FAQ'S
When was Chipmunkapublising founded ?
Chipmunka was set up in 2002 after several months of research by the two Founders Jason Pegler and Andrew Latchford.
What are the chance of me being published ?
This can vary from year to year. This is difficult to say as it depends on the quality of your manuscript, the contribution the book makes to the mental health debate, the belief in the Chipmunka vision and the effort the author is willing to put in to maximise sales.
Since 2008 Chipmunkapublishing has probably offered contracts to about 10% of people that contacted us although some people we ask to work more on their manuscripts and contact us again in the future. If you have experienced mental health issues we want to help if possible so feel free to email your manuscript. Presentation is really important and so is being focused so please read the submission guidelines carefully on the contact us page and please make sure your submit your book all in one document.
No Fees
Do you charge for publishing ?
No we do not charge for publishing.
Do you offer advances ?
No we do not offer advances. We are a social enterprise that gives a voice to people with mental illness and niche publisher with expertise in the mental health field of mental health service user empowerment, carer empowerment and disability empowerment.
Manuscripts
Do you accept unsolicited manuscripts ?
Yes Chipmunkapublishing does accept unsolicited manuscripts. You do not need to have a literary agent to be considered by us. Chipmunkapublishing also receives manuscripts from literary agents around the world.
How can I submit manuscripts ?
We only consider manuscripts that are emailed to us. Please read our contact us page for our submission guidelines.
Does Chipmunka Edit books ?
Yes Chipmunka does edit books although not in as much detail as a traditional publisher. Chipmunka editors are volunteers and are either arts university students or retired editors. Chipmunka will look for repetition, potential legal, copyright issues and will look to correct typos in your book although the responsibility of the text remains with the author and how the quality in which they submit their book in the first place and when they sign off the text and cover at paperback stage. For more detail as to exactly how this all works please read the volunteer publishing schedule pages on the website.
If successful how much will my book be sold for ?
The price of your book will depend on the type of format and also the number of pages of your book. The price is determined by Chipmunkapublishing's pricing policy. Most e-books we sell for £5 and the lowest we sell paperbacks for is £10 if sold to a customer via the booktrade or £12 if delivered to the customer's home address. If your paperback has more than 250 pages we may have to sell it for £12.99 or more. Please see our existing books on our website and in the trade for pricing.
How many books do you publish a year ?
Chipmunka publishes about 100 e-books and 70 paperbacks a year.
How many pages can the books be ?
Books can vary in length. E-books can be from 50 up to 1000 pages. Paperbacks can be between 80 and 752 pages. Average lengths are about 100 for e-book which turns into about 150 pages at paperback stage.
If i am offered a contract what happens next ?
Please read the publishing schedule page of the website in detail.
What promotion do you do and what do you expect from me as an author ?
What is your distribution like ?
Please read the promotion guide on the website for full details.
Who is in Chipmunkapublishing ?
The two co founders Andrew and Jason remain involved and Jason has a support person Paul who works 3 days a week. Jason works full time and Andrew is still very closely involved. We have an ongoing pool of volunteers, most of whom work from home. Most of these are retired editors or university students who volunteer as editors or communications people for Chipmunka as part of their degree. Chipmunka also has ambassadors - celebrity supporters, MP's; advisers - social entrepreneurs, supporters - people who want to stop the stigma in mental health, partners - e.g mental health and related charities around the world, most notably Mind, Rethink, Sane, NAMI, news agencies, mental health trusts, etc.., - Pro Bono Support e.g some Pro Bono Legal Support, PR partners. business partners. We never accept unsolicited pitches for business. Unsolicited manuscripts is fine. Unsolicited printers, cover designers, marketing companies no thanks.
How does Chipmunkapublishing have a unique business model ?
Well lots of reasons we think. Firstly there are very few mental health specialist publishers around. It is not a trendy subject and not really seen as a commerical one. We are of course a social enterprise which is also quite rare in publishing. We use Print on Demand at our core and do not charge. Most print on demand companies are either not integrated to market and/or charge authors for setting up of fees and some even charge for marketing. Chipmunka sets up the e-book and paperback for free and also does communication/pr/marketing for free. Not bad considering there are only 3 permanent staff and some volunteers and supporters/ambassadors etc. We publish as many books a year as a company that would have about 35 staff. This is because we are so committed, think dynamically, have great volunteers and support and do not want to change the voice of the author.
