These Terms and Conditions are intended to avoid misunderstandings and provide clarification in the unlikely event of a dispute. If you have any questions, please contact me.
Getting started
When contracting me to write for you, I require confirmation in writing that you have read these Terms and Conditions and agree to be bound by them. A signed copy of a Contract will also be required before work can commence.
A project or copywriting deliverable is confirmed when I receive an email from you stating that you are approving the work and agree to the quotation provided, together with a purchase order if applicable.
Contract
If you are contracting me to work for you on behalf of any organisation, company or group of individuals other than yourself alone, you warrant that you are authorised to hire me on their behalf.
If you hire me on behalf of an agency to work on a project for one of your clients, the contract is between me and you/the agency. It does not mean that I have a contract with the agency’s client.
Quotations
I will produce a quotation to deliver copy based on the information supplied by you, and I reserve the right to amend this quotation if your requirements or the scope of the project changes. If it does, I will discuss any potential changes in costs with you before proceeding with the work to which the new charges relate. Projects are usually agreed on a price-per-project or retainer basis, and this will be reflected in the quotation I provide. Quotations are valid for 30 days.
Rates
Unless otherwise stated, my rate includes a research period, time spent in meetings, telephone or email conversations with you and other parties connected to the agreed work for the length of the project or retainer, as well as up to two sets of revisions and submission of the final draft.
Any revisions based on a client’s change to the project after the first draft is submitted may incur an additional fee, as will any additional revisions on top of the two sets included in the rates. I will discuss this with you prior to continuing the work.
I will charge for reasonable travelling time, travel expenses and incidental expenses which are necessary to the work and I will ask for approval of these expenses in advance.
Payment terms
Jobs up to the value of £500 require full pre-payment. Jobs with a value of £501 and above require a 50% deposit, payable upon invoice.
The balance payment is then to be made within 15 days upon submission of the final draft with an accompanying invoice. I accept payment by bank transfer only.
For projects which last from two months or more, I will require staged payments.
If you are an agency and my copywriting work is part of a wider project which takes longer to complete, I require payment to be made within 15 days of sending the invoice, whether the client has signed off on the project or not.
Late payment
If payment is not made in full within 15 days of receipt of the invoice, you may face a late payment charge at 10% of the outstanding invoice. Client accounts which are outstanding after 30 days will be frozen and no further work will be carried out until full payment is received, including the late payment charge and interest. Any future work may require payment in advance.
Clients who are consistently late payers may be asked for payment in full before any new project can be started.
Cancellation
You are within your rights to cancel work at any time before paying a deposit or prepayment without incurring any cost. Once a deposit has been paid, it is non-refundable. Paying a deposit or prepayment will mean that I begin work straightaway.
Copyright and intellectual property
On completion of the project and after final payment is received, you the client own all rights to the copy in the form for which it was originally intended.
Copyright to the copy is owned by me until full payment is received. If you default on payment, any copy cannot be used until full payment is made.
Confidentiality & non-disclosure agreements
Whilst I am happy to sign a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement with you, you agree to indemnify me against any action whatsoever by you or a third party, associated with the accidental disclosure or loss of this information you have supplied. I cannot be responsible for information that is public knowledge, that I have to disclose by law, or that I obtain independently.
Testimonials and examples of work
After a project has been completed, I may ask you for a testimonial to be included in my portfolio, marketing information, or on my website and social media channels. I reserve the right to use sections my work for self-promotion or advertising purposes unless specifically forbidden to do so by a confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement. For physical material, I would request a copy of the finished work.
If, as part of your brief to me, you include materials written by someone else, I will make every effort to ensure that I do not inadvertently breach their copyright. However, you confirm that you are authorised to send me the material for my use either as reference material or to form part of a new piece of work, and you indemnify me against any action arising, directly or indirectly, as a result of use of this content.
Errors, omissions and indemnity
I will of course do all I can to ensure that the copy I provide is error-free, but I stipulate that you review the copy before putting it into production, as ultimate accountability for the content rests with you.
I shall not be held liable in any country, including liability arising from copyright infringement and libel, which comes as a result of the way you use my services. You agree to indemnify me against any claim for compensation or damages brought about as a direct or indirect consequence of the work I do for you and/or your organisation.
It is your responsibility to fact-check the copy and ensure that any guarantees, claims, statements or general information about your product or service are upheld in accordance with the law. No claim for compensation due to any negative effect on you or your organisation can be made against me.
Working in partnership
I want you to be 100% happy with my work, and I believe in working in partnership with open communication and collaboration achieves the best results for your needs. However, writing is subjective and misinterpretations can happen. If I write something you feel does not meet the brief you have provided, please talk to me about it and I will do my best to find a resolution. Once we have had a full discussion and I have had the opportunity to fully address your concerns, I will write up to two further drafts of the work. If at that point you still do not believe I have met your brief, our contract can be cancelled. This is entirely without prejudice, with no liability on my part. Work that I have already completed is to be paid for, whether or not it has been approved, and on receipt of full payment you will own the work.
