Welcome to the home of InkyLab Publishing

Why not take a break, pull up a pew and join us on our journey.

OUR STORY

We are an independent publishing company based in Newcastle upon Tyne. Established in 2019 our aim is to publish new and upcoming writers, work closely with them to promote their work and help them reach the widest audience possible.

We don’t want to restrict ourselves to one specific genre or exclude anyone from submitting their work to us. We love the weird and wonderful, the experimental and avant-garde.

brown bridge over body of water during daytime
brown bridge over body of water during daytime

As writers ourselves we have submitted prose and poetry to a wide array of established publishers (with varying degrees of success), and know how difficult and frustrating it is to get your work in print. To which end we got together and founded InkyLab, with an eye to publishing writers of all genres regardless of experience. If, like us, you’ve received one after another of the accustomed template rejection letter, with its We like your style, but… it’s too avant-garde; we don’t know what genre to put it in; how to market it; its target demographic… this may be the place for you. We want to create a place where anyone can get their work published.

We are committed to working with our writers and supporting them in any way we can. We don’t care if you’ve only been writing for a week and you don’t think you’ve got what it takes. Send us your work and we’ll help you make your voice heard. You can send submissions to submitinkylab@gmail.com, please read through our submission guidelines first.

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Submission Guide

Please read through the following information carefully before submitting your work

Is there a word count limit? Submissions should be 5000 – 10000 words or equivalent page count 10+ pages for more artistic pieces.

Do you accept submissions of novels? Submissions are currently closed.

What format should I send my submission in? A Word document or Google Doc. All submissions should be sent to submitinkylab@gmail.com. Please don’t send submissions in the body of your email, they must be sent as a separate attachment.

Should I include anything with my submission? You should include a synopsis of your piece and a short biography.

If my submission is successful will I be paid? Unfortunately at this stage we can’t pay our writers who are featured in our anthologies. Our aim is to publish and promote writers of all genres and we want to grow the business so that we can pay for the work that we publish but for now we offer the opportunity to get your writing in print.

Will I get feedback on my submission? As writers ourselves we know how frustrating it can be to submit something that you’ve worked hard on and then not even get an acknowledgement that it was received. Regardless of whether your submission is published our editor will provide you with constructive feedback.

Will I still own the rights to my work? We ask for first serial rights on any work we publish. The work should not have appeared anywhere else, either in print or online, including the author’s website. If we publish a story, we will maintain a six month period of exclusivity and the right to keep the story in print as part of the anthology. Beyond these conditions, the story remains the intellectual property of the author.

Can I submit more than one piece at a time? We are happy for you to send us multiple submissions. If there are submissions for different anthologies please make it clear which theme each submission is for.

What happens if my submission is successful? If your submission is chosen, our Editor will contact you with any edits he has made to your work. Once you have agreed the edits (if there are any – we try to stay as true to the original as possible) we ask that you help us to promote the release of the anthology. We will keep you updated while we work on the covers and other elements of the book.

Our Books

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Our Work

Below you can download some examples of the work we have published so far.

book lot
book lot

Our latest release

An Anthology of Writing inspired by Seaton Delaval Hall and its Surroundings.

'Whether it’s the Delavals’ love of theatre, their ownership of coal mines, or the lives of those who served them, this anthology presents a many-voiced exploration of place and history that brings to light and celebrates lesser known stories and figures bound within the timeless narrative of Seaton Delaval Hall.’

John Challis, Poet and Writer-in-Residence at Seaton Delaval Hall.


Visit our shop here to order your copy

Available Now!

The Lovers on Asphodel Way

By Stephen Wade

It’s the summer of 1972 and the outside world is in ferment. There’s a street battle in Derry and the Duke of Windsor has died. It’s destined to be a summer of strikes and fights, and there’s the first ever Gay Pride march. The world is in ferment.

But in West Yorkshire there are homes to be built, and love is in the air.

Will the last houses be completed by the end of August? Will the wars of the sexes never cease? Will England ever know true peace? Will there be peace in the world? And will Paddy's horse win big?

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Stephen is a writer and historian. When he is not writing true crime he loves to write the kind of fiction that the market might discover, rather than write for a market that exists. So his work is quirky, and meant to raise a smile. The Lovers on Asphodel Way comes from his work as a labourer on a building site back in the 1970s when he was a student.

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