Abuzz Press Contract

This is the text of our contract only. If your book is selected for publication, we will send you to an online contract form to complete. 

ABUZZ PRESS CONTRACT

ABUZZ PRESS PUBLISHING AGREEMENT SUMMARY

• Exclusive three (3) year publishing contract.
• Author will not publish a competing book elsewhere during the term of this contract. Non-competing books are fine.
• Author owns their copyright.
• Author is legally and financially responsible for contents of the book and any legal action arising from that content.
• Author will communicate with the Company via their author account on the Company’s website.
• Company will format/convert the interior and cover files for print and ebook, assign ISBNs to each edition, and provide distribution and fulfillment.
• Author will receive a copy of the initial formatted file for changes. After the Author returns that file, the Author agrees to pay for any later changes they wish to make after files have been finalized.
• Company will give author a copy of the book “90+ Days of Promoting Your Book Online – Day-to-day book promotion from Day 1 through Day 90…and beyond!”
• Author agrees to actively promote their book.
• Author agrees not to spam when promoting their book.
• The Company does not offer any refunds except in the case of damaged books.
• Author can submit their own cover provided it’s to spec and that they own all rights to their cover. The cover must be professional and meet the quality standards of the Company. Repeatedly submitting incorrect interior or cover files may lead to “spec check” fees being charged by the Company ($25 per incorrect upload after 2 incorrect files are submitted).
• The Company owns all files it formats/creates but the author, of course, retains all rights to their original manuscript.
• The Company owns all customer information. Divulging that would violate our privacy policy.
• The Company will determine the list price of the print book and ebook with input from the author
• The Company mails royalty checks on the fifth business day of the month to authors whose unpaid royalties were $40 or more on the last day of the previous month.
• See contract below for a list of the Company’s sales channels (Amazon, BarnesandNoble.com, etc.). The Company can’t force any firm to sell a book, nor can we force a firm to fix errors on their own website.
• Authors may purchase from the Company, and resell, copies of their print books. They can resell those print books at any list price they choose. As this is an exclusive contract, Author may not have the books printed/sold elsewhere.
• Authors may not sell or distribute the ebook directly in any format. Since this is an exclusive contract, only Abuzz Press may sell/distribute the ebook directly to customers and through ebook retailers.
• To avoid spam filters, the Author agrees to communicate with the Company through their Author Account on the Company’s website.
• Abuzz Press may terminate this contract at any time, for any reason.
• At the end of the contract, author may convert to BookLocker.com with no interruption in service, distribution, or printing. BookLocker pays higher royalties and the contract is non-exclusive. BookLocker also charges an annual POD file hosting fee (currently $18) for print books. There are no annual fees for ebooks. BookLocker contracts can be terminated at any time by either party.
• Author agrees to not compete with the Company’s publishing services, either directly or indirectly, during the term of this contract.
• Author will not share the Company’s confidential information with anybody.
• Fees may change at any time. Authors will be alerted to any contract changes via email. The Author’s continued participation in the Company’s program will constitute the Author’s acceptance of such changes or modifications.
• This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the state of Florida. The parties agreed that, except as specifically provided herein, all disputes arising under this Agreement shall be settled by binding arbitration in Bradenton, Florida, and submitted to the American Arbitration Association for final disposition. 

ABUZZ PRESS PUBLISHING AGREEMENT – LONG FORM

This Agreement is between Abuzz Press, the publishing co-op division of BookLocker.com, Inc., hereafter referred to as the “Company”, and the Author or duly authorized legal representative (herein represented as “Author”), in regards to the Work (herein represented as “Work”) named at the end of the contract, and shall be considered legal and binding in all countries, and its separate or conglomerate governments.

Abuzz Press provides publishing and distribution services for authors, an online bookstore where authors can list and sell their books, and distribution to third-party book retailers/distributors/wholesalers.

I. CLAUSES REGARDING RIGHTS GRANTED TO COMPANY

AUTHORS OWN ALL COPYRIGHTS TO THEIR WORKS. However, under this contract, the Author grants exclusive publishing rights to the Company for a period of three (3) years in exchange for the Company paying the initial publishing fees.

The author grants the Company the exclusive right, for a period of three (3) years, to distribute and sell the Work in print and digital format, including, but not limited to: computer disk, data bases, CD ROM, and any and all other computer and computer related or digital based storage medium, known and unknown.

At the end of this term, the author can terminate this contract, or can switch to BookLocker.com. While BookLocker pays higher royalties, they also charge an annual POD file hosting fee of $18 per book. No other fees will be necessary to make the switch. The book may remain available under the Abuzz Press imprint name in the distributor and third-party bookstore databases.

Abuzz Press may terminate this contract at any time, for any reason.

II. CLAUSES REGARDING WORK SUBMITTED

The Author hereby states that the Work submitted to the Company is free and clear of any counts of libel, plagiarism, breach of privacy or misrepresentation of facts. The Author also states that the Work, if biographical or “as told to the Author” is, to the best of the Author’s knowledge, factual and true. The Author agrees to pay the Company’s legal fees and any resulting judgement for any threatened legal action, lawsuit, and/or judgment against the company if legal action arises from any known or unknown libel, plagiarism, breach of privacy or misrepresentation of facts, whether known or unknown by the author, medical and/or legal damages, copyright infringement or any other legal dispute related to the authenticity, character or content of the Author’s book(s).

