1. Standard package scope
The standard package covers one complete custom book with up to 32 designed interior pages; the cover is separate from that page count. It includes one trim size, one paperback edition, client-supplied final proofread text, one approved visual direction, a custom front-cover design and the final print-ready paperback cover file, complete interior layout, artist-directed AI visuals or a coordinated AI-assisted treatment, within-scope revisions through final approval, print-ready paperback files, an ebook file when appropriate, and Amazon KDP production/listing support as defined below.
Writing from scratch, developmental editing, substantial proofreading, more than 32 interior pages, a new manuscript, a new language, multiple trim sizes or editions, complex technical layouts, major concept changes, and traditional or non-AI illustration are available through a separate written quote.
2. Deposit, balance, and file release
After the direction, scope, and expectations are confirmed in writing, the client pays a fixed $100 deposit toward the $200 package. The remaining $100 is due at final approval. Final production files are released after the final balance is paid. Custom projects follow the payment schedule in their separate written quote or invoice.
3. Revisions and scope changes
Revisions are included through final approval within the approved concept and agreed scope. Text corrections, image refinements, and layout adjustments to the approved book are revisions. A new manuscript, replacement visual concept, major page-count increase, new language, additional trim size, or another edition changes the scope and requires a new quote or written adjustment.
4. Client text, approvals, and submitted rights
The client supplies final, proofread text for the standard package and is responsible for reviewing spelling, names, facts, page order, legal notices, and final proofs before approval. The client must own or have permission to publish every manuscript, image, trademark, name, logo, and other submitted item. Approval means the client has reviewed the current proof and authorizes the next stated step.
5. AI-assisted workflow and disclosure
The standard package uses artist-directed AI-generated or AI-assisted visuals, or a coordinated AI-assisted visual treatment. The process is disclosed openly. The client agrees to provide truthful platform disclosures, including accurate KDP AI-content information when required. A fully traditional or non-AI workflow is available only by separate quote.
6. Delivered files and usage rights
The client receives broad commercial publishing use for the final approved delivered files. Human-created layout, design, editing, modifications, and production work are licensed or transferred only as stated in the written project agreement. AI-generated elements may not qualify for exclusive copyright protection in every jurisdiction, so these terms do not promise exclusive copyright in every AI-generated element.
Delivered files normally include the agreed final print-ready paperback files and an ebook file when appropriate. Editable working files, layered source files, prompts, unused concepts, and production-source materials are not included unless agreed in writing.
7. Schedule and approval delays
The production schedule is confirmed in writing after the direction and scope are approved and before the deposit is requested. Client delays in supplying final text, requested material, feedback, approvals, or payment may move the schedule. Any revised schedule will be discussed in writing; this page does not promise a fixed delivery date.
8. Cancellation and refunds
For the standard package, if the client cancels before final print-ready files are prepared, the initial $100 deposit will be returned. The client should contact Toby promptly so work can stop and the project status can be confirmed in writing.
Once the client has approved the final proof in writing, paid the full $200, and the final print-ready files have been prepared or delivered, the approved work is final and no refund is offered, except where applicable law requires otherwise. Custom-project cancellations, disputes, chargebacks, exceptional circumstances, and questions about whether a project has reached either checkpoint are reviewed under the written project agreement and documented in writing.
9. Amazon Listing Guarantee*
For a compliant title and a client KDP account in good standing, Toby will correct and resubmit correctable cover or interior production-file issues at no additional charge until the title is accepted and live. Correctable issues include production matters such as trim, bleed, cover dimensions, embedded fonts, and export settings.
The client controls the KDP account. MyBookIllustrator will never ask for a KDP password, tax information, bank information, or sensitive account credentials. The client must own or have permission to publish all submitted material.
The guarantee does not override Amazon decisions about content, metadata, rights, account status, identity, policy compliance, acceptance, distribution, suppression, or continued availability. It does not cover later client changes, policy changes after delivery, account suspension, rights disputes, prohibited content, or material outside the agreed project.
10. Automated Author Showcase
The Author Showcase is an automated community-listing service, separate from a paid book project. A submission includes one book-cover image and may include one author photo. The submitter must be at least 18, provide accurate information, and own or have permission to publicly display every submitted name, title, summary, biography, image, likeness, logo, and link. An author photo may show only a consenting adult. Do not upload a photograph of a child in either image; illustrated children on a book cover are permitted. The submitter must also exclude a child’s private information and consent to automatic public posting after email verification.
By submitting, the author grants MyBookIllustrator a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free, revocable license to store, sanitize, resize, format, reproduce, and publicly display the submitted public fields and processed image derivatives solely to operate the Author Showcase and its public listing feed. The author keeps ownership of the submitted material and may end this display license by removing the listing through the private management link, subject to brief technical backup retention and any legal preservation need.
Listings are posted automatically from information supplied by submitters. MyBookIllustrator does not independently verify identity, authorship, ownership, image rights, a pictured adult’s consent, publication status, accuracy, claims, or external links, and a listing is not an endorsement. Verification proves control of the submitted email address only. MyBookIllustrator may reject, hide, or remove a listing, image, or link at any time for suspected spam, impersonation, deception, unsafe or unlawful material, rights complaints, child-privacy concerns, technical risk, or violation of these terms. The submitter remains responsible for the listing, its images, and any destination it links to.
