New Contract in Effect

Our new contract went into effect on Jan. 1, 2013 and the terms of payment and operation are unchanged, though some points of responsibility have been clarified.  

These rights covered are now for both electronic and print books, as far as it is possible for them to be produced.  Henceforth, no new contracts will need to be signed to have a print edition produced. 

These new terms will effectively become those under which the company will operate henceforth. The contract is shown below in detail. If anyone finds they don't wish to accept them, this is your official notice to contact us about your rights. Unless you do contact us, we will consider all contracts will remain in effect, self-renewing yearly and continuing under the new contract specifications. 



Cambridge Books
            ebooksonthe.net
                        Write Words, Inc.
Phone: 410-229-3671                                                     2934 Old Route 50
Fax: 410-221-7510                                                         Cambridge, Md 21613


This agreement, dated ________________________, 20____, is made between
WRITE WORDS, INC., and its imprints EBOOKSONTHE.NET / CAMBRIDGE BOOKS / herein called the Publisher and   

_________________________________________________, herein called Author, as respects
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________________________________________________________, herein called the Work.
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I. PUBLISHING RIGHTS
Author agrees to grant to Publisher exclusive worldwide English language rights to publish and sell the Work in:

Readable digital (text) format (electronic download, disk, CD/CD-ROM, E-Book reader or similar media of presentation, (Excluding motion picture/television/video/DVD rights).

Print on Demand trade paperback format in the United States, and abroad, in the event sales figures indicate that the added expense of a paper edition would be feasible and given that the manuscript in question is less than 85,000 words in length when submitted for publication.
All rights in the Work not specifically granted to Publisher in this agreement are reserved by the author and those granted may be returned to the author upon request after five years from the actual publication date printed in the originally released work, or earlier at the discretion of the publisher.       

II. AUTHOR WARRANTIES AND DESIGNATIONS

Author warrants that s/he is the author and sole owner of the Work or has been assigned the rights delineated above as a literary representative of the author; that it is original and contains no matter unlawful in its content, nor does it violate the rights of any third party; that the Work is not in the public domain. Author or representative also warrants that these rights are owned or controlled by him without encumbrance and that the Author has full power to grant the listed rights to Publisher, himself, or through his literary representative.

Under US Copyright law, the author’s rights originate at the date of creation and belong to him or her or the author’s designated assignees for an additional 75 years and is renewable for an additional 75 years. In the event the author, though illness or other untoward circumstances, should no longer be able to handle his or her own business affairs, the below named, business, representative, or chairty,   

_____________________________________________________________________ ,
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is the author’s delegated authority and that person, charity, or organization and should the author
become incapacitated through accident or illness, that person, charity, or organization, will accept any and all royalties due from the author’s work at the following address:
__________________________________________________________________________
street
_________________________________________________, ___________
city state

Publisher will pay royalties to above-named representative at the author’s request.
After the initial five years, the contracts shall remain in effect, self-renewing annually, unless some
other determination is made by the publisher or author.

If this work has been previously published in any form, the author warrants that the rights granted herein have reverted to him/her. As an addendum to this agreement, the author shall present some written memorandum documenting the reversion of the rights granted by any publishing company that may still own proprietary rights to the Work.

If a judgment is obtained against Publisher for usurping rights still controlled by a publisher or other entity than Publisher or Author, the Author agrees to hold the Publisher harmless and to indemnify Publisher for reasonable damages and costs. If Publisher prevails against a suing party or resolves the matter by out of court settlement, Author will not be liable to indemnify Publisher for defense and settlement costs.


III. COPYRIGHT

In the USA copyright applies automatically from whenever a work is first created, whether that work is officially registered with the US Copyright Office, or not. Author will be responsible for registering the copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office if desired, including payment of any and all fees and the costs of preparing printed and/or electronic documentation of the work as required by the U.S. Copyright office.

Author understands that if s/he chooses not to register the copyright with the U.S. Copyright office, in order to have legal documentation of when the work was completed, s/he may be limited in the damages that could be awarded in court if there is a lawsuit over copyright violation.


Publisher will place a copyright notice on all versions of the Work, using the month and year of first release if no earlier information is available.


IV. BOOK PRODUCTION COSTS

ISBNs: Publisher will obtain, pay for, and assign ISBNs (International Standard Book Numbers) as required by law for editions of the Work. Publisher will assign as many ISBN designations as required by the various publication formats listed in Section I. Publisher will use the assigned ISBN(s) as part of the formal identification of the work, will provide bar codes on printed works and will notify Books in Print or other equivalent service(s) of the titles and release dates of said Work.