The Author hereby states that the Work does not infringe on the privacy of any third party; that he or she is owner of any trademarks and/or trade names associated with the Work; that the Work does not constitute obscenity, hate literature, or illegal content, does not portray child abuse or any character under the age of 18 in any sexual situations, does not contain nude photos, and that the author has the right to enter into this Agreement.

The Author states that the Work is not currently in the public domain and that the Author is the sole owner and copyright holder of the work, with full power to enter into this contract. The Author states that, if the Work has previously been published in whole or in part, the author currently holds all copyrights to the Work and that the author is legally permitted to enter into this agreement.

The Author releases the Company from any responsibilities relating to any legal actions incurred by the contents of the Work or actions of the Author.

Author agrees to not enter into any agreements with any person, firm or corporation that will conflict with the rights granted to the Company as stated in this contract.

The copyrights of the Work belong to the Author.

The Company reserves the right to stop advertising and selling books and to freeze all unpaid royalties for any author whose book(s) are involved in a legal dispute or pending legal dispute.

The Author agrees to submit the Work according to the Company’s specifications.

If, during the existence of this Agreement, any entity makes unauthorized use of the author’s Work, it is the sole responsibility of the author to take legal action as may be required to restrain such wrong or to seek damages and the author shall bear all costs and expenses and, subsequently, the Author shall keep all remunerations resulting from the legal actions.

The author is responsible for keeping the Company current on any and all email address and mailing address changes via notification through the author messaging system on the Company’s website.

If an Author uses an email service that filters incoming email for spam, this may create communication difficulties for the Company and the Author. Authors are provided with an online author account for communication with the Company, and must login to their Author Account frequently to ensure uninterrupted communication.

III. CLAUSES REGARDING THE FORMAT OF WORK

The Company sells Works in two formats: electronic (ebook) and Print-On-Demand (P.O.D.).

Works in P.O.D. format are delivered to the customer as physical books and printed on a per-order basis using Print on Demand (P.O.D.) technology. Abuzz Press currently only publishes paperback black-and-white-interior books (with full-color covers).

HIGH-QUALITY, HANDS-ON EBOOK CONVERSION – The Company formats and converts all ebooks by hand. We do not use cheap or free conversion programs because they always result in errors.

Works in electronic format are delivered to the customer as digital files. The Author acknowledges that, because of the digital nature of these files, it is possible for them to be replicated and distributed illegally once they are purchased by the customer, and outside of the control of the Company. The Author agrees to not hold the Company liable if such a situation occurs.

Abuzz Press will assign ISBNs to each edition of the book. Upon termination of this contract, the ISBNs are unassigned from the Work and decommissioned. ISBNs are not transferable.

IV. CLAUSES REGARDING SERVICES PROVIDED BY THE COMPANY

The Company provides services to support the Author in the publishing and sale of the Work. Those services include:

1.) Making the Author’s Work available to the consumer though BookLocker.com, the Company’s online bookstore, in ebook and P.O.D. format.

While the Company provides listings to Ingram for print books, and to a variety of online retailers and distributors for ebooks, and while no firm has ever refused to list and sell one of the Company’s books, those retailers and/or distributors are not required to list any particular title for sale. Listings offered by retailers and distributors are at the discretion of each particular company. Any store or distributor can also choose to remove a book at any time, and for any reason. Retailers and distributors may also refuse to remove old listings of out-of-print books because doing so may damage their customer’s purchase histories. They may simply change the listing to “inactive” (or a similar term), but still keep the product page online – forever. Many online retailers sell used books and allow third parties to also sell used books through their sites. For these reasons, nobody can force an online retailer to remove an old listing for an out-of-print book.

2.) Fulfilling orders for the Work by processing the customers’ payments, and delivering the Work in the format the customer paid for.

3.) Handling customer support inquiries.

4.) Distributing the author’s royalties for each sale of the Work to the Author on a monthly basis (the fifth business day of the month) provided the author’s unpaid royalties exceed $40.00 on the last day of the previous month.

5.) Providing cover design and formatting, as well as manuscript preparation services. The Company does not offer in-house editing but can provide a list of quality freelance editors on request. The Company does not earn any referral fees or anything whatsoever for referring authors to these editors. Original cover design means the designer will use pre-existing photos/graphics, supplied by the designer or the author, and will put those together with the verbiage that will appear on the cover, all to the printer’s specs. Please contact Angela if you’d like a referral a freelance illustrator/artist. The Author will also need to obtain a Work for Hire agreement from that designer proving the Author owns all rights to the artwork. Cover design does not include manual, original illustrations or artwork or photo manipulation/touch-up. If the Author chooses graphics through a third-party that are not free, the Author must pay for those graphics directly.

V. CLAUSES REGARDING CHARGES BY COMPANY

BLACK-AND-WHITE-INTERIOR PRINT ON DEMAND (P.O.D.) BOOKS

The Company will accept the initial financial risk for the book. This means the Company will pay for the initial formatting, original cover design, intitial fees charged by the printer and the fees to print and ship the print proof (the first printed copy of your book) to the author. (The cost for similar services on BookLocker are $675 but Abuzz Press does not charge setup fees to the its authors.)

