Background
LYS förlag is a small publishing house, specialising in course literature for international professionals in Sweden. We think that a lot of course material too generic, not applicable enough, and sometimes a little patronising, and therefore we are working on creating more relevant literature for this target group. Another very important part of our mission is to create a platform for internationals residing in Sweden, to tell about their experiences of relocating here. After all, you know much more than us Swedes!
One of our projects is an anthology, a collection of chapters relating to the theme of working in Sweden, each of them written by an international professional who has some sort of experience of Swedish work culture. Our deadline was the 8:th of January, and we received some very good text contributions, from which we have selected 13 chapters to be published. However, for the book to be complete, we need some shorter pieces, in other media than text. We already have a deal with a (landscape) photographer and a cartoonist, but have the budget for 3 – 4 more contributions.
What we are looking for
- A visual chapter relating to the theme of working in Sweden.
- As any chapter of the book, you will be introduced with a short biography and a photograph. Should you wish to remain fully or partially anonymous, this is fine.
- You can read more about the anthology here: https://www.lysforlag.com/en/call-for-submissions-my-swedish-career/
What we have in mind
- Any visual media is considered: drawings, sketches, photographs, diagrams, cartoons, paintings, technical drawings, collages, maps – that somehow relates to some aspect of working in Sweden, from an intercultural perspective. This could could be as specific as you wish (the narrower in scope, the better, in our experience), and we are very keen on creative interpretations. For example:…
- Spatial arrangements at the typical Swedish workplace.
- Urban networks related to work.
- Dress code when working in Sweden.
- The popular Swedish habit of working from home, what spatial consequences does this have?
- Commuting in Sweden.
- Hierarchies at the workplace explained.
- Decision-making processes explained.
- The characters of the Swedish workplace.
- …
- …
- …
- Unfortunately, and this is unfortunate in more than one sense, we cannot accept any more pieces relating to the trouble-some journey of trying to get a job in this new country. We have received a very high number of text submissions related to this topic, and in order to make the full anthology diverse enough, we are now considering only pieces addressing other issues.
- The format of the book is (roughly) A5, portrait, please take this into account.
- Photographs should be submitted in TIFF format, as large as possible.
- All other media should be handed in as a scanned TIFF 600 dpi, twice as large as the final print. That is, ideally, for a drawing that is to be printed on an A5 page, the original should be A3. If you don’t have access to a scanner that will allow this, we can borrow your originals to scan them, through post or in person.
- For budget reasons, we will prioritise contributions that are fully or partially in greyscale or black and white.
- Scope: 1 – 6 pages (A5).
- In the final publication, each contribution will be accompanied with a very short text where you introduce (not explain) your topic. If you are not a big fan of writing, your editor will write this text after a brief interview with you.
Money & formalities
- Please submit your sketches for a contribution no later than the 31:st of March, together with a short motivational letter.
- Our selection of what contributions to published will be made according to the following criteria:
- coherence to the theme (work & Sweden)
- artistic quality
- originality
- You will be contacted no later than the 16:th of April, confirming whether your piece has been selected, to sign your contract.
- In case you submit a piece that we would like to publish, you will sign a contract with our CEO, Emil Molander, specifying all terms and conditions related to the above. From the moment you sign the contract up until the book is published, your contribution cannot be made public or referred to anyone without our permission.
- If your contribution is confirmed for publication, you will asked to complete your drawings for final submission 1:st of June.
- Published contributors will be compensated in the form of royalty. As for each co-author, you will receive 1 % of the net price, in arrear, on an annual basis. Please note that, as this will probably not turn into an international bestseller, we are not talking huge numbers, and we cannot guarantee a minimum sum.
I really hope that answers all your questions, and that this sounds like an interesting project to you. If so, please email Sofi at sofi.deveaux@klarapys.com to discuss your ideas.
