Terms of Service

These terms govern the relationship between you (the “Client”) and American Publisher (“we,” “us”) when you engage us for writing, editing, illustration, formatting, design or publishing services. Please read them carefully — accepting our proposal constitutes acceptance of these terms.

1. Acceptance of terms

By submitting an enquiry, accepting a proposal, or making a payment to American Publisher, you agree to be bound by these terms. If you do not agree, do not proceed with the engagement.

2. Description of services

American Publisher provides full-service book production: ghostwriting, editing, cover design, interior layout, illustration, EPUB and print formatting, and publishing distribution to Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Apple Books, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble Press and other major retailers. The specific scope of any engagement is defined by the written proposal we send within 48 hours of your enquiry.

3. The proposal is the contract

Every engagement begins with a fixed-price written proposal. The proposal specifies:

• The deliverables included and excluded.
• The number of revision rounds.
• The delivery schedule and milestones.
• The total price and payment schedule.
• Any expected client inputs (interview availability, source material, brand assets).

The proposal — once signed or accepted by email — is the binding contract for the engagement. These Terms of Service apply in addition.

4. Payment terms

Unless the proposal specifies otherwise:

• A 50% deposit is due before work begins.
• The remaining 50% is due on final delivery, before file handover.
• Longer engagements may be structured as 30/30/30/10 across milestones.
• Invoices are payable within 14 days. Late payment may suspend ongoing work until cleared.
• Wire transfer, ACH and major credit cards are accepted. International payments may incur a 2.5% processing fee.

5. Client obligations

To deliver on time and on budget, we need you to:

• Respond to draft reviews within 7 business days unless otherwise agreed.
• Provide accurate biographical information and source material when relevant.
• Disclose any known legal restrictions on the manuscript content (e.g. existing contracts, NDA obligations to third parties).
• Make timely payments as scheduled.

Delayed responses or payments will extend the delivery schedule by an equivalent number of days.

6. Revisions

Each proposal includes a fixed number of revision rounds — typically two structural rounds plus a final proofread for writing engagements, and two to three rounds for design work. Additional rounds beyond the included scope are billed at an hourly rate quoted in the proposal.

7. Intellectual property and copyright

This is one of the most important sections. Read carefully.

• You retain 100% of the copyright to any manuscript, illustration, cover, or other creative deliverable on final payment.
• American Publisher claims no royalties, no continuing rights, and no licence to your work after the engagement ends.
• We retain the right to refer to the engagement publicly (e.g. listing your book on our portfolio page) only if you give written permission. Default: no.
• Until final payment is received, all deliverables remain the property of American Publisher; you may not publish, distribute or display them.

8. Confidentiality

A mutual non-disclosure agreement is signed at the start of any engagement involving creative material. See our Ghostwriting NDA page for the standard form. Our team is bound by the same confidentiality terms internally.

9. Cancellation and refund

If you cancel an engagement before delivery, the following applies:

• Within 7 days of deposit, with no work yet delivered: full refund of the deposit, less a 5% processing fee.
• After work has begun but before any milestone delivery: the deposit covers work performed to date; no further refund unless agreed.
• After a milestone has been delivered: no refund of payments already made; the milestone work is yours to keep on payment.

If we cancel an engagement (rare, but possible if scope shifts beyond what was agreed), we refund the unworked portion of any payment received.

10. Warranties and disclaimers

We warrant that:

• The work is original and does not knowingly infringe any third-party copyright.
• Our team has the skills and experience necessary to deliver the work to professional industry standard.
• We will use reasonable efforts to meet agreed delivery dates.

We do not warrant any specific commercial outcome — book sales, royalty income, marketing reach, or publishing success are influenced by many factors outside our control.

11. Limitation of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, our total liability under any engagement is limited to the total amount paid by the Client for that engagement. We are not liable for indirect, incidental or consequential damages including lost profits, lost royalties or lost market opportunity.

12. KDP rejection guarantee

If a file we produce is rejected by Amazon KDP for a technical reason caused by our work, we will fix and resubmit at no additional charge, typically within 24 hours of receipt of the rejection notice.

13. Governing law and dispute resolution

These terms are governed by the laws of the State of New York, United States. Any dispute arising from these terms will first be addressed through good-faith negotiation. If negotiation fails, the dispute will be resolved by binding arbitration in New York under the rules of the American Arbitration Association.

14. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms from time to time. The version applicable to your engagement is the one in force at the time you accepted the proposal. Subsequent changes do not affect existing contracts unless mutually agreed.

15. Contact

For any question about these terms, email legal@americanpublisher.com or use the form on our contact page.