Author Card Deck Publishing Agreement

Contract Version Date: 7/12/2023

Empowered Whole Being Press
CARD DECK PUBLISHING AGREEMENT

Agreement is between Empowered Whole Being Press ("Company"), and undersigned ("Author")

1. Company provides card deck publishing services and marketing tools for self-published visionary authors, and distribution to third-party book retailers, such as Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble.com and many other online and physical bookstore systems worldwide.

2. The Author grants Company the right to edit (under author’s direction per the A La Carte Editing Services), format, publish, and print the card deck. Author also grants Company nonexclusive rights to advertise, distribute, sell/ship the card deck worldwide, and collect all monies for card decks sold.

3. Earnings are paid on the twentieth business day of the month to United States citizen authors whose unpaid earnings were $100 or more on the last day of the previous month.

4. Earnings are paid on the twentieth business day of the month to non-United States citizen authors whose unpaid earnings were $175 or more on the last day of the previous month.

5. Company will issue a 1099-Misc, as required by the Internal Revenue Service, for earnings exceeding $100.00 US paid to Author in any year.

6. The Basic Card Deck Publishing Package is solely non-exclusive print and electronic rights only. Authors are free to sell their books elsewhere.

7. Author or Company can terminate this agreement at any time, for any reason. (See #34 for Company's refund policy.)

8. Upon receipt of this signed agreement, acceptable files, and payment for the Basic Card Deck Publishing Package or Custom Card Deck Publishing Package, Company will:

a. assign the ISBN and a barcode to the card deck.
b. review author’s Word Docx and card art files and prepare card art files for printer submission.
c. create a professional card deck box cover design, if requested. Company will layout the spine, front/back cover, and will use acceptable scanned artwork from the Author or purchased artwork. (Author is responsible for cost of any purchased artwork.)
d. use Author’s final files. Company will not be held responsible for errors in the book including, but not limited to spelling errors, grammar, punctuation, style of work, page numbering, corrupted files, computer formatting errors, or missing fonts.
e. will contact author if file contains any obvious layout errors and request corrections.
f. submit Press-Ready files to Company’s manufacturing plant so card decks can be printed on demand.
g. will request a PrePress copy of the card deck be printed and send it to the Author. Author may then issue authorization to release the card deck for distribution or submit a revision (revision fees apply).
h. publish the card deck upon receipt of the Author release notification.

9. If after Author signs the release form, and the card deck is in distribution, and error(s) are found, Author agrees to pay a post-print-galley processing fees to have errors corrected, reformatted, if necessary, and resubmitted. Card decks with errors can harm the author's and the publisher's reputations. 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.

10. Authors are provided with a form to complete to have their card deck added to distribution. Please note that making changes to databases, such as price, card deck description, and/or any other listing info, is time-consuming, and can therefore result in third-party retailers temporarily listing a card deck as "out of print", which may delay sales for customers.

11. If the author has any changes to make to any listings on these sites, a $10 fee must be paid to process each batch of requested changes.

12. Author is legally and financially responsible for the content of their card deck (libel, plagiarism, defamation, invasion of privacy, copyright or trademark infringement, etc.). Company is not legally liable for anything related to the book or the author's actions.

13. Author guarantees that the card deck does not include the name and/or likeness of any actual person, living or dead; and that all characters in the work who may have been derived from actual persons have altered names and altered physical attributes so as to negate any similarity or likeness between the actual person, location, or event, and the fictional character, location, or event.

14. Author will not enter into agreements that conflict with the terms of this agreement.

15. Author retains their copyright, and is responsible for pursuing any entity that violates the author's rights if they choose to do so.

16. Company can stop selling a card deck if it's involved in a threatened or actual legal dispute.

17. Author agrees to submit files per the Company's specs.

18. Revisions to card decks: If an author wishes to make changes to their card deck, they must pay for changes separately for the cards, box and/or guide book.

19. Author agrees to keep Company current on all contact info.

20. Company offers a selection of card deck configurations.

21. Company assigns ISBNs to card decks. ISBNs are owned by the Company and are not transferrable, remaining the property of the Company. ISBNs of terminated books are decommissioned.

22. Author can't use Company's name or ISBNs on books they sell/distribute themselves with the exception of card decks the Author buys through the Company at the author print, shipping and handling cost .

23. Card decks are submitted to New Leaf Distributing, the largest national Body/Mind/Spirit distributor, and Amazon for a nominal submission fee. Author agrees to advertise and promote their deck through New Leaf Distributing to ensure distributor retention.