The Author will have a chance to make any corrections or changes for free before any files are finalized or converted. However, the Author must pay for changes if they want to make additional alterations after they send that corrected file back to the Company. The current change rates are: $98 if the files haven’t been uploaded to the printer yet and $199 if they have. Ebook changes vary based on the complexity of the formatting but, in most cases (simple books with no graphics, tables, footnotes, lists, etc.), they are $99.

BOOK PAGE CHANGES

Authors are provided with a form to complete to have their book added to the Company’s online bookstore. Authors also provide information that the Company then provides to Ingram (for print books) and Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, and Kobo (for ebooks). Making changes to databases (price, book description, and/or any other listing info.) is time-consuming, and can result in third-party retailers temporarily listing a book as “out of print”, which can delay sales for customers. If the author has any changes to make to any listings on these sites after the initial listing, a $10 fee must be paid to process each batch of requested changes.

COMPANY’S RIGHT TO RECOUP AUTHOR’S UNPAID FEES

If the Author owes the Company any fees for any reason, the Company reserves the right to keep the book up for sale to recoup any unpaid fees. If the three-year contract period has expired, Abuzz Press’ royalty rates will apply in these cases. The Author agrees not to list or sell the book or a competing book elsewhere until the Company’s fees have been reimbursed in full.

IF AN AUTHOR CEASES COMMUNICATION

If the Company does not receive a response from the author to the Company’s emails and/or author messaging system post(s) within 10 business days, the Company may be forced to terminate the author’s contract without further notice by the Company. Termination prior to the three-year term is entirely at the Company’s discretion.

NO REFUNDS

Refunds are not permitted for any fees charged by the Company.

VI – APPROVAL

FINAL APPROVAL FOR DISTRIBUTION – PRINT ON DEMAND (P.O.D.)

The responsibility of deeming a Work in P.O.D. format to be final and ready for sale is, in most cases, borne by the Author. However, the Company may, at its discretion, proceed with putting the Work on the market.

If errors are discovered later that were in the final version of the manuscript approved by the Author, the Author agrees to pay a post-print-galley processing fee to have the errors corrected. Books with errors can harm the author’s and the publisher’s reputations.

The Company reserves the right to delay publication of the Work, or to remove the Work from the market, until the errors have been corrected. If the errors were the result of the Author’s mistakes, a fee must be paid for the corrections before the book can be activated or reactivated.

FINAL APPROVAL FOR DISTRIBUTION – EPUB/MOBI

To create ePub and Mobi files, the Company uses the final, approved version of the manuscript and cover used to create the P.O.D. version of the book. In lieu of that, the Company uses files provided by the author. Because the company makes no changes to these source files during the ePub/Mobi conversion processes, the Company will not seek approval from the Author before distributing ePub/Mobi files unless the Author specifically requests to see the final ePub/Mobi files. If errors are discovered later that were in the final version of the manuscript approved by the Author, the Author agrees to pay for the ePub/Mobi reformatting/reconversion fee, which varies based on the complexity of the formatting (is $99 in most cases). If the errors are such that they result in making the work unsellable, the Company may remove the Work from all sales channels until the fee is paid by the author and the errors are corrected.

AUTHOR’S OWN COVER FILE

Authors may choose to submit their own cover design, which is permitted provided the cover meets the Company’s specs.

Abuzz Press authors must have work-for-hire agreements signed by any freelancer working on your book’s interior or cover before hiring them so the Author can use that work in perpetuity without fear of copyright infringement accusations from disgruntled or greedy ex-designers. Authors can find sample work-for-hire agreements online. If you do not own all rights to your cover, and if a dispute arises in the future, the Company may be forced to remove your book at the request of the copyright owner (the designer). Therefore, you are must enter into a work-for-hire contract with any designer or artist you hire. The Author is financially and legally liable for any problems arising from using third-party designers.

ERRORS IN FILES/ARTWORK SUBMITTED BY AUTHOR

Occasionally, an Author will submit a final manuscript with errors, or poor-quality artwork. The printer reserves the right to refuse files that contain errors that may cause the Quality Control inspector to question or stop a print run (font color too light, cover words off-center, incorrect spine measurement, etc.) The Company reserves the right to refuse to sell a book that contains errors or design issues that can result in harm to the Company’s and/or the Author’s reputation. If an Author submits a manuscript or cover that contains such errors, the Company will make the Author aware of the problems, and will request corrections. If the author refuses to make such changes, the Company reserves the right to make the corrections and to charge the Author an hourly rate for those corrections. The Company may also choose to not put the book on the market until the Author makes the corrections. If the Author refuses to make the corrections, doing so will not terminate this agreement. The book would, in essence, be in limbo during the three-year term of the contract.

REVISIONS TO PRINT AND EBOOKS

The print book files are entirely separate from the epub/mobi (ebook) files. Different programs must be used to create each set of files. If an author wishes to make changes to their book after the Company’s formatting work is complete, they must pay for changes separately for each edition of the book (print and ebook), and they must submit separate revision files to each division of the Company (print and ebook) for processing.

RIGHTS TO PRODUCTION FILES

Since Abuzz Press is paying for the creation of the interior, cover and ebook files, the Company retains all rights to those files.

Sample covers by the Company’s designer can be seen here: http://www.booklocker.com/covers/covers.html#center

Click on each cover to see the entire cover (front, back and spine).

