Author Terms of Service

1. Content Ownership and Rights Representation

By publishing content on the In The Story platform, you represent and warrant that you hold all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions to publish the content you submit. You affirm that you are the original creator of the content or have obtained proper authorization from the rights holder to distribute it through this platform.

You further represent that you hold these rights for worldwide distribution in every language you publish, and that they extend to interactive and digital adaptation of the work.

You represent that you have granted no exclusive license to any third party that conflicts with the license you grant in Section 5. If you previously licensed this work to another publisher or platform in any digital format, you confirm that the license has ended or does not cover the rights you grant here.

Where your content includes cover art, interior illustrations, maps, audio, or any other material you did not create yourself, you represent that you hold or have separately cleared the rights to that material. Rights in a text and rights in its artwork are often held by different parties.

If you accept these Terms on behalf of a company, partnership, estate, or any other legal entity, you represent that you are authorized to bind that entity, and "you" in these Terms means that entity.

2. Copyright Claims and Intellectual Property Responsibility

You assume full responsibility for any intellectual property claims arising from your published content. In the event that a third party files a copyright claim or intellectual property dispute against your content, you agree to cooperate with the platform in resolving such claims. The platform reserves the right to remove the disputed content and withhold royalty payments associated with the affected content until the claim is fully resolved.

3. Platform Content Removal Rights

The platform reserves the right to remove any content at its sole discretion, including but not limited to content that is subject to copyright claims, violates these Terms of Service, or is otherwise deemed inappropriate. During the pendency of any copyright claim, the platform may withhold royalty payments related to the disputed content.

4. Royalty Terms

You will receive 70% of net revenue generated from the sale of your content on the platform. Net revenue is the amount the platform receives from a sale: the price the reader paid, minus the fee kept by the app store or payment processor (such as the Apple App Store or Google Play) and minus any taxes they collect. If your author account has a different rate, that rate applies, and the authors portal shows it when you accept these Terms. Royalty payments will be calculated and disbursed in accordance with the platform's payment schedule and policies. The platform reserves the right to adjust royalty rates for future content with prior notice to authors.

5. Distribution License

By publishing content on the platform, you grant In The Story a non-exclusive, worldwide license to distribute, display, and make available your content to readers through the platform's applications and services. This license is limited to the purpose of operating the platform and delivering your content to readers who have purchased or accessed it.

6. Content Removal by Author

You may remove your content from the platform at any time. However, content that has been purchased by readers will remain accessible to those readers for the lifetime of their account. Removal of content does not affect royalties already earned or purchases already completed.

7. Terms of Service Updates

The platform may update these Terms of Service from time to time. When a new version of the Terms of Service is published, your acceptance state will be reset, and you will be required to review and accept the updated terms before your next publish action. You will be notified of the requirement to re-accept through the platform's standard notification mechanisms.

8. Prohibited Content

You agree not to publish content that:

• Violates any applicable local, national, or international laws or regulations
• Contains malware, viruses, or any harmful code
• Infringes on third-party intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks, or patents
• Contains unauthorized personal information of third parties
• Promotes illegal activities or harmful behavior

Violation of these prohibitions may result in immediate removal of content, suspension of your account, and forfeiture of pending royalty payments.

9. Right to Refuse Publication

The platform reserves the right to refuse to publish any work that it deems, at its sole discretion, to be harmful to the platform, its readers, or its reputation. This includes content that, while not explicitly prohibited above, may be considered inappropriate, misleading, or detrimental to the platform's community standards.

10. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless In The Story, its affiliates, officers, and employees from and against any claims, damages, losses, liabilities, costs, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising out of or related to your content, your breach of these Terms of Service, or your violation of any third-party rights.

11. Governing Law and Survival

These Terms are between you and Hands Held Apps LLC, a California limited liability company, which operates In The Story. They are governed by the laws of the State of California, United States, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

These Terms sit alongside the platform Terms of Service published at inthestory.app/terms. Where the two differ on something specific to publishing your work, these Terms control.

If the law of the country where you live gives you rights you cannot sign away, you keep those rights. Nothing in this Section takes them from you.

Sections 1, 2, 5, 6, 10, and this Section 11 survive the end of these Terms, the closing of your account, and the removal of any content under Section 6. Removing content does not cancel royalties either of us already owes the other, and it does not end the license in Section 5 for copies readers have already purchased.