Terms of service

Last updated 5 November 2026.

Who we are

Lochlytic Publishing is run by Lochlytic Inc. (trading as Lochlytic Publishing), Oakville, Ontario, Canada (“we”). These terms apply to authors who use any of our services (“you”): editing and beta reading, cover design, ebook and print formatting, proof copies, printing and shipping, author websites, marketplace set-up, and marketing. What you’ve asked for, what it costs and when it will be done are confirmed with you in writing before we start, and that confirmation is part of these terms.

Quotes and payment

Every piece of work starts with a written quote. One-off work (such as editing, formatting, cover design or a marketing campaign) is invoiced as agreed in the quote, usually part before we start and the rest when it’s delivered. Ongoing services (such as running your website) are billed monthly, in advance, and run month to month. A website has a one-off setup fee, stated in your quote. We can invoice in Canadian dollars, pounds sterling or US dollars; the currency is agreed in your quote and stays the same unless we both agree to change it.

Where sales tax applies to our services, it is shown separately on the invoice. Invoices are due within 14 days unless your quote says otherwise.

Your work stays yours

Your manuscripts, books, words, images and brand stay your property. You give us permission to use them only to do the work you’ve asked for, such as editing a manuscript, preparing files for print, or building and running your website. You confirm you have the right to publish what you give us, including any artwork or quotes from other people.

Work we create for you (such as a formatted interior, a website design, or a marketing plan) becomes yours once it has been paid for. Where we commission someone else for you, such as a cover artist, their terms on how the artwork can be used are passed on to you.

Made by people

We don’t take on books written by AI, and we don’t use AI to write, edit or illustrate your work. If we discover a manuscript was substantially written by AI, we may stop the work and invoice only for what has been done.

If your plan includes a website or shop

Your domain is registered in your name and stays yours. While you’re with us, its settings point to our hosting so we can run your website and email forwarding for you.

If your website sells your books, you are the seller. Readers pay into your own Stripe account, and Stripe pays out to your bank. You add us as an Administrator on your Stripe account so we can run the shop for you, and you can remove that access at any time, though the shop can’t run without it. Refunds, disputes and chargebacks are your responsibility as the seller; we handle them for you day to day and tell you about anything that needs your decision. Printing and postage are passed on at cost, plus the handling fee in your quote, and our monthly invoice shows how each figure was worked out.

Readers join your newsletter by signing up themselves. We don’t import bought lists, or old lists where people didn’t clearly agree to hear from you.

What we can and can’t promise

We promise to do the work in your quote carefully and on time, and to tell you straight away if something changes. We can’t promise sales, rankings, reviews or how readers will respond to a book; those depend on many things outside our control. Where we give you an estimate, such as a delivery date from a printer, it’s our best information at the time.

If something we did is wrong, we put it right at no charge. Beyond that, our responsibility to you for any piece of work is limited to what you paid us for it. Nothing in these terms limits responsibility for anything the law doesn’t allow to be limited.

Leaving

Ongoing services run month to month, and you can cancel with notice before your next month starts. When you leave you keep your domain, your Stripe account and your newsletter list, and we export your posts, orders and subscribers for you. One-off work can be cancelled before it starts; once it has started, we invoice for what has been done. We send a final invoice for anything owed up to then.

Changes and the law that applies

If we change these terms, we’ll tell you by email at least 30 days before the change applies to you. These terms are governed by the laws of Ontario and Canada. If we ever disagree, we’ll talk first; most things can be sorted out with a conversation.

Contact

Questions about these terms? Contact us at contact@lochlyticpublishing.com.