Courses
Save the Cat! Novel Writing Course Develop Blockbuster Ideas that Sell Crafting Dynamic Characters Novel Fast Drafting The Complete Novel Revision Course Scene Crafting Masterclass Foundations of Fiction Level Up Your Writing Secrets to Self-Publishing Success Sell Your Novel to a Major Publisher Productivity Hacks for Writers Conquering Writer's Block
Community Webinars Events Blog Support
Join the Academy

Terms of Use

Last Updated: May 24, 2022

 

The Gist

We (the team at Writing Mastery, LLC) are on a mission to help writers achieve their goals. We hope you love our products and services as much as we love creating them. These Terms of Service (“Terms”) describe our commitments to you, and your rights and responsibilities when using our services. Please read them carefully and reach out to us if you have any questions. These Terms include a mandatory arbitration provision in Section 16. If you don’t agree to these Terms, don’t use our services.

We’ve adapted these terms from Automattic, which made their terms of service available under a Creative Commons Sharealike license. Thank you Automattic! You can grab a copy of Automattic’s Terms and other legal documents on GitHub. These Terms are also available under the Creative Commons Sharealike license, which means that you’re more than welcome to copy them, adapt them, and repurpose them for your own use. Just make sure to revise them so that your Terms of Service reflect your actual practices. Also, if you do use these Terms, please credit and link to Automattic somewhere on your website.

Terms of Service

These Terms govern your access to and use of the products and services we provide through or for WritingMastery.com and all subdomains and related services (collectively, “Services”). For some of Writing Mastery’s other products, services, and programs, such as the Writing Mastery Community, additional or separate terms may apply. Please read these Terms carefully before accessing or using our Services. By accessing or using any part of our Services, you agree to be bound by all of the Terms and all other operating rules, policies, and procedures that we may publish via the Services from time to time (collectively, the “Agreement”). You also agree that we may automatically change, update, or add on to our Services, and this Agreement will apply to any changes.

1. Who’s Who

“You” means any individual or entity using our Services. If you use our Services on behalf of another person or entity, you represent and warrant that you’re authorized to accept the Agreement on that person’s or entity’s behalf, that by using our Services you're accepting the Agreement on behalf of that person or entity, and that if you, or that person or entity, violates the Agreement, you and that person or entity agree to be responsible to us.

We refer to Writing Mastery, LLC, collectively as “Writing Mastery” or “we” throughout these Terms.

2. Your Account

When using our Services requires an account, you agree to provide us with complete and accurate information and to keep the information current so that we can communicate with you about your account. We may need to send you emails about notable updates (like changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy), or to let you know about legal inquiries or complaints we receive about the ways you use our Services so you can make informed choices in response. We may limit your access to our Services until we’re able to verify your account information, like your email address. When you create a WritingMastery.com account, we consider that to be an inquiry about our products and services, which means that we may also contact you to share more details about what we have to offer (i.e., marketing). Don’t worry — if you aren’t interested, you can opt out of the marketing communications, whether it’s an email, phone call, or text message. You’re solely responsible and liable for all activity under your account. You’re also fully responsible for maintaining the security of your account (which includes keeping your password secure). We’re not liable for any acts or omissions by you, including any damages of any kind incurred as a result of your acts or omissions. Don’t share or misuse your access credentials. And notify us immediately of any unauthorized uses of your account or of any other breach of security. If we believe your account has been compromised, we may suspend or disable it. Writing Mastery shall use commercially reasonable efforts to restrict unauthorized access to our data and files, however no system whether or not password protected can be entirely impenetrable. You acknowledge that it may be possible for an unauthorized third party to access, view, copy, modify, or distribute the data and files you store using the Services. If you'd like to learn about how we handle the data you provide us, please see our Privacy Policy.

