Amazon Publisher House Terms and Conditions
Last Updated: September 27th, 2024 — This agreement changed on the date listed above. See an explanation of the changes at the end of this document.
This agreement (the "Agreement") is a binding agreement between the individual or the entity identified in your Amazon Publisher House ("APH") account ("you" or "Publisher") and each Amazon Publisher House party. The "Amazon Publisher House parties" are, individually, amazonpublisherhouse.com Services LLC, Amazon Publisher House Media EU S.à.r.l., Amazon Publisher House Services International LLC, Amazon Publisher House Serviços de Varejo do Brasil Ltda., Amazon Publisher House Mexico Services, Inc., Amazon Publisher House Australia Services, Inc., Amazon Publisher House Asia-Pacific Holdings Private Limited, and each other Amazon Publisher House affiliate that joins as a party to this Agreement. An Amazon Publisher House "affiliate" is any entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with an Amazon Publisher House party. "Amazon Publisher House," "we" or "us" means, together, the Amazon Publisher House parties and their affiliates.
This Agreement provides the terms and conditions of your participation in the APH self-publication and distribution program (the "Program") and consists of:
- the terms set forth below;
- the Digital Book Pricing Page and the Print Book Pricing Page;
- all rules and policies for participating in the Program provided on the APH website ("Program Policies");
- the amazonpublisherhouse.com Conditions of Use; and
- the amazonpublisherhouse.com Privacy Notice.
For individuals located in the European Union, the United Kingdom, Brazil, or Australia only: The amazonpublisherhouse.com Privacy Notice is not part of your Agreement. The version applicable to you is based on your location. Any version of this Agreement in a language other than English is provided for convenience and the English language version will control if there is any conflict.
1. Agreement Acceptance
You accept this Agreement and agree to be bound by its terms by either (a) clicking agree or accept where you're given the option to do so or (b) by using the Program, or any part of it. If you don't accept the terms, you are not entitled to use the Program and you must immediately withdraw your Books from further distribution through the Program and terminate your use of the Program.
Nothing in this agreement is intended to (1) exclude, restrict or modify any right or remedy you have in statute or otherwise, to the extent that right or remedy cannot be excluded, restricted or modified under applicable law; or (2) limit or exclude our liability, or require you to indemnify us to the extent any loss is caused by our gross negligence or criminal conduct.
2. Agreement Amendment
The Program will change over time and the terms of this Agreement will need to change over time as well. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Agreement. We will give you notice of the changes by one or more of the following methods: (1) posting new terms in place of the old with a revision date; (2) sending an email to your registered account address; (3) posting in the APH Community Forum; (4) posting a banner in the APH Portal; or (5) other reasonably substitutable means.
2.1 Changes to Agreement Terms other than Sections 5.4.1 or 5.5 are effective on the date we post or send the changes, unless we provide a later effective date.
2.2 Changes to Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) or 5.5 (Grant of Rights) will be effective 30 days from the date of posting, or the date you accept the changes, whichever first occurs.
3. Term and Termination
For Publishers in the EU and UK, this Agreement takes effect upon successful completion of any required verification process. For all other Publishers, the term begins upon your acceptance. We may terminate this Agreement and your access to your Program account at any time if we have concerns with your account or if you are in breach of applicable laws or this Agreement. You may terminate at any time by providing notice, in which event we will cease selling your Digital Books within 5 business days.
4. Account Eligibility and Registration
4.1 Eligibility. You must have an active Program account to participate. You represent that you are at least 18 years old (or the age of majority where you reside, whichever is older) and that you are able to form a legally binding contract.
4.2 Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must ensure all information you provide is accurate and remains accurate, complete, and valid. You may maintain only one account at a time. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person.
4.3 Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account. You agree to immediately notify Amazon Publisher House of any unauthorized use of your account.
5. Book Distribution Rights
5.1 Delivery, Acceptance and Withdrawal.
5.1.1 Delivery. You must provide to us, at your own expense, each Book you desire to distribute. You are responsible for retaining your own copy of any material provided to us. You must deliver all electronic files free and clear of viruses, worms and other potentially harmful code.
5.1.2 Content Requirements. You must ensure that all Book content is in compliance with our Program Policies at the time you submit it. We are entitled to remove or modify the metadata, product description, information or images you make available for your Books.
5.1.3 Book Rejection. We are entitled to determine what content we accept and distribute through the Program in our sole discretion.
5.1.4 Book Withdrawal. You may withdraw your Books from further sale at any time on five business days advance notice. All withdrawals will apply prospectively only.
