Author guidelines

We’re delighted that you’ve written a book—what an achievement! 

At The Wonky Tree Bookshop, we love supporting authors, especially those from our local community. However, to ensure the best experience for our customers and authors alike, we have some guidelines for stocking books. 

We’re a Small Shop with Limited Shelf Space - As much as we’d love to carry every book presented to us, our shelves are limited. With over 200,000 new titles published each year through traditional channels, we carefully curate our collection to meet the interests of our customers, which sometimes means saying no to lovely books that might not suit our audience or fit with our existing selection. 

Please read the following carefully before approaching us about carrying your book.

If you are published by a mainstream or independent publisher, it is likely that we already have an account with them and will have been notified of the publication and marketing plans for your book.

Professional Presentation Matters  We’re looking for books that have been professionally edited, proofread, and designed. A polished product ensures that your work shines on the shelf and appeals to our customers. If your book isn’t quite there yet, consider connecting with an editor or designer to refine it—it’ll make a world of difference!

Cover Design is Key Judging a book by its cover might not be fair, but it happens! An eye-catching, professionally designed cover is crucial to attract readers. Books with homemade or basic covers often struggle to sell, no matter how brilliant the story inside.

Once you are ready to proceed with publication, it helps to ensure the following:

• Your book has an ISBN number and barcode
• Your book has a printed price
• The price of your book falls into the current range of pricing (e.g children’s picture book £6.99-£7.99, fiction paperback £8.99-£10.99, non-fiction paperback £10.99-£12.99)

Our terms are 40% and we take books on a consignment basis for three months.  If your book sells within that time, we will contact you to request an invoice.  Note that no payment will be made before the book is sold.

Our initial order will be for a single copy of the book.  However, if it sells quickly, we may request multiple copies when reordering. 

If we have not been in touch within those three months we would ask you to get in contact to arrange collection of the book. You will have one month from that point to collect your book. If we don’t hear from you we will donate the book(s) to charity .

Please get in touch by email: info@thewonkytreebookshop.co.uk This gives us time to consider your submission. 

Please do not drop in to discuss your book or leave copies with us without having been in touch first.

 If you’ve read the above and are confident that your book is a good fit for our shop then please send us an email with the following information:

• Cover image
• Brief synopsis of the book
• A bit about you and anyone else involved with the book, i.e. illustrator
• Publisher and distributor info
• The Recommended Retail Price (RRP)
• Why you believe your book is a good fit for The Wonky Tree Bookshop. 

Lastly and perhaps most importantly 

• An indication of how you intend to market and promote your book and advertise that we are stocking it, if we decide to take it on. 

If we can’t stock your book, it’s not a reflection of your talent or the value of your story. It’s simply a matter of what works best for our shop and our readers. 

We deeply appreciate your enthusiasm and creativity and hope these guidelines clarify our process. For more advice on preparing your book for retail, feel free to ask—we’re happy to point you toward helpful resources.