TERMS OF SERVICE

HOT TREE EDITING

 

 

1. Acceptance of Service Agreement

1.1    Contracting the services of Hot Tree Editing implies acknowledgment and acceptance of the company's service agreement as detailed in this document.

 

2. Rights and Confidentiality

2.1    The copyright, together with all publishing rights, in the Work, shall remain the property of the Author. Hot Tree Editing acquires no rights of ownership to the Work under this agreement.

 

2.2    This project and any information, whether oral or written, disclosed by the Client will be kept confidential at all times.

 

3. Delivery of Work

3.1   The Author will complete all payments for services selected in advance and will deliver the Work in Word.doc format by email to edit@hottreepublishing.com 

 

3.2 Hot Tree Editing sets appointments on a first-come, first-served basis. You must return the editing agreement and pay a deposit to Hot Tree Editing to secure your spot.

 

4. Payments & Refunds

4.1    For all editing bookings with Hot Tree Editing, a *refundable USD$100 deposit is required to secure an editing date.

 

4.2    Payment for all services must be paid by PayPal in advance of the completed edit.

 

4.3    All payments made by the Author to Hot Tree Editing are refundable until the date the Author delivers the Work to Hot Tree Editing or the date of commencement of the selected services. After Hot Tree Editing has commenced any services, all fees are non-refundable.

 

4.4   Invoices are payable within 72 hours. Interest will be applied if an alternate payment date is not otherwise arranged, at the late-fee rate of 5 percent per week of the total invoice fee (plus any already accrued interest), including each week following the invoice date. No interest is due if payment is made by the third day.

 

5. Indemnity

5.1    Hot Tree Editing in no way condones breaches of copyright or plagiarism and has no responsibility for detecting or reporting plagiarised material. While Hot Tree Editing will make every effort to bring such material to the attention of the Author, the Author agrees to indemnify Hot Tree Editing from any and all claims, including legal fees, arising out of any alleged defamation or copyright infringement committed by the Author in creating the work.

 

6. Termination of Agreement

6.1    Either party has the authority to terminate the Agreement at any time, without cause, by giving the other party fourteen (14) days written notice.

 

6.2  If a minimum of 14 days notice is given by the client, the USD$100 deposit will be refunded in full. Failure to provide 14 days' notice will incur a *cancellation fee of USD$100. This fee will be claimed by Hot Tree Editing from the booking deposit.

 

6.3.  Upon cancellation, Hot Tree Editing secures the right to book a new edit in the cancelled scheduled date.

 

7. Requests for Re-editing

7.1    Clients agree to resolve any questions, concerns, or disputes regarding the quality of their completed editorial services by formally submitting a written request for a re-edit. This request for a re-edit must specifically outline all questions, concerns, and/or possible editorial errors or omissions so that Hot Tree Editing's editors may clearly address, respond, and/or correct the areas of concern on the Client's behalf as quickly and professionally as possible.

 

7.2 Clients' request for a review and re-edit applies only to their original text and will be edited according to their original written instructions. Corrections consist of any grammar, spelling, punctuation, editorial changes, or possible mistakes within the final edited work returned to the client by Hot Tree Editing. Thus, it does not include any additional re-editing, changes, additions, or alterations made by the Author/Client after delivery of services. (That would create a new document and require a new editing project to be ordered.) 

 

8. Submitting Manuscripts

8.1   Clients agree to receive an invoice based on the first three chapters of their manuscript once the editing process has begun. This is so that Hot Tree Editing may assess the level of editing required.

 

8.2    In the event that the client does not submit a two-chapter sample and a previous quote has been provided by Hot Tree Editing, once the client's ms has been submitted, Hot Tree Editing reserves the right to increase the level of edit required and will provide an invoice based on the level of editing required. 

 

8.3   The client reserves the right to terminate the agreement once Hot Tree Editing has made initial contact identifying the edit change. In this event, Hot Tree Editing will return the unedited manuscript back to the Author.

 

8.4 All new clients to Hot Tree Editing must secure a paid sample edit prior to submitting their complete manuscript on their scheduled date.  

 

8.5  When submitting your manuscript to Hot Tree Editing, it is essential for clients to monitor emails closely. We are under obligation to reach out to clients should we foresee an issue with your manuscript, or have determined the manuscript is in need of a higher or lower level of editing. Failure to respond as a matter of urgency to our correspondence will, unfortunately, result in a delay and impact your editor's schedule. Editors are only allocated a set number of days to complete your manuscript. 

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9. Editing

9.1 An extensive edit is based on the revision amount and, therefore, the amount of editing time required to complete an edit. Based on the first two chapters, an extensive edit rate will be given if the editing percentage (%) rate is greater than 8% in relation to the total word count. If post edit, the % total is lower than predicted, Hot Tree Editing is happy to refund the difference if requested by the author. The rate for an extensive edit is charged between US$0.017 and US$0.038.  If post-edit, the % total is greater than 1% difference than identified in the first two (2) chapters, an additional charge will be made.  

 

9.2 Services 2 & 3 (copy & line and content edits) are edited by a professional editor and a final-eyes reader (beta readers optional). They do not include a final proofread by a professional editor. HTE recommends all edits have a final and professional proofread post service 2 & 3 edits by an independent editor or HTE editor prior to publication. In the instance of revisions made post-edit, HTE will edit revisions up to 2,000 revisions free of charge. After this amount, HTE will charge the standard editing rate.

 

9.3   Hot Tree Editing may recommend a lower editing level based on the two-chapter sample. The Author will be contacted in such an event and may accept the lower (line) edit, or request to continue with a higher (content) edit.

 

10. Acknowledgement

10.1   The Author agrees to acknowledge the editing work, in their online or printed published work, of Hot Tree Editing.  An affiliate link on Amazon is appreciated.

 

11. Author's Responsibility

11.1  HTE will do everything it can to get manuscripts corrected and ready for publication as quickly and accurately as possible. However, please note that careful proofreading, post-final editing, or proofreading from HTE, is solely the Author's responsibility for completeness and accuracy. All editing errors are the ultimate responsibility of the Author.