Last Updated: February 9, 2012
This agreement changed on the date listed above.
See an explanation of the changes at the end of this document.
Kindle Direct Publishing Terms and Conditions
This agreement is made as part of an online application (the "Application") for participation in a digital self-publication and distribution program (the "Program") from Amazon Digital Services, Inc. and Amazon EU S.à.r.l. (together with their affiliates, "Amazon", "we" or "us") and includes, in addition to the terms set forth below, the
Pricing Page, all rules and policies for participating in the Program provided on the Amazon.com website ("Program Policies"), the Amazon.com website Conditions of Use and the Amazon.com Privacy Notice located at www.amazon.com/privacy (collectively, this "Agreement"). Any version of this Agreement in a language other than English is provided for convenience and the English language version will control if there is any conflict.
This Agreement is a binding agreement between each Amazon party and the individual or entity identified as the Publisher in the Application ("you" or "Publisher") with respect to your participation in the Program and your distribution of digital content through the Program (all such content, "Digital Books"). As used in this Agreement, Amazon "affiliates" means any entity that directly or indirectly controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with Amazon, and "Amazon party" means, individually, Amazon Digital Services, Inc., Amazon EU S.à.r.l., and each Amazon affiliate that joins as a party to this Agreement as provided in Section 10. If the Publisher is an entity, the individual person who accepts this Agreement for Publisher represents and warrants that he or she is entitled to enter this Agreement as an authorized representative of Publisher and to bind Publisher to the terms of this Agreement.
Given the importance of the terms of this Agreement, we encourage you to study them carefully.
1 Agreement Acceptance. You accept this Agreement and agree to be bound by its terms by either (a) clicking agree or accept where you're given the option to do so or (b) by using the Program, or any part of it. If you don't accept the terms, you are not entitled to use the Program. We welcome feedback on this Agreement at https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/contact-us
2 Agreement Amendment. The Program will change over time and the terms of this Agreement will need to change over time as well. We reserve the right to change the terms of this Agreement at any time in our sole discretion. We will give you notice of the changes by posting new terms in place of the old at
http://kdp.amazon.com/ with a revision date indicated at the top or by sending an email to the email address then registered for your Program account. Here are the rules for when changes will be effective and binding on you:
2.1 Changes to Agreement Terms Other than Those in Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights). Changes to terms of this Agreement other than those contained in Section 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights) will be effective on the date we post them, unless we otherwise provide at the time we post the changes. You are responsible for checking for updates and your continued use of the Program after we post changes will constitute your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the changes, you must withdraw your Digital Books from further distribution through the Program and terminate your use of the Program.
2.2 Changes to the Terms of Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights). Changes to terms of this Agreement contained in Sections 5.4.1 (Royalties) and 5.5 (Grant of Rights) will be effective and binding on you on the date thirty days from posting or on the date you accept the changes, whichever first occurs. You accept the changes by either (a) clicking agree or accept where you're given the option to do so or (b) by using the Program to make additional Digital Books available through the Program. Changes to the terms of Sections 5.4.1 and 5.5 will only apply prospectively with respect to Digital Books sold after the date thirty days from our posting of the changes, unless you accept the changes as provided above. If you do not accept the changes, you must withdraw your Digital Books from further distribution through the Program and terminate your use of the Program prior to the date thirty days from our posting of the changes. Note that we may make acceptance of changes a condition to continued use of the Program.
3 Term and Termination
The term of this Agreement will begin upon your acceptance of it and will continue until it is terminated by us or by you. We are entitled to terminate this Agreement and your access to your Program account at any time. We will notify you within 5 business days after termination. You are entitled to terminate at any time by providing us notice of termination, in which event we will cease selling your Digital Books within 5 business days from the date you provide us notice of termination. We may also suspend your Program account at any time with or without notice to you, for any reason in our discretion. Following termination or suspension, we may fulfill any customer orders for your Digital Books pending as of the date of termination or suspension, and we may continue to maintain digital copies of your Digital Books in order to provide continuing access to or re-downloads of your Digital Books or otherwise support customers who have purchased a Digital Book prior to termination or suspension. The following provisions of this Agreement will survive termination of this Agreement: Sections 1, 3, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 5.8, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and any other provisions that, by their nature, are intended to survive. All rights to Digital Books acquired by customers will survive termination.