AUTHOR-SUBMITTED COVER DESIGN

Authors may submit their cover if they choose to do so provided the cover is professionally designed. The Company reserves the right to reject covers that will reflect poorly on the Author and the Company. If the cover is not to spec, the Company will send the author a list of errors. The Author will have one more opportunity to submit a correct cover without incurring a Spec Check Fee. If the second file is also not to spec, a $25 Spec Check Fee will be required to send the author another list of errors appearing in the file. This fee will be subsequently charged each time an incorrect cover file is submitted, after the second cover file upload. The author is responsible for this fee whether they or their designer/representative uploads the files to the Company.

Cover quality will reflect not only on the author, but on the publisher as well. We require all covers to be of the highest quality (professional design standards) or they will be rejected. You can see examples of professional covers from the Company’s designer at the link above.

AUTHOR-SUBMITTED INTERIOR FORMATTING

Authors may submit their own formatted interior PDF file. If the file is not to spec, the Company will send the author a list of errors. The Author will have one more opportunity to have a correct interior file without incurring a Spec Check Fee. If the second file is also not to spec, a $25 Spec Check Fee will be required to send the author another list of errors appearing in the file. This fee will be subsequently charged each time an incorrect interior file is submitted, after the second interior file upload. The author is responsible for this fee whether they or their designer/representative uploads the files to the Company. For epub/mobi formatting, the Author must provide the Company with the manuscript in MSWord format. PDF files can’t be used for that purpose.

VI. CLAUSES REGARDING THE PRICING OF WORKS

PRINT BOOKS – While the Company will accept input from the Author, the company is ultimately responsible for determining the list price on print books.

EBOOKS – While the Company will accept input from the Author, the company is ultimately responsible for determining the list price on ebooks.

THE CLAUSE BELOW IS PRETTY CONFUSING, THANKS TO THE ONLINE EBOOK RETAILERS. PLEASE KNOW THE COMPANY WILL WORK WITH THE AUTHOR TO ENSURE THE EBOOK IS PRICED CORRECTLY. For ebooks, Apple has maximum list prices for ebooks whose print counterparts have been on the market for less than 12 months. As of the publication of this contract version, the ebook counterpart of any paperback priced $22 or lower, which has been on the market for less than a year, can’t be priced higher than $9.99. For ebooks with paperback priced higher than $22, the author has the option to price the ebook at their discretion. Maximum prices for ebooks with hardcover counterparts range from $9.99 to $19.99, depending on the price of the hardcover book, but average approximately half the price of the hardcover list price. Contact the Company directly for details. IMPORTANT: Apple and other bookstores may choose not to list an ebook they feel is priced too high. Apple requires all ebook prices to end with “.99”. (i.e. 9.99, 10.99, etc.)

“For eBooks for which there is no corresponding physical product, books that are (i) not adult fiction or non-fiction and not primarily text for reading, (ii) enhanced books (provided Publisher provides Apple with the standard version), (iii) New Release hardback books that lists for more than $40, or (iv) not a New Release hardback book, Publisher may set whatever Customer Price it deems appropriate in its discretion, provided that Apple does not have to make such eBooks available if Apple determines the price is unrealistic.” (Ref: Apple’s Customer Pricing Requirements)

Amazon and other ebook retailers have similar requirements and most stores prohibit selling an ebook at a lower price elsewhere. Rest assured the Company will work with the Author to ensure their ebook is priced correctly.

VII. CLAUSES REGARDING ROYALTY PAYMENTS

The Company’s online sales and fulfillment system (the “Author Account”) allows the Author to view a report of royalties owed over the Internet via the World-Wide Web. Royalties for public sales processed through the company’s website are credited instantly to the author’s account. These transactions include the date of each particular sale and the sales number in the author’s account will match the sales number on the customer’s email receipt.

Royalties are only paid on sales deemed final. Criteria for deeming a sale final are as follows:

1.) the sale has been processed by the Company’s or distributors’/retailers’ sales and fulfillment system, and

2.) the proceeds of the sale have been deposited in the Company’s bank account.

Only when these two criteria have been met can royalties be credited to an author’s account.

Sales deemed final may be reversed by the Company or the Company’s client retailers/distributors in the following circumstances:

1.) The customer requests a refund.

2.) A credit card is used for the purchase and the card holder later issues a chargeback, which is defined as a refusal to pay because the customer deems the charge unauthorized,

3.) The customer pays with a check that is returned because of insufficient funds or a stop-payment order,

4.) Any possible credit card or check fraud involving an order for the Author’s Work,

5.) Any pattern of suspected fraud, including any pattern of fraudulent orders suspected by the Company or any other bookseller or distributor. If a pattern of fraudulent orders, or a single, large fraudulent order, is suspected, the author’s contract may be terminated immediately, regardless of the source of the fraud, and all funds will be put on hold pending the outcome of any investigation. Authors will not be paid royalties for orders placed at bookstores that are not picked up and paid for by the ordering customer.

Because of the slow nature of credit card companies, a chargeback may take several months to resolve. For this reason, sales deemed final may be reversed at any time.

If a sale deemed final is reversed and the royalty has already been paid to the Author, the amount of the royalties paid will be deducted from future royalties owed to the Author by the Company.

