Consultancy terms & conditions

There aren’t many terms & conditions, but I mention them now so that we remain good friends throughout the process.

1. You’re guaranteed up to 4 emails (ie 4 sent by you) for questions, discussions and so on – to ensure you understand the advice and what to do next. Clients usually write queries directly on the report in a contrasting colour and we have a back-and-forth conversation like that. Which is quite fun. You can include reworked sequences (no more than a few pages in total).
2. If you need a revision reassessed I have to charge for that again as I have to approach it as a completely new book, the way an agent would, and set aside the same amount of time as I did for the original.
3. As soon as you pay me I will make a firm deadline to send you your critique. Up until I have made that deadline you are free to cancel or postpone, but no cancellations will be accepted once you have paid me and we have a deadline – this is because manuscript assessment is intensive and time consuming and I have to turn away other work in order to do it.
4. I can’t guarantee that your manuscript will be accepted by an agent or editor or that it will sell well if you self-publish. Success is down to luck as well as talent and hard persistence – unfortunately! But your best chance is to write your book well, and I can guarantee I will give you an honest, professional and very constructive critique, to help you do that.
5. The comments I make in reports and emails are for teaching on a work in progress. Please don’t use, extract or quote them as endorsements, publicity or blurb comments for the finished book – they have not been given in the context of a recommendation to readers.
6. Obviously your ideas are confidential and I will not share them with anyone. I will also never copy them! Please don’t be offended, but my agent advises that I state this explicitly: so any similarities between the work you show me and what I produce in the future are pure coincidence, and by submitting your work to me you agree this is the case.
7. Disclaimer: The content of any published manuscript is your responsibility. I am not responsible for any persons who are defamed or otherwise injured in any way as a result of the content of your book, as the content was supplied by you. Please be careful with any facts you assert, and any events and people you include.
8. The copyright in your manuscript remains yours. Even if I contribute ideas, you are the person who will execute them. You might even ignore them. I have no claim on your manuscript whatsoever (unless we’ve made a ghostwriting agreement and such terms would be expressly discussed as part of that). The short version: the copyright in your manuscript is yours.

That’s the tough stuff done. I look forward to helping you create a brilliant book.

Updated June 2016

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