What kind of publisher is Chipmunka ?
Chipmunka is a modern publisher that has a fantastic internet presence (nearly all of our titles are already on kindle on amazon.com as well as through more traditional mediums) and a core following of supporters who believe in the brand. We are a niche publisher that publishes manuscripts written by people with mental health issues, disabilities and carers. We use Print on Demand as our core. Print on Demand is a printing technology and business process in which new copies of a book are not printed until an order has been received. This is the future of paperback publishing. For an impartial assessment of Print on Demand we recommend you read the wikipedia definition which is quite expansive and insightful.
POD publishing is different to traditional publishing. Less money is invested in the marketing of each book but the speed of publishing is quicker and the POD publisher is more likely to be able to continue to publish the author and their books instead of having to make the book go out of print as the traditional publisher may not be able to afford a new print run. The POD publisher as long as it is integrated to market has a more secure and safer business model. The POD publisher dictates the terms to the book trade whereas the traditional publisher has terms dictated to them.
By using POD we are able to publish more mental health artists and find more mental health advocates. Chipmunka is documenting the way that people with mental health issues, disabiliies and carers feel about life, treatments and society.
Chipmunkapublishing has been selling e-books since 2005. Most e-books have traditionally sold through our website although now we are very excited about the impact of kindle and looking forward to ipad and the imminent take off of the e-book trade. We connect people around the world interested in mental health and e-books becoming mainsream will mean we can reach out to a digitally aware audience and help, educate and empower people in real time.
How do e-books sell compared to paperbacks ?
From 2005 to 2009 paperbacks have mostly out sold our e-books with one or two exceptions. We expect this to change with the increase in popularity of digital media sooner rather than later.
Royalties
Do you pay royalties ?
Yes we do pay royalties on every book sold. (paperback and e-book).
How and when are royalties paid ?
Royalties are paid once a year in arrears in November.
Do not worry if your royalties are low. Chipmunka is still committed to publishing you as we want to give you a voice. If your royalties are high and you are on benefits you may like to receive some free books or donate your royalties. For advice on how much money you can receive on the benefits you are on please refer to the appropriate government website. Of course your royalties are paid annually and not weekly so you need to be aware of this. The Chipmunka Team cannot advise on this. We strongly recommend that nobody comes off benefits as a result of signing up with us.
In October 2009 we produced a mail merge and emailed every author their royalties figures and number of sales. We will do the same in October 2010. Each year there may be a couple of authors that have been unwell or did not reply to email or phone calls (if you ever change numbers or move address please email Paul@chipmunkapublishing.co.uk who manages all royalty payments).
Every year when you see your sales figures please email us back if you want; free books, to donate your royalties or a cheque . We need you to email your address for any cheques or free books you want sent out. Confirm your address and we will either send the cheque or the appropriate number of free books at standard author discount, instead of royalties.
Any author whose royalties are over £50 will be paid upon request after their address is emailed. Anyone's book whose royalties is below £50 will roll over each year until £50 has been accrued. (unless you signed one of the first 60 contracts signed before or during 2006 where royalties do not roll over until they reach over £50 and no annual digital fee is applicable). From the end of 2006 all contracts offered are the same and include an annual £8 digital storage fee that is taken out of the book's royalties. This fee was added so we can continue to give alot of people a voice each year now and in the years ahead. Contracts will continue to remain the same for all authors.
Each year Paul will be able to give you your number of sales and royalties total. Please allow one week for his response. He will only be able to give you your royalty figures for the year after the year end. Please do not contact Andrew or Jason about royalties as they will forward your email to Paul who has all the data in front of him.
Up until November 2008 Chipmunka were overpaying royalties to authors i.e we have been adding royalties to author purchases. This stopped from 2009 ownwards as it does not form part of your contract, is not a sustainable business model and we have improved author discounts on purchases.