Please initial_____. ISBNs are publisher-specific and may not be transferred if the work is withdrawn.

Editorial Services: Publisher will provide editorial services, typesetting, and formatting, at no cost to    the Author, using guidelines laid down in The Chicago Manual of Style, with a few exceptions dictated by in-house preferences and the specific demands of digital preparation. Publisher will use the house’s own book design in typesetting and cover layout.   

Please initial_____. Author will present the work for publication in final form and any additions and corrections needed at the galley stages should be minimal and based on demonstrable error, rather than a change of mind.

Galley Proofs: Publisher will provide a galley proof copy of the Work, either in print or printable digital format, which Author must read. A list of corrections designating page, and paragraph numbers, as well as the line as it appears in the manuscript, with the corrected line below, will be provided by the author so that corrections can be made. Author should keep a copy of the lists as s/he will have the opportunity to review the changes to make sure they have been made, before the book goes on sale.

Publisher may make corrections of grammar, usage, and typographical errors without the Author’s consent. US spelling and grammar rules are to be used throughout with the dictionary at www.m-w.com to be used as the spelling authority.

Please initial ____. The corrections will have to be entered in the typesetting file, therefore authors cannot fix mistakes themselves, but must provide the specified list. If the list of changes is not received as agreed, the Publisher has the option to delay release or terminate the agreement as warranted.

Book covers: Publisher will provide a full color cover design at no cost to the author unless the author wishes to use work by his or her own private outside cover artist. Costs of any outside editorial services or cover art the author deems necessary or proper will be done with approval of the publisher, and by private arrangement between the author and the service providers, and will not be paid for by the Publisher, but be provided on the sole responsibility of the author.

Author will be asked to produce a proposed back cover blurb advertising text (200 words or less) and suggestions for cover art. If Author engages an artist other than him/herself to produce an alternative cover, Author must present documentation that s/he has permission to reproduce the proposed cover art from the copyright owner, or warrants that the cover art is in the public domain. If Author provides his/her own cover art, s/he is responsible for formatting it in an appropriate graphics format of suitable reproduction quality. (Specifications may change and are available upon request.) Publisher will give copyright credit in the published Work to the cover artist. Publisher has final approval of any cover art and back blurb material.       

Title: Publisher has final approval of release title of the Work. Every attempt will be made to use the title suggested by the Author, but Publisher has the option to change the release title if the Author’s suggested title is too long, too similar to any books already in release by Publisher, or recent releases from another publisher, or if Publisher deems that a more appropriate title is necessary. In the event of a title change, Author will be given an opportunity to suggest alternative titles.

E-book Formatting: Publisher will be responsible to prepare the Work for electronic distribution. This would include all conversions from the manuscript into various digital formats compatible with various brands of e-book readers and formats required for submission to sales sites. The exception to this provision is for Works containing a substantial number of color graphics and/or illustrations that are not translatable into all electronic formats. In Works of this type, Publisher will format for those digital programs best suited for the nature of the files. If a particular formatting type is controlled by the distributor/vendor, Publisher will prepare the Work in a manner acceptable to that distributor/vendor and submit it to them for formatting.

Please initial ____. It is understood Publisher may not be able to control the final visual
appearance of the work after the distributor/vendor completes reformatting and places the Work in the stream of commerce at their venue.


V. SELLING PRICE

Publisher will set the retail price (“cover price”) of the Work, based on length, comparable works, costs of production, and format. Publisher reserves the right to raise or reduce the price as needed to stimulate sales and or cover costs in the case of paper editions. Various distribution outlets may discount the work and will pay a percentage of what they collect from customers.

Please initial______. It is understood that not all books will appear the same or earn equal
royalties at all outlets.


V. PAYMENT

Advances
Publisher will pay no advance to the Author, but instead will contribute to the joint venture in terms of work and the costs of book production, exclusive of any add-on costs incurred by the Author’s choice of outside cover artists, private editors, etc.

Royalties
Please initial_____. Payment may vary from venue to venue, from day to day, from title to title, even for the same book depending upon vendor discounts. They always pay us a percentage of what they collect. If they have a book club or special sale price the amount they collect will not always be uniform.


Please initial _____ . For digital formats: Because a sales web site must be maintained, Publisher will pay Author a royalty, based on U.S. dollars, of 40 % of the U.S. Retail Download Price, for sales of the Digital Work sold at the publisher’s home web site: www.writewordsinc.com
For digital books sold through other outlet venues or requiring distribution discounts, Author will
receive 50% of all royalties received by the Publisher from sales of this work.

