Author Publishing Contract

In short: you keep your copyright and may publish anywhere, including Amazon. We list your book, print each copy only after a reader pays, charge a 20% platform fee on the selling price, and pay your royalty every month. There is no exclusivity and no minimum sales.

The same text as the Author Publishing Contract you can sign on paper; a Sinhala version is part of that document. If the two differ, the English version controls.

1. Who can sign

• You are 18 or older and have the right to sign for this book.
• Co-authors: every co-author must agree. Either each signs, or one signs with written permission from the others.
• Publisher or representative: you sign with written authority from the author or rights owner and you are responsible for that authority.

2. Your copyright and what you allow us to do

You keep the copyright. You give us a non-exclusive licence, only for running the service, to: store your files privately; show your cover, title, description, author name and the sample pages or excerpts you choose; promote the book on our site, emails and social media; send the print file to an approved printer only for orders readers have paid for; sell the printed and digital editions you choose; and make the technical copies needed for this (for example a copy code, a reader version or a cover thumbnail).

• We get no other rights. We never edit your words.
• You are free to publish the same book anywhere else, including Amazon. No exclusivity, no minimum sales.
• When you withdraw a book we stop selling and promoting it (clause 12).

3. Your promises

• You own the book, or have written permission, for the text, cover, pictures and quotations.
• It is not unlawful, defamatory or copied, and does not break the Intellectual Property Act No. 36 of 2003.
• The title, author name, edition and ISBN details you enter are correct.
• Your files are final and print-ready. Mistakes inside your files (spelling, layout, low-quality images) are yours to fix, not a printing defect.

4. How we protect your files

• Your files are stored privately. Only staff who need them and the printer assigned to a paid order can open them.
• Printers get a file through a short-lived personal link, and every download is logged.
• A printer may use a file only for that order, must not keep, copy or share it, and must delete it within 7 days of dispatch under the Printer Agreement. We enforce this.
• Printed and digital copies carry a copy code, so a leaked copy can be traced.
• No AI training: we and our printers will not use your manuscript or files to train any AI model, or let anyone else do so, without your separate written permission. Automated tools are used only to check, review and prepare your book for sale.
• We tell you without delay if a security incident affects your files. No system can stop every copier, so we do not promise that piracy is impossible, but we act on it (clause 11).

5. Price, platform fee and royalty

• You choose the selling price, at or above the minimum the site shows.
• The platform fee is 20% of the selling price. Delivery charges and any separately stated taxes are not part of the selling price.
• Printed book: royalty = selling price − 20% platform fee − printing cost − payment processing fee.
• Digital book: royalty = selling price − 20% platform fee − payment processing fee.
• The payment processing fee is the gateway's charge, now 3.4% of the selling price + LKR 50. If the gateway changes it, we show the new figure before it applies.
• Before you publish, your dashboard shows the price, the 20% fee, the printing cost, the payment fee and your royalty. No other deductions are made. No discount is applied to your book without your approval.
• If the printing cost of your book changes, we show the new royalty before it applies. You can then change the price or withdraw. Changes never touch orders already placed.
• You can change your price at any time on your dashboard, without a new review. The new price applies to new orders only.
• Free book: no fee and no royalty.
• Religious books we approve under our free-publishing offer carry no platform fee; only the printing cost and the payment fee are deducted.

The printing cost depends on pages, size, format and the printer; your real figure is shown before you publish.

6. Delivery, printing quality and refunds

• Readers pay delivery separately at checkout. Delivery is not part of your royalty.
• We arrange printing and delivery through approved printers and couriers. Printers must print to your approved files and the ordered size, paper, cover and binding, to a reasonable quality.
• Printing defects (missing pages, wrong binding, damaged cover, print errors, wrong trimming) are reprinted at the printer's cost. We handle the complaint. You never pay for them.

A reversed royalty comes off your unpaid balance, or off future royalties if it was already paid.

7. When and how you are paid

• A royalty is recorded when the reader's payment is confirmed and becomes payable 30 days after delivery (for a digital book, 30 days after purchase).
• We pay monthly by bank transfer once your payable balance reaches LKR 2,000, with a statement.
• If you close your account, or we end this contract, we pay your whole payable balance even if it is under LKR 2,000.
• Your dashboard shows every sale, deduction, refund and payment. If you think a figure is wrong, tell us within 90 days of the statement; we check and reply within 14 days and correct any error either way.
• Tax: if the law requires us to withhold tax, we deduct it and give you a certificate. Otherwise royalties are paid gross and you handle your own income tax. [Accountant to confirm for resident and overseas authors.]