3. Minimum Age Requirements

Our Services are not directed to children. You’re not allowed to access or use our Services if you’re under the age of 13 (or 16 in Europe). If you register as a user or otherwise use our Services, you represent that you’re at least 13 (or 16 in Europe). You may use our Services only if you can legally form a binding contract with us. In other words, if you’re under 18 years of age (or the legal age of majority where you live), you can only use our Services under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian who agrees to the Agreement.

4. Privacy Policy

Writing Mastery will not intentionally disclose any personally identifying information about you to third parties, except to provide the Services and where Writing Mastery, in good faith, believes such disclosure is necessary to comply with the law or enforce these Terms. By using the Site, you signify your acceptance of the Writing Mastery’s Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with this Privacy Policy, in whole or part, please do not use this Site.

5. Responsibility of Visitors and Users

We haven’t reviewed, and can’t review, all of the content (like text, photo, video, audio, code, computer software, items for sale, and other materials) posted to or made available through our Services by users or anyone else (“Content”) or on websites that link to, or are linked from, our Services. We’re not responsible for any use or effects of Content or third-party websites. So, for example:

  • We don’t have any control over third-party websites.
  • A link to or from one of our Services does not represent or imply that we endorse any third-party website.
  • We don’t endorse any Content or represent that Content is accurate, useful, or not harmful. Content could be offensive, indecent, or objectionable; include technical inaccuracies, typographical mistakes, or other errors; or violate or infringe the privacy, publicity rights, intellectual property rights, or other proprietary rights of third parties.
  • We aren’t responsible for any harm resulting from anyone’s access, use, purchase, or downloading of Content, or for any harm resulting from third-party websites. You’re responsible for taking the necessary precautions to protect yourself and your computer systems from viruses, worms, Trojan horses, and other harmful or destructive content.

6. Fees, Payment, and Renewal

Fees for Paid Services. Some of our Services are offered for a fee, such as the Writing Mastery Academy Membership (collectively, “Paid Services”). By using a Paid Service, you agree to pay the specified fees. Depending on the Paid Service, there may be one-time fees or recurring fees. For recurring fees, we’ll bill or charge you in the automatically-renewing interval (such as monthly or annually) you select, on a pre-pay basis until you cancel, which you can do at any time through the Billing Info in your Account or by contacting support. Taxes. To the extent permitted by law, or unless explicitly stated otherwise, all fees do not include applicable federal, provincial, state, local or other governmental sales, value-added, goods and services, harmonized or other taxes, fees, or charges (“Taxes”). You’re responsible for paying all applicable Taxes relating to your use of our Services, your payments, or your purchases. If we’re obligated to pay or collect Taxes on the fees you’ve paid or will pay, you’re responsible for those Taxes, and we may collect payment. Payment. If your payment fails, Paid Services are otherwise not paid for or paid for on time (for example, if you contact your bank or credit card company to decline or reverse the charge of fees for Paid Services), or we suspect a payment is fraudulent, we may immediately cancel or revoke your access to Paid Services without notice to you. Automatic Renewal. To ensure uninterrupted service, recurring Paid Services are automatically renewed. This means that unless you cancel a Paid Service before the end of the applicable subscription period, it will automatically renew, and you authorize us to use any payment mechanism we have on record for you, like credit cards or PayPal to collect the then-applicable subscription fee as well as any Taxes. By default, your Paid Services will be renewed for the same interval as your original subscription period, so for example, if you purchase a one-year subscription to the Writing Mastery Academy, you’ll be charged each year for access for another 12-month period. We may charge your account up to one month before the end of the subscription period to make sure pesky billing issues don’t inadvertently disrupt your access to our Services. The date for the automatic renewal is based on the date of the original purchase and cannot be changed. If you’ve purchased access to multiple services, you may have multiple renewal dates. You can view your renewal date(s) and manage subscriptions for Writing Mastery Paid Services by visiting your Billing Info page. You’ll need to check your email (including in spam or other filters) for any reminder emails we might send you before your Paid Services renew. Canceling Automatic Renewal. You can manage and cancel your Paid Services from the Billing Info page. If you need help canceling, please visit our Support page or send an email to [email protected]. If you have multiple Paid Services to cancel, repeat this process for each subscription. Fees and Changes. We may change our fees at any time in accordance with these Terms and requirements under applicable law. This means that we may change our fees going forward, start charging fees for Services that were previously free, or remove or update features or functionality that were previously included in the fees. If you don’t agree with the changes, you must cancel your Paid Service. Refunds. We have a 30-day refund policy on all Writing Mastery Academy memberships, and we’ll also provide refunds if required by law. In all other cases, there are no refunds and all payments are final.

