Terms and Conditions

These Terms and Conditions (“Terms”) are the standard terms of Steven Godson, trading as WritingForYou (“the Writer”, “we”, “us”, “our”), a sole trader. Contact: [steven@stevengodson.com].

These Terms apply to every ghostwriting, copywriting, and technical writing engagement booked through writingforyou.stevengodson.com or agreed directly with the Writer (each, an “Engagement”).

An Engagement is confirmed, and these Terms take effect, when the person or organisation commissioning the work (“the Client”, “you”) does any of the following: signs or otherwise accepts a quotation, Order Form, or Statement of Work; pays a deposit; or instructs the Writer to begin work. Where an Order Form or Statement of Work sets out specific commercial terms (fees, scope, deadlines) for an Engagement, those terms sit alongside these Terms and take precedence over them in the event of a conflict.

• “Consumer Client”means a Client who is an individual entering into the Engagement wholly or mainly for purposes outside that individual’s trade, business, craft, or profession (as defined in the Consumer Rights Act 2015).
• “Business Client” means any Client that is not a Consumer Client, including sole traders, partnerships, and companies commissioning work for business, trade, or professional purposes.
• “Content” and “Deliverables” mean the written material the Writer produces under an Engagement, in both draft and final form.
• “Fees” means the amounts payable by the Client, as set out in the applicable quotation, Order Form, or Statement of Work.
• “Confidential Information” has the meaning given in clause 11.

Where a clause below applies only to Consumer Clients or only to Business Clients, it is marked accordingly. All other clauses apply to every Engagement. These Terms are written to be clear and in plain language; if you are a Consumer Client and a clause could reasonably be read in more than one way, the interpretation most favourable to you will apply, in line with the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

A quotation is valid for 30 days from the date it is issued unless stated otherwise. No Engagement is binding until confirmed in accordance with clause 1. Enquiries submitted through the website are treated as an invitation for the Writer to quote, not as an accepted order; the contract is formed only once the Writer confirms acceptance in writing (including by email) or begins work with the Client’s agreement.

Consumer Clients:before you confirm an Engagement, the Writer will give you the information required by the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, including the Writer’s identity and contact details, the main characteristics of the Services, the price, and your cancellation rights under clause 17. The Writer will also send you written confirmation of the Engagement and these Terms by email, which you can keep for your records.

The Writer will provide the writing, editing, and related services described in the relevant Order Form or Statement of Work, which will typically set out the format, approximate length, subject matter, number of drafts, and delivery date(s) for each Deliverable. Any services not described in the Order Form or Statement of Work are outside the scope of the Engagement and may be quoted separately.

The Client will: provide a clear brief and any source material, facts, quotes, or background information (“Client Material”) the Writer reasonably needs; respond to questions and review draft Deliverables within a reasonable time (10 business days unless otherwise agreed); and give clear, consolidated feedback rather than successive rounds of piecemeal changes. Delays caused by the Client in providing Client Material or feedback may extend agreed delivery dates accordingly, and the Writer is not responsible for any resulting delay.

Unless the Order Form or Statement of Work says otherwise: a deposit of 50% of the Fees is payable on confirmation of the Engagement, with the balance invoiced on delivery of the final Deliverable; invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date, by bank transfer, in pounds sterling; and Fees are exclusive of VAT, which will be added if and when the Writer is VAT-registered and required to charge it. The Writer is not obliged to release a final, polished copy of a Deliverable, or to make the copyright assignment in clause 9 effective, until Fees for that Deliverable have been paid in full.

Business Clients:if an invoice is not paid by its due date, the Writer may charge statutory interest and compensation in accordance with the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998, currently 8% per year above the Bank of England base rate, and may suspend further work until the account is brought up to date, without affecting the Writer’s other rights.

Consumer Clients: if an invoice is not paid by its due date, the Writer will first send a reminder. If payment is still not received, the Writer may charge interest on the overdue amount at 3% per year above the Bank of England base rate, calculated daily from the due date until paid, and may suspend further work until the account is brought up to date.