4 Account Eligibility and Registration
4.1 Eligibility. In order to participate in the Program you must: (a) have an active Program account; and (b) be at least 18 years old or the legal age of majority in your place of residence.
4.2 Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with establishing your Program account, such as your name, address and email, is accurate when you provided it, and you must keep it up to date as long as you use the Program. You may maintain only one account at a time. If we terminate your account, you will not establish a new account. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You authorize us, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider appropriate to verify account information you provide. You also consent to us sending you emails relating to the Program from time to time. This takes precedence over any directions you may have given us, including through an Amazon web site.
4.3 Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorized the activities. You may not permit any third party to use the Program through your account and will not use the account of any third party. You agree to immediately notify Amazon of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account.
5 Digital Book Distribution Rights.
5.1 Delivery, Acceptance and Withdrawal.
5.1.1 Delivery. You must provide to us, at your own expense each Digital Book you desire to distribute through the Program. We will not return to you any electronic files or physical content or media you deliver to us in connection with the Program. You must deliver all electronic files free and clear of viruses, worms and other potentially harmful or disrupting code.
5.1.2 Content Requirements. You must ensure that all Digital Book content is in compliance with our Program Policies for content at the time you submit it to us. If you discover that content you have submitted does not comply, you must immediately withdraw the content by un-publishing it or by re-publishing content that complies through the Program procedures for Digital Book withdrawal or re-publishing. We are entitled to remove or modify the metadata and product description you provide for your Digital Books for any reason, including if we determine that it does not comply with our content requirements. We may also remove all or any part of your Digital Book’s cover art for any reason, including if we determine that it does not comply with our content requirements. You may not include in any Digital Book any advertisements or other content that is primarily intended to advertise or promote products or services. You must ensure that all metadata you provide to us is current, complete, and accurate. If you discover that any metadata you have provided to us for a Digital Book is inaccurate or incomplete, you must promptly submit corrected metadata to us through the Program procedures for metadata submission.
5.1.3 Digital Book Rejection. We are entitled to determine what content we accept and distribute through the Program in our sole discretion. If we request that you provide additional information relating to your Digital Books, such as information confirming that you have all rights required to permit our distribution of the Digital Books, you will promptly provide the information requested, and you represent and warrant that any information and documentation you provide to us in response to such a request will be current, complete, and accurate. You authorize us, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider appropriate to verify your rights to permit our distribution of the Digital Books and the accuracy of the information or documentation you provide to us with respect to those rights.
5.1.4 Digital Book Withdrawal. You may withdraw your Digital Books from further sale in the Program at any time on five business days advance notice by following the then current Program procedures for Digital Book withdrawal or un-publishing. We may fulfill any customer orders completed through the date the Digital Books are available for sale. All withdrawals of Digital Books will apply prospectively only and not with respect to any customers who purchased the Digital Books prior to the date of removal.
5.1.5 Reformatting. We may, in our discretion, reformat your Digital Books, and you acknowledge that unintentional errors may occur in the process of reformatting of your Digital Books. If any such errors do occur, you may remove the affected Digital Book from further sale in the Program as provided in Section 5.1.4 above, and this will be your only remedy for the errors. We may also, in our discretion, correct any errors existing in a Digital Book file as you deliver it to us.
5.2 Marketing and Promotion; Kindle Book Lending Program.
5.2.1 Marketing and Promotion. We will have sole discretion in determining all marketing and promotions related to the sale of your Digital Books through the Program and may, without limitation, market and promote your Digital Books by making chapters or portions of your Digital Books available to prospective customers without charge, and by permitting prospective customers to see excerpts of your Digital Books in response to search queries. We will not owe you any fees for any marketing or promotional efforts. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to market, distribute, or offer for sale any Digital Book, or to continuing marketing, distributing or selling a Digital Book after we have commenced doing so.