7. Feedback

We love hearing from you and are always looking to improve our Services. When you share comments, ideas, or feedback with us, you agree that we're free to use them without any restriction or compensation to you.

8. General Representation and Warranty

Our mission is to help writers achieve their goals, and our Services are designed to give you great information and places to ask questions and share your experiences and insights with the Writing Mastery team and other writers. We encourage you to express yourself freely, subject to a few requirements. In particular, you represent and warrant that your use of our Services:

  • Will be in strict accordance with the Agreement;
  • Will comply with all applicable laws and regulations (including, without limitation, all applicable laws regarding online conduct and acceptable content, privacy, data protection, the transmission of technical data exported from the United States or the country in which you reside, the use or provision of financial services, notification and consumer protection, unfair competition, and false advertising);
  • Will not be for any unlawful purposes, to publish illegal content, or in furtherance of illegal activities;
  • Will not infringe or misappropriate the intellectual property rights of Writing Mastery or any third party;
  • Will not overburden or interfere with our systems or impose an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on our infrastructure, as determined by us in our sole discretion;
  • Will not disclose the personal information of others;
  • Will not be used to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages;
  • Will not interfere with, disrupt, or attack any service or network;
  • Will not be used to create, distribute, or enable material that is, facilitates, or operates in conjunction with, malware, spyware, adware, or other malicious programs or code;
  • Will not involve reverse engineering, decompiling, disassembling, deciphering, or otherwise attempting to derive the source code for the Services or any related technology that is not open source; and
  • Will not involve renting, leasing, loaning, selling, or reselling the Services or related data without our consent.

9. Specific Service Terms

a. WritingMastery.com Website and Accounts

WritingMastery.com (the “Site”) enables you to take online courses, download workbooks and exercises, take surveys and leave comments.

Your use of the Writing Mastery services and this site are also governed by those of Kajabi, LLC, a California limited liability company, which provides the platform that the Writing Mastery runs on. Please also review the Kajabi®website Terms of Use at https://kajabi.com/policies/terms/ and Privacy Policy at https://kajabi.com/policies/privacy/ which also govern use of this Site.

You agree that the site itself, as well as all text, videos, training materials, products, services and/or other materials, made available on the Site by us or other third parties, as well as the look and feel of all of the foregoing, (collectively referred to as the “Site Content”) are maintained for your personal use and information by Writing Mastery and are the property of the Writing Mastery and/or its third party providers. You agree that such Site Content shall include all proprietary videos, HTML/CSS, Javascript, graphics, voice, and sound recordings, artwork, photos, documents, and text as well as all other materials included in the Site, excluding only the materials you provide. Subject to your compliance with these Terms, Writing Mastery hereby grants you a limited license, which is non-exclusive, non-transferable, and non-sublicensable, to access, view, and use the Site solely for your personal purposes. No Site Content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, distributed, used for public or commercial purposes, or downloaded in any way unless written permission is expressly granted by Writing Mastery. Modification of the Site Content or use of the Site Content for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright and other proprietary rights of Writing Mastery, as well as other authors who created the materials, and may be subject to monetary damages and penalties. You may not distribute, modify, transmit or use the content of the Site or any Site Content, including any and all software, tools, graphics and/or sound files, for public or commercial purposes without the express written permission of Writing Mastery.