Each Deliverable includes up to two rounds of revisions to address feedback on the original brief, requested within a reasonable time of delivery. Requests that go beyond the original brief (for example, a change of topic, format, or substantial rewrite after approval) are treated as new work and quoted separately. Further revision rounds beyond those included are charged at the Writer’s standard hourly or day rate, confirmed before the work begins.

Until the Writer has received the Fees for a Deliverable in full, copyright in that Deliverable, and in all drafts of it, remains with the Writer.

On payment in full, the Writer assigns to the Client, by way of present and future assignment, the copyright in the final, approved version of that Deliverable, for the full term of copyright and for all countries of the world, together with the right to bring proceedings for past, present, or future infringement. Because an assignment of copyright must be in writing and signed to take effect (Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 90(3)), the Writer will countersign the invoice, Order Form, or a short assignment confirmation to record this on request.

This assignment does not extend to: draft or alternative versions of a Deliverable that the Client did not select as final; the Writer’s general skill, knowledge, working methods, notes, and research files; or any pre-existing tools, templates, or frameworks the Writer used to produce the Deliverable. The Writer may keep a copy of all Deliverables for its own records, subject always to the confidentiality obligations in clause 11.

Where the Client has paid only part of the Fees for a Deliverable following cancellation or termination under clause 18, copyright is not assigned, but the Writer grants the Client a non-exclusive, perpetual licence to use the work delivered up to that point for its intended purpose. Full copyright assignment under this clause applies only once the Fees for that Deliverable are paid in full.

The Writer may refer, in general terms, to the type, volume, and subject matter of work carried out for the Client for the Writer’s own marketing and portfolio purposes (for example, “long-form ghostwriting for a UK technology business”) without identifying the Client or disclosing any Content or Confidential Information, unless the Client objects in writing.

The Writer irrevocably waives all moral rights in the Deliverables under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (including the right to be identified as author under section 77 and the right to object to derogatory treatment under section 80), to the extent permitted by law. This waiver is given in writing as required by section 87 of that Act, and is signed on the Writer’s behalf by the Writer’s acceptance of the Order Form or Statement of Work, or by the Writer’s written (including email) confirmation of the Engagement.

Ghostwriting is, by its nature, anonymous. Unless the parties agree otherwise in writing, the Client may publish, adapt, and present the Deliverables as their own work, and the Writer will not disclose their authorship or involvement in producing the Deliverables to any third party without the Client’s prior written consent, except where disclosure is required by law or by a regulator with authority over the Writer.

Each party will keep confidential all non-public information disclosed by the other in connection with the Engagement (“Confidential Information”), including the fact and content of Client Material and the existence and terms of the Engagement, and will use it only to perform or receive the Services. This does not apply to information that is or becomes public other than through breach of this clause, that a party already lawfully held, or that must be disclosed by law, by a court, or by a professional or regulatory body. This clause survives the end of the Engagement.

The Writer will not seek or accept public credit for a Deliverable unless the parties agree this in writing in the Order Form (for example, a “with” credit or acknowledgement). Absent such agreement, all Deliverables are supplied and published on a fully anonymous, ghostwritten basis.

The Client warrants that all Client Material it supplies is accurate to the best of its knowledge, and that it has the right to supply it and to have it used in the Deliverables. The Client will indemnify the Writer against claims, losses, and reasonable costs arising from Client Material, or from the Client’s use, approval, or publication of a Deliverable, including claims for defamation, infringement of a third party’s rights, or breach of confidence — except to the extent these arise from the Writer’s own negligence, breach of these Terms, or use of material the Writer added without the Client’s knowledge.

The Writer warrants that each Deliverable, except for Client Material and any third-party material used with the Client’s consent, will be the Writer’s own original work and will not, to the Writer’s knowledge, infringe a third party’s copyright, and that the Services will be performed with reasonable care and skill.

Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or for any other liability that cannot be excluded or limited under the law of England and Wales. If you are a Consumer Client, nothing in these Terms affects your statutory rights, including your right under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 to a service performed with reasonable care and skill.

Subject to the two paragraphs above, the Writer’s total liability arising out of or in connection with an Engagement, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), or otherwise, is limited in aggregate to the Fees paid for the Deliverable giving rise to the claim, and the Writer is not liable for any loss of profit, loss of business, or indirect or consequential loss.