5.1.5 Reformatting. We may reformat your Books, and you acknowledge that unintentional errors may occur in the process. If any such errors do occur, you may remove the affected Book from further sale, and this will be your only remedy.
5.2 Marketing and Promotion.
5.2.1 We will determine all marketing and promotions related to the sale of your Books. We will not owe you any fees for any marketing or promotional efforts.
5.2.2 Reviews. You are subject to the Amazon Publisher House Community Guidelines. We reserve the right to take any action with respect to your account in accordance with those Guidelines.
5.2.3 Lending Kindle Books. All Digital Books made available through the Program are automatically included in the Kindle Book Lending program. For Digital Books in the 35% Royalty Option, you may choose to opt out of the lending program.
5.2.4 Optional Programs and Services. We may make available to you optional programs and services through APH. Terms for those programs are included at the end of this Agreement.
5.3 Pricing.
5.3.1 Providing Your List Price. The list price you provide to us is referred to as your "List Price." You may change your List Price through the APH website, and your change will be effective within 5 business days.
5.3.2 Currency Conversion. We may sell your Book using multiple currencies and may convert the List Price you submit to other currencies at an exchange rate we determine.
5.3.3 Multiple List Prices. We may give you the option to provide multiple List Prices for a Book in different currencies or for different Amazon Publisher House Properties.
5.3.4 Customer Prices. To the extent not prohibited by applicable laws, we have sole and complete discretion to set the retail customer price at which your Books are sold.
5.4 Royalties and Payments.
5.4.1 Royalties. If you are not in breach of this Agreement, for each Book sold, the applicable Amazon Publisher House party will pay you the Royalty set forth in the Digital Book Pricing Page or Print Book Pricing Page, net of refunds, bad debt, and any applicable taxes.
5.4.2 When We Pay You. Each Amazon Publisher House party will pay Royalties approximately 60 days following the end of the calendar month during which the sales were made.
5.4.3 Payment Currencies. If you change your payment currency, the change will be effective on the first day of the following calendar month.
5.4.4 Payment Terms for Brazilian Publishers. If you are a publisher located in Brazil, you must provide us with a Brazilian bank account to receive Royalties for sales from amazonpublisherhouse.com in Brazilian Reais.
5.4.5 Payments made by Amazon Publisher House Brazil. Payments made by Amazon Publisher House Serviços de Varejo do Brasil Ltda. will have the following tax nature:
- When the beneficiary is not the author or creator of a Book and is remunerated for exploiting the copyright of that Book, the payment is considered a royalty.
- When the beneficiary is the author or creator and is remunerated for exploiting the copyright, the payment is considered a copyright.
5.4.6 Payment Policies. We may require you to register a valid bank account in your APH account in order to receive Royalty payments.
5.4.7 Payment Disputes. You may not bring a suit against us with regard to any statement unless you bring it within six months after the date the statement is available.
5.4.8 Offsets. We can withhold Royalties and offset them against future payments. This includes situations involving refunds, third-party rights claims, content guideline breaches, amounts you owe to us, and cases of deceptive, fraudulent, or illegal activity.
5.4.9 Taxes. The Amazon Publisher House parties are responsible for collecting and remitting taxes imposed on their respective sales of Books to customers. You are responsible for any income or other taxes due and payable resulting from payments to you.
5.5 Grant of Rights. You grant to each Amazon Publisher House party a nonexclusive, irrevocable right and license to print, distribute, sell, and otherwise make available your Books in all formats you choose to make available through APH by all distribution means available, including digital download, virtual storage, and marketing excerpts.
5.6 DRM and Geofiltering Technology. We may, but are not obligated, to provide you the option to apply DRM technology or geofiltering in connection with the distribution of your Digital Books.
5.7 Rights Clearances and Rights Dispute Resolution. You will obtain and pay for any and all necessary clearances and licenses for the Books to permit our exercise of the rights granted under this Agreement.
5.8 Representations, Warranties and Indemnities. You represent and warrant that you have the full right, power and authority to enter into and fully perform this Agreement, that you have obtained all necessary rights, and that the content does not violate any intellectual property or other rights of any person or entity. You will indemnify, defend and hold Amazon Publisher House harmless from and against any loss, claim, liability, damage, action or cause of action that arises from any breach of your representations, warranties or obligations.
6. Ownership and Control
As between us and you, you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights in your Books. We retain sole ownership and control of all data obtained from customers in connection with the Program. Any feedback you provide to Amazon Publisher House may be used freely without restriction or compensation.