When you post to the site, we don't own your content, and you retain all ownership rights you have in the content you post. However, be responsible in what you publish. In particular, make sure that nothing prohibited (like spam, viruses, or serious threats of violence) is posted. If you find a post on the site that you believe violates these Terms, please let us know. License. By uploading or sharing Content, you grant us a worldwide, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, and non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, modify, distribute, adapt, publicly display, and publish the Content solely for the purpose of providing and improving our products and Services. Removing Content. If you delete Content, we’ll use reasonable efforts to remove it from public view (or from view by authorized visitors) on WritingMastery.com, but you acknowledge that cached versions of the Content or references to the Content may not be immediately unavailable.

b. The Writing Mastery Community Website and Accounts

The Writing Mastery Community located at Community.WritingMastery.com (the “Community”) is a platform, powered by Mighty Networks, that allows Writing Mastery users to connect with each other, send messages, ask questions, share experiences, join events, and otherwise participate in an online community of writers. By creating an account or otherwise participating in the Community, you agree to the Mighty Networks Terms of Use, Mighty Networks Privacy Policy, Mighty Networks Acceptable Use Policy, Mighty Networks Copyright Policy, and all other policies included in the Mighty Networks Terms of Use.

Please review the Mighty Networks documents linked above for the specifics, but as it relates to the content you post to the Community, you retain all ownership rights (including copyrights) you have in the content you post, and you grant a license to display the content you posted in the Community.

10. Intellectual Property & Copyright

As we ask others to respect our intellectual property rights, we respect the intellectual property rights of others.

The Agreement doesn’t transfer any Writing Mastery or third-party intellectual property to you, and all right, title, and interest in and to such property remains (as between Writing Mastery and you) solely with Writing Mastery. Writing Mastery, Writing Mastery Academy, Writing Mastery Community, and all other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our websites or Services are trademarks or registered trademarks of Writing Mastery (or Writing Mastery’s licensors). Other trademarks, service marks, graphics, and logos used in connection with our Services may be the trademarks of other third parties. Using our Services doesn’t grant you any right or license to reproduce or otherwise use any Writing Mastery or third-party trademarks.

Writing Mastery has the right, but has no obligation, to remove content and accounts containing materials that it deems, in its sole discretion, to be unlawful, offensive, threatening, libelous, defamatory, pornographic, obscene or otherwise objectionable or violates any party’s intellectual property or these Terms. If you believe that your intellectual property rights are being violated and/or that any work belonging to you has been reproduced on the Site or in any Content in any way, you may notify Company at [email protected]. Please provide your name and contact information, the nature of your work and how it is being violated, all relevant copyright and/or trademark registration information, the location/URL of the violation, and any other information you believe is relevant.

11. Changes

We may update, change, or discontinue any aspect of our Services at any time. Since we’re constantly updating our Services, we sometimes have to change the legal terms under which they’re offered. The Agreement may only be modified by a written amendment signed by an authorized executive of Writing Mastery, or if Writing Mastery posts a revised version. We’ll let you know when there are changes: we’ll post them here and update the “Last Updated” date, and we may also post on our blog or send you an email or other communication before the changes become effective. Your continued use of our Services after the new terms take effect will be subject to the new terms, so if you disagree with the changes in the new terms, you should stop using our Services. To the extent you have an existing subscription, you may be eligible for a refund.

12. Termination

We may terminate your access to all or any part of our Services at any time, with or without cause, with or without notice, effective immediately. We have the right (though not the obligation) to, in our sole discretion, (i) reclaim your username due to prolonged inactivity, (ii) refuse or remove any content that, in our reasonable opinion, violates any the Agreement or any Writing Mastery policy, or is in any way harmful or objectionable, (iii) ask you to make adjustments, or terminate your access to the Services, if we believe storage usage of your posts burdens our systems (which is rare), or (iv) terminate or deny access to and use of any of our Services to any individual or entity for any reason. We will have no obligation to provide a refund of any fees previously paid. You can stop using our Services at any time, or, if you use a Paid Service, you can cancel at any time, subject to the Fees, Payment, and Renewal section of these Terms.