5.2.2 Kindle Book Lending Program. The Kindle Book Lending program enables customers who purchase a Digital Book to lend it subject to limitations we establish from time to time. All Digital Books made available through the Program are automatically included in the Kindle Book Lending program. However, for Digital Books that are in the 35% Royalty Option (as described in the
Pricing Page), you may choose to opt out of the Kindle Book Lending program. This will disable lending of the Digital Book by customers who purchase it after you have opted it out, but this will not affect the right of customers who purchased it when lending was enabled to continue to lend it. You may not choose to opt out a Digital Book if it is included in the lending program of another sales or distribution channel. If we become aware that a Digital Book you have opted out is included in the lending program of another sales or distribution channel, we may enable it for lending. Digital Books that are in the 70% Royalty Option (as described in the
Pricing Page) cannot be opted out of the lending feature.
5.2.3 Optional Programs and Services. We may make available to you optional programs and services through KDP. Terms and conditions for those optional programs and services are included at the end of this Agreement. Those terms and conditions are part of this Agreement.
5.3 Pricing and Program Terms.
5.3.1 List Price. You will provide a list price for each Digital Book you submit to us in accordance with the then current Program procedures for list price submission ("List Price"). The List Price you provide will be exclusive of value-added or similar taxes which are included within the purchase price of a product ("VAT"). If we display a digital list price to customers, we may add applicable VAT to the List Price you provide to determine the digital list price that we display. If we offer your Digital Book for sale in a currency (the "Sale Currency") other than the currency in which you have submitted your List Price, we may convert the List Price to the Sale Currency at an exchange rate we determine, and periodically update the converted List Price in order to reflect current exchange rates. If we convert your List Price to another Sale Currency, the converted List Price in the Sale Currency will be your List Price with respect to the offer and sale of your Digital Book in the Sale Currency for all purposes under this Agreement (for example, your Royalties will be calculated based on the converted List Price in the Sale Currency). If the converted List Price would be outside of the minimum or maximum List Price we accept for the Sale Currency, your List Price will be converted so that it is equal to the applicable minimum or maximum List Price for that Sale Currency. Minimum and maximum List Prices are specified on the
List Price requirements page. We may give you the option to provide multiple List Prices for a Digital Book in different currencies or for different Amazon websites. If you provide multiple List Prices for a Digital Book, where we sell your Digital Book to customers in a particular country from more than one Amazon website, we may use one of those List Prices for sales to customers in that country on all of our websites, to provide consistency across those websites. For example, if you provide us with a UK Pounds List Price and a US Dollar List Price for a Digital Book, we may use the UK Pounds List Price for sales to UK customers from all of our websites, including Amazon.com, and we may convert it as provided above. You will adjust the List Price as required to ensure that, at all times that the Digital Book is available for sale through the Program, the List Price meets the requirements provided in the
Pricing Page. Any increase in List Price you provide to us will be effective within 5 business days following the date on which you submit it. We may provide other requirements for List Prices in the Program Policies which your Digital Books must meet in order to be accepted and remain in the Program, in addition to the requirements provided in the
Pricing Page.
5.3.2 Customer Prices.To the extent permissible under applicable local laws, we have sole and complete discretion to set the retail price at which your Digital Books are sold through the Program. We are solely responsible for processing payments, payment collection, requests for refunds and related customer service, and will have sole ownership and control of all data obtained from customers and prospective customers in connection with the Program.
5.4 Payments.
5.4.1 Royalties. If you are not in breach of your obligations under this Agreement, for each Digital Book sold to a customer (i.e., an end user) through the Program, the Amazon party that made the sale will pay you the applicable Royalty set forth in the
Pricing Page, net of refunds, bad debt, and any taxes charged to a customer or applied with respect to sales to a customer (including without limitation any VAT or sales taxes). If your List Price for a Digital Book is higher than permitted under the
Pricing Page, we will be entitled to deem it modified so that it is equal to the maximum List Price permitted when calculating Royalties due to you under this Agreement.
