Terms for authors

Who this is between

"You" are the author, or whoever holds the rights to the audiobook. "We" are Illuminory, the business named on the privacy page.

You agree to these terms by asking us to put a book on sale, and we confirm by email when it goes on sale. These terms, that email and the price you set are the whole agreement. There is nothing else to sign.

What you give us

A licence to sell the book here: non-exclusive, worldwide, for as long as the book is on sale on Illuminory. Under it we:

• encode the audio for the apps, and store it;
• sell each listener a personal licence to listen through the Illuminory apps, for as long as Illuminory runs;
• show the cover, the title, the blurb and tagline, the series and your name on this site, in the apps, on the card a shared link shows, and in our newsletter and feed;
• play the first chapter free to anyone on the site, or the sample you give us instead;
• put the book in a bundle, or on sale at a lower price, only when you agree.

That is all. We do not own the book. We cannot pass the licence to anyone else. We do not change the audio beyond encoding it, and we never use it, or the text, to train anything.

What you keep

Everything else: the copyright, every right not listed above, and the freedom to sell the same audiobook anywhere else, now or later. Nothing here is exclusive.

What you promise

• You hold the rights to sell the audiobook here: your own production, or a title you have the non-exclusive right to sell. A title exclusive to Audible, or tied to a narrator's deal that forbids it, cannot be sold here until that changes.
• The narration is described truthfully: read by a person, by a digital voice, or by a full cast. The cover carries a mark saying which, and listeners rely on it.
• The cover, the blurb and everything else you give us are yours to use, and nothing in the book breaks the law or anyone's rights.
• You tell us if any of that changes.

If someone claims otherwise, we may take the book off sale while it is sorted out, and we tell you the same day. If the claim turns out to be right, the cost of it is yours.

The price

You set the price, in pounds before VAT, and change it whenever you like by email; we make the change within a few days. Listeners see it in their own currency with their country's tax added, and the checkout charges that exact amount. Your share is always worked out from your price in pounds, whatever the listener paid in.

A book may be free; a free first book in a series is how many authors bring readers in. Sale prices and discount codes happen only when you agree to them, and while one applies your share is worked out from the lower price.

Your share

70 percent of the book's price before VAT, on every sale. A book priced at £10 pays you £7.00. The other 30 percent covers the card fees and Stripe's cut as merchant of record, the tax handling, the hosting, the apps and the shelf. Nothing else comes off: there is no setup fee, no hosting fee and no charge for putting the book on sale.

A bundle of your books pays 70 percent of the bundle's price before VAT. A sale at a lower price, or with a discount code, pays 70 percent of what the listener paid before VAT.

A refunded sale is not a sale: its share comes off your next statement. A sale that Stripe reverses, or that the buyer disputes with their bank, is treated the same way.

The split is fixed. It is 70 and 30 for as long as your book is here, and we will not change it later: the Changes section below leaves your share out of what can change.

Getting paid

Your share is counted from the day of each sale. We pay in pounds, [how often], once what you are owed comes to [the smallest payout], and every payment comes with a statement listing each sale: the day, the book, the amount and any refund. You see sales, not buyers: no listener's name or email ever reaches you.

The two figures in brackets are set before the first author's book goes on sale, and once written here they do not change for sales already made. Until your own figures page exists, the statement is how you see the numbers.

We deduct no tax from what we pay you unless the law makes us. Declaring it is yours.

Listeners and reviews

A listener who buys your book keeps it for as long as Illuminory runs, even after you take the book down. That is our promise to them, and part of this agreement with you.

A listener who has finished the book may review it, and a person reads every review before it appears. We do not remove a review for being unkind. We do remove one that is abusive, is not about the book, or breaks the law.

Taking a book down, and ending

You can take a book off sale at any time with an email. It comes off the shelf within a few days, its page and sample go with it, and listeners who bought it keep it.

We can take a book off sale for a rights claim, for something unlawful, or because Illuminory is closing, and we tell you when we do. Either of us can end this agreement the same way, with an email. Whatever is owed is paid on the next statement, and the promise to listeners stands. If Illuminory closes, we tell every author and listener, pay what is owed, and the licence ends.

Changes

We change these terms by writing the new version here and emailing every author before it applies. A change never reaches back: a sale is paid on the terms of the day it was made. If you do not like a change, take your books down, and we pay what you have earned as usual.

The one thing these terms will never change is your share: 70 percent of the price before VAT, forever.

If something goes wrong

We run Illuminory with care, and we cannot promise it is never down, never slow and never loses a sale. If it does, what we owe you is your unpaid share and no more, and neither of us pays the other for loss beyond that, such as sales that might have happened. Where the law gives you a right these terms cannot take away, it stands.

Law

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. If we disagree, we talk first: help@illuminory.com.