SA Books Online – Terms and Conditions

Terminology

• • "Client", "You", "Your" refers to you, the author, publisher, or user of our services.
• • "The Company", "We", "Our", "Us" refers to SA Books Online (Pty) Ltd.
• • "Parties" refers to both you and SA Books Online collectively.

1. Our Services

SA Books Online provides a direct publishing and distribution platform for African literature in multiple formats, including physical books, eBooks, audiobooks, magazines, newspapers, and academic materials.

We offer:

• • Profile Creation: A secure author/publisher profile for listing works.
• • Book Listing & Metadata Setup: Compliance with ONIX international metadata standards.
• • eBook & Audiobook Conversion: Charged separately at published rates.
• • Trade Levy Access:
• ◦ African Trade Levy: R199/month
• ◦ Global Trade Levy: R499/month

Clients may choose to pay upfront annually (20% discount) or have the levy deducted from quarterly royalty payouts.

• • Distribution & Retail: Global and regional distribution channels, with SA Books Online earning a 35% commission per sale.
• • Consultation Services: Optional brand strategy, product development, and publishing roadmap sessions.

2. Onboarding and Content Requirements

• • All works must be submitted in the required digital formats for listing.
• • All submissions will undergo a content quality review to ensure they meet platform standards.
• • SA Books Online reserves the right to decline content that violates copyright, contains prohibited material, or does not meet our quality benchmarks.

3. Sales, Revenue, and Royalties

• • Authors and publishers earn 65% royalties from all sales through the SA Books Online platform.
• • Royalties are calculated on the basis of completed and cleared sales.
• • Royalty payouts are made on a quarterly basis (March, June, September, December).
• • Clients on the Pay Later option will have applicable Trade Levies deducted before payout.
• • Payment requests outside of the quarterly payout cycle may be considered and are subject to an administrative fee.
• • All royalties are paid via the author/publisher's designated bank account.

4. Payment & Fees

• • Trade Levies are payable monthly, annually, or via royalty deduction.
• • Conversion, consultation, and additional service fees are quoted and invoiced separately.
• • All fees are non-refundable once services have been delivered.

5. Intellectual Property

• • Authors/publishers retain full copyright ownership of their works.
• • By listing on SA Books Online, you grant us a non-exclusive license to market, distribute, and sell your work in agreed territories.
• • You affirm that you own or have secured rights to all submitted content.

6. Delivery & Transactions for Physical Books

• • SA Books Online does not handle physical book storage, delivery, or payment collection for third-party (direct) sales.
• • Responsibility for physical fulfilment lies solely with the author/publisher.

7. Liability

• • SA Books Online is not liable for any indirect loss, damage, or claims arising from the use of our platform.
• • We do not guarantee specific sales performance.

8. Termination

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts for:

• • Breach of these terms.
• • Repeated failure to meet payment obligations.
• • Submission of prohibited or fraudulent content.

9. Dispute Resolution

• • Disputes will be resolved through good faith negotiation or online mediation.
• • Where applicable, disputes may be referred to relevant statutory bodies in South Africa.

10. Amendments

SA Books Online may update these terms from time to time. Continued use of our services after changes are published constitutes acceptance of the revised terms.