5.4.2 Payment Terms. Amazon parties will pay Royalties on their respective Digital Book sales approximately sixty (60) days following the end of the calendar month during which they make the applicable sale. At the time of payment, we will make available to you an online report detailing sales of Digital Books and corresponding Royalties. All payments will be made via check, Electronic Funds Transfer ("EFT") payments or other method we designate in the Program Policies, in the Sale Currency or other payment currency we provide for in the Program Policies. If we give you the option to change your payment currency and you select that option using our then-current procedures, the change will be effective on the first day of the calendar month following the calendar month in which you make the change (unless we make an earlier period available). If we pay you in a currency other than the Sale Currency, we will convert the Royalties due from the Sale Currency to the payment currency at an exchange rate we determine, which will be inclusive of all fees and charges for the conversion. We may require you to register in your Program account a valid bank account for receiving EFT payments that is in compliance with the then-current Program Policies, in which case we will not be obligated to make payments of Royalties to you unless you do so. We are entitled to accrue and withhold payments until the total amount due is at least $10 if by EFT or $100 if by check, or for payments in other currencies, at least those amounts we set forth in the Program Policies. You may not maintain any action or proceeding against us in respect of any statement unless you commence that action or suit within six (6) months after the date the statement is rendered. Any such action or proceeding shall be limited to a determination of the amount of monies, if any, payable by us to you for the accounting periods in question, and your sole remedy will be the recovery of those monies with no interest. We can withhold, offset or reduce Royalties as follows:
(i) If we pay you a Royalty on a sale and later issue a refund, return, or credit for such sale, we may offset the amount of the Royalty previously paid for the sale against future Royalties, or require you to remit that amount to us.
(ii) If a third party asserts that you did not have all rights required to make one of your Digital Books available through the Program we may hold all Royalties due to you until we reasonably determine the validity of the third party claim. If we determine that you did not have all of those rights or that you have otherwise breached your representations and warranties or our
Content Guidelines with regard to a Digital Book, we will not owe you Royalties for that Digital Book and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us.
(iii) If we terminate this Agreement because you have breached your representations and warranties or our
Content Guidelines, you forfeit all Royalties not yet paid to you.
(iv) Upon termination of this Agreement, we may withhold all Royalties due for a period of three months from the date they would otherwise be payable in order to ensure our ability to off-set any refunds or other offsets we are entitled to take against the Royalties.
(v) If after we have terminated your account you open a new account without our express permission, we will not owe you any Royalties through the new account.
Our exercise of these rights does not limit other rights we may have to withhold or offset Royalties or exercise other remedies.
5.4.3 Taxes. The Amazon parties are responsible for collecting and remitting any and all taxes imposed on their respective sales of Digital Books to customers. You are responsible for any income or other taxes due and payable resulting from payments to you by an Amazon party under this Agreement. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated, the amounts due to you hereunder are inclusive of any taxes that may apply to such payments. The Amazon parties maintain the right, however, to deduct or withhold any and all applicable taxes from amounts due by them to you, and the amounts due, as reduced by those deductions or withholdings, will constitute full payment and settlement to you.
5.5 Grant of Rights. You grant to each Amazon party, throughout the term of this Agreement, a nonexclusive, irrevocable, right and license to distribute Digital Books, directly and through third-party distributors, in all digital formats by all digital distribution means available. This right includes, without limitation, the right to: (a) reproduce and store Digital Books on one or more computer facilities, and reformat, convert and encode Digital Books; (b) display, market, transmit, distribute, sell and otherwise digitally make available all or any portion of Digital Books through Amazon Properties (as defined below), for customers and prospective customers to download, access, copy and paste, print, annotate and/or view online and offline, including on portable devices; (c) permit customers to "store" Digital Books that they have purchased from us on servers ("Virtual Storage") and to access and re-download such Digital Books from Virtual Storage from time to time both during and after the term of this Agreement; (d) display and distribute (i) your trademarks and logos in the form you provide them to us or within Digital Books (with such modifications as are necessary to optimize their viewing), and (ii) portions of Digital Books, in each case solely for the purposes of marketing, soliciting and selling Digital Books and related Amazon offerings; (e) use, reproduce, adapt, modify, and distribute, as we determine appropriate, in our sole discretion, any metadata that you provide in connection with Digital Books; and (f) transmit, reproduce and otherwise use (or cause the reformatting, transmission, reproduction, and/or other use of) Digital Books as mere technological incidents to and for the limited purpose of technically enabling the foregoing (e.g., caching to enable display). In addition, you agree that we may permit our affiliates and independent contractors, and our affiliates' independent contractors, to exercise the rights that you grant to us in this Agreement. "Amazon Properties" means any web site, application or online point of presence, on any platform, that is owned or operated by or under license by Amazon or co-branded with Amazon, and any web site, application, device or online point of presence through which any Amazon Properties or products available for sale on them are syndicated, offered, merchandised, advertised or described. You grant us the rights set forth in this Section 5.5 on a worldwide basis; however, if we make available to you a procedure for indicating that you do not have worldwide distribution rights to a Digital Book, then the territory for the sale of that Digital Book will be those territories for which you indicate, through the procedure we provide to you, that you have distribution rights.
