Second World Editorial: Terms and Conditions

SECOND WORLD EDITORIAL: TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE PROVISION OF SERVICES

 

These terms and conditions apply to any work done on behalf of the Client (you) by me (Andrew Hodges).

This site is owned and operated by Second World Editorial of 7 Blackmire Terrace, Polbeth, West Calder, West Lothian, EH55 8FH, Scotland.

 

If you have any queries about these terms and conditions or if you have any comments or complaints on or about our website, please get in touch by email: info@secondworldeditorial.com

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General terms and conditions

1. My pronouns are he/they. I stand against discrimination, prejudice, and othering, and take an intersectional approach to oppression. I strive to provide a safe, supportive, and respectful environment for all writers who work with me.

2. I provide editorial services agreed between us via email.

3. My services include: editorial assessment, developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, proofreading, coaching, and consulting.

4. We will agree a payment schedule in advance by email. When you make a first payment or deposit, this represents an offer on your part to purchase the services, which will be accepted by us only when a confirmation of acceptance is sent by us. Only at this point is a legally binding contract created between us.

5. You are under no obligation to offer me work, and I'm under no obligation to accept work offered by you.

6. The work will be carried out unsupervised at a time and place determined by me, using my own equipment.

7. I never subcontract editing projects, or parts of projects, to third parties, without your permission, arranged via email.

8. I never subcontract editorial assessment, coaching/consulting, or developmental editing projects.

9. I sometimes subcontract for light copyediting or proofreading, and I usually subcontract for reference list formatting.

10. I confirm that I am self-employed, am responsible for my own income tax and National Insurance contributions, and will not claim benefits granted to your employees (if you have any).

11. I am not VAT-registered.

12. I issue formal contracts for all projects worth £500 or more, and I’m happy to issue a formal contract for all projects on request. If I have not issued a formal contract, these T&Cs still apply.

13. Parties to any such contract agree to submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Scotland. All contracts are concluded in English.

14. If any part of these terms and conditions is unenforceable (including any provision in which we exclude our liability to you) the enforceability of any other part of these conditions will not be affected.

15. You acknowledge and agree to be bound by the terms of our privacy policy.

16. Nothing in this Agreement is intended to, nor shall it confer any rights on a third party.

17. We are under a legal duty to supply services that are in conformity with this contract and in accordance with the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (the Act).

 

Project Terms

1. All editing work will be completed in Microsoft Word, using Track Changes.

2. The project fee and deadline will be agreed in advance by email. The agreed fee is non-negotiable unless you request additional services or the length of the project changes.

3. If it becomes clear, upon receipt of the project, that significantly more work is required than anticipated from the brief, the fee and/or deadline may be renegotiated, or I may decline the project.

4. Unless otherwise agreed, I will invoice immediately upon completion of the editing or consulting project.

5. Payments should be received within 7 days of invoicing for full edits. Deposits should also be paid within 7 days of invoicing. For institutional payments, the invoice should be submitted to the accounts on the day of delivering the edits at the latest, with 30-day terms as standard.

6. Invoices will be sent in either pounds sterling, US dollars, or euros.

7. Payments should be made via bank transfer. When this is not possible, card payments via Wise or Stripe can be arranged. Payments from outside the UK may incur bank or card handling charges for me or you.

8. For line editing, copyediting, and proofreading, unless otherwise agreed, the quoted fee is for one pass of a manuscript.

9. The nature and content of the work will be kept confidential and not made known to anyone other than you without prior written permission.

10. I will use my background and experience to deliver the agreed services, recognizing that this experience, while successful for them, may not be successful for you. I will advise and suggest changes to improve the manuscript. The decision to accept or reject my editorial suggestions or coaching advice lies solely with you.

 

Copyright

1. All content delivered to me by you for the editing project is owned by you.

2. In this respect, you agree to hold me harmless from and against all claims, liabilities and expenses arising out of any potential or actual copyright or trademark misappropriation or infringement claimed against you.

3. Following your payment of my invoice, the copyright for any content created by me as part of the editing process will become owned by you unless otherwise agreed.

 

Use of digital tools and artificial intelligence (AI)

1. To enhance the quality, accuracy, consistency and efficiency of my editing service, I use digital tools that may have AI-assisted technologies running in the background (even if I'm not actively using them).

