These terms apply to whatever paid service I provide to you, whether book coaching, editing, or something else.

1. Cancellation

Of course, you may withdraw from our coaching agreement at any time but if you withdraw or cancel, my policy is not to refund any money you have already paid to me. This is because by the time you pay me anything, I will have – at the very least – tailored a plan of support for you and your book; and I will have carved out and protected time in my schedule for you despite applications from other writers.

2. Application Form

If we agree to work together, I may ask you to complete my application form. All the terms in that form are incorporated into this set of terms which forms our contract when you pay me to support your book.

3. My liability

It’s really hard to think what liability I might attract by helping you to write a better book. (There’s a hostage to fortune, if you like!)

In case I’m being unimaginative, let’s make it absolutely clear that in entering into our contract to work together, you agree that I am not and will not and cannot be construed to be liable to you or to any third party for loss or damages of any kind suffered by you or that third party. Period.

I hope there will never be any dispute between us but for the record, these terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales and the courts of England have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute.

4. Your deadlines

I undertake to give your work equal attention with all my other clients. Your obligation is to submit your assignments by the time and date I ask you.

Usually, you should send your homework so that it is in my inbox by 8 am UK time on the Monday morning before your scheduled call.

If you miss your submission deadline, I will not have time to give deep thought to your work before our call. That means you will get less benefit from coaching.

If you persistently miss deadlines, we will need to discuss and replan and possibly, even, part ways.

5. Rescheduling calls

Please don’t reschedule a booked call (unless you are suffering an emergency) because the whole point of coaching is to bring your raw, authentic self to the call. You don’t have to feel “ready” for the call. Otherwise, why would you be paying me to help you?

If you have trouble finding the time or headspace to work on your book, and feel a desire to put our call off to a later date, please email me as soon as you start to feel you’re in trouble.

If you fail to show up for a call, I will not be liable to refund any payment nor to reschedule.

6. Emergencies

If you are prevented from attending a scheduled call because an emergency such as illness or injury incapacitates you or someone you care for, email me as soon as possible. Head the email ‘URGENT’ and we will find a solution.

7. Payment

You make payment in sterling (GBP) for each coaching call to secure my time in advance; for my editing service, you pay a 50% deposit and the balance on delivery of the edited manuscript.

Payment is made by credit card, on the secure payment platform Stripe, on a link I will email you.

Payment is due on receipt of the link and is nonrefundable.

I never enter into contingent fee or royalty-share arrangements.

8. Business Information

My business name is Ruth Pedley, trading as Ruth Bullivant Editing & Book Coaching.

I am registered for Value Added Tax (VAT) in the UK under the number GB239376182. VAT at 20% is applied to the cost of my services to all UK and EU clients, and to US LLCs. I account to the UK tax authorities for all VAT I collect.

I am contactable by email on the address I give you when you apply for my service.

9. Guarantees

I give no guarantee: of monetary success, of finding an agent or a publisher, of reader enjoyment, nor of achieving “bestseller” status.

In my coaching service, I guarantee you an honest and productive experience that will help you to get clear about how to move your book on to the finish.

In my editing service, I guarantee you a careful and thorough edit to the best of my ability; regrettably, there is no such thing as a 100% perfect edit.

Specific terms that apply when I edit your work

1. Before you hire me

Before we agree to go ahead with your editing service, we determine:
What sort of edit your manuscript needs (developmental, OR line, OR copyediting, OR proofreading).
We agree a price, and a deposit to secure my time, and
We agree a timetable for you to hand over your manuscript and for me to return it to you, fully edited.

2. Payment

When we have agreed I will edit your manuscript, you make payment of a nonrefundable 50% deposit in sterling (GBP) to secure my time in advance; the balance of full payment is due upon delivery of the edited manuscript.

It is up to you to deliver your complete manuscript on the date we agree. If you don’t, you might have to forfeit your deposit, or pay a higher amount for your edits than we initially agreed.