5.6 DRM and Geofiltering Technology. We may, but are not obligated, to provide you the option to apply DRM technology in connection with the distribution of your Digital Books. If we provide you the option to apply DRM technology, you acknowledge that we make no representations as to the efficacy of the DRM and will not be responsible for any failure of the DRM. We also may, but are not obligated, to use geofiltering technology as a way of determining which customers are entitled to purchase Digital Books, for example, where you indicate that you do not have worldwide distribution rights to a Digital Book through the procedure we provide to you for that purpose. If we use geofiltering technology when distributing your Digital Books, distribution will be deemed to have taken place within the permitted distribution territories for the Digital Books, even though customers may, in fact, be located outside those territories.
5.7 Rights Clearances and Rights Dispute Resolution. You will obtain and pay for any and all necessary clearances and licenses for the Digital Books to permit our exercise of the rights granted under this Agreement without any further payment obligation by us, including, without limitation, all royalties and other income due to any copyright owner. If you notify us through the procedure we provide on the applicable Amazon Property for making claims of copyright infringement that a third party has made a Digital Book available for distribution through the Program (or for distribution in a particular territory through the Program) that you have the exclusive right to make available under the Program, then, upon your request and after verification of your claim, we will pay you the Royalties due in connection with any sales of the Digital Book through the Program, and will remove the Digital Book from future sale through the Program, as your sole and exclusive remedy.
5.8 Representations, Warranties and Indemnities. You represent and warrant that: (a) you have the full right, power and authority to enter into and fully perform this Agreement and will comply with the terms of this Agreement; (b) prior to you or your designee's delivery of any content, you will have obtained all rights that are necessary for the exercise the rights granted under this Agreement; (c) neither the exercise of the rights authorized under this Agreement nor any materials embodied in the content nor its sale or distribution as authorized in this Agreement will violate or infringe upon the intellectual property, proprietary or other rights of any person or entity, including, without limitation, contractual rights, copyrights, trademarks, common law rights, rights of publicity, or privacy, or moral rights, or contain defamatory material or violate any laws or regulations of any jurisdiction; (d) you will ensure that all Digital Books delivered under the Program comply with the technical delivery specifications provided by us; and (e) you will be solely responsible for accounting and paying any co-owners or co-administrators of any Digital Book or portion thereof any royalties with respect to the uses of the content and their respective shares, if any, of any monies payable hereunder. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold Amazon, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, subcontractors and assigns harmless from and against any loss, claim, liability, damage, action or cause of action (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arises from any breach of your representations, warranties or obligations set forth in this Agreement. We will be entitled, at our expense, to participate in the defense and settlement of the claim or action with counsel of our own choosing.
6 Ownership and Control of Amazon Properties/ Feedback. Subject to the authorizations you grant to us under this Agreement, as between us and you, you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your Digital Books. We retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interests in and to the Program and the Amazon Properties. We are solely responsible for, and will have full discretion with respect to the terms, features, and operation of the Program and the Amazon Properties and related marketing, but our use of the Digital Books will be subject to the terms of this Agreement. In the event that you elect to provide suggestions, ideas, or other feedback to Amazon or any of its affiliates in connection with the Amazon Properties or the Program ("Feedback"), Amazon and its affiliates will be free to use and exploit the same in any manner without restriction and without any need to compensate you. This Agreement does not grant you any license or other rights to any intellectual property or technology owned or operated by us or any of our affiliates, including, without limitation, any trademarks or trade names. Nothing in this Agreement restricts any rights we may have under applicable law or a separate permission.
