Terms of Service

Authors choose whether each book is offered free of charge or for sale, and set the price of each book offered for sale. A price may not be lower than the minimum book price set by Booklayers, which is shown to authors when they set a price.

If Booklayers raises the minimum book price above an author’s price, the book is sold at the new minimum until the author sets a higher price.

By publishing a book for sale on the platform, the author authorizes Booklayers to offer it to readers at the price determined under this section.

The current price is shown on each book’s page and at checkout. A change to an author’s price or to the minimum book price applies only to purchases made after it takes effect; a reader who has already started a checkout pays the price quoted to them.

Authors choose how many of a book’s opening pages readers may read free of charge before buying, within minimum and maximum limits set by the platform.

For each completed book sale, the sale price is divided as follows:

• Platform fee — 2.5% — Retained by Booklayers. Covers hosting, content protection, platform operations, and ongoing development.
• Payment processing fee — The fee the payment processor charges for that transaction, deducted from the author’s share. For a standard card payment it is currently about 2.9% of the price plus USD 0.30; international cards and currency conversion can cost more.
• Author earnings — Everything that remains, credited to the author’s balance.

Sales tax or VAT, where collected, is added to the price the reader pays and remitted to the relevant authority. It is not part of the amount divided above.

Booklayers reserves the right to review and modify the platform fee and the minimum book price in response to market conditions, operational costs, payment processing expenses, or platform development requirements.

Authors will be notified of any such changes at least 30 days in advance via email or a notice within their dashboard.

Any revised fee will apply only to sales completed after the effective date of the change.

• Earnings from a sale become available for payout 14 days after the sale. This holding period allows for payment disputes.
• To receive payouts, an author must set up a payout account with the platform’s payment partner and complete its identity verification. Earnings accumulate in the author’s balance until then.
• Author earnings are calculated and settled monthly.
• Approved payouts are issued on the 25th day of each calendar month to the author’s verified payout account.
• A minimum available balance of USD 50 is required before a payout can be processed. Balances below the minimum automatically roll over to the next payout cycle.
• Fees the payment partner charges for making a payout, including any per-payout or account maintenance fee, are deducted from the payout amount.
• If a sale is disputed or reversed by the reader’s bank, the author’s earnings from that sale are deducted from their balance. A balance that becomes negative is offset against future earnings.

Authors acknowledge and agree that they are solely responsible for all taxes, duties, reporting obligations, and financial liabilities arising from income earned through the platform in accordance with the laws of their country of residence and tax jurisdiction.

Booklayers does not undertake any obligation to calculate, withhold, or pay taxes on behalf of authors unless required by applicable law.

Where necessary, authors may be required to complete applicable tax documentation for transactions involving U.S.-based entities, including forms such as Form W-8BEN for non-U.S. persons.

Buying a book gives you a personal, non-transferable license to read it on Booklayers for as long as you hold an account, and to download a copy for personal use where the book offers one.

• Downloaded copies may carry marks that identify the purchaser.
• You may not copy, share, resell, or otherwise distribute a purchased book or any part of it.
• Before buying, you can read the free preview the author has chosen.

• Prices are in US dollars. Any applicable sales tax is shown at checkout before you pay.
• Payments are processed by our payment partner, Stripe. Booklayers does not receive or store your full card details.
• Your bank may charge its own fees for international or currency-conversion transactions.
• A purchase is complete only once the payment has been confirmed. Returning from the payment page does not by itself grant access.

All book purchases are final and non-refundable. A digital book is delivered the moment the purchase completes and cannot be returned.

If you were charged in error — for example, charged twice for the same book — contact us and we will correct it.

The cases in which a payment is refunded, and how to request a refund, are set out in our Refund Policy at booklayers.com/refund.

If you dispute a payment with your bank or card issuer, your access to the book bought with that payment is removed.

Booklayers employs technical safeguards designed to protect literary works published on the platform.

These measures may include:

• Restrictions on text selection and copying within the eReader.
• Protection mechanisms that prevent unauthorized downloading of source content.
• Security controls designed to reduce unauthorized distribution and reproduction.

While Booklayers takes reasonable steps to protect content, no technical protection system can guarantee absolute security.

Authors represent and warrant that:

• They own or possess all necessary rights to the content they publish.
• Their content does not infringe the intellectual property rights of any third party.
• They bear full responsibility for any claims relating to plagiarism, copyright infringement, or unauthorized use of protected materials.

Technical protection measures provided by Booklayers do not replace formal copyright registration.

Authors are strongly encouraged to register and protect their works through recognized copyright authorities or intellectual property offices within their jurisdictions.

Upon receipt of a valid copyright complaint or evidence of infringement, Booklayers reserves the right to:

• Remove the disputed content immediately.
• Suspend or withhold associated earnings.
• Permanently terminate the offending account.
• Take any additional actions required to comply with applicable intellectual property laws, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Booklayers offers a paid proofreading service in which a human editor corrects the spelling, grammar, and punctuation of a manuscript. The manuscript does not need to be published on the platform.

• You upload your manuscript as a Word (.docx), PDF, or plain-text (.txt) file. Booklayers counts its words and shows the price before you pay.
• The price is charged for each started block of 1,000 words at the rate shown, with a minimum charge per order.
• An unpaid order, and the file uploaded with it, is deleted after 7 days.
• Work begins after payment. When it is complete, the corrected file is available to download from your order page, and we notify you by email.
• Your manuscript is kept confidential: only you and the editors working on your order can access it, and it is used only to perform the service.
• You confirm that you own the manuscript or have the right to submit it for proofreading.

Proofreading improves the accuracy of a text but does not guarantee that it is free of every error, and does not include rewriting, restructuring, or substantive editing.

Proofreading orders are final and non-refundable once paid.

The exceptions, such as being charged twice for the same order, are set out in our Refund Policy at booklayers.com/refund.

Booklayers may provide independent literary evaluation services performed by qualified reviewers and literary experts.

The purpose of these evaluations is to provide constructive professional feedback and recommendations intended to help authors improve their work.

Such evaluations:

• Represent professional opinions and recommendations.
• Do not constitute official publishing approval.
• Are not legally binding upon any publisher, institution, or third party.

Authors may generate artwork for a book cover with the AI image models offered on the platform. To do so, Booklayers sends the provider of the chosen model the book’s genre and, unless the author writes their own description instead, its description, world-building notes and character descriptions.

The author may use a generated image as the cover of their book, on the platform and elsewhere. Images produced by AI may not be protected by copyright and may resemble images produced for others; Booklayers does not guarantee that a generated image is unique or free of third-party rights.

When generating a cover, authors must not ask for:

• The likeness of a real person.
• Trademarks, logos or characters owned by others.
• Content that would breach these Terms if published on the platform.

Generation may be limited per book and per month, and any model may be paused or withdrawn at any time. The price shown beside each model is what an image costs Booklayers; generating a cover does not charge the author.