I respect your privacy and promise not to spam you or sell or give away your email address.

HOW I TREAT YOUR INFORMATION

Ruth Bullivant is the trading and author name of Ruth Pedley. Ruth Pedley is a natural person with a real identity in law and the administrator of the website ruthbullivant.com

By using ruthbullivant.com, you agree to the conditions of this Privacy Policy which informs you about what happens to the data I, Ruth Pedley collect from you. It also explains when and how I can use this information.

INFORMATION COLLECTED FROM YOU

When you fill out a form on the site, you will be asked to provide your contact information. Otherwise, there is probably not much point in filling out the form. This information (your personal information) will be used by me, Ruth Pedley to contact you in response to your request and to send you information about my work, if you have asked for that. I will not transfer it, sell it or give it to any other party unless required by law to do so.

You have the right to remain silent… no, sorry, wrong script. You have the right not provide your contact information but if you do not, you will not be able to submit the contact form.

If you leave a testimonial or a book review or any other comment for other readers to see, your comments may be used and posted by me, Ruth Pedley (writing and trading as Ruth Bullivant) without restriction and free of charge on my website and/or as deemed appropriate by Ruth Pedley in other marketing efforts. You can always request to have these comments or reviews deleted at any time by contacting me.

NEWSLETTER & CRM

You can unsubscribe from my newsletter by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the end of every newsletter.

I use MailerLite to manage my email marketing subscriber list and to send emails to my subscribers. MailerLite is a third-party provider, which may collect and process your data using industry standard technologies to help me monitor and improve my newsletters. MailerLite’s privacy policy is available at https://www.mailerlite.com/privacy-policy . If you subscribe to my newsletter, your name and email address will be kept private and saved on MailerLite’s secure servers.

The purposes of my emails is to send you news about my or my clients’ writing and publications and general advice related to writing, publishing, or marketing.

I use a client relationship management system called Capsule and your email address is also stored on their secure servers. Capsule’s Privacy Policy can be found here.

COOKIES ARE NOT BISCUITS

Cookie Notice

This site may use cookies and keep track of browsing behaviour and traffic information such as URL, ISP, IP addresses, entry page, exit page and other statistical, demographic or aggregated information from its visitors. This non-personal information cannot be linked to your personal data but can be used to improve this website and the information it contains. You can always change your browser configuration if you do not want to accept cookies from this site although it could result in problematic viewing of the site.

AFFILIATE LINKS

Broadly, I dislike affiliate links but I make an exception for small companies and some individuals whom I trust and support because of our professional relationship, such as Author Accelerator. If you click on one of my affiliate links, a cookie will be placed on your computer and should you make a purchase on that website, I, Ruth Pedley (trading and writing as Ruth Bullivant), if I am very lucky, may be paid a commission. You will not pay a penny more by going through these links than if you went to the companies direct.

LIMITATION OF MY LIABILITY

By using this site, you acknowledge that I, Ruth Pedley (coaching, editing and writing as Ruth Bullivant) accept no type of liability invented by the wit of lawyers, law makers or the courts for any direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, punitive or any other type of damage associated with this site, including but not limited to any virus that may infect your computer. All efforts are made to ensure such consequences don’t occur but you are solely responsible for any damage your equipment or you suffer that is related to downloading material obtained from this site or from sites linked to this site.

I am not liable for the unavailability of this or any other site, its failure or that of site functions except to the extent required by applicable laws.

This site may contain links to other sites and other sites may link to this site. These links are added for pure convenience and I am not responsible for the accuracy, reliability or completeness of the content from these other sites. Accessing these sites is done at your own risk.

LIMITATION ON YOUR USAGE OF THIS SITE

You cannot copy, modify, distribute, license, disseminate, display, reproduce, transfer, sell or offer to sell or act in any similar way in relation to any material, information, product, image, text, code or service viewed or obtained from this site without written permission from me.