7 Confidentiality. You will not, without our express, prior written permission: (a) issue any press release or make any other public disclosures regarding this Agreement or its terms; (b) disclose Amazon Confidential Information (as defined below) to any third party or to any employee other than an employee who needs to know the information; or (c) use Amazon Confidential Information for any purpose other than the performance of this Agreement. You may however disclose Amazon Confidential Information as required to comply with applicable law, provided you: (i) give us prior written notice sufficient to allow us to seek a protective order or other appropriate remedy; (ii) disclose only that Amazon Confidential Information as is required by applicable law; and (iii) use reasonable efforts to obtain confidential treatment for any Amazon Confidential Information so disclosed. "Amazon Confidential Information" means (1) any information regarding Amazon, its affiliates, and their businesses, including, without limitation information relating to our technology, customers, business plans, promotional and marketing activities, finances and other business affairs, (2) the nature, content and existence of any communications between you and us, and (3) any sales data relating to the sale of Digital Books or other information we provide or make available to you in connection with the Program. Amazon Confidential Information does not include information that (A) is or becomes publicly available without breach of this Agreement, (B) you can show by documentation to have been known to you at the time you receive it from us, (C) you receive from a third party who did not acquire or disclose such information by a wrongful or tortious act, or (D) you can show by documentation that you have independently developed without reference to any Amazon Confidential Information. Without limiting the survivability of any other provision of this Agreement, this Section 7 will survive three (3) years following the termination of this Agreement.
8 Limitation of Liability. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY AMAZON UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. PUBLISHER ACKNOWLEDGES AND AGREES THAT AMAZON CANNOT ENSURE THAT DIGITAL BOOKS SUBMITTED BY OR ON BEHALF OF PUBLISHER WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES AMAZON MAY MAKE APPLICABLE IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF DIGITAL BOOKS, AND AMAZON WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. KDP RELIES ON COMPLEX SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES. WE STRIVE TO MAKE OUR SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES ERROR-FREE AND EFFICIENT, BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT THEY WILL BE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTEM OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
9 Force Majeure. Amazon will not be liable to you for any failure or delay in the performance of its obligations hereunder caused by any event or circumstance beyond its control, including, but not limited to, denial-of-service attacks, insurrection, fires, flood, storm, explosions, acts of God, war, terrorism, and labor conditions.
10 General Legal Provisions. This Agreement may not be amended, except in writing signed by both parties or as provided in Section 2 above. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The parties to this Agreement are independent contractors. Each party will bear its own costs and expenses in performing this Agreement. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision. Any Amazon affiliate may join as a party to this Agreement and will notify you if it does. The joining Amazon affiliate will be entitled to exercise the rights you grant under this Agreement. Each Amazon party is severally liable for its own obligations under this Agreement and is not jointly liable for the obligations of other Amazon parties. Neither party may assign any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other, except that (a) Amazon may assign any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without consent and (b) you may assign all of your rights and obligations under this Agreement to any corporation or other entity without consent in connection with the sale of all or substantially all of your assets, but you must give Amazon written notice of the assignment no later than ten (10) business days following the assignment. Subject to the foregoing limitation, this Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns. THIS AGREEMENT WILL BE GOVERNED BY THE LAWS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON, WITHOUT REFERENCE TO RULES GOVERNING CHOICE OF LAWS OR THE U.N. CONVENTION ON CONTRACTS FOR THE INTERNATIONAL SALE OF GOODS. YOU HEREBY IRREVOCABLY CONSENT TO AND WAIVE ANY OBJECTION TO THE EXCLUSIVE JURISDICTION AND VENUE OF THE FEDERAL AND STATE COURTS LOCATED AT KING COUNTY, WASHINGTON WITH RESPECT TO ANY CLAIMS, SUITS OR PROCEEDINGS ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE TRANSACTIONS CONTEMPLATED HEREBY. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter, supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous agreements between the parties with respect to its subject matter, and does not confer upon any other person other than the parties any rights or remedies. You consent to the use of electronic means to complete this Agreement and to provide you with any notices we give you in relation to this Agreement. To be effective, any notice given by a party under this Agreement must be in writing and delivered (i) if by an Amazon party, via email, via a posting on the Program website or via a message through your Program account, or (ii) if by you to Amazon Digital Services, Inc., via email to kdp-support@amazon.com with a copy to contracts-legal@amazon.com, and if by you to Amazon EU S.à.r.l., via email to eu-kdpcontractnotice@amazon.lu with a copy to eu-contracts@amazon.lu. Notices will be effective and deemed received on the date transmitted or posted.
Terms and Conditions for Optional Programs and Services
KDP Select Option Terms and Conditions.