Please initial______. Authors living outside the US will always be paid via PayPal in the currency of their country of residence. Authors within the US are encouraged to accept payment via PayPal as well in order to save on postal charges, etc. PayPal is available in most English-speaking countries.

A Note on web safety: Paypal is safe as long as you do not click on a line in any e-mail messages that may appear to come from Paypal, and then fill in blanks with your log in information. FOR YOUR OWN ON-LINE SAFETY, NEVER click on a line in ANY e-mail message No matter how well you know the purported sender. Never respond to an e-mailed request for ANY private information. Always go directly to your personal web account and log in to see and share your private and personal information.
NEVER share your Paypal password with anyone. No password is Ever needed for someone to pay YOU, only the appropriate e-mail address.

If you live outside the US, please set up an account in your home country. If you already have a PayPal account, please enter the e-mail address that will accept your royalty payments below:

______________________________________@__________________________________
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Paper Book Royalties: For paper editions sold to wholesale outlets through the publisher’s web site, the author will be paid 15 % of the retail price. (In that case, all costs of book production are to be paid by the publisher and costs of store discounts absorbed by the publisher.) For paper editions printed, delivered, and sold through on-line outlets or through POD distributors, and/or at in-store printing stations, the author will receive 50% of any fee paid to the Publisher for that printing and sale. Fees from those sources vary depending on the venue and/or store’s sales discounts.

Please initial_____. Personal copies: The author may buy personal copies by credit card or Paypal transfer at a discount through Write Words, Inc. No royalties will be paid to the Author on books printed for the Author’s personal or promotional use at personal appearances, etc. Every effort will be made to keep costs of promotional copies low as the more promotion an author does the more sales s/he will eventually make to benefit both parties.

Royalty statements. All sales data will be compiled and forwarded to Author quarterly, not more than 45 days after the end of the calendar quarter (March 31, June 30, September 30, December 31). All due payment shall take place contemporaneously with the statements.   

Please initial _____. No statements will be issued unless a payment is due.
(If you don’t hear from the publisher, it usually means you had no sales. Though you may feel free to inquire at the end of any quarter.) The quarterly statements will serve as due notice of earnings unless the yearly total is large enough to require official IRS documentation.


Please be aware that for tax purposes, income taxes are due in the year when you are actually paid, not at the time of sale. Due to the payment practices of the various venues, these may not be the same calendar year.

Please initial _____. Payment of taxes on royalty earnings is the sole responsibility of the Author whether or not a 1099 is issued.


Payments to authors may be made by either physical check or electronic funds transfer through PayPal, but 1099s will always be delivered by US Mail.

Please initial ______. Author understands that royalties will be paid in the quarter after payment is received by the Publisher. If distributors or vendors delay payment to the Publisher, said Publisher is not obligated to pay the royalty on sales until after the funds have been received from the distributor venue, or sales vendor.

Please initial_____. It is the Author’s responsibility to communicate with the Publisher any
change in Taxpayer Identification Number, Social Security Number, Postal Mailing Address, telephone number(s), and Electronic Mail address if royalties are paid by Electronic Funds Transfer.       

If the Author fails to advise Publisher of any changes in the above that prevents the timely
payment of royalties, the Publisher is authorized to hold, without penalty, payment of royalties until updated information is received. If a check sent by regular post is returned by the post office or express delivery service as undeliverable or an Electronic Funds transfer is rejected for an invalid address, the Publisher shall first attempt to contact Author by all existing contact information before unilaterally withholding payment of royalties until the author contacts the publisher. Please Remember:
Always to send us your change of address if you move. Even if you fill out a forwarding order, the post office will only forward your mail for six months, after that, they send it back.

VII: Term of contract: Contract shall be in force from the date it is signed by all parties until five years from the actual release date that is printed in the front of the book. The contract will then automatically self-renew until one or both of the parties decides to cancel.

Publisher may, at its discretion, remove the Work from publication or distribution for reasons of poor sales, or any other reason deemed by the Publisher to be injurious to the Publisher’s or Author’s best interests. Publisher shall give due notice to Author of any removal from distribution. If the publisher removes the Work from sale, this contract shall terminate and all rights granted herein shall revert immediately to the Author.

