Terms and Conditions
Confidentiality
Your work will be treated in the strictest confidence.
The copyright of your work is automatically yours and remains yours at all times. Add Your Name@2017 for your peace of mind.
Our mentors and consultants are professional writers who understand the rules on copyright and plagiarism. We will not exploit your work or ideas. We will take care when placing work that there are no potential conflicts of interest in terms of material content.
Work in Transit
We cannot take responsibility for work lost in the post or in transit. Please don’t send us your only copy. Back up your work before you send it.
Payment
All our services require payment in full in advance.
Content
We reserve the right to not accept work if we do not believe we can make a positive contribution. (We do not accept work that, in our personal view, constitutes pornography, racism or extreme, gratuitous violence.)
Submission
We will assign the most appropriate consultant/mentor for your work. (The more information you give us, the better.) If you have a preference for a particular consultant/mentor let us know.
If we cannot find a suitable match we will use the opportunity to take on a new consultant/mentor.
If we cannot find a suitable consultant/mentor we will return your work and issue a full refund.
We accept unbound professionally formatted manuscripts. (Double-spaced, in 12 point font, with page numbers, printed on single sides of A4.) (You will find a number of good examples in Spotlight Profiles, under first pages.) If you remain unsure about formatting and need assistance or advice, contact us.
Context
We assess work in the context of current publishing industry standards of excellence. If there are particular circumstances you would like your assessor to take into account, include them in your cover letter or email. We will ensure your mentor or consultant has the background before they start reading.
Manuscript Returns and Disposal
For return of hard copy manuscripts include a SSAE with sufficient postage to cover the weight of your work. (If no SAE is included, your manuscript will be confidentially recycled.)
We cannot guarantee the return of any folders and plastic wallets.
We keep manuscripts for a limited period after we have worked on them (for reference) then recycle them (in plain, non-identifiable packaging.)
If you want us to delete your file from our computer after we’ve completed the assessment, ask us and we will do it straight away.
Our Feedback
We provide professional assessment and advice and try to pitch it at the right level for you. We offer a sense of context and take an example-led approach. Our aim is to be empathetic yet honest and constructive and to give you a clear sense of what you need to be aiming for.
Receiving Feedback
Receiving feedback can be tough, any published writer will tell you that. Your dream may not yet be fully realized on the page. Try to be prepared. Our appraisals are challenging. Handling feedback well is an important part of becoming a successful writer.
First, give it time.
Second, argue with all the points as much as you like. (With yourself, not with us!) In the process, you may discover aspects of your story you hadn’t yet pulled out.
Third, remember that it is your novel. Trust your intuition.
Fourth, seek a balance between the input you have received and your own personal response. Between those two polarities you will find your way forward.
You won’t agree with all the points raised. That’s fine. Pick out what works for you. You can always come back to the rest later.
Fifth, bear in mind that appraisals often ask more questions than they answer. You are the writer. You will find the answers within yourself. (Maybe not now. May not all at once.) Having said that, if there is anything you aren’t sure about do drop us an email.
Follow-up
Our appraisals and reports are checked for clarity and offer examples of points raised but if there is anything you are don’t understand, do let us know and we will try to find an answer for you.
We welcome your feedback. It enables us to constantly update and improve our services.
Our Copyright
The copyright of the reports remains with Adventures in Fiction. Permission should be sought in advance from us before quoting a report, for example to agents or on websites.
Agents
Agents regularly approach us. We also regularly work with literary agents in a number of contexts.
We do offer advice on approaching agents, but we cannot guarantee an introduction.
When work is outstanding we do occasionally make recommendations, though this is no guarantee that the agent will take you on.
We do have an in-depth knowledge of agents and what they are looking for and regularly advise on ongoing agent-writer relationships on a strictly confidential basis.
It is your job as a writer to research the market and identify an agent likely to be interested in your work.
Our primary advice regarding agents is to make sure that your work is ready and that your submission package of is an excellent standard. (Many first time writers submit prematurely.)
We respect your copyright and we won’t approach agents or publishers on your behalf without your prior consent.
Turnaround
We guarantee a 3-4 week turnaround for appraisals. The timings may vary slightly on mentoring and apprenticeships. We will keep you informed of any delays.
Refund Policy (General)
You have the statutory right to cancel within seven days of our contract with you. If you do cancel your order prior to work commencing, you will have your payment returned.
Our Complaints Procedure
All our reports are supervised which means that we are closely involved in every aspect of the process. If you are not happy with your report for any reason, contact us by phone or email. We will address any issues promptly. Sometimes, what is needed is clarification. We will work with you to ensure that you feel understood, that your work has been correctly and fairly assessed and that the feedback provided is useful.
We want writers to be happy with the service we provide. We will do our utmost to make you feel that we have honoured our obligation to you.
Complaints
In the unlikely event that you wish to make a formal written complaint please let us know within 6 weeks. We will address your complaint in full. We will try to be fair and directly address what has gone wrong. If we cannot reach an agreement on a solution, we will ask an independent third party to adjudicate. If your complaint is upheld, we will offer you a replacement service.
Age Range
We work with writers of all ages over the age of eighteen.
Apprenticeships:
Applications
This is a demanding programme: we only accept writers who we feel are suitable. If we do not feel the scheme is right for you, we will recommend an alternative.
Timetable
Once you have fully signed up, we will agree a timetable with you and put you in contact with your mentor. It is up to you and your mentor to agree meeting times. The programme is twelve months, though there is some flexibility in terms of stages and completion.
In exceptional circumstances we will revise the timetable.
Contact
We treat apprentices as aspiring professionals. The programme includes limited additional email contact but we expect you to understand and be respectful of the demands on your mentor’s time.
This is a supervised programme. If any difficulties arise in the working relationship contact us straight away and we will address them directly. If we cannot find a resolution, we will offer an alternative arrangement.
Partial Refunds
We make a firm commitment to our apprentices and will endeavor to iron any difficulties. If problems prove irresolvable and we cannot agree on a suitable alternative we will offer a refund on the uncompleted part of the programme.
Cancellation Fee
In the event of a partial refund, we will retain a third of the total fee to cover the additional administration costs of cancellation.
Privacy Policy
We do not collect or store details about individual users.
If you sign up to our mailing list, we will store your email address (but no other data) using a reputable third party supplier MailChimp.
You can unsubscribe from our list at any time – there is an unsubscribe link at the bottom of every circular email we send out.
If you email us, we do retain your email on our system for future reference. If you want us to delete it, then just contact us and ask us to do so. We never give away or sell email addresses to anyone.
If you send us a manuscript or sign up for one of our services, we may keep any data you send us – phone numbers, email addresses etc. – but we will keep that data private and we won’t use it other than for the purposes of conducting our regular business.
We do not accept any external ads (a common source of privacy issues) and we’re not aware of any other feature of our site that might compromise your privacy in any way.
Our Privacy Policy is under regular review. We welcome any suggestions for improvement.
Responsibility & governing law
These terms and conditions form the basis of a contract between you, the client, and us, Adventures in Fiction. We, and not the mentor or consultant, are responsible for the proper performance of this contract.
These terms and conditions shall be governed by the Laws of England and Wales, and shall be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of England and Wales.