24. Company can't guarantee that every store will list and sell every title, nor that a store/distributor won't delist a particular title in the future. Listings offered by retailers and distributors are at the discretion of each particular company. Any store or distributor can also choose to remove a card deck at any time, and for any reason. Retailers and distributors may also refuse to remove old listings of out-of-print card decks because doing so may damage their customer purchase histories. They may simply change the listing to "inactive", or a similar term, but still keep the product page online. Many online retailers sell used books and allow third parties to also sell used books. For these reasons, nobody can force an online retailer to remove an old listing for an out-of-print book.

25. Authors making changes to files that have already been converted, finalized, and/or uploaded to the printer will incur additional fees.

26. Authors requesting changes to the Company's website pages for their book, prices, and other metadata after a book is published will incur a $10 fee for each set of changes.

27. If Author owes the Company any fees, the Company reserves the right to keep selling the ebook until those fees have been recouped.

28. If Author ceases communicating with the Company, the Company may be required to terminate the Author's contract.

29. If Author wishes to reactivate a terminated title, a reactivation fee will be required.

30. Author approves final print version for production.

33. Company will approve final card deck files. If the Company discovers errors in a card deck, it will place the files on hold until the those errors are corrected .

34. The Company's fees are not refundable. However, we understand that unforeseen circumstances may occasionally arise causing the need for authors to cancel their Empowered Whole Being Press publishing agreement. Here is the only exception to the no refund policy: If the cancellation request for card deck publishing agreement termination occurs before publication and after payment is made, but before any file transmissions or formatting work is completed on your card deck, Company will retain a 25% cancellation fee to cover labor and transaction costs associated with processing the initial order, the author account, and the cancellation. By agreeing to this contract, Author states that they understand and agree to a 25% cancellation fee applied to ALL fees paid when signing up. However, if any file transmissions have occurred or work has begun on your book or cover art, no refunds are permitted. Except as noted in the paragraph above, refunds are not permitted for P.O.D. set-up fees, formatting, annual hosting fees, or cover design.

35. Author may set the price of their card deck provided it is at or above the minimum list price offered by the Company.

36. Card decks purchased directly from the Company by Author; Author may sell these card deck sets at any price they choose.

37. Authors may buy card deck sets at the Author cost (print, shipping and handling).

38. Author agrees not to spam while promoting their card deck.

39. While the author is responsible for promoting their own card deck, the Company reserves the right to distribute excerpts and/or reviews of the Author's card deck.

40. Author is responsible for sending sample card decks to reviewers at their discretion and expense, unless Author engages Company’s Marketing Services to do so.

41. Company is the sole owner of the Company's website and URLs, and does not redirect or post outside links on the website.

42. Company owns its customer information. Per the Company's Privacy Statement, this data is not shared with anyone outside of the Company.

43. Company makes every effort to keep the website functioning but isn't responsible for outages.

44. Company is not responsible for errors appearing on websites or in databases it does not own.

45. Company is dismissed from its obligations if events occur affecting the Company or printer/distributor, such as natural disasters, acts of God, fire, power, etc., if the Company is judged legally bankrupt, or if the Company's relationship with the printer is terminated.

46. In the unlikely event of insolvency, Company will only be responsible to the Author for the unpaid commissions up to that date.

47. 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

48. This agreement does not create a partnership, nor an employee/employer relationship.

49. Costs can rise without notice. All prices and fees are subject to change without notice.

50. Author may not share/divulge proprietary information about the Company to third parties. Confidential information is the property of the Company.

51. Authors will be alerted to any contract changes via email.

52. Author's continued participation in the Company's program will constitute the Author's acceptance of such changes or modifications.

53. This Agreement will be governed by the laws of the United States of America and the state of California.

Your Legal Name (required)

Your Pen Name - If Applicable

Your Email Address (required)

Your Phone Number (required)

Your Physical Address (required)

City (required)

State (required)

Zip or Postal Code (required)

Title of Your Card Deck (required)

Is your card deck co-authored? (required)

YesNo

If so, please enter the co-author's full legal name.

If I die while this contract is still in effect, please assign editorial and contractual control and future commission checks for this card deck to:

Beneficiary's Name (required)

Beneficiary's Street Address, City, State, Zip/Postal Code (required)

Beneficiary's Telephone Number (required)

Beneficiary's Email Address (required)

Beneficiary's relationship to you. (required)

By Completing and Submitting this Author Card Deck Publishing Agreement, I am accepting the terms here within and grant Empowered Whole Being Press authorization to publish my card deck on my behalf.

Date Signed. (required)

By checking the below box, I attest that all the above information is true, and I agree and accept all the terms as outlined in the Empowered Whole Being Press Author Card Deck Publishing Agreement.

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