Each party will comply with the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 in respect of any personal data shared under the Engagement. For data protection purposes, the Writer and Client each act as an independent data controller of any personal data they process in connection with the Engagement, unless otherwise agreed in writing.

The Writer will use personal data only as needed to perform the Services and in line with its privacy policy at [insert URL]. Where the Client shares personal data about third parties (for example, interviewees or colleagues) as Client Material, the Client is responsible for having a lawful basis to share it.

The Writer will retain Client Material and Deliverables for as long as reasonably necessary to perform the Services, deal with any dispute, and meet legal or accounting obligations, and will otherwise delete or anonymise them. Where the Writer uses third-party services (for example, cloud storage or email) that may process personal data outside the UK, the Writer will ensure appropriate safeguards are in place as required by the UK GDPR.

If you are a Consumer Client and the Engagement was agreed at a distance (for example, online or by email) or away from the Writer’s business premises, you generally have the right to cancel within 14 days of the Engagement being confirmed, without giving a reason, under the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013.

Because ghostwriting projects are often time-sensitive, you may expressly ask the Writer to begin work during this 14-day period. If you do, and the Writer completes the Deliverable within that period, you acknowledge you will lose the right to cancel once it is fully delivered. If you cancel after work has started but before it is finished, you will pay a proportionate amount for the work carried out up to the point of cancellation.

Either party may end an Engagement by giving 14 days’ written notice. On ending an Engagement for any reason, the Client will pay for all work carried out up to the date of termination, calculated on a time-spent or proportionate-completion basis consistent with the Fees for that Deliverable, plus any third-party costs the Writer has already committed to on the Client’s behalf. The Writer may end an Engagement immediately, by written notice, if an invoice remains unpaid more than 14 days after a reminder, or if the Client is in material breach of these Terms and (where the breach is capable of being fixed) fails to fix it within 14 days of being asked to.

Neither party is liable for delay or failure to perform caused by events beyond its reasonable control (for example, illness, power or internet outages, or other events of a similar nature), provided the affected party tells the other as soon as reasonably possible and takes reasonable steps to reduce the impact.

If you are unhappy with a Deliverable or with the Writer’s service, please raise it in writing to steven@stevengodson.com in the first instance. The Writer aims to acknowledge complaints within 5 business days and to propose a resolution within 14 days. Alternative dispute resolution is not currently mandatory for services of this kind and the Writer is not a member of a specific ADR scheme; if a complaint cannot be resolved directly, Consumer Clients may bring a claim through the Small Claims Track of the County Court (or Money Claim Online), and the parties may otherwise agree to mediation.

Entire agreement: these Terms, together with the relevant Order Form or Statement of Work, are the entire agreement between the parties for the Engagement, and replace any earlier discussions or proposals on the same subject.

Variation: these Terms may only be varied in writing, signed or confirmed by email by both parties; the Writer will give reasonable notice of any change to standard Terms that will apply to future Engagements.

Severability: if any clause is found unenforceable, the rest of these Terms remain in effect.

Assignment and subcontracting:the Client may not transfer an Engagement to another party without the Writer’s written consent. The Writer may involve a suitably experienced editor or researcher to assist with a Deliverable, subject to the same confidentiality obligations as the Writer, but remains responsible for the Services.

Third-party rights: no one other than the Writer and the Client may enforce these Terms, and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 is excluded.

No waiver: if either party does not immediately act on a breach of these Terms, that does not mean they give up the right to act on it later.

Electronic acceptance: an Order Form, Statement of Work, or confirmation accepted electronically (for example, by email, e-signature, or online form) is as valid and binding as a hand-signed paper copy.

Notices: notices under these Terms should be sent by email to the addresses each party has used for the Engagement, or to steven@stevengodson.com for the Writer.

These Terms, and any dispute arising from them or from an Engagement, are governed by the law of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have non-exclusive jurisdiction, save that a Consumer Client resident in Scotland or Northern Ireland may rely on any mandatory protections of, or bring proceedings in, their own jurisdiction to the extent the law requires.