Authors receive royalties for e-books sold on the Chipmunka website and the trade and royalties for paperbacks sold through the Chipmunka shop and of course the whole book trade (both online and bookshops globally).
Chipmunkapublishing's Environmental and Energy Values
What is Chipmunkapublishing's Commitment to Sustainable Development ?
We are supported to the future of e-books and print of demand that is integrated to market not just for convenience for customers, or because they are great business models or so that we can publish more people and empower more artists. We know that if we can improve the environment then we can also have a positive impact on people's mental health.
The last two decades have shown that the current model of development is unsustainable. In other words. The word's population is living beyond its means. From the loss of biodiversity with the felling of rainforests to the negative effect our consumption patterns are having on the environment and the climate. Our way of life is placing an increasing burden on the planet.
The increasing stress we put on resources and environmental systems such as water, land and air cannot go on forever. Especially as the world's population continues to increase and we already see a world where over a billion people live on less than a dollar a day.
The most widely accepted international definition of sustainable development is 'development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs' - Globally we are not even meeting the needs of the present let alone considering the needs of future generations.
Unless the world begins to make real progress toward correcting these contradictions we face a future that is less certain and less secure. We need to make a pro active march towards more sustainable development. Not just because it is the right thing to do, but also because it is in our own long term-term best interests. It offers the best hope for the future. Whether at school, in home or at work, we all have a part to play. Our small everyday actions add up to make a big difference.
These are some reasons why Chipmunkapublishing is so committed to publishing e-books and supports Print On Demand that is integrated to market as a publishing model. All Chipmunkapublishing paper is FSC regulated from managed forests.
What is Chipmunkapublishing's commitment to Natural resource protection and environmental enhancement ?
Natural resources are vital to our existence. Our well-being and health are linked closely ot the quality of our air, water, soils and biological resources. Our landscapes, seascapes and wildlife are inseparable from our culture and inspire art and literature. Our economy and key industrial sectors are directly and indirectly reliant on functioning ecosystems. Many people believe that natural resources have their own intrinsic value, that is, they are important for their own sake regardless of their functional value.
What is Chipmunkapublishing's commitment to Energy Efficiency ?
Chipmunkapublishing is committed to implementing an effective energy management programme. We aim to keep energy usage and carbon emissions to a minimum, reducing energy costs as much as possible. One example of the way we do this is to now give away more free e-books as opposed to free paperbacks. This helps save the rainforests.
Chipmunkapublishing is committed to monitoring our energy efficiency in a number of ways that identify energy efficiency opportunities and developing good energy management practices. Chipmunka are committed to tracking our own energy performance over time using relevant performance indicators.
What is the Chipmunkapublishing pricing policy ?
Most Chipmunka e-books sell for £5.00. Sometimes e-books may be sold for less if they have a shorter number of pages than usual or maybe £7.50 or even £10.00 if the books are especially long.
Paperback pricing is as follows.
£10 - up to 200 pages
£12.99 - 200 to 300 pages
£15.00 - 300-450 pages
£20.00 - 450-600 pages
£25 - 600pages +
Colour Paperback Trade pricing:
£12.99 - up to 16 pages
£15 - 16 to 30 pages
£20 - 30 to 40 pages
£25 - 50 to 60 pages
There will be an added £2 per book for Postage and Packaging when purchased through the chipmunka website.
This is the RRP of books. Of course books may be sold cheaper by the book trade, especially online depending on how competitive the particular bookseller is. The pricing structure is reviewed on an annual basis by the Chipmunka team. See books on the Chipmunka website for pricing in different currencies. All pricing is standard. There are no exceptions.
What are Chipmunka's artistic aims ?
In the words of John Maynard Keynes ' to give courage and confidence to artists and their audiences'. Chipmunka of course specialise in mental health artists, disabled artists and carers. We want to create conditions in which great mental health literature can happen, making sure as many people as possible engage with mental health literature and discover what mental health literature can do for them. Great literature inspires us, brings us together and teaches us about ourselves and the world around us. In short. It makes life better.
