Author Agreement

09/03/2020

• Updated 09/03/2020: Amended Payments section to reflect new terms - Authors now receive 80% of List Price. Transaction Fees no longer applied to Author/Scarlet Ferret split. Absorbed by Scarlet Ferret.

These Terms of Service ("Terms"), are a binding agreement ("Agreement") between you ("Authors", "Author Agents", and "Publishers" as defined below) and Scarlet Ferret Bookshop ("Scarlet Ferret").

For the sake of simplicity, this Terms of Service may use the term Author and Publisher interchangeably. The term "Author's Agent" refers to the Author's duly authorised representative, who is fully authorised and empowered to act on behalf of the Author in all matters described in this Agreement, and who may be authorised to collect and receive directly the monies otherwise payable to Author (or "Publisher").

The following also describes the rights and responsibilities of the Author and Scarlet Ferret. Any user of the Scarlet Ferret website ("Site") who downloads, buys, reads or previews any books on the Site is referred to as an "End User."

The Grant and the Territory

The Author hereby grants and assigns to Scarlet Ferret the non-exclusive right to market and sell the book or books delivered to Scarlet Ferret for sale. Books are offered for sale internationally. Any change to territories will be reflected in a new agreement.

Copyright

The copyright of the book shall belong to the Author or the party that Author cites as the copyright holder. The author asserts and confirms that they are the copyright holder of any books they sell through Scarlet Ferret.

Formats

Scarlet Ferret shall provide the End User with two editions of a purchased book, one in ePub format and one in MOBI format, both enclosed within a single ZIP file for convenience - along with any optional Extras.

An additional or alternative format of PDF may also be made available, determined on a book-by-book basis. For example, some graphics-rich books may also be available in PDF, while comics may only be available in PDF.

All books and additional electronic files ("Extras") shall be made available to End Users without restrictions, such as, but not limited to, Digital Rights Management ("DRM").

Scarlet Ferret will endeavour to sell the Author's books as they are delivered to us, without editing or formatting them in any way, unless where the author agrees to us doing so to conform to formatting best-practice or accepted quality standards, or where the author feels they lack the technical tools or know-how to do so.

Book Extras

Extras are optional digital files distributed with a purchased book.

Authors must hold the copyright and rights to distribute all material provided as Extras.

Removal from Sale

Scarlet Ferret may decide to discontinue sale of Author's books for any reason, and no reason need be provided. Scarlet Ferret will provide 30 days notice to the Author via e-mail.

The Author may decide to discontinue sale of their books for any reason, and no reason need be provided. The Author will provide 30 days notice to Scarlet Ferret via e-mail.

The Author will receive payment for all sales of books to be removed up until the date of removal, which will be 30 days from the time a removal notice is received.

If a book to be removed is included in any promotion already under way before a removal notice is provided, it will continue to be included in the promotion until the promotion ends. Every attempt will be made to inform End Users that a book is to be removed from sale.

Removal from sale does not remove the ability of an End User who has already purchased the book to re-download the book or any associated Extras. Any books already purchased will continue to be available for End Users to re-download from the Site until Scarlet Ferret ceases to trade or this agreement is amended to reflect a change to the policy.

ISBN

If the author has purchased an ISBN from Scarlet Ferret, which makes Scarlet Ferret the co-publisher, then the author may not re-use that ISBN for any other edition of their book. In other words, to use that ISBN outside of the Scarlet Ferret shop, the author must ensure it is for the same e-book and continues to list Scarlet Ferret as co-publisher in the front-matter.

Sample and Promotional Rights

Scarlet Ferret shall have the right to distribute samples of books in any form of media, including printed media, in order to promote:

1. the author or author's books and/or
2. the Scarlet Ferret bookshop.

These samples will be licensed for free, non-commercial use, duplication and sharing by the reader, and will comply with the sample size or chapters authorised by the Author. The sample shall include the cover image or an alternative image agreed with the Author.

Promotional and marketing material shall be agreed on a book-by-book basis with the Author. The Author shall licence Scarlet Ferret to use such materials as provided across the Site and Social Media accounts, and in any additional marketing material produced by Scarlet Ferret in digital or printed format.

Promotional and marketing material related to a book will only be licensed while that book is available for sale through Scarlet Ferret. The licence shall cease on removal of a book.

Promotional and marketing material includes high resolution cover artwork where available, to be used to create banner artwork for the Site and for social media banners to appear on social networks.

Books will only be included in discount price promotions with the express permission of the author.

Scarlet Ferret will not deep-discount books on a long-term basis. This only leads to de-valuing e-books and reduces author income longer term. Promotions will be for a fixed period that signifies a special opportunity for the customer.

Pricing

Scarlet Ferret and the Author shall agree the sale price for the author's books. This is to ensure the author has all the latest information available to them to realise the full potential value of their book before deciding a price.

The Author may request a new agreement to amend the sale price of their books at any time. Changes to prices may take up to five working days to implement from the time a price is agreed.

The sale price of books already included in promotions will not be changed until the promotion ends. If a change to the price is agreed for a book included in any promotion already under way, the book will continue to be included in the promotion at the promotional price until the promotion ends. It will then revert to the sale price requested in the change notice.

Payments

Updated 09/03/2020

Scarlet Ferret agrees to pay the Author eighty percent (80%) of list price received by Scarlet Ferret from the sale of the Author's books. "List Price" means the full sale price paid by the customer, regardless of payment processing fees.

Author Payments shall be processed for each calendar month and paid via Bank Transfer during the following month in British Pounds - GBP.

The minimum payment threshold of £10 must be reached before an author payment is processed. The threshold exists to ensure that bank transfer fees do not adversely impact Scarlet Ferret's income from each sale. This threshold may be reduced over time to reflect increased bookshop income or switching to services with lower fees, and currency exchange rates.

Scarlet Ferret's goal is to support authors and small publishers by being sustainable from the outset.