After the first five years, contract may be terminated by either the author or publisher with a 90-day written, certified mail notice or other receipted or traceable delivery service, and all rights granted the publisher will revert to Author at the time of the termination. Upon this termination, Publisher will remove listing of the Work from its web site and all distributor sales venues, and shall advise Books in Print the ISBN and title is no longer in print. (ISBNs are publisher specific and may not be used by any private party.) The exception to this termination of contract is that Publisher may continue to sell existing stock of physical formats (diskettes, CD’s, cassette tapes, print books) but may not create any new physical copies upon depletion of its existing stock.

Should Royalty payments from sales that took place before cancellation come in after a book is
withdrawn, the Author shall receive due payment.

IX. PSEUDONYMS

The author’s legal name must appear on the copyright page unless s/he has a “Doing Business As” license registered at their local county courthouse. The Author has the exclusive right to the use of his/her name or pseudonym listed as the author in connection with this Work. Publisher cannot prevent Author from using the same name or pseudonym for any other publisher or for any other book genre.

Publisher will have a nonexclusive right to use Author’s name, likeness and biographical material for the purposes of advertising, web site listings, publishing and promoting the Work itself.

X. OWNERSHIP OF CHARACTERS AND SERIES BOOKS
Except as allowed under the sections of this agreement governing promotion of the work, Author owns the characters and controls their use in sequels or series books. Publisher will have a nonexclusive right to use the title, and all material, including characters in the Work, for the purpose of advertising, publishing and promoting the Work.

Please initial_____. If the author writes another Work that is a sequel or in series to the Work covered in this agreement, using an identical theme and/or major characters from the contracted Work, Publisher retains a right of first refusal of the subsequent work. Such subsequent works will not need to be evaluated by the Book Committee, but should be submitted upon completion, ready for publication. Publisher may ask for revisions if necessary. All rights and earnings on subsequent series books shall be subject to the terms of this contract.

Nothing in this agreement shall obligate the Author to submit any additional, unrelated works to
Publisher.

XI. Publisher’s Name and Trademark. The Author will not have rights to, or in, any trademark, service mark, trade name or logos used by Publisher, unless expressly permitted to do so in writing. The Author may, with Publisher’s permission, have limited use of Publisher’s marks, symbols or names for use in approved promotional material. Author may use the cover art in his/her promotional materials or on his or her personal web site, and may link his or her personal web site to sales links, etc.

Publisher’s designed and/or copyrighted cover art may not be used by other publishers producing the Work in formats not listed in Section I without permission of Publisher.


XII. PROMOTION AND PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS

Author’s biographical information. Author will provide Publisher with a short (250 words or less) biography and suggested advertising blurb(s) for use on book cover, web site and promotional literature.

An author’s photograph, in either digital (.jpg preferred) or hard copy, is optional. Publisher reserves the right to edit or rewrite blurb(s) as necessary for length or content.

Author’s copies. Publisher will provide the Author will one copy of each format, download or 1 copy of any print proof and .jpg copies in large or small .jpg formats for promotional purposes.

No royalties will be paid on extra promotional copies purchased by authors for promotional purposes. Authors may feel free to distribute copies of the digital books as review copies and to post the covers on personal web sites or social media sites and to attach them to e-mailed press releases. If printable quality images are needed for advertising purposes, authors may request them at any time.


Publisher and Author agree to supply each other with copies of any professional reviews.
When feasible, Publisher will promote the Work through its web site, other Internet avenues of
promotion, social media, blogs, etc.

Publisher will make every effort to maintain an attractive, updated sales web site and to distribute files though as many web sites and sales channels as feasible. Publisher will not be liable for site downtime or interrupted transmission.

AUTHOR-PUBLISHER INDEMNIFICATION
Author shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Publisher and its owners and affiliates, editors,
shareholders, officers, directors, partners, associates, agents and representatives and the Publisher shall indemnity, defend and hold harmless the Author from any and all claims, debts, demands, suits, actions, liens, proceedings and/or prosecutions (“Claims”) based on allegations which, if true, could constitute a breach of any of the foregoing warranties, and any and all liabilities, losses, damages and expenses including, but not limited to, attorney’s fees and court costs. Each party to this Agreement shall give prompt notice to the other party of any Claims. No compromise or settlement of any Claim shall be made or entered into without the prior written approval of the Author and Publisher. If a Claim if filed, Publisher shall have the right to suspend payments otherwise due to Author under the terms of this Agreement as security for Author’s obligations under this section.

XIV. INSOLVENCY OR SALE OF PUBLISHER

Please initial_____. Insolvency: If the Publisher files for protection under the Bankruptcy Laws, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author. If the bankruptcy filing involves a reorganization and Publisher continues to operate during the reorganization, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.

