Terms & Conditions

These Terms and Conditions govern the relationship between you and Chronicle Book Publishers when you use our website or engage any of our professional services. We have written them in plain language because we believe you should understand exactly what you are agreeing to.

By using our website or services, you agree to these terms. If anything here is unclear, please contact us before engaging our services.

1. Who We Are

Chronicle Book Publishers is a professional self-publishing and ghostwriting company. Throughout these terms, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to Chronicle Book Publishers, and “you” or “client” refers to the individual or entity engaging our services.

2. Our Services

Chronicle Book Publishers provides professional creative and publishing services. These terms apply to all of the following:

Ghostwriting

We write books and manuscripts in your voice, across genres and formats. The completed work is created for you, and you hold full authorship and ownership of everything we produce for you.

Editing, Proofreading, and Formatting

We refine, correct, and professionally prepare manuscripts for publication. These services are delivered on content you supply or on manuscripts we have ghostwritten for you.

Cover Design and Illustration

We create original book covers and interior illustrations tailored to your genre and audience. All design deliverables produced under a completed and paid engagement are yours to use for your publication.

Self-Publishing and Platform Submission

We assist with publishing your book to major digital publishing platforms. We handle submission, platform-specific formatting, and publishing coordination on your behalf. We do not retain any publishing rights over your work.

Audiobook Production

We produce professional audiobook versions of your manuscript, including narration coordination, audio editing, and platform submission.

Marketing, Branding, and Publicity

We provide book promotion services including branding campaigns, publicity outreach, video book trailers, and author website design and search engine optimisation. These are professional marketing services and results depend on a range of market factors.

Additional Services

We also offer book translation services, children’s book publishing services, and associated publishing services for diverse communities. Each of these is governed by these general Terms unless a separate written agreement specifies otherwise.

3. Eligibility

To engage our services, you must be at least 18 years old, or the age of legal majority in your jurisdiction. If you are engaging services on behalf of a business or organisation, you confirm that you have the authority to enter into this agreement on their behalf.

Our children’s book services are commissioned by adult authors and guardians. Minors do not enter into agreements directly with Chronicle Book Publishers.

4. Getting Started

Engaging Chronicle Book Publishers begins with a consultation during which we discuss your project vision, scope, timeline, and budget. From there, we provide a written proposal outlining the services, deliverables, and fees. No work begins until we have agreed on the scope and approved the proposal in writing.

Once a proposal is approved, we issue a formal project agreement detailing the scope of work, milestones, payment schedule, and delivery timeline. Your project begins only after this agreement is signed and an initial payment is received.

5. Refund Policy

Because Chronicle Book Publishers provides professional creative services rather than tangible products, our refund policy is structured around the work that has actually been completed at any given stage of your project. We believe this is the fairest approach for both sides.

Before work begins

If you decide not to proceed after signing your project agreement but before any work has started, you are entitled to a full refund of any amount paid, less any non-recoverable administrative or processing costs already incurred. We will process this promptly.

After work has started — proportional refunds

Once work has commenced on your project, we operate on a proportional basis. Only the portion of your project that has not yet been fulfilled is eligible for a refund. Any work that has already been completed and delivered to you is non-refundable, as the professional time, skill, and resources of our team have already been committed to it.

For example, if your project is structured across four milestones and you cancel after the first milestone has been delivered, you are eligible for a refund covering the two remaining undelivered milestones only. The two completed milestones are not refundable.

The proportion of work completed is calculated based on the milestones and payment schedule in your signed project agreement. Where milestones are not explicitly defined, we will determine the proportion in good faith based on time invested and deliverables produced up to the point of cancellation.

Non-refundable circumstances

No refund applies in the following situations:

• The full scope of the project has been completed and all deliverables have been provided to you
• You have formally approved a deliverable and the request for changes falls outside the originally agreed scope
• Dissatisfaction or delays arise from your own failure to provide timely materials, feedback, or approvals
• Cancellation occurs after your work has been submitted to a publishing platform on your behalf

If we are unable to complete your project

In the unlikely event that Chronicle Book Publishers is unable to fulfil the remaining portions of your project due to circumstances on our end, you will receive a full refund for all work not yet delivered, without condition or dispute. We will inform you immediately if this situation arises.

How to request a refund

To request a refund, please email info@chroniclebookpublishers.com with your project details and the reason for your request. We will review your request within five business days and provide a clear outcome in writing. Approved refunds are processed within five business days via the original payment method.

