Help and Support

We've setup a dedicated COVID-19 Information Page - please take a look here for our regular updates.

Ethicool books are written and designed in Australia, with sustainable printing taking place in Australia, China and the USA.

Our books are primarily written by Ethicool's founders, Stu French & Teigan Margetts. We are now also signing up additional authors for publishing deals.

Our books are illustrated by a number of different freelance designers, based all over the world. We are big advocates of the freelance design community.

Our books are A4 landscape in size:210 x 297 mm8.3 x 11.7 in

Our books are soft cover, printed on 300GSM matte card, with 200GSM matte inner pages. We do also accept special requests for hard cover printing, so please contact us if you'd to know more.

On average, we aim to release a new title every three months.

Demand for our books has frequently outstripped supply since launch. We have massively increased printing volumes, though, so this issue will be resolved from May, 2020 onwards.

Basically, you secure a book that is in the process of being delivered from our printing press. This avoids you missing out when the stock arrives. 

Pre-orders are shipped within 48hrs of stock arriving into our warehouse.

Yes, we do! You can buy your gift cards HERE.

No, not at this stage. It's something we'll explore in the future, but we're unable to achieve it right now. For the timebeing, we think our books are special enough already 

Sure - we receive this request occasionally and it's something we're happy to support. If you'd like to arrange a special order with a custom message or signature from one of our authors, please contact us.

Yes, absolutely. We do our utmost to prevent against paper wastage and the unnecessary use of inks and dyes. We also print primarily on recycled paper and exclusively use soy-based inks. As far as we are aware, we are one of the most environmentally sustainable children's book publishers, based on the strict practices we follow.

Yes! Every book uses recycled paper on as many pages as possible. Sometimes, not 100% of the book is printed on recycled paper, though - this can happen when there are occasional supply issues.

We do our utmost to use recycled materials anywhere and everywhere. Even our delivery packaging is both recycled and recyclable again.

Well, kind of. There is a lot of research supporting the cause for getting kids away from screens... not encouraging them to use them even more. Today, books are one of the few tangible experiences that still have a major place in children's development (so many others have been replaced by technology!), so we're keen for this trend to last for generations to come. In saying this, we will soon release our titles digitally as well - then we're ultimately leaving the choice of medium up to parents. Perhaps a mix of both might be the best option?One thing's for sure, our "physical" picture books aren't going anywhere for a while, and we'll continue to do our best to produce them sustainably.

We tend to print in runs of 50,000 - 100,000 copies at a time, but it varies based on demand.

You can use our general support email address: hello@ethicoolbooks.com 

We do our best to reply within 24hrs, but it may take longer during peak periods.

If you've not hear back from us after submitting your work, don't despair. We receive an extremely large number of submissions every day and we like to review them in a lot of detail. It can take up to eight weeks before you receive a response, but typically you should hear back within four weeks.

Founders of Ethicool, Teigan and Stu, gratefully receive direct correspondence from customers. Bear in mind, their inboxes are a busy place to be, so it might take 48hrs to get a reply:

• Stu French, Co-Founder: stu@ethicoolbooks.com
• Teigan Margetts, Co-Founder: teigan@ethicoolbooks.com

Yep, we sure do. Global shipping costs are calculated in the checkout. You can find our Shipping Policy here.

Our warehouse is in Melbourne, Australia.

Yes. By the end of 2020, we are aiming to have our US-based distribution centre live, which will vastly reduce international shipping costs (and their associated carbon footprint).

Our orders are typically dispatched via Australia Post. You can find our Shipping Policy here.

Orders within Australia will typically arrive within 2-3 business days, but can take up to 7 business days in remote areas.International Airmail orders typically arrive within 10-14 business days, subject to Customs approvals. International Economy orders can take 2 - 3 weeks.You can find our Shipping Policy here.

Oh, no! We're sorry about that. Sometimes there are delays in the shipping and/or customs clearance processes that are beyond our control.

We'll still help in any way we can, though. 

If your order hasn't arrived yet, please contact our customer service team via hello@ethicoolbooks.com.  

Yes, we accept returns within 7 days. Our full returns policy can be read here.

Please email our Customer Support team via hello@ethicoolbooks.com and we'll process your return within 48hrs.

Refunds are processed by our team within 48hrs, but can take a further 3 - 5 business days to reach your bank account.

We are both. In fact, we're more than this: we write books, illustrate them, publish them, and distribute them exclusively online. 

Most publishers typically only print books on behalf of authors and then distribute them to retailers for selling.

The Ethicool business is designed to manage the entire value chain - no other publisher does this. Why do we operate like this? Because this is the best way to ensure every step of the process is sustainably managed.

Our founders, Teigan & Stu (who, by the way, are also absolute book nerds), had kids of their own, whom they adored reading picture books to. Quickly, though, Teigan & Stu realised there was a significant cultural and thematic gap in kids' literature... almost every book they purchased didn't really deal with the issues that would affect their children's lives. Sure, there were some great reads, but there was always something missing. When their eldest child was nearly three - and equipped with 20 years' professional writing experience between them - it was time to do something about it. And, so, Ethicool was born.

Every story is triggered by topical or timely events in the "adult" world, and the desire to make these themes digestible for littlies! If there's a debate in the public or political arena about a social or environmental issue, there's a good chance we'll release a book exploring it soon after. 

We certainly do. Official submissions open in April, 2020. You can email us at submissions@ethicoolbooks.com if you'd like to be considered in advance, though. 

You can also check out our Submissions page here.

We've written a very useful blog on this topic and it will answer the big question about $$$, as well as give you tips on preparing your submission:

Can you make a living writing children's books?

Please email our submissions team here - submissions@ethicoolbooks.com. We prefer you send a PDF or Word file, but links to digital copies (e.g. Google Docs) are also ok.You can also check out our Submissions page here.

Yes, we do. Official submissions open in April, 2020. Please email submissions@ethicoolbooks.com if you'd like to be considered in advance, though.You can also check out our Submissions page here.

Please email our submissions team here - submissions@ethicoolbooks.com. Please use a link to an online version of your folio, where possible (rather than sending large, high-resolution files via email).You can also check out our Submissions page here.