# Author Forge Terms of Service

**Version:** `author-forge-fresh-terms-v3`  
**Operator:** Erikyn Technologies LLC, a Tennessee limited liability company.  
**Support:** burkeandshannon@gmail.com.

## 1. Service and eligibility

Author Forge provides a purchased editorial report on a customer-submitted manuscript. The introductory **Manuscript Diagnostic** identifies supported strengths, concerns, revision priorities, and next steps in an HTML report. The service may use software and AI-assisted analysis; an authorized human writes or reviews the findings and approves the exact final report before delivery. It is an editorial assessment, not proofreading, line editing, a rewrite, legal advice, a human beta-reader panel, or a guarantee of publication, agent representation, sales, or commercial success. The customer makes all editorial and publishing decisions.

The **Deep Editorial Review** is a separately scoped service with additional chapter notes, line examples, and a revision roadmap. Its base introductory price is displayed for information only; it is not available for checkout until its scope, prices, and acceptance process are separately approved and published.

The customer must be legally able to enter this agreement and must supply an email address they control. Orders may be declined or paused if the submitted file cannot be safely processed, the submission rights are unclear, or the requested service is unavailable. We will contact the customer about a material delay or inability to deliver and offer the remedies described below and required by law.

## 2. Manuscript, rights, and limited license

The customer retains ownership of the manuscript and other submitted creative material. The customer represents that they own or have the rights and permissions needed to submit it and to authorize the processing described here; they must not submit another person's confidential or copyrighted work without authority.

The customer grants Erikyn Technologies LLC and its necessary service providers a nonexclusive, limited license to store, copy, parse, transmit, analyze, and display the submitted material solely to provide the purchased service, maintain security, resolve support or payment disputes, and meet legal obligations. This does not transfer copyright or authorize publication of the manuscript. The license ends when the material is deleted, except for legally required records and permitted backup remnants disclosed in the Privacy Policy.

The service may use AI and other third-party processing. An AI-assisted finding can be mistaken or incomplete. Authorized personnel remain responsible for the final report before it is delivered. We will send a customer manuscript to an external AI provider only after its privacy, retention, and data-handling protections have been verified and disclosed. We will not permit model training on a customer manuscript without separate explicit customer consent. If those protections cannot be verified, external AI processing of that manuscript is blocked.

## 3. Prices, word counts, and payment consent

The introductory Diagnostic price is based on the actual word count parsed from the uploaded TXT or DOCX manuscript: up to 80,000 words **$99 USD**; 80,001–100,000 **$119**; 100,001–120,000 **$139**; 120,001–150,000 **$169**. Above 150,000 words, the customer must request a custom quote; no automatic checkout is offered. Before redirecting to Checkout, our page shows the counted words, exact tier, and total. A changed file requires a new count and quote. If the customer expected a different tier, they may stop before payment and contact support. No additional charge or tier upgrade occurs without a new, explicit agreement.

Payment, if enabled, is processed through Stripe-hosted checkout. The customer must separately accept the current Terms, acknowledge the Privacy Policy, and explicitly consent to the exact displayed price. A successful redirect alone does not establish payment; the order starts only after verified payment confirmation. Taxes or other mandatory charges, if applicable, must be shown before final payment acceptance.

## 4. Delivery and access

After verified payment, an authorized operator reviews the submitted file and prepares a manuscript-specific HTML report. The report is made available through an expiring, revocable, order-specific private link sent to the verified order email only after exact-version human approval. The 90-day access period begins when the approved report is available and the report-ready notice is first accepted by the email provider; provider acceptance is not proof of inbox arrival. Customers are responsible for securing their email account and private links and for saving a copy of the report during its availability period. Please tell support promptly if a receipt or report link does not arrive or fails. We will investigate failed or bounced delivery and provide an appropriate correction or refund when required. We may need to verify order ownership before reissuing access.

We do not promise a fixed turnaround unless a specific delivery estimate is displayed at purchase and recorded in the order confirmation. We may pause processing for a corrupted file, security concern, rights question, provider outage, or circumstances outside reasonable control; we will communicate a material delay and a reasonable revised plan or refund option where required.

## 5. Retention and deletion

Uploaded manuscripts and temporary processing copies are scheduled for deletion **30 days after report delivery**, unless earlier deletion is requested and permitted or a legal retention duty applies. The completed HTML report remains available for **90 days after delivery**. A customer may ask for earlier deletion using the support address and order reference; we will verify the requester and explain any payment, dispute, or legal record that must remain. An early manuscript deletion may prevent correction or redelivery. Payment and minimal audit records may have different legally required retention periods, disclosed in the Privacy Policy.

## 6. Cancellation, refund review, and remedies

The customer may request a refund review within **14 days after report delivery**, or within 14 days after we notify the customer that we cannot deliver, by emailing support with the order reference and submission email. A duplicate charge or continuing nondelivery may be reported when discovered. We provide a full refund for a duplicate charge, failure to deliver the purchased service, or a material service defect that cannot reasonably be corrected. For a qualifying failure, we will process the refund before editorial work begins whenever possible. If work has begun, we will review the circumstances and applicable consumer law; work having begun does not automatically defeat a qualifying refund. For a correctly delivered report, disagreement with editorial judgment alone generally does not qualify for a refund, subject to applicable law. We may first offer a reasonable correction to a remediable defect, but will not use that option to deny a refund required by law. Approved refunds go through the original payment method where feasible; bank and processor timing may vary. A refund can revoke report access. The 14-day review window does not reduce statutory chargeback, refund, or consumer rights.

## 7. Acceptable use and service security

Do not upload malware, exploit payloads, unlawful material, personal data you lack authority to disclose, or content intended to harass or harm others. Do not test, scrape, overload, bypass authentication, share another customer's private link, or interfere with the service. We may reject or suspend abusive use, while honoring applicable refund and consumer obligations. Do not email manuscript files, passwords, or payment-card details to support unless a separately verified secure process is offered.

## 8. Intellectual property and limits

Author Forge branding, software, site design, and report format are Erikyn Technologies LLC property or licensed to it. The customer may use their purchased report for their own editorial and business purposes and may share it with their authorized collaborators, but may not resell the service, remove attribution to impersonate Author Forge, or misuse another customer's report. The manuscript remains the customer's property.

We aim to use reasonable care, but editorial opinions are not facts about future publishing outcomes. To the extent permitted by applicable law, liability for an ordinary service claim is limited to the amount paid for the affected order; this limit does not apply where the law forbids it or to liability that cannot legally be excluded. Mandatory consumer remedies remain available.

## 9. Changes, law, and contact

The version accepted for an order governs that order. Material changes for future orders will be posted before new acceptance; we will not silently replace the accepted version for an existing purchase. Tennessee law governs this agreement, except where a customer's applicable mandatory consumer protections require another result. The parties may bring a dispute in a court with lawful jurisdiction; this clause does not require a consumer to give up a mandatory local forum or remedy.

For orders, cancellation, refunds, data requests, or disputes, contact **burkeandshannon@gmail.com** with the order reference. Do not include manuscript text or payment details in ordinary email.