Can i have a representative as i am not very will and not good with computers and my mental health is up and down alot ?
Yes. You could nominate a permanent point of contact as an alternative. e.g a family member, carer (if you have alzheimer's for example), a friend, someone from a local mind association, a social worker, a psychologist, a psychiatrist, occupational therapist, psychiatric nurse. Then possibly after a year or two and after you have done a free computer course.. you may be able to switch to be the point of contact. In some instances it may not be possible e.g. a forensic psychiatrist approached and you permanently in a psychiatric ward.. however you may be able to switch to somebody else. This needs to work out on a case by case basis.
I am excited about being published ? What should i expect ?
- Expect to be given a voice through your writing and being published
- See being published by us as recognition for you being recognised as a mental health or mental health educational/related artist.
- See being published by us as an opportunity to be recognised as a human being who can contribute to society, breaking down the stigma on mental illness and helping others have a voice.
- Expect to become part of a literary period in history that documents how people with mental illness, disability and carers give themselves a voice to improve the world in which we live and improve the lives of others.
- Expect to help others whenever a copy of your book is sold or you give an interview about your experiences.
Chipmunka Contracts Information 2010 and beyond
- Chipmunka offers the same contracts to all new and existing authors. Our contracts are non negotiable.
Our contracts are 12 pages long and this information is just like every other publisher is only revealed to those we offer contracts. Our contract is an evolutionary document.
Ceasing Publication
- If you wanted to stop being published by Chipmunka for whatever reason this is fine as you are the copyright owner of the book you have written. If it is simply that you have changed your mind about wanting to be published, or you are sure you no longer want to be published by us for any other reason then please let us know. This is absolutely fine. We will probably request that you put this in writing. An email may suffice or we request that you send a letter recorded delivery. We could well have a chat with you or discuss the reasons incase we can resolve the situation. We may ask you to take your time to make your final decision. Often situations can be resolved and options made available e.g publishing you on a non exclusive basis. We may advise you who else you could approach or have a chat so that we can improve the way we run our organisation.
Usually an email will suffice and we can mutually agree to part company. The most important thing is to make your mind up that this is exactly what you want as it takes alot of time and effort to publish someone and to be published so once a book or someone has stopped being published by us we would not envisage on taking the same book again that we had published and then suddenly stopped publishing. Of course we may agree not to publish one book by an author and then might publish a different book by them at a later date. On several occasions we have stopped publishing people only for them to come back a year or two later and ask us to take on the same book again. We have had to decline those circumstances as it does not make a viable business case. We are of course a social enterprise but we have to balance the business with the social.
If Chipmunka were to stop publishing you after your book was out we would take your book off the website and remove your book from the trade, usually within 14 days via our printer and integrator Lightning Source so that no more copies are ever printed. However, as the owner of the intellectual property of your book, it would be your responsibility to contact any websites (e.g. Amazon, or viewable on google), which may still be offering content from your book after Chipmunkapublishing has notified its printer and distributor to cease publishing and offering your book sales to the book trade. Surplus copies may still be in the trade for which Chipmunka nor you will recive any payment. If you have any doubts or concerns about your identity being on the internet forever, then please consider using a pseudonym or alternative image instead of yourself".
Chipmunka cannot under any circumstances be held responsible for third parties showing your book. Some booksellers may remove the book within a week others can take months. Chipmunka cannot get into conversations with anyone about the removal of content after we have stopped publishing you neither can our printer.
In very rare cases it may be that it is best not to publish your book because of legal reasons. This happens in about one in 200 hundred books.
In even rarer circumstances it may be that you can no longer be published due to inappropriate conduct. This happens in extremely rare cases. Less than one in 250. Whilst the Chipmunka team is very understanding and tolerant with people's needs the company will not tolerate harrassment or inappropriate conduct from people it publishes or ceases publishing.
Copyright and Libel Procedure
Whilst Chipmunka looks out for potential Copyright and Libel issues in the books you write before we offer a contract it may be that an issue arrives before production of after production of your book. Chipmunka will take its own legal advice on whether we think we can continue to publish a book. Just as with any other publisher, modern or traditional It is the author's own responsibility to ensure that they have not breached anyone's copyright and ultimately it is they who are liable if any legal action were taken against them or their book.
