Client Agreement

Version 2026-10-31.r7

This agreement is between you (the writer named on the Order Form) and Stephen Scott (“I”, “me”). It covers the manuscript-review work described on your Order Form. If you booked on my website, your booking details and your Stripe receipt are your Order Form (see §14).

I’ve written it in plain English on purpose: you should be able to read it in ten minutes and know exactly what you’re getting. If anything here is unclear, ask me at stephen@cowriternotghostwriter.com before you sign.

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1. What I’ll do

I’ll audit the manuscript you send me, using the package listed on your Order Form.

• Full Audit: the full set of checks for your genre, including voice, plus a debrief call.
• Structural Pass: the cross-chapter checks only (consistency, structure, continuity, and claims that lack support in your manuscript). No call.

Both flag claims that lack support in your manuscript. Checking outside sources is separate work, quoted before I begin.

How it works. I run a series of focused AI passes, each one holding a single question across your whole manuscript. A second, skeptical pass checks every finding against your actual text, and I personally review what survives before you see it.

Questions for you. If the checks leave something only you can settle, I’ll email you a few short questions. If I haven’t heard back within 48 hours, I’ll carry on and mark those items “Please check” in your report.

I do this work myself. I’m the only person who works on your manuscript: no employee, subcontractor, or freelance editor. The outside services involved are the AI providers and the storage and email services that §4 describes.

What you get:

• A prioritized findings report: Critical, then Major, then Minor. Each finding gives its location, the exact passage, the problem, and a suggested direction for the fix.
• A short “read this first” summary.
• A note on what’s working and should survive your revision.
• A list of findings the checks rejected, and why, and of any your answers settled.
• A coverage statement: which checks ran, on which version of your manuscript, and any limits.
• A debrief call, if you’ve bought the Full Audit. It’s one 45-minute call, held within 30 days after I send the full report, at a time we both agree on. I still owe you that call if the engagement ends first.
• Anything else listed on your Order Form, such as a written profile of your voice or publishing files.

What this service is not:

• It is not developmental editing, line editing, copyediting, or proofreading.
• It is not feedback from real readers.
• It does not guarantee your book will sell, be accepted, or be reviewed well.

2. I don’t write your book

I will not rewrite your prose, write new passages, or hand you text to paste in. My findings describe problems and the principle of a fix.

Where a one-line example helps, it is marked as an illustration and is not for pasting; you write your own version. You make every decision and every change. You remain the author.

This protects your voice. It also matters for publishing: Amazon KDP treats text that an AI tool created as “AI-generated” even after heavy editing (see §7).

3. Who owns what

• Your manuscript is yours. Nothing in this agreement transfers any rights in it to me.
• The report is yours to use however you like.
• My methods are mine: the audit process, prompts, checklists, templates, and tools. You get the results, not the machinery.
• No stake in your book: I don’t receive any credit, co-author status, or royalty in it.

4. How your manuscript is handled, including AI

Please read this section carefully. It’s the part writers most often ask about.

Which AI.

• I use a small number of established AI providers to run the audit and to cross-check its findings. Using more than one AI system to challenge the findings is part of how I keep the report accurate.
• Business services only. I process your manuscript only through these providers’ paid business (API) services. I never use consumer chat apps, personal subscriptions, or free tiers.
• No training on your manuscript. The business terms of the services I use say your manuscript is not used to train their AI models.
• Provider retention. The providers keep copies for a limited time, mainly to detect misuse, under their own business terms. Content their systems flag can be kept longer for safety reviews, and the law can require longer retention.
• I never submit your text as feedback to any provider, and never enroll it in any testing or training program.
• Changes. If I add a provider, or a provider changes its terms in a way that affects these promises, I’ll tell you and ask again before using it on your work.

Who sees it. Me, the AI providers used for your audit, and their authorized staff and service providers, only as their business terms permit (for example, safety investigations and legal requirements). Your manuscript and brief reach me through a private upload page tied to your paid booking. A business cloud storage provider holds them, locked and private, until I collect them. Anything uncollected is set to delete automatically after 14 days. Any questions I email you may quote your manuscript, and your replies go to the AI providers the same way your manuscript does. Your email provider and mine also carry and store anything we email each other under their own terms. I don’t otherwise share your manuscript or report with another person without your written agreement, except as §5 permits.

How long I keep it.

