Next Chapters Terms of Service
and Conditions of Use

Last updated: [JULY 5, 2023]

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF SERVICE CAREFULLY. THESE TERMS CONTAIN A BINDING ARBITRATION CLAUSE AND CLASS ACTION WAIVER THAT IMPACT YOUR RIGHTS ABOUT HOW TO RESOLVE DISPUTES. IF YOU LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES, PLEASE READ IT CAREFULLY.

BY ACCESSING OR USING THE SERVICES OR REGISTERING AN ACCOUNT WITH US, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THESE TERMS OF SERVICE. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS OR OUR POLICIES AND PRACTICES, DO NOT ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICES.

Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms of Service; Additional Terms
Next Chapter Stories LLC (“Next Chapters,” “our,” “us” or “we”) operates the nextchapters.com website (the “Site”). The Site is the place for you to browse and purchase completed books, most of which are created by multiple writers who each contribute a chapter to create a unique reading experience, some of which are written by a single author, but all of which you will not find anywhere else.
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) apply to the Site, our service offerings and to any other website offered by us that references or links to these Terms (collectively, the “Services”).
By accessing or using the Services or registering an account with us, you indicate your acceptance of these Terms and agree to be bound by these Terms on behalf of yourself, if you are an individual, and on behalf of yourself and the organization you represent if you are a business entity user. If you are a business entity user, you represent and warrant that you have full authority to bind that entity to these Terms.
In addition, when using particular features on the Services, such as making a purchase, or subscribing to a membership plan, you shall be subject to any additional terms applicable to those features, such as our Purchase Terms & Conditions, that may contain terms and conditions in addition or different to those in these Terms. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and such additional terms, the additional terms will control with respect to their specific subject matter.
Our business and Services may change over time and we reserve the right to change the Terms from time to time without notice to you. You acknowledge and agree that it is your responsibility to review the Services and the Terms periodically to learn of any modifications.
We will post any modifications to these Terms on the Site. Nonetheless, your continued use of the Services or the Site after the posting of any modifications shall constitute your agreement to be bound by such modified Terms. We may modify, suspend, discontinue or restrict the use of the Services, any portion thereof or any content at any time with or without notice to you.

2. Your Account
Creating an account to use the Services is free. However, certain features offered on or through the Services may require you to register an account (including a username and password). You are responsible for taking all steps to ensure that no unauthorized person shall have access to your account or password. It is your sole responsibility to:

1. Control the dissemination and use of your account and password;
2. Promptly inform us of any need to deactivate an account or password. We are not liable for any activity through your account (whether or not authorized by you), any harm related to the theft of passwords, or your disclosure of passwords. You shall immediately notify us of any unauthorized use of your account or password. You are solely responsible for any damages resulting from the use of your account and username. You may not use your account or password to breach the security of another account or cause any disruption to the Services.

Our Services are intended for adults. If you are under 18 years of age, you may use the Site or Services only with the permission of a parent or guardian. We reserve the right to refuse service, terminate accounts, remove or edit content, or cancel