I have written an unpublished short story/novel. How can I get published by you?

If you’re interested in being published by us, then you should submit a short story to Authortrek Short Stories.  If your story gets 30 votes, and we like it, then we may publish the story in an anthology. If your story gets 100 votes, then you’ll be asked to submit a completed novel. However, the decision to publish said novel would be at our discretion. This is the only way to submit work to us, and submissions sent to us in any other way will be ignored.  Please note that we have a full complement of authors at the moment, so this offer to publish a novel expires at the end of May 2010.  Check back here to see when the offer will restart. We are also not accepting unsolicited non-fiction submissions at this time.

What kind of books are you looking to publish?

Commercial fiction of any genre, such as crime & mystery, romance, science fiction, horror, thrillers, erotica etc.  We’re not looking to publish anything too experimental at the moment, as such novels are notoriously hard to sell. We’re also now veering more towards publishing critiques of various aspects of popular culture.

How do you pay authors?

Punked Books authors get paid 50% of the profits after production costs and retailer discounts as royalties.  Since some retailers can take 3 months to pay for a book they’ve sold, the first royalty payment will be made 4 months after the book has been published, and royalties are paid monthly thereafter via PayPal.   We do not pay advances, as we only take on complete books for publication, and therefore offer authors higher rates of royalties than the great majority of publishing companies to compensate for this.  We will also send the author five free copies of their book. Unlike traditional publishing houses, we seek to make a profit from every book, yet at the same time, we do aim to give talented authors that vital chance to prove themselves.

Will you edit my work if you accept it for publication?

Yes, we will edit your work to ensure that it fits Punked Books’ house style, and to correct typographical errors. We also do all the ebook formatting in-house too. Authors are sent a copy of the text for their approval each time we edit it. Beyond this, we may also suggest a change of title for your book if we feel that this will increase demand. We will also suggest changes to the actual story itself in this light if we feel that something is missing, and we will also work with you to enhance individual chapters. Punked Books therefore seek authors who welcome such editorial interventions to improve their work.

How much of a marketing budget would my book get if it was published by Punked Books?

At the moment, we don’t really have a marketing budget, as we rely on online publicity to get the word out whenever we publish a book.  Don’t forget, many authors at traditionally bigger publishing houses do not get a marketing budget either.  However, we do sometimes print flyers to publicise a new release in an author’s local area. Like many bigger publishing houses, we don’t offer authors launch parties either, as the resulting publicity is usually never enough to justify the expenditure.  So, to be accepted for publication by us, you must prove that you’re willing to promote your own work first via our Authortrek Short Stories site. We send out review copies to the national press, and will also send out free review copies to journalists that authors have arranged additional coverage with.

Will I be able to choose my own cover if you publish my book?

We want you to be happy with the cover of your book, and so we will offer you a range of stock images that we feel are suitable for the cover of your novel.  Beyond this, we always work closely with authors on all aspects of cover design, down to the colour and size of the title font, and the background colour.

Help! Something has gone wrong with an order I placed on the Punked Books website.

Please email customer service via editor@authortrek.com with “Punked Books order problem” in the subject line,  and we’ll endeavour to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.

How can I contact a Punked Books author?

Please email us at editor@authortrek.com. We will forward your email to the author, so that they can reply to you at their own discretion.  We will not give you the author’s email address, or any other contact details, such as their phone number or address.

I need an agent. Do you know any?

We rarely meet with agents, as we source most of our authors through the Internet.  So you don’t need an agent to be publish with us.

What’s your privacy policy?

If you submit your email address to us, we will not pass or sell your email address onto other companies. We will only use your email address to send you information that you have specifically requested, or if you are an author, we may email you to invite you to participate in the programmes that we provide to give you free publicity.

Why can’t I find Punked Books listed on Companies House in the UK?

Punked Books hasn’t accrued the turnover threshold for VAT yet, so does not need to be listed on Companies House.  Punked Books is a trading name used by Kevin Mahoney, who currently runs the business on a self-employed sole proprietor basis.

What’s Punked Books mail address?

The address is:

Punked Books, c/o Authortrek, PO Box 54168, London, W5 9EE

Please note, as above, that we have a full complement of authors at the moment, and so we will not accept any unsolicited manuscripts sent to the above address.