If the Publisher suspends operations, other than a temporary suspension for technical difficulties such as a loss of Web Server, all rights delineated in Section I shall immediately revert to the Author.

If the Publisher’s operations are ordered suspended by any governmental or police entity, or by Injunction or Restraining Order, all rights shall immediately revert to the author. If the suspension is lifted and operations resume, Author and Publisher may agree in writing to continue this agreement under the same or revised terms.       

If the Publisher sells its assets to another publisher who does, or plans to, market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, the successor publisher will be bound, as a minimum, to the same terms delineated in this agreement. If the successor publisher does not or does not plan to market and promote books of the type and genre of the Work, all rights delineated in Section I shall revert to the Author not more than thirty days after the sale of Publisher.

If, within 6 months of the release of the digital format delineated in Section I, the Publisher has taken no action toward exercising the other rights; (such action may include but not be limited to assigning an ISBN, format/layout preparations, setting an estimated release date, producing or contracting for production of salable paper copies of the Work in that form, the Author may withdraw the print rights by sending a written notice of withdrawal by traceable means. Withdrawal of these rights will not automatically nullify the remainder of the agreement regarding those rights the Publisher has already executed and placed in the stream of commerce.   

Reversion of withdrawn rights shall come into effect 90 days after Publisher receives the notice of withdrawal unless satisfactory proof of action execution of those rights is presented to the Author by Publisher.

XV. COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT   

Publisher is not obligated to initiate legal proceedings should a Claim arise regarding a third party
infringing the Author’s or Publisher’s rights. If such a Claim arises, Author and Publisher may sue either jointly or severally. Publisher shall not be held liable for failing to take action upon a Claim.


XVI. AUDIT ACCOUNTING

Publisher will keep accounts of all receipts and expenditures regarding the Work, and these accounts will be available for Author’s inspection. Author may, on reasonable notice, through his/her designated representative, examine Publisher’s records that relate to the Work. Such examination shall be at the Author’s expense. If any errors are found, publisher shall pay Author any sums due, up to the amount owed Author by Publisher, within thirty (90) days.

XVII. APPLICABLE LAW

The Publisher is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Maryland. Regardless of the place of its physical execution, all interpretations of the terms of this agreement shall be governed by the laws of the State of Maryland, in the United States of America.

Should there be a lawsuit between Publisher and Author related to the terms of this agreement, the proper venue shall be in Dorchester County, State of Maryland, USA. If it becomes necessary for any lawsuit to be filed in the Federal District Court rather than the primary level Trial Courts of Dorchester County, Maryland, the proper venue for that lawsuit would be the closest Federal District Court in whose jurisdiction Dorchester County falls.

XVIII. RIGHTS

Please initial_____. Under this agreement, both worldwide digital e-book rights and POD print rights are covered by the terms. No second contract is needed to do both.

Nothing in this agreement is intended to conflict in any way with the provisions of any other agreement between the parties. If there is an apparent conflict, it will be negotiated between parties. If no resolution is reached, this agreement shall be null and void.

XIX. Signatures:

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, Author and Publisher have executed this agreement on the day and year below, to be effective immediately if the dates are the same, or on the date of the later signature if the dates are not the same. If either Author or Publisher have electronic signature capabilities and both agree to accept an electronic signature as valid, that electronic signature will be considered of identical weight to a handwritten signature.

Author_____________________________________ Date:_________________
signature

Print Name_____________________________________________________   

Pseudonym (if applicable) ______________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________

City, State, __________________________________________________

Postal Code, Country________________________ ___________________

Author’s Social Security or Tax Id Number____________________________________

Daytime telephone number _______________________________

Evening telephone number _______________________________

E-mail address: _____________________@____________________________
WRITE WORDS, INC.
_____________________________________________ Date:________________
Signature

Print Name: Arline Chase, Publisher, or Shelley Rodgerson Chase, Editor


Corporate Name: Write Words, Inc.
2934 Old Route 50
Cambridge, MD 21613 USA

E-mail address, Arline: arline@mail.com
E-mail address, Shelley: raz@bikerider.com

* Ideally, galleys should be returned within three weeks. Ideally all print books should go to press
between three and five months BEFORE the official publication date listed in the front, in order for the authors to provide review sources with “advance review copies.”

PLEASE INITIAL_____.
The Timely release of your book entirely depends upon your timely return of the galley proofs and correction lists.