2. I will never input any of your text into an open AI system, and do not use thes tools for client work. This ensures that your materials are never used for language model training and that your privacy and data are fully protected.

3. I do not use generative AI to draft recasts of your text or make stylistic recommendations on how your book should read.

 
The tools I currently use in the editing process are as follows: 

 

1. Microsoft Word: Used for text editing and reporting. Hosted locally via a licensed version of Office 2021. Office 2021 does not have Copilot running in the background.

2. PerfectIt: Used for consistency checking. A licensed, locally hosted Word add-in. Does not use AI. Runs offline and does not transmit data.

3. Various macros: Used for text analysis. Hosted locally. Do not use AI. Run offline and do not transmit data.

4. Google search: Used for fact-checking. Cloud-based service. Uses multiple AI systems to match queries with relevant results.​

5. Proton Drive: Used for secure file storage, backup and recovery. Cloud-based licensed version. No AI features currently included.

 

Cancellation Rights

1. Where you are a consumer as defined in The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 SI 2013/3134 you have the legal right to cancel your order up to 14 calendar days after the day on which the contract is entered into (the Cancellation Period). You do not need to give us any reason for cancelling your contract nor will you have to pay any penalty (unless we have begun the services within the Cancellation Period in accordance with clause 10.5)

2. Should you wish to cancel your order, you can use the cancellation form provided at the end of these terms and conditions, or alternatively you can notify us in writing by any durable medium (for example letter sent by post, fax or e-mail).

3. If you require us to begin the services within the Cancellation Period we require you to make an express request to do so. In such cases, your right to cancel continues until either the end of the Cancellation Period, or the completion of the services, whichever is the earlier. If you cancel during the Cancellation Period we may charge you for any services provided up until the point when we receive your cancellation notice, and will provide a partial and proportionate refund accordingly. Your right to cancel the services will no longer apply once the services have been fully performed.

4. We reserve the right not to process your order if:

   1. We have insufficient staff or resources to deliver the services you have ordered;

   2. We do not provide services to your area; or

   3. One or more of the services you ordered was listed at an incorrect price due to a typographical error.

5. If we do not process your order for the above reasons, we will notify you by e-mail and will re- credit to your account any sum deducted by us from your credit/debit card as soon as possible, but in any event within 14 days.

 

Liability

1. We are only responsible for losses that are a natural, foreseeable consequence of our breach of these terms and conditions. We do not accept liability if we are prevented or delayed from complying with our obligations set out in these terms and conditions by anything you (or anyone acting with your express or implied authority) does or fails to do, or is due to events which are beyond our reasonable control.

2. Furthermore, we do not accept liability for any losses related to any business of yours including but not limited to: lost data, lost profits, lost revenues or business interruption.

3. Notwithstanding the foregoing, nothing in these terms and conditions is intended to limit any rights you might have as a consumer under applicable local law or other statutory rights that may not be excluded nor in any way to exclude or limit our liability to you for any death or personal injury resulting from our negligence.

4. If you reject or dislike the editorial, coaching, or consulting suggestions, this is not a basis for refusing to pay for services provided. You agree that any actions that you take based on our suggestions are based on your own decisions and to indemnify and save the Freelancer harmless from all claims or demands, including legal fees.

 

Website Terms and Conditions

1. All rights, including copyright, in this website are owned by or licensed to Second World Editorial. Any use of this website or its contents, including copying or storing it or them in whole or part, other than for your own personal, non-commercial use, is prohibited without our permission. You may not modify, distribute or repost anything on this website for any purpose.

2. We have taken care in the preparation of the content of this website, in particular to ensure that prices quoted are correct at the time of publishing and that all services have been described accurately.

3. We try to ensure that this website is free from viruses or defects. However, we cannot guarantee that your use of this website or any websites accessible through it will not cause damage to your computer. It is your responsibility to ensure that the right equipment is available to use the website. Except in the case of negligence on our part, we will not be liable to any person for any loss or damage which may arise to computer equipment as a result of using this website.

4. Use of this website's content to train AI or machine learning algorithms is strictly forbidden. No generative AI tools have been used to generate or edit text or images on this site.