• Why 90 days: I keep the job for a while after it ends in case you have questions or need me to revisit the work.
• What I delete: within 90 days after the engagement ends (see §9 for what “ends” means), or sooner if you ask, I delete from my own systems:
  • your manuscript;
  • my working files;
  • the report drafts;
  • the AI session records;
  • my encrypted backup of the job;
  • any email that carried the manuscript, quoted it, or answered my questions about it.
• Backups. While I hold the job, I keep an encrypted backup with a cloud provider. Only I hold the key, so the provider can’t read it. I delete the backup with the rest.
• What I don’t control: each AI provider deletes its own copies on its own schedule, as described above; email providers keep their copies of anything we email each other under their own terms, and my backup host may keep encrypted copies for a time after I delete them, which can’t be read without my key. Deleting my files doesn’t delete theirs.
• What I keep: the Order Form, payment records, the report’s coverage statement, and a note that the work was done.

Samples and marketing.

• I will never use any part of your manuscript in marketing.
• I’ll quote anonymized, redacted excerpts of my analysis in your report only with your written permission. Email is fine.
• Before I use an excerpt, I’ll remove every quotation from your manuscript and anything that identifies you or your book, and I’ll show it to you first.
• You can withdraw that permission for anything not yet published.

Your consent. By signing, you agree to your manuscript, brief and answers being processed this way. If you don’t agree, don’t sign. I’d rather lose the job than process your work in a way you haven’t accepted.

5. Confidentiality

I’ll keep your manuscript, your report, and anything you tell me about your project confidential. I won’t share them except as described in §4, or if the law requires it.

In return, please keep my report templates and process documents to yourself rather than republishing them. You’re free to share your own report with your editor, agent, beta readers, or anyone else working on your book.

6. Your part

• You’re an adult. You confirm you are 18 or older.
• Your right to send it. You confirm you have the right to send me the manuscript, for example that it isn’t someone else’s work you aren’t authorized to share.
• Your book, your responsibility. You’re responsible for what you publish: its content, accuracy, rights, and any claims it makes. My report can help you find problems; it doesn’t make me responsible for the book.
• The brief. The audit is only as good as the brief you give me: what the book is for, who it’s for, and what it promises. If something important is missing from the brief, the audit may miss it too.
• Not professional advice. Nothing I provide is legal, medical, financial, or tax advice. If your book makes claims in those areas, have them checked by a qualified professional.
• If I can’t take it on. If, after seeing the manuscript, I find I can’t process it, I’ll tell you promptly, stop, and refund everything you’ve paid. Examples: it contains material my AI providers’ usage policies don’t allow, or it appears not to be yours to send.

7. Publishing help (only if it’s on your Order Form)

Your account, always.

• You own and operate your Amazon KDP account.
• When we work on publishing together, you take every action on your own screen: entering details, accepting terms, answering questions, and clicking Publish.
• I’ll never ask for your password or verification codes, and I won’t log in to or control your account. Under Amazon’s KDP terms you’re responsible for everything done in your account, including anything a contractor does, so I stay off it entirely.

The AI question is yours to answer.

• KDP asks whether a book contains AI-generated content: text, images (including covers and interior art), and translations.
• I’ll explain Amazon’s current wording and how it applies to the way you actually made your book. You answer it, because only you know your process.
• My audit gives you no text intended to go into your book. Any one-line illustration in a finding is marked as such and is not for pasting.

Listing copy is yours too. If you’ve bought launch prep, what I give you (listing text, keywords, categories) is a draft. You finalize the listing copy in your own words.

No affiliation. I’m an independent author and consultant, not affiliated with Amazon. KDP itself is free. You’re paying me for my work, not for access to Amazon or any approval from it.

Files. If I prepare print or ebook files, I hand them to you and you upload them. Please check KDP’s previewer and order a proof copy before you publish.

8. Price and payment

• The price is on your Order Form, based on your word count and the package you choose. Prices are in US dollars and don’t include any tax you may owe. Bank or card fees on your side are yours.
• Payment, unless your Order Form says otherwise:
  • You pay half the total price when you book, which reserves your place in my schedule. It’s rounded to the nearest cent, with half a cent rounded up.
  • The balance (the total price minus what you paid at booking) is due when I tell you the report is ready. I’ll send you a secure payment link with that notice.
  • With that notice you get the one-page summary and the coverage statement, so you can see the work is done. I send the full report when the balance clears. If you’ve already paid in full, the full report comes with the notice.
  • If the balance is still unpaid 30 days after my notice, I’ll close the engagement by email. The balance stays owed, and I won’t release the full report unless it’s paid. I’ll delete your files on the §4 schedule, and after that I can’t deliver the report. If you pay before I’ve deleted them, I’ll send the full report and reopen the engagement, so your 14 days for questions and corrections start then.
• The quote is fixed. I quote before work starts, and the price doesn’t change because the audit finds a lot of problems.
  • If your manuscript is more than 10% longer than the word count on the Order Form, I’ll tell you and pause the work, and we’ll agree on an adjusted price before I continue.
  • The same applies if it turns out to be substantially different in kind from what the Order Form describes.
  • If you don’t accept the new price, you can end the engagement. If I haven’t started the audit, I refund everything you’ve paid. Otherwise §11 applies.
• Card disputes. If you dispute a card payment for work I’ve delivered, I’ll provide this agreement and the delivery record to the card company.