If future royalties owed to the Author by the Company are insufficient to cover the cost of sales that have been reversed, the Author is responsible for refunding the money to the Company within 30 days.

Royalty payments are processed by the 5th business day of each month. The Company observes standard holidays recognized in the United States. Royalty payments are paid in US dollars by check but the Company reserves the right to use an online payment processor (like Paypal). If that occurs, the Author agrees to obtain an account at that online processor, and to accept payments via that processor under that processor’s terms. Royalty payments are only made on author accounts with outstanding balances of $40.00 US or more accrued by the last day of the previous month. Accounts with outstanding balances of less than $40.00 US are not paid until the royalty payment date after they reach $40.00 US threshold, or until the account is terminated, whichever happens first.

For co-authored Works where more than one individual owns the rights to the Work, the Company will distribute one payment per royalty cycle only. The authors must assign one main author to be the recipient of royalty payments. That Author will then need to distribute the correct amount to each of the co-author(s). As an alternative, the Company can distribute royalties to a company owned by both/all authors and designated as the Authors’ Book’s payee. All Authors of co-authored Works published by the Company MUST complete this contract and register as an Author with the Company, and must provide a notarized document to the Company authorizing the distribution of royalties to one individual or business.

Per United States federal tax law, the Company must obtain the social security number, along with the name and address, of all Authors who are Unites States citizens. For this reason, the Company must request and keep on file the Author’s social security number when the Author’s contract is submitted.

The Company will not re-issue missing royalty checks (those that don’t arrive at their destination) for a minimum of four weeks. Mail does go astray, though rarely. Forwarded mail takes longer to arrive. Canceled checks are expensive to process. Banks don’t always catch canceled checks and occasionally allow them to clear. For all of these reasons, the Company allows extra time to determine what has happened to checks that don’t arrive promptly at their destinations. In most cases, the missing checks eventually arrive at their destination.

Author will notify the Company of any new address or change in contact information before the change takes place so correspondence will not be interrupted. The Author should expect same-business-day confirmation from the Company that your new address has been received and processed. Login to your author account to request an address change. To avoid potential fraud (i.e. someone trying to take control of the Authors’ account and/or royalties) address and email change requests must be submitted directly through the Author’s online account.

VIII. CLAUSES REGARDING SALES CHANNELS

The Company has a variety of sales channels through which it can sell the Author’s Work, each paying different royalty rates and having different conditions of participation. These are the Company’s current sales channels:

BOOKLOCKER.COM DIRECT

BookLocker.com – the Company’s online public bookstore.
Print books – 35% royalty based on the list price  of the print book
Ebooks – 25% royalty based on the list price of the ebook

OTHER PRINT AND EBOOK RETAILERS
Print books – 40% royalty based on the NET AMOUNT THE COMPANY IS PAID FOR THE PRINT BOOK.
Ebooks – 30% royalty based on the NET AMOUNT THE COMPANY IS PAID FOR THE EBOOK.

IMPORTANT: While royalties for public sales made directly through BookLocker.com are based on the LIST PRICE of each book, royalties for sales of print and electronic books sold through other outlets are based on the NET AMOUNT paid to the Company by each retailer/distributor/wholesaler. The Company provides discounts to bookstores and other book retailers/distributors/wholesalers based on the quantity purchased. In addition, the Company’s printer charges extra for some books printed at their foreign facilities.

The ebook industry is quickly evolving and there are new retailers and distributors appearing frequently, each with their own contracts, commission percentages, pricing requirements, and more with some even charging a handling fee for each sale on top of their royalty and/or paying a different royalty based on the geographic location of the sale (i.e. U.K. vs. U.S.). One store actually pays less for higher priced books and more for lower priced books, which is the opposite of the others. In addition, each one can change their contract at any time and Amazon reserves the right to change royalties retroactively if they find a book priced lower elsewhere, as well as for other reasons.

EXCHANGE RATES: Amazon calculates exchange rates of ebook sales based on the date the sale occurs in their foreign stores, not on the date they pay publishers. Furthermore, Amazon does not pay for all international sales every month. They withhold payments for weeks or months until they reach a specific threshold for that particular country’s sales. For Amazon ebook sales, the Company therefore uses the exchange rate based on what Amazon has paid the Company during that month or, if Amazon has not yet paid the Company for foreign sales, we use the average exchange rate for that specific currency during the month of that sale.

REPEAT – ROYALTIES FOR THIRD-PARTY BOOK SALES ARE NOT BASED ON THE LIST PRICE OF EACH WORK. THEY ARE BASED ON THE NET AMOUNT RECEIVED FROM THE COMPANY FOR THOSE SALES.

WRITERSWEEKLY.COM

WritersWeekly.com, the Company’s sales channel for books on the topic of writing, is also used to promote the Company’s best sellers, and, occasionally, new books published by the Company, or theme-based lists of books (i.e. Christmas books at Christmastime, romance novels near Valentine’s Day, etc.). WritersWeekly is a family-friendly publication with thousands of readers from all walks of life and from across the globe. The Company reserves the right to refuse to list a book on WritersWeekly.com for any reason.

WritersWeekly also hosts a short story contest and weekly trivia contests where some winners are permitted to choose a book from the Company as their prize.