This sounds very serious and indeed is. As an organisation we have complaints on about maybe 1 percent of titles and have always managed to resolve every issue. If this is identified at e-book stage then we can disable the book at e-book stage and the author can adjust the text and then we can set it up again. If this is at paperback stage then it may be that Chipmunka takes its own legal advice and the author has a think about whether they still want to be published. The great thing about the POD business model is that a new version of the book can be created if absolutely necessary and it means avoiding serious legal action. Of course the Chipmunka founders are both authors so have some experience in this area. The author would also need to think about their own mental health and what they feel comfortable with.
They author may also need to think about whether they want to change the names of the people in the books, use a pseudonym, maybe even change locations.
It may be that Chipmunka introduces the author to the person who has spotted the breach of copyright or potentially libel issue and then they work in tandem to mutually agree on what works best. This only happens occasionally. Each case is different.
For more information on copyright and potentially legal issues regarding publishing we recommend wikipedia or that you do your homework on google.
We want to give you a voice. Ideally we want to publish you and empower those around you as well. Think about what you write and be aware of its potential impact on family, friends, the general public and others.
Contracts Advice
Some authors worry that they will lose the copyright of their book. This is not the case. If you are offered a contract we want the right to exclusively publish your book. If you change your mind later on then we can mutually agree to stop publishing you. This would of course be a major decision for the author and publisher so it is best to think things through and have a clear from of communication.
For the last few years Chipmunka contracts offered are all the same and this will continue to be the same in the future. This offers fairness to all authors and also means that royalties and contract developments can be worked out in unision and in a pro active and non time consuming fashion. It also means that Chipmunka can focus more on promotion and production and running the organisation rather than unnecessary housekeeping that is a burden and unnecessary cost to so many publishers.
We advise that no author pays a lawyer to advise with a contract as the amount of money given to a lawyer may be more than royalties received later on. Also the contract that we offer is non negotiable so it is pointless a lawyer or anyone else suggesting changes. If they are advising for free then great. Chipmunka can explain to you what the contract means if you email questions to Jason and of course if you want to then you can get out of the contract later on anyway. Lawyers often help for free for an hour and sometimes help pro bono so be specific and get them to be specific in their response. Potential authors may take advice writers forums, groups, writers unions etc.. and email Chipmunka points they do not understand. Of course the best advice that you can receive is to read so you know how things work and the best way for you to do this is to read our website thoroughly before making your mind up. In particular we recomend that you will find it useful to read the contact us page, the FAQ page, the volunteer page, the promotion guide and the publishing schedule pages.
The main point here is one of transparency and also one of professionalism and trust. We trust you if you sign the contract and will try our best in publishing you as best and as quickly as we can be offering you an effective service. Chipmunka is open about its contracts and what they mean. Of course time is limited so Chipmunka's response may be brief but relevant. We want to work with the people with the people we offer contracts to and want their books to do as well as possible.
How do translations and audio books work ?
Sometimes we have requests from translators who request to translate a specific book. Sometimes volunteer translators, usually bilinguial or people who can speak several languages or university students studying in a particular language (who may have a tutor assisting them) and then they or we select a book for them to translate based on the amount of time they have available. Translators who are students will be volunteers. If not then we offer translators a percentage of profit of future sales from the book after it is released.
We also have audio books as people have admired books they have read and offered to volunteer to make an audio book out of it. Sometimes the authors themselves even like making an audio book.
How do people hear about Chipmunka ?
This varies although below we have broken down into percentages how people find us.
45% From mental health charities such as Mind, Rethink, Sane or related organisations
20% referral from the medical profession, e.g psychologists, psychiatrists, mental health workers
15% The internet, search engines, websites, links etc..
5% of referrals from existing authors who recommend other people to us.
5% referral from the media
4% from literary agents
6% from other sources e.g ambassadors, politicians, government departments, social workers, writers groups, service user groups, poetry groups, etc...