Publish with Arkbound
Gold Award Winning Service
We do things differently to other publishers, but in a good way. Our slogan – ‘Building futures, bridging divides’ – is about opening up new opportunities to writers, building their futures as authors and creative individuals, as well as bridging divides in the publishing world.
Whereas many publishers are too afraid or insular to take risks on new authors, we exist to give them a chance. People from disadvantaged backgrounds, who might otherwise struggle to get published because of their lack of contacts or poor self-esteem, are most welcome. Books that have an environmental or social theme – which help readers to positively change their behaviour – are also encouraged.
Since 2019 our sole publishing focus has been around supporting authors in line with the charitable purposes of the Arkbound Foundation. We also take on new authors who present a compelling case for publication of high quality work (‘traditional’ publishing).
Best ‘Sustainability’ and ‘Social Enterprise’ FFR categories
There are many steps in publishing but the first and arguably most critical one is assessing a manuscript and consulting with an author. Arkbound believes that each author is unique, with different needs and goals, so we aim to develop a personal relationship with the authors that we take on.
A manuscript sent to us is carefully assessed to see if we are able to publish it (you can send manuscripts at https://arkbound.com/submissions/). Sometimes there are reasons where we are not able to do this, in which case we may be able to offer an author a Partnership Publishing agreement (see below) or refer them to another publisher.
Short of the story itself, a good book must be properly written. This means the grammar, punctuation and structure must be excellent. However, in practice even the best writers can overlook simple errors that a fresh pair of eyes would spot straight away. All successful authors have one thing in common: they utilise the services of a good copy-editor and proof-reader. And that is why each and every book published by Arkbound is carefully proofread and edited, without exception.
Books are judged by their covers – at least by most people, initially. An outstanding book cover can make all the difference between one that is just average. Arkbound works with talented young designers to produce book covers that say in readers’ minds: we do not just ‘slot in’ stock images and spend a few hours on Photoshop, but dedicate whole days to producing a professional cover. We can also work with authors on this most important of tasks. The same applies for books that have interior illustrations.
All books we publish are available in print and in digital format, so each file must be carefully designed and formatted according to the platform where it will be available. Depending on the size of the book and number of illustrations, this can take from one day to a week.
Writing a good book is one thing, selling it is another. The book market is becoming increasingly saturated and competitive, with far too many authors overlooking the need for extensive promotion.
Arkbound uses innovative and extensive promotional techniques to get each book effectively promoted. Our links to media has seen Arkbound books featured on leading book review pages, even in full-page spreads within national publications. Through Arkbound’s links, our authors have secured radio interviews, slots at book speaking events, festival appearances and magazine interviews. We utilise an extensive press contact list with hi-tech publicity techniques that set us miles apart from other small publishers.
Reviews form an important part of this. How can someone expect to know if a book is worth buying if they haven’t seen the opinions of other readers? Arkbound gets quality reviews for each book published, on a variety of platforms.
We can work with every author to build a dedicated website for their book. Each website is carefully designed and author’s can update it themselves quickly and easily. After being constructed, we can also perform a comprehensive SEO exercise to get the website high on search engine rankings for the appropriate keywords.
Arkbound usually uses Print on Demand for initial print batches, so that we can measure the demand for each book., but we can also utilise bulk print runs in appropriate cases. We use printing methods that are affordable, high quality and environmentally friendly.
Books are made available to an expansive base of retailers through our distributors. Through these networks we can get a book into national retailers, as well as small independent book shops. What is more, the world is a big place… so why not let your book go travelling? With Arkbound as your publisher, your book is enjoyed by people across the world. Our books have virtual passports to cross borders as far afield as America, India and Australia.
We pay our authors a fair royalty that amounts to 66% of each book sale, after the cost of printing, distribution and retailer discounts is taken into account. This means, for a £7.99 book, you will be receiving on average around 0.90p. Many other publishers take a higher royalty, sometimes leaving authors with just a few pence per book sold.
On top of that, we don’t stop just because a book is published and being sold. We also look at whether a book can be submitted for an award – of which there are many. It may also qualify for being entered into the Zooker Award (see https://arkbound.com//zooker-award/).
We see the publishing process as a journey that can continue indefinitely. Each book published can have subsequent editions or sequels and we work with authors to develop these. Moreover, we seek out translation opportunities so that books can be read by people who don’t speak English. In all cases we work with authors so that they have a good deal and enable them to access new opportunities.
Three routes to publishing
Traditional Publishing
If your book is of high quality and if you can identify a strong reason why people would buy it, with routes you can help it reach the market, then you are well on your way to getting a Publishing Agreement. However, we receive lots of submissions so even if your book passes these criteria it may be that we are unable to consider publishing it. We have a particular emphasis on books with an important environmental or social message, which have been written by somebody from a disadvantaged backgrounds. For these types of books, the Sponsored Publishing route is an option (see adjacent).
Sponsored Publishing
There may be cases where an author may be eligible for sponsorship. This means that the costs of publishing their book are covered by a third party, such as a charitable trust or foundation. If we think your book can be sponsored then we will aim to help you in the fundraising process. Your book may also be eligible for sponsorship from the Arkbound Foundation (please visit http://www.arkfound.org/ for more details). Authors sponsored by the Foundation come from disadvantaged backgrounds and have written books with a strong environmental or social theme. Regardless of sponsorship, we will still look to refer new authors to crowdpublishing (adjacent).
Crowdpublishing
Our dedicated crowdpublishing website, www.crowdbound.org, allows prospective authors to raise support for their book through the power of ‘the crowd’ – a model known as crowdpublishing. This is increasingly being recognised as the best way to achieve the balance between supporting new authors and mitigating the financial risks for a publisher. It also provides a way to spur promotion of a book, since backers will represent future readers with an active interest in seeing the book do well. Crowdbound has a key focus on social and environmental works, providing levels of enhanced support and opportunities for those creating campaigns.
The Publishing Process
Publishing a book is a complex process and involves many different steps. Whilst each book is unique in terms of its needs, we have set out below the usual publishing process for most titles.
The above process can have many ‘sub-steps’ inbetween the main ones, such as registering the book ISBN with Nielsen and looking at potential translation options, but this gives a good outline of what happens.
Often what is overlooked by many publishing outlets is the distribution and promotion stage. With Arkbound we have a growing network of distributors, wholesalers and retailers, which means our titles can be accessed throughout the UK as well as beyond. You can see a list of some places where we send our books below.
click on image for full preview
One of our titles being
showcased by Waterstones
Regional press coverage
of one of our titles
Gardners
WH Smith
Waterstones
Ingram and Ingram Spark
Abe Books
Lightning Source
Foyles
RISE
Tomorrow’s People
Sainsbury
Blackwells
Tesco
The Book Depository
Chocoloco
Guardian book store
Superbookdeals.com
The Great British Bookstore
Amazon
Kobo
Dynasty
Nook
Createspace
Barnes and Noble
Apple
And, last but not least, numerous independents across the UK!
Whether a title is stocked by a store is very much dependent on if the store wants to buy that title. However, the chances of that happening can increase if the book is properly promoted and if people start coming in making orders. In this way it is possible to get a book physically appearing on book shelves, as well as on the retailer websites.
Arkbound has been publishing books for over three years and, in partnership with other organisations, has developed an effective promotional strategy. But it is still very much dependent on authors to self-promote, and to invest considerable time (and where possible money) into this area. We have opened our new Crowdpublishing division exactly with that in mind, with the opportunity to raise funding that can go towards effective promotion, as well as the actual book production costs.