When a book is listed on WritersWeekly.com and/or promoted through the site’s weekly ezine, or if a reader chooses the author’s book as a prize, the royalty rates for sales through WritersWeekly.com are:

15% of the list price is paid to the Author.

SHORT PRINT RUNS AT AUTHOR DISCOUNT PRICES

Authors may purchase print copies at their author discount, and may resell those copies at any list price they choose.

Short Print Run Sales to Authors – the Company’s method for selling directly to the Author. The Company will only sell copies of a Work through this sales channel to the Author(s) of that Work or the Author’s representative. No royalties are paid to the Author on sales through this sales channel because authors are provided with discounts on these purchases that match or exceed what the royalties would be based on the quantity purchased. (Our philosophy is it would be silly to collect money from authors when we will only be sending it back to them again. It’s better to offer them the savings up front instead.)

Authors or their representatives ordering more than 10 copies of their own book must order using the author order form, and must choose UPS shipping, because it is trackable and insurable. All large quantity orders (10 or more copies) must be shipped via a trackable/insurable method. The Company nor the printer will refund/replace any order where a different shipping shipping was chosen by the buyer. Orders of 1,000 copies or more are eligible for freight shipping at a greatly reduced rate. Those shipments are, of course, trackable.

The Company is not responsible for books sold at the incorrect price by third parties. Retailers must pay the Company the list price specified by the Company (chosen by the Author) less any discount provided by the Company to retailers/wholesalers/ distributors.

The Company can’t guarantee the successful sale and delivery of books through distributors, bookstores and other wholesale outlets. Those firms are responsible for their own listing accuracy, sales and distribution. Wholesalers and retailers may refuse to list books for sale and may refuse to honor orders received for a variety of reasons. The Company is not responsible for the decisions and actions of other companies with regard to the listing, marketing, sales and distribution of the Company’s books.

IX. CLAUSES REGARDING COMMUNICATION WITH AUTHORS

The primary method of distributing royalty checks is via U.S. Postal Mail and in U.S. dollars but the Company may, at its discretion, use a payment processor to pay royalties. If the Company uses a payment processor, the Author agrees to register for an account with that processor, and to pay any fees associated with collecting royalties via that processor.

The primary method of communication with Authors shall be through the Author Accounts on the Company’s system. Therefore, the Company cannot enter into any agreement with Authors who do not have Internet access.

If the Company can’t reach the author via email or if the author does not respond to messages posted to their Author Account, the author’s contract and account may be terminated and the Work removed from all sales channels without notice. However, this decision is at the Company’s discretion.

If the Author is owed royalties and the Company cannot distribute those royalties because checks are being returned to the Company by the post office, or if the Author has failed to notify the Company of an undelivered royalty check, or because the author has failed to deposit the Company’s checks, royalties owed shall be set aside for twelve months from the date of each non-deposited/returned/unclaimed check. If, after twelve months, the Author or Author’s legally designated representative has failed to claim unpaid royalties, the royalties shall be deemed charitable funds and donated to a non-profit organization of the Company’s choice. The Company frequently donates funds to local soup kitchens and organizations that provide support to US soldiers and their families.

The Author can check their author account 24 hours/day, which lists all royalty payments made to the author within the past 24 months.

It is the Author’s responsibility to notify the company when the Author’s current email address and/or physical address changes. The Author is encouraged to provide the company with at least two separate email addresses from two separate Internet service providers to prevent email communication problems and delays. As part of this contract, the author must provide the Company with the name and contact information of a Beneficiary (see below).

SPAM FILTERS

Spam filters have made email communication increasingly difficult for businesses. If you need to communicate with us, please use  your author account. Do not rely on email.

X. CLAUSES REGARDING THE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY OF AUTHORS

When an Author’s Work is made available for sale, the Company issues the Author a Web page at a Company URL where a customer may buy the Work. The Author is encouraged to promote this URL both online and offline. The Author is also provided with a free electronic copy of 90+ DAYS OF PROMOTING YOUR BOOK ONLINE: Your Book’s Daily Marketing Plan. Authors are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the advice in that book.

Abuzz Press authors agree to actively promote their books using the advice in that marketing book.

ANTI-SPAM – The Author may use their Company-issued book page URL in any promotion they see fit, provided that promotion is not illegal and does not have the potential to damage the Company’s brand.

If the Author is unsure about a specific promotional tactic, the Author is required to seek the advice of the Company before proceeding with the promotion.

The Company is adamantly against the tactics of spam. Spam is defined as:

1.) sending a form email en masse to people who have not requested it,

2.) posting a form marketing message en masse to newsgroups or discussion lists,

3.) any unsolicited electronic posting or mailing that results in complaints to the Company, the Company’s web hosting service or an anti-spam group, whether made by the Author of the Work or by a third party with or without the Author’s knowledge.

4.) any unethical marketing activities that involve sending out mass emails (or marketing messages via any other channels) that try to force sales of a product through a specific seller, on a specific date(s), in an attempt to make future buyers believe a title has attained “best seller” status. Manipulation of a site’s sales ranking in this manner, for any reason, is highly unethical and destroys reputations.

The Author should never use spam tactics when promoting their Work. Authors who use spam tactics when promoting their Work may have their contract immediately terminated, or their Work removed from the Company’s sales channels until the contract term is expired, and may become ineligible to do business with the Company in the future . As with any contract termination, there will be no refund issued for any fees charged.