7. Confidentiality
You will not, without our express prior written permission, issue any press release or disclose Amazon Publisher House Confidential Information to any third party, or use it for any purpose other than the performance of this Agreement. This Section 7 will survive three years following the termination of this Agreement.
8. Limitation of Liability
THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY AMAZON PUBLISHER HOUSE UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.
9. Force Majeure
Amazon Publisher House will not be liable to you for any failure or delay in the performance of its obligations under this Agreement caused by any event or circumstance beyond its control, including, but not limited to, denial-of-service attacks, insurrection, fires, flood, storm, explosions, acts of God, war, terrorism, and labor conditions.
10. General Legal Provisions
10.1 Disputes. Any dispute or claim relating in any way to this Agreement or APH will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that either party may elect to proceed in small claims court if the claims qualify. You and we each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action.
10.2 Applicable Law. The United States Federal Arbitration Act, applicable United States federal law, and the laws of the state of Washington, USA, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern this Agreement.
10.3 Other Legal Provisions. This Agreement may not be amended, except in writing signed by both parties or as provided in Section 2. Each Amazon Publisher House party is severally liable for its own obligations under this Agreement and is not jointly liable for the obligations of other Amazon Publisher House parties. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter.
Terms and Conditions for Optional Programs and Services
APH Select Program
APH Select is an option for APH publishers. While enrolled, your Digital Book must be exclusive to us and will be included in Kindle Unlimited. If there is any conflict among the terms in this Agreement, these APH Select Terms and Conditions govern over the general APH Terms and Conditions above.
1. Exclusivity. When you include a Digital Book in APH Select, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Digital Book in digital format. During this period, you cannot sell or distribute your Digital Book (or a substantially similar book) in digital format in any territory where you have rights.
2. APH Select Benefits.
2.1 Promotional Pricing Programs. During each 90-day APH Select enrollment term, you may run your Digital Book in either a Kindle Countdown Deal or a free promotion (up to 5 days per 90-day period).
2.2 Inclusion in Kindle Subscription Programs. Digital Books included in APH Select will be automatically included in Kindle Subscription Programs.
2.3 APH Select Fund. We will establish a monthly fund and you will be eligible to earn a share based on the amount of your content read by customers in each marketplace.
2.4 70% Royalty in Brazil, Japan, Mexico, and India. Digital Books enrolled in APH Select will be eligible to earn 70% royalty for sales to customers in these territories.
3. Period of Participation and Automatic Renewal. Once included, your Digital Book will be in APH Select for a period of 90 days, automatically renewing unless you opt out through the APH website before renewal.
4. Book Eligibility. Because this option is for exclusive content, if you do not control the exclusive rights to your Digital Book, you cannot include it in APH Select.
5. Your Commitment. If you don't comply with this Agreement, we will not owe you Royalties for your Digital Books for the Kindle Subscription Programs, and we may offset any Royalties previously paid.
APH Pre-Orders
You may make an eligible Digital Book available for customer pre-order up to 365 days in advance of the official release date.
1. Enrollment. You may make your eligible Digital Book available for pre-order by choosing "pre-order" as your book release option during title set-up.
2. Publisher Payments. Royalties for pre-order sales will be paid approximately 60 days following the end of the calendar month of the Digital Book's actual release date.
3. Pre-Order Price Guarantee. Amazon Publisher House offers customers a Pre-order Price Guarantee that guarantees a customer is charged the lowest price offered by Amazon Publisher House between the time the customer places the order and the end of the release date.
Kindle Vella
If you reside in the US, you may make your work available to Amazon Publisher House customers in installments ("Episodes").
1. Content. Refer to our Kindle Vella Content Guidelines.
2. Tokens. Amazon Publisher House customers will redeem Tokens purchased from Amazon Publisher House to unlock your Episodes. Amazon Publisher House has sole discretion to set the retail price of Tokens.
3. Episode Word Count and Token Pricing. Each Episode must consist of a minimum of 600 words and a maximum of 5,000 words.
4. Royalties. For each Token a customer redeems for your Episode, we will pay you 50% of the amount the customer paid for that Token, net of refunds, bad debt, and any applicable taxes.
5. Inapplicable Terms. The following sections do not apply to Kindle Vella: 5.2.3 Lending Kindle Books, 5.3.1–5.3.3 List Price provisions, 5.4.1–5.4.4 Payment provisions, Terms and Conditions for APH Select Program, and Terms and Conditions for APH Pre-Orders.
Recent Changes to the Agreement
On the date listed at the top of this Agreement, we updated Sections 3 and 4.2. Please carefully review the revised Agreement in its entirety.