11. Referral partner pilot
The referral program is an application-based U.S.-only pilot for U.S.-based partners referring U.S.-based authors. An application is not acceptance. Participation begins only after Toby accepts the partner in writing and issues or approves one affiliate ID. The partner’s approved affiliate ID is also the referral code used everywhere in this program; there is no separate partner code. A partner is an independent participant—not an employee, representative, or legal agent—and is responsible for applicable disclosures and tax obligations.
Only the standard $200 custom book package qualifies. The author must be a new lead, meaning they had no project inquiry, active sales conversation, quote, or paid MyBookIllustrator project during the prior 180 days when the partner’s promotion first reached them. The author may confirm one valid active partner code in any clear, documented way: the visible referral-code field, email, text, written chat, documented phone call, or an author-confirmed partner introduction. Confirmation may occur after work starts, but it must occur before final payment clears and before another partner code is confirmed.
The first valid active code confirmed by the author locks to the project and is the only code eligible for credit. A later partner claim cannot replace it, although a clear clerical correction may be documented. Partners may share an approved code publicly wherever referral promotion is relevant and permitted; no tracked link, tracking cookie, contact list, or one-to-one introduction is required.
Each accepted partner receives a direct prefilled inquiry link in the form https://mybookillustrator.com/contact.html?service=free-sample&ref=YOUR-AFFILIATE-ID and may also use the softer sales-page link https://mybookillustrator.com/book-offer.html?ref=YOUR-AFFILIATE-ID. The direct link places the affiliate ID/referral code in the visible, editable referral field for author confirmation, without requiring cookies or manual entry.
The first-stage commission is $15 only after the referred author’s $100 deposit is cleared and non-pending, project fit and scope are confirmed, work has started, and 24 hours have elapsed after clearance without an immediate failure or reversal. The second-stage commission is $35 only after the final $100 payment is cleared and non-pending, completed delivery of the approved standard project occurs, and 24 hours have elapsed after clearance without an immediate failure or reversal. A lead, inquiry, quote, free sample, unqualified deposit, custom quote, expanded book, traditional non-AI project, Author Showcase submission, or unrelated service earns no commission.
No commission is owed on an unpaid, fully refunded, reversed, or charged-back payment stage. A partial refund reduces that stage’s commission in the same proportion as the refunded part of the applicable $100 payment. If a commission was already paid before a later refund, reversal, or chargeback, the correction is offset proportionally only against future referral commissions; the partner is not required to make a separate repayment, and MyBookIllustrator will not debit the partner’s payout account.
There is no minimum payout threshold. Once the applicable 24-hour clearance wait and stage milestone are complete, Toby issues the partner’s chosen electronic payout within two business days. Electronic choices are PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, or Cash App. If the relevant processor shows the payment as pending or under review, stage eligibility waits until it clears and Toby explains the status to the partner in writing.
A partner may choose a mailed business check instead. Only after the commission is eligible, Toby privately requests the legal payee name and U.S. mailing address, mails the check by USPS, and sends a notice with the mailing date and check number. If it has not arrived after 10 business days, the partner may report it; Toby will verify the address, stop the original check, and reissue it rather than leave two checks negotiable. No partner should provide a bank or card number, password, bank or payment-app login, tax identifier, payout email or handle, or mailing address through the public application form.
Every payout notice identifies the per-project referral record ID or IDs included, amount, payment date or check mailing date, method, and electronic transaction or check reference. A referral record ID is an internal identifier for one author/project and is different from the partner’s affiliate ID/referral code. Referral records may show received, deposit pending, deposit eligible, payout pending/review, final pending, completed, paid, or disqualified/reversed status. Partners may ask Toby for their referral ledger and request correction of an attribution, milestone, refund, offset, or payout record, subject to customer privacy.
Partners must place a clear and conspicuous commission disclosure close to every referral link, code, or endorsement, follow applicable FTC endorsement rules, and share only where the recommendation is relevant and permitted. The approved disclosure is: “I may earn up to a $50 referral commission if you purchase MyBookIllustrator’s $200 package using my code.” Partners may not use unsolicited bulk messages, fake reviews or testimonials, deceptive endorsements, hidden disclosures, false guarantees, repeated link dropping, promotion in communities that prohibit it, impersonation, self-referrals or same-household referrals, duplicate identities, manipulated customer information, fraudulent inquiries or payments, typo or deceptive domains, bidding on “MyBookIllustrator,” “Toby Mikle,” or confusingly similar branded search terms, or other paid advertising that uses the brand, offer, referral code, or link without Toby’s prior written approval. A violation may disqualify the affected referral and terminate participation.
Toby may pause or change the pilot prospectively and may remove a partner for a rules violation. A prospective change does not erase a commission already earned under these rules, while pending or unqualified stages remain subject to the actual payment, delivery, refund, and reversal facts.
12. Portfolio display and questions
Client work is displayed in a portfolio only with client permission or as otherwise agreed in writing. Questions about these terms or a project may be sent to tobymikle@gmail.com.