The Author will not have any rights to or in any trademark, service mark, trade name, mark or colophon used or licensed or owned by the Company without written permission from the Company.

XI. CLAUSES REGARDING THE PROMOTIONAL ACTIVITY OF THE COMPANY

The Company shall have the right to use the Author’s name or pen name (whichever one the Author specifies), likeness and biographical material for the purpose of advertising, publishing, and promoting the Work itself, its title, and all material, including characters in the Work, through their use, simulation, or graphic exploitations on or in connection with the Work or the Company.

The Company may, at its sole discretion, distribute excerpts and reprints of portions of the Author’s titles to print, broadcast, websites, and electronic publications or to the general public for marketing purposes.

The Company may, at its sole discretion, distribute a copy of the Work in electronic format to book reviewers who request a review copy. The Company only distributes books to professional book reviewers.

The Author is responsible for sending print books to reviewers, at the Author’s discretion and expense.

The Company is the sole owner of all URLs (Web site addresses) on the Company’s web sites, and will not post nor redirect URLs outside of our Web sites under any circumstances, including upon termination of an author’s contract.

While the Company promotes Abuzz Press and BookLocker.com in general, and promotes specific books when opportunities arise in interviews, etc., AUTHORS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR PROMOTING THEIR OWN BOOKS.

XII. CLAUSES REGARDING DEALS NEGOTIATED BY THE AUTHOR WITH THIRD-PARTIES

The Author and the Company are independent contractors, and nothing in this Agreement will create any partnership, joint venture, agency, franchise, sales representative, or employment relationship between the parties.

This agreement does not create an exclusive relationship between the Author and the Company. However, the Author grants the Company the exclusive right to sell the Work during the term of this contract.

The Author agrees not to publish or sell a title that competes with the Work during the period of this contract.

The Author will have no authority to make or accept any offers or representations on the Company’s behalf. The Author agrees not to make any statement, written or oral, that would contradict the above.

XIII. CLAUSES REGARDING THE HANDLING OF CUSTOMER INFORMATION

The Company’s transaction system contains customer contact information and buying habits of individual customers. Per the Company’s Privacy Statement, this data is not shared with anyone outside of the Company. Customers don’t want their buying habits shared with anyone and we want those customers to keep coming back.

XIV. CLAUSES REGARDING THE HANDLING OF SALES DATA

The Company’s transaction system for public sales contains sales data regarding the purchase of Works directly through the Company’s online bookstore. The Company owns this data.

The Company shares this data with the Author in the form of royalties appearing in Author’s Account on the Company’s system. When the Company shares this data for sales made directly through BookLocker.com, it provides the date, time, and royalty amount for each sales transaction for a Work. This is done to ensure the Company is complying with its own Privacy Statement, which states that it will not share data that contains the information and buying habits of individual customers with outside parties.

The Company’s automated system compiles periodic sales reports that provide the list of Company-direct Ebook and Print best sellers appearing on the Company’s bookstore homepage  (BookLocker.com). While any book may be eligible for listing as a best seller, based on sales, the number of sales are not divulged to anyone other than the officers of the Company. This prevents the possible false manipulation of sales data by authors who may want to order numerous copies of their own book just to get on the BookLocker best seller list. The Company’s best seller list must retain its integrity so that customers know which books really are selling to the public (not to authors trying to get ahead on the list). This also keeps the best seller list fair to all authors. Sales data is also confidential to the author of each book appearing on the best seller list.

XV. CLAUSES REGARDING THE AVAILABILITY OF WORKS FOR SALE

The Company shall make all reasonable efforts to keep its Web sites and publishing structure viable at all times. Temporary lapses in the site’s presence on the Internet or World Wide Web occurring through natural or technical causes do not constitute an exhaustion of edition. The company can not be held responsible for any loss of sales due to website errors or downtime or World Wide Web or electronic transmission problems.

The Company’s printer currently has four separate P.O.D. printing facilities – two in the U.S., one in the U.K., and one in Australia.

ERRORS ON THIRD PARTY WEBSITES

PRINT BOOKS

The Company is responsible for submitting basic (price, page count, cover, short description, etc.), correct book information to Ingram, the book distributor. Ingram has thousands of clients worldwide and it would be impossible for the Company to contact each of their customers if/when one of them fails to post/update book information on their site. If Ingram has erred, the Company will contact them about correcting the error. If one of Ingram’s customers has erred, and if they fail or refuse to post the information correctly, as it was supplied by Ingram, the Author will need to contact them directly.

EBOOK RETAILERS

The Company will distribute ebook information directly to its client ebook retailers, and will attempt to convince them to make corrections if they have posted an error. The Company is not responsible for errors posted, nor omissions, by ebook retailers/distributors who can’t/won’t post an ebook or corrections for that ebook.

EBOOK DISTRIBUTORS

The Company is responsible for submitting correct book information to its client ebook distributors. Some of these distributors have numerous clients worldwide and it would be impossible for the Company to contact each of their customers if/when one of them fails to post/update book information on their site. If the ebook distributor has erred, the Company will contact them about correcting the error. If one of the distributor’s customers has erred and if they fail or refuse to post the information correctly, as it was supplied by the distributor, the Author will need to contact them directly.