9. Schedule and delivery

Start date. The start date on the Order Form, or the day I receive your complete intake (manuscript, brief, and signed agreement), whichever is later. If you book online, I’ll confirm your start date and target delivery date with you by email before any work starts, and that email becomes part of your Order Form. Until we’ve agreed on those dates, you can cancel for a full refund. If I haven’t received your complete intake within 30 days of booking, I’ll release your start date, and we’ll either pick a new one, or I’ll close the engagement and refund everything you’ve paid.

Delivery. My target delivery date is on the Order Form. If I’m going to miss it, I’ll tell you as soon as I know and give you a new date.

One version per audit. I audit the version you send at the start. If you revise during the audit, the new version is new work. That keeps every finding tied to text you can actually find. I’ll record a digital fingerprint of the exact file you send, so we can both confirm which version I audited.

When the engagement ends. 14 days after I deliver the report, on the date I close it under §8 or this section, or on the date either of us cancels. One exception: if you cancel after I’ve told you the report is ready, the engagement stays open until 14 days after I deliver the report, or until I close it under §8.

10. After delivery

• Questions. For those 14 days, you can email me questions about the report.
• Corrections. During the same 14 days, if you show me that a finding is wrong (for example, it misreads your text), I’ll correct it free.
• Re-audit. A re-audit of a revised manuscript within 6 months costs 50% of your original audit price. It’s separate work under a new Order Form.

11. Cancellations

These amounts are the same whether you paid 50/50 or in full. If you’ve paid more than you owe, I refund the difference.

When you cancel	What you owe
Before I have your complete intake, or more than 3 days before the start date on the Order Form	Nothing. I refund everything you’ve paid.
Once I have your complete intake, from 3 days before the start date on the Order Form until I tell you the report is ready	50% of the total price, rounded the same way as the booking payment. Nothing more is due.
After I tell you the report is ready	The full price. Once the balance clears, I’ll send the full report, and your 14 days for questions and free corrections begin then. §8 covers what happens if it stays unpaid.

If I can’t deliver the full report, you can choose a new date or a full refund. The summary and coverage statement alone don’t count as delivery.

12. Limits

I’ll do this work carefully and honestly. Even so:

• I can’t catch everything. An audit can miss problems, and some findings are matters of judgment you may reasonably disagree with.
• No outcome guarantees. I don’t guarantee publication, sales, rankings, reviews, or that your book is free of errors or legal issues.
• Liability cap. To the extent the law allows, my total responsibility to you under this agreement is limited to the amount you paid me for the engagement. I’m not responsible for indirect losses such as lost sales or lost opportunities.

13. Ending the agreement

Either of us can end this agreement by email.

• If you end it, §11 applies, or §8 if you’re ending it because you didn’t accept an adjusted price.
• If I end it under §6 or because your intake never arrived (§9), I refund everything you’ve paid.
• If I close it because the balance wasn’t paid, §8 applies.
• If I end it for any other reason before delivering the full report, I refund everything you’ve paid.
• What survives: §3, §4, §5, §12 and §14 continue to apply after the agreement ends, and so do my deletion commitment, any amount either of us still owes, the card-disputes term in §8, and anything I still owe you under §1 or §11.

14. The small print

• Whole agreement. This agreement and your Order Form are the whole agreement between us. If they conflict, the Order Form wins.
• Changes must be agreed in writing; email is fine.
• Governing law. This agreement is governed by the laws of the State of California.
• Signing. You can sign electronically: by checking the acceptance box when you book on my website, or by replying “I agree” from the email address on your Order Form.
• Booking online. If you book on my website, your booking details (package, word count, and price) and your Stripe receipt together serve as your Order Form. Anything we later add or change by email also becomes part of it. Permission to quote excerpts is “No” unless you give it by email.

Ready? Book your audit.