6. Ownership and Intellectual Property

You own your work

All creative content produced for you by Chronicle Book Publishers — ghostwritten manuscripts, edited text, designed covers, illustrations, and formatted files — belongs to you upon full payment of the agreed project fees. You hold full authorship and intellectual property rights over that work. We will never claim authorship, publish your work independently, or use your content for any purpose other than delivering your commissioned project.

Our tools, processes, and templates

Chronicle Book Publishers retains ownership of its internal processes, workflow tools, templates, and proprietary systems. Engaging our services does not transfer ownership of these to you. What you receive is the finished creative output of those processes, applied to your specific project.

Our brand and website

The Chronicle Book Publishers name, logo, website content, and marketing materials are our intellectual property. You may not reproduce or use them without our prior written permission.

7. Confidentiality

We understand that the material you share with us is often personal and always valuable. We treat your manuscripts, ideas, and creative material as strictly confidential. We do not share, publish, sell, or distribute your content, or disclose your personal data to any third party not directly and necessarily involved in delivering your work.

If you would like a formal Non-Disclosure Agreement in addition to these standard terms, please let us know before the project begins and we will arrange one at no additional cost.

8. Client Responsibilities

A successful project requires collaboration. To allow us to deliver the best possible result, we ask that you:

• Provide accurate and complete information about your project, including your target audience, preferred tone, and any specific requirements
• Respond to drafts, questions, and feedback requests within a reasonable timeframe so the project stays on schedule
• Confirm that any external material, accounts, or materials you provide to us do not infringe on any third party’s rights
• Honour the payment schedule agreed in your project contract

Project timelines may be affected by late responses or delayed payments. We will always communicate openly with you when this occurs.

9. Publishing Platform Terms

When we submit your work to digital publishing platforms on your behalf, you acknowledge that publication is also subject to those platforms’ own terms and policies. Chronicle Book Publishers is not responsible for decisions made by those platforms, including the acceptance, rejection, or removal of your title.

Marketing outcomes, including sales figures, reader reviews, and platform visibility, are not guaranteed. We apply our best professional effort to every project, but publishing results are influenced by a wide range of external market factors beyond our control.

10. Acceptable Use of Our Website

When visiting our website, you agree to use it lawfully and respectfully. You must not:

• Attempt to gain unauthorised access to our systems, accounts, or internal data
• Introduce malicious code or software that could interfere with our operations or those of our clients
• Misrepresent your identity or your authority to commission services
• Collect or harvest data from our website through automated means without our permission
• Use our website or content for any unlawful or deceptive activity of any kind

11. Third-Party Advertising on Our Website

We promote our services through third-party digital advertising networks. These networks may use cookies and similar technologies to serve advertisements on other websites based on a visitor’s prior interaction with our site. Advertising does not influence our editorial independence, the quality of our services, or the advice we give to clients.

Our Privacy Policy explains how third-party advertising cookies work on our site and how you can opt out of interest-based advertising.

12. Disclaimers

We are committed to delivering high-quality professional creative services. However, we cannot guarantee specific commercial outcomes for your book — including bestseller status, a particular number of sales, press coverage, or placement rankings on publishing platforms. Success in publishing depends on many factors that are beyond our control, including market conditions, timing, and reader demand.

Our website is provided on an “as available” basis. We aim to keep it accurate and current, but we cannot guarantee it will always be error-free or uninterrupted.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, Chronicle Book Publishers is not liable for indirect or consequential losses arising from your use of our services or our website — including lost revenue, missed opportunities, or data loss — even where we were made aware such losses were possible.

Our total liability to you for any claim is limited to the total amount you have paid to Chronicle Book Publishers for the specific project or service to which the claim relates. This is a proportionate and fair limit for a professional service business.

14. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the applicable jurisdiction in which Chronicle Book Publishers operates. Any dispute that cannot be resolved informally will be referred to the courts of that jurisdiction, unless applicable law grants you rights in another jurisdiction.

If you have a concern or dispute, please contact us at info@chroniclebookpublishers.com first. We would always rather resolve things directly and without the need for formal proceedings.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time as our services evolve or as legal requirements change. Updated terms will be posted on our website with a revised effective date at the top. Continuing to use our services after an update is posted constitutes acceptance of the revised terms. We will provide advance notice of any material changes.

16. Complete Agreement

These Terms, together with your individual project agreement and our Privacy Policy, form the complete agreement between you and Chronicle Book Publishers regarding the use of our services. If any provision is found to be unenforceable, the remaining provisions remain in full effect. We will interpret these Terms in good faith and respect the spirit in which they are written.

17. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms, want to discuss a project, or simply want to speak with a real person, we are here:

We are glad you are here. Now let’s tell your story.