8. ISBN

• Option A: use your own ISBN.
• Option B: ISBN help from us for a fee, shown before you pay (now LKR 1,500, plus the National Library's own fee, now LKR 100, paid by you). We apply to the National Library and Documentation Services Board in your name, so you are the registered publisher and the ISBN belongs to you.
• An ISBN is optional on Sri Sinharaja. Each format and each new edition may need its own ISBN. An ISBN cannot be moved to another book.

9. Digital books

• Readers always read online in the Sri Sinharaja reader. You choose whether buyers may also download it as a PDF or EPUB. Readers see this before they buy.
• A reader gets a personal licence to read the book, not the copyright. Sharing or reselling it is forbidden by our terms, and each copy carries the buyer's details.
• If you withdraw the book, readers who already bought it keep access to their copy. We keep the file only for that.

10. Updating your files

You may upload a new manuscript or cover at any time. It is reviewed before it goes live. Orders already placed are printed from the version approved when the order was made. A new edition may need a new ISBN.

11. Piracy and rights complaints

• Tell us about any pirated copy. We investigate, use the copy codes to find the source, and act against a printer or reader who leaked it (suspension, ending their agreement, and legal steps where reasonable).
• If someone says your book breaks their rights, we may pause sales while we check. We tell you, give you 7 days to reply, and then restore or remove the book with a reason.

12. Withdrawing a book and ending the contract

• You may withdraw a book at any time from your dashboard. It stops being sold, paid orders are still printed, and their royalties are paid.
• Your files are deleted from our storage within 90 days, except the digital copy kept for past buyers (clause 9) and the records the law requires us to keep.
• We may remove a book for legal, copyright, quality or policy reasons, and we tell you why.
• You may end this contract at any time by withdrawing all your books. We may end it with 30 days' notice, or at once for a serious breach of clause 3. Money you have earned is always paid; royalties from a sale under a rights complaint may be held until it is resolved.

13. If Sri Sinharaja closes

We give at least 60 days' notice by email. Paid orders are completed or refunded. All payable royalties are paid, even under LKR 2,000. Readers get time to download books they bought. Your files are then deleted, or returned to you if you ask.

14. Your personal data

We collect your name, ID number, contact details and bank details only to run the service and pay you. Bank details are seen only by administrators, are stored securely and are never sold. You may ask to see or correct your data. We follow our Privacy Policy and the Personal Data Protection Act No. 9 of 2022 (amended by Act No. 22 of 2025) as its parts come into force.

15. Responsibility and events outside our control

• You are responsible for claims caused by breaking your promises in clause 3. We tell you about a claim quickly and let you respond before anything is settled.
• We are responsible for our own failures: unpaid royalties, misuse of your files by us, and breaking this contract or data law. We pursue any printer that misuses your files.
• Neither side is liable for indirect loss. Otherwise each side's total liability is limited to the royalties paid or payable to you in the previous 12 months. This limit does not apply to unpaid royalties, fraud, deliberate misconduct, breaches of clause 3, or anything the law does not allow us to limit.
• Neither side is responsible for delays caused by events outside reasonable control (for example floods, epidemics, curfews, government orders, power, internet, bank or courier shutdowns). The affected side tells the other, and if it lasts more than 60 days either side may end this contract. Earned money is still paid.

16. Changes, signing online, law and language

• We tell you about any change to this contract by email and on your dashboard at least 30 days before it applies, and you may withdraw before then. A change that lowers your royalty share, widens the rights you give us or touches your copyright needs your active consent. Changes never apply to orders already placed.
• You may sign on paper or accept online. Online acceptance and electronic signatures are valid under the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006 (amended by Act No. 25 of 2017). We keep a record of the version you accepted, the date and the time, and you can download a copy at any time.
• This contract is governed by the laws of Sri Lanka. Problems are first raised with support and talked through for 30 days, then by mediation if both agree, and then in a competent court in Sri Lanka.
• The English and Sinhala versions say the same. If they differ, the English version controls.

Sri Sinharaja Author Publishing Contract v2.4, 22 October 2026. A draft for review by a Sri Lankan lawyer and accountant before signing; it has not been legally approved. Items in [square brackets] are still open.