If the user as a global core.hooksPath hook set (example: yours truly), aurpublish setup doesn't work.
One needs to explicitly set git config core.hooksPath .git/hooks in the aurpublish-backed repository.
Thinking a bit deeper about this, I don't think it's an aurpublish bug per se, it feels more like a bug in git.
I'd argue git should honor the implicit local hooks path over the global one if at least one hook exists therein.
Anyway, just wanted to file this as a heads up. aurpublish could optionally take care of this defensively by calling git config core.hooksPath .git/hooks as part of aurpublish setup. If you would like a PR I am happy do send you one. If you think this is unnecessary, feel free to close the issue, of course.