13. Disclaimers

Our Services are provided “as is.” Writing Mastery and its suppliers and licensors hereby disclaim all warranties of any kind, express or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose and non-infringement. Neither Writing Mastery, nor its suppliers and licensors, makes any warranty that our Services will be error free or that access thereto will be continuous or uninterrupted. You understand that you download from, or otherwise obtain content or services through, our Services at your own discretion and risk.

14. Educational and Informational Use

Our Services are provided for personal educational and informational purposes only. The information provided through our Services is not intended as, and shall not be understood or construed as financial, legal, tax, medical, or any other professional advice.

15. Jurisdiction and Applicable Law

Except to the extent any applicable law provides otherwise, the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services will be governed by the laws of the state of Washington, U.S.A., excluding its conflict of law provisions. The proper venue for any disputes arising out of or relating to the Agreement and any access to or use of our Services that are not otherwise subject to arbitration (as indicated below) will be the state and federal courts located in Clark County, Washington.

16. Arbitration Agreement

Except for claims for injunctive or equitable relief or claims regarding intellectual property rights (which may be brought in any competent court without the posting of a bond), any dispute arising under the Agreement shall be settled in binding arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association. The arbitration shall take place in Vancouver, Washington, in the English language and the arbitral decision may be enforced in any court. The prevailing party in any action or proceeding to enforce the Agreement shall be entitled to reasonable attorneys’ fees, costs, and expenses in addition to any other relief to which the party may be entitled.

17. Limitation of Liability

In no event will Writing Mastery, or its suppliers, partners, or licensors, be liable (including for any third-party products or services purchased or used through our Services) with respect to any subject matter of the Agreement under any contract, negligence, strict liability or other legal or equitable theory for: (i) any special, incidental or consequential damages; (ii) the cost of procurement for substitute products or services; or (iii) for interruption of use or loss or corruption of data. Writing Mastery shall have no liability for any failure or delay due to matters beyond its reasonable control. The foregoing shall not apply to the extent prohibited by applicable law.

18. Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Writing Mastery, its contractors, and its licensors, and their respective directors, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all losses, liabilities, demands, damages, costs, claims, and expenses, including attorneys’ fees, arising out of or related to your use of our Services, including but not limited to your violation of the Agreement or any agreement with a provider of third-party services used in connection with the Services, and Content that you post.

19. US Economic Sanctions

You agree that our ability to provide our Services to you is subject to compliance with US sanctions that restrict or prohibit who or from where our Services can be accessed. By using the Services, you represent and warrant that you (i) are not located or residing in any country or territory subject to comprehensive US sanctions; (ii) are not listed on any United States list of prohibited or restricted parties, or otherwise subject to US sanctions that would prohibit your access to or use of our Services; and (iii) shall not use or allow access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable) to the Services in any manner that may cause Writing Mastery to violate US export controls and sanctions. We reserve the right to restrict or block your access, or access by any of your customers or potential customers (if applicable), to the Services and/or to terminate the Agreement at any time without notice if we determine, at our sole discretion, that such access may cause a violation or create unacceptable risk to us under export controls or sanctions.

20. Translation

These Terms were originally written in English (US). We may translate these terms into other languages, and in the event of a conflict between a translated version of these Terms and the English version, the English version will control.

21. Miscellaneous

The Agreement (together with any other terms we provide that apply to any specific Service) constitutes the entire agreement between Writing Mastery and you concerning our Services. If any part of the Agreement is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that part is severable from the Agreement, and does not affect the validity or enforceability of the rest of the Agreement. A waiver by either party of any term or condition of the Agreement or any breach thereof, in any one instance, will not waive such term or condition or any subsequent breach thereof. Writing Mastery may assign its rights under the Agreement without condition. You may only assign your rights under the Agreement with our prior written consent.