Who we are.
Alternatepress Limited is a royalty paying, full-service ePublisher. This means that we do not charge fees to the author/narrator at any time to publish their work.
We do not publish print/paper based products, partly because we are environmentally concerned, but also because we consider the all-electronic and audio platforms for consumers of fiction offer much more than traditional printed media.
Our speciality is dual e-Book and Audio Book (eB/A) editions. We believe that this is now an established combination for many consumers of fiction in general and for particular genres. Erotica is just one example. As a consequence we look for high quality, economically written, engaging stories that will work well in both text and audio mediums.
We pay a competitive royalty rate of the net retail income for eBooks, and of net retail income for audio, based on our standard contract. (See the section on Rights below)
Distribution of our e-Books is through Findaway, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple and other commercial distribution agreements. Audio is also distributed through Audible.com, iTunes, Amazon etc.
Why we are doing this.
Like you, we are writers who want to write good stories, have them presented well to our audience and in the company of excellent work by like minded authors. We are also consumers of good fiction and expect value for money from our purchases.
There are so many different publishers and publishing ventures that authors/narrators can create for, getting published can be a confusing and frustrating experience. We intend to improve the quality of that experience by being open, honest and straightforward with our authors, editors, narrators and contributors and of course our consumers.
We want to make a marketplace for you and ourselves that is recognised for its innovation, quality, value and unique style. We also want us all to make money as a fair reward for all our hard work
What we are doing.
Alternatepress Limited is incorporated in the UK but we work to a world market through the Internet. Our Directors and Associates come from all corners of the globe and have their fingers on the pulse of many different markets. We see the benefit of creating fiction in text and audio formats that can be consumed by an audience with busy lives. We are here to satisfy those people who want to be entertained in ways that fit into their lifestyle choices.
Our eB/A Erotic Anthologies have stimulating and intriguing themes together with a high standard of writing and editing to make them a pleasure to own and use and satisfying to be a contributor. It is our goal to also have our contributors satisfied with the high quality platform we have designed to showcase their work. Especially in these times where it is becoming more difficult to place such work.
Alternatepress Limited, offers exceptional quality and content in all sub genres of Erotic Romance, Romantic Erotica and Erotica in general. For readers, writers and narrators of erotic fiction and has become a leading source of innovative, curated sensual entertainment, an essential bookmark on all audio fans browsers!
Audio Production and Narration
For more information on this and Audio related matters please write to us.
Manuscript Requirements
What we look for in submitted manuscripts.
- Creative storytelling and original style.
- We want you to weave tales of erotic fantasy and contemporary encounters by creating strong, dynamic and intelligent characters that your readers will remember.
- Plot driven erotica that illustrates the relationship between key characters, ideally with a sex positive slant, but, it should always be valid and meaningful.
- We want varying degrees of sex throughout the story, with lots of opportunity for erotic exploration, interwoven with levels of tension and passion.
- We want meaningful and expressive language that is thoughtfully explicit, but suitable for the storyline. Please keep euphemisms to a minimum.
- We want writers who have a unique and new approach and a writing style that sets them apart from the rest. You must have a true talent for storytelling with an erotic flavour and write in a way that is suitable for a listening as well as reading audience.
- We accept and encourage gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and heterosexual stories.
What we ask for in submitted manuscripts.
We only accept electronic communication. So, it's essential that you send your work to us in a readable e-format. Please only send MS Word .doc format NOT .docx (So save it in ‘Word 97 – 2003’ format) or a .text document.
We will only accept the following:
- Detailed synopsis of your book if it is a longer work (over 17,500 words), a brief paragraph in your covering e-mail if it is a shorter piece.
- First 3 chapters and end chapter (short stories, please send in the whole manuscript)
- Format with 1 inch margins, 1.5 lines spacing and standard 12 pt font. Times New Roman preferred.
- Generally we accept any size of story from 2,500 to 50,000 words. However, our signature eB/A anthologies are limited to a maximum extent of 3,500 words per story.
- Works will be published only if author owns all rights
- No simultaneous submissions
- Include your name, pen-name and contact e-mail in the Query e-mail, along with your synopsis and manuscript
Send the submissions package to submiss..@alternatepress.co.uk with the story title in the subject line.
If your submission is for a themed call, please send to the specified email address on the call.
Publishing Rights
Your submission must have full rights available, including both digital and audio. If not, please don’t send it to us. For details of our Right Payments see the section below.
What's not acceptable? We only wish we could say nothing….
We're pretty open when it comes to creativity (we certainly don't want to stifle it), and will look at most story lines, but…we do have to give a nod towards the Establishment and the varying laws across the world!
- NO paedophilia (This is NOT negotiable, EVER).
- NO clearly non consensual sex as titillation. We accept that it may sometimes be used as part of a plotline, especially supporting character development, but definitely not as the prime focal point of the story!
- NO scat or the grosser bodily functions as paraphilia (we don’t count squirting in this, that’s just good clean fun!)
- NO necrophilia. Vampires, Ghosts, Zombies etc are OK. Just not the Coroner’s janitor getting it on with the contents of a body bag!
- NO bestiality. This does not apply to shape-shifters and might not apply in a SF & F or tentacle perspective.
- NO clearly incestuous sex. Keep it legal so we can stay in business.
Book Length
Our single author book lengths are divided into four categories:
- Short Story – less than 7,500 words
- Novelette – 7,500 – 17,500 words
- Novella – 17,500 - 40,000 words
- Novel – 40,000+ words
Our signature e-Book/Audio (eB/A) theme anthology stories will vary from 2,000 to 3,500 words with around 12 – 14 stories per eBook and 7 stories per volume of the Audio editions of the same anthology.
In terms of Heat or Eroticism we use the following descriptors:
- eSensually Simmering - Sexy, explicit and highly imaginative, with a sensual side.
- eSensually Boiling - Explicit, highly imaginative and hot, where almost anything goes. These titles are very uninhibited in both sexual content and description
- eSensually Blistering - These are our XXX stories. They differ from the others only in the content of the plotlines, as they tend to be much hotter and very explicit. Some readers will find them objectionable, so definitely not for the faint hearted!
- eSensually Unusual Circumstances – this line is pure, unadulterated raunchy sex or covers the taboos and subjects that could be seen as extreme or offensive, pushing boundaries to the limits of what some deem acceptable. These works don’t necessarily have to have a ‘Happy every after’ or ‘Happy for now’ conclusion.
Rights: (The small print!)
For anthologies -
First world-wide e-Book (and Audio) Anthology rights to Alternatepress Limited (eSensual Books) for three years from first publication.
Payment:
$25, as an advance against pro rata royalties, paid on publication:
a. For e-Book and Audio book editions sold via Internet retail outlets, the royalty is 40% of the net retail sales income
b. Said royalties shall be paid fifty percent (50%) to the editor and fifty percent (50%) to the contributors to be distributed on a pro rata basis.
c. All monies paid to contributors on publication shall be accounted as an advance. Once the advance is earned out, royalties shall be paid to the editor who will disburse them to contributors.
For single story or single author compilations, series etc –
First world-wide e-Book (and Audio) publication rights to Alternatepress Limited (eSensual Books) for three years from first publication.
Payment:
$25 - $50, (depending upon extent [word count]) as an advance against pro rata royalties, paid on publication:
a. For e-Book and Audio book editions sold via Internet retail outlets, the royalty is 40% of the net retail sales income
b. All monies paid to contributors on publication shall be accounted as an advance. Once the advance is earned out, royalties shall be paid on an agreed basis.
PLEASE NOTE: We are NOT currently accepting Unsolicited Submissions