TERMINATION

This contract is valid for a period of three (3) years from the date submitted. If the publishing process takes longer than one month due to the author responding slowly to correspondence, or making changes to their file, the three-year period will end on the three-year anniversary of the date of publication (when the Company puts the book up for sale). However, the Company reserves the right to terminate this contract at any time, for any reason.

At the end of the contract period, the Author will have the option of converting to BookLocker.com, which offers a non-exclusive contract and higher royalties. No fees will be charged to the author to transfer to BookLocker. However, ABuzz Press will retain ownership of the book’s production files.

The Work shall not be deemed “out-of-print” or “inactive” for as long as its presence remains in the Company’s sales channels, unless any agreed to time limits have been reached without renewal by both the Company and the Author. The Company may terminate this agreement at any time for any reason.

With the exception of beneficiaries in the event of the author’s death, the Company will not transfer files, accounts, or any other item to or between third-party individuals or companies.

The Company will be dismissed from its obligations in this contract if events occur outside of the Company’s control, including natural disaster, acts of God, fire, power or other service outages at the Company and/or the printer’s facility, or labor problems at the printer’s and/or distributor’s facility. Should any type of service interference occur, the Company will notify all authors and provide a good faith estimate as to when the problems will be resolved.

XVI. CLAUSES REGARDING THE OWNERSHIP OF FILES UPON TRANSFER

Since the Company is paying for the initial formatting and design of the Work’s files, the Company will own all rights to these files (production files) even if the Work transitions to BookLocker.com at the end of this contract.

XVII. GENERAL CLAUSES

The Company will not enter into a business relationship with an author or company that competes, either directly or indirectly, with Abuzz Press (i.e. another publishing company or publishing services company serving authors). The Company shares sensitive, strategic information with authors. To share this information with individuals and firms who may have the opportunity to use this information in competition with Abuzz Press would, of course, be a bad business decision.

The Author agrees not to compete with the Company, either directly or indirectly, during the term of this contract.

If the Company determines, at its sole discretion and at any time, that an author or firm is considered a competitor, the company may immediately remove their book(s) from the market for the duration of this contract.

Printing costs and other fees do increase occasionally and without prior notice. All prices and fees discussed in this contract are subject to change without notice.

The Company may at any time sell itself, or the majority of self, its holdings, licenses or grants. Current contracts would transfer to the new owner.

If the Company is legally judged bankrupt or liquidates its business, this Agreement shall be effectively terminated and all rights granted to the Company shall be terminated. The Company will only be responsible to the Author for the unpaid royalties at the time of insolvency.

For P.O.D. books, if the Company’s printer is legally judged bankrupt, liquidates its business, or discontinues offering their services to the Company for any reason, or if the Company’s relationship with the printer is terminated, this Agreement for P.O.D. books may be effectively terminated and all rights granted to the Company shall be terminated. The Company will only be responsible to the Author for the unpaid royalties at the time of insolvency.

For ebooks: Amazon, Apple, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, or any distributor/retailer can cease operations or choose not to continue selling a particular book. The Company can also choose to stop doing business with one of these firms for any reason.

During the course of this contract and beyond, the Author may receive information relating to the Company and related entities that is not known to the general public (“Confidential Information”). Confidential Information includes, without limitation, correspondence with the author via their Author Account on the Company’s system or via email, information relating to sales, confidential marketing processes, and other information related to the Company.

The Author agrees that:

1.) all Confidential Information will remain the Company’s exclusive property;

2.) the Author will use Confidential Information only as is reasonably necessary for the relationship with the Company; and

3.) the Author will not disclose Confidential Information to any individual, company, or other third party.

The Company may amend any of the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement at any time and solely at its discretion. Any changes will be effective upon posting of the revisions on the Internet. The Author is responsible for reviewing the notice and any applicable changes.

The Company will make every effort to contact the Author if this agreement changes, but the Company cannot be held responsible for electronic transmission problems (i.e. spam filters, power outages, failure of the Author to check their email or frequently check their Author account). Changes to this agreement, however, may be posted without notice to the Author.

THE AUTHOR’S CONTINUED PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPANY’S PROGRAMS AFTER THE COMPANY’S POSTING OF ANY CHANGES WILL CONSTITUTE THE AUTHOR’S ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH CHANGES OR MODIFICATIONS.

This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the state of Florida, without reference to rules governing choice of laws. Any action relating to this Agreement must be brought in the federal or state courts located in Tampa, Florida and you irrevocably consent to the jurisdiction of such courts. You may not assign this Agreement, by operation of law or otherwise, without the Company’s prior written consent. Subject to that restriction, this Agreement will be binding on, inure to, and be enforceable against the parties and their respective successors and assigns. The Company’s failure to enforce your strict performance of any provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of our right to enforce such provision or any other provision of this Agreement subsequently. Any notice or other communication under this Agreement will be given in writing and will be delivered by e-mail.

The parties agreed that except as specifically provided herein, all disputes arising under this Agreement shall be settled by binding arbitration in Bradenton, Florida and submitted to the American Arbitration Association for final disposition.

I HAVE READ AND UNDERSTAND THE AGREEMENT BETWEEN MYSELF AND THE COMPANY AND AGREE TO ALL TERMS AND CONDITIONS LISTED HEREIN.

This is the text of our contract only. If your book is selected for publication, we will send you to an online contract form to complete.