunding for some titles, and plans to sell titles directly to consumers in a combination of new titles and reprints of classic works. Although the house is aligned with IDW, Adams said Clover Press titles will not be distributed by IDW and said he is in discussions with vendors to handle book trade distribution.
Clover, Adams said, will announce specific titles later this summer. The new press does have one title listed on its website. Clover Press is taking pre-orders for signed and unsigned issues of a variant cover for Silver Surfer Black by Donny Cates and Tradd Moore (Marvel), with new cover art by Gabriel Rodríguez, best known for cocreating the IDW comics series, Locke & Key.
Adams stepped down as CEO of IDW Media Holdings in 2018 with plans to return to publishing in a new role. He declined to comment on the possible sale of IDW Media Holdings but acknowledged that he continues as an IDW stockholder. “The new team leading the company is good,” Adams said, and emphasized that he has no part in executive decision making at IDW.
"Now with the company in excellent hands, it's time to focus our attention on new projects. Our small team at Clover Press will be working on outside of the box projects that we are excited about."
Correction: the format of Silver Surfer Black publication was incorrectly noted in an earlier version of this story.