KDP Select is an option for KDP publishers. Through KDP Select, for an initial period of 90 days your Digital Book is exclusive to Kindle and is included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program where it will earn a share of a monthly cash fund when readers borrow it. Also, you can promote your Digital Book as free for up to 5 days during these 90 days. Before including your book in KDP Select, please read these terms and conditions carefully.
1 Exclusivity. When you include a Digital Book in KDP Select, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Digital Book in digital format while your book is in KDP Select. During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Digital Book (or a book that is substantially similar), in digital format in any territory where you have rights.
2 KDP Select Benefits.
2.1 Free Promotions. You can schedule one or more free promotions for your Digital Book for a total period of 5 days during each 90-day period your Digital Book is in KDP Select. A free promotion is the offering of your Digital Book to customers for a price of zero. You will not receive any Royalties on your Digital Book during a free promotion. Free promotions may not be available for sales to customers in certain countries. If you don’t use all 5 free promotion days during the 90-day period, you can’t roll them over to future periods. Scheduled start times and end times of free promotions are approximate due to potential system latencies.
2.2 Inclusion in Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program. Digital Books included in KDP Select will be automatically included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program described in more detail
here. The Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program will be available on Amazon.com and may not be available on international Amazon websites or to customers outside the United States. Your Digital Book will not be available through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program during any period when it is available for free in the Kindle store.
2.3 KDP Select Fund. We will establish a fund on a monthly basis and you will earn a share of that fund for each of your Digital Books included in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program. Your share will be calculated as the number of times that the Digital Book has been borrowed during the month as a percentage of the number of times all KDP Digital Books have been borrowed, multiplied by the fund amount we establish for that month. This share is your total Royalty for borrows of that Digital Book through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program. For example, if the fund for a particular month is $500,000, your Digital Book is borrowed 1,500 times, and all participating Digital Books are cumulatively borrowed 100,000 times, your Digital Book will earn $7,500 ($500,000 x 1,500/100,000 = $7,500). We will determine in our sole discretion the criteria for determining which borrowing events qualify for this calculation. A maximum of one borrowing per customer will qualify. We may publically announce the top Digital Books borrowed, including the author, publisher, number of borrows and KDP Select fund royalties earned.
3 Period of Participation and Automatic Renewal. Once you include a Digital Book in KDP Select, your Digital Book will be in KDP Select for a period of 90 days, unless we remove your Digital Book from KDP Select.
Your Digital Book’s participation will automatically renew for additional 90-day periods, unless you opt out through the KDP website before renewal. We can end KDP Select at any time in our discretion; if we do, these terms and conditions will no longer be in effect, except Section 5 will survive. A customer who borrows your Digital Book can continue to keep it checked out for as long as they want, including after your Digital Book’s participation in KDP Select ends.
4 Book Eligibility. Because this option is for exclusive content, if you do not control the exclusive rights to your Digital Book or the primary content in your Digital Book, you cannot include it in KDP Select. For example, if your Digital Book consists primarily of content that is in the public domain or licensed by you on a non-exclusive basis (i.e., if others can also publish this content), you cannot include it in KDP Select. We reserve the right to determine the types of Digital Books that we accept in KDP Select. We can choose not to accept your Digital Book in KDP Select or to remove it from KDP Select at any time in our discretion.
5 Your Commitment. Your commitment to these terms and conditions is important, and the benefits we provide to you as part of this option are conditioned on your following through on your commitments. If you un-publish your Digital Book, we will remove it from the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library, but you must continue to comply with these commitments, including exclusivity, through the remainder of the Digital Book’s then-current 90-day period of participation in KDP Select. If you don’t comply with these KDP Select terms and conditions, we will not owe you Royalties for that Digital Book earned through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library Program, and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us. We may also withhold your Royalty payments on all your Digital Books for a period of up to 90 days while we investigate. This doesn’t limit other remedies we have, such as prohibiting your future participation in KDP Select or KDP generally.
Recent Changes
We updated the Agreement on the date listed at the top of this Agreement. Below is a summary of the principal changes contained in the revised Agreement. You should carefully review the revised Agreement in its entirety to ensure you understand fully all terms of the revised Agreement.
• We added the last two sentences in Section 8.
• We modified the second sentence of Section 1 of the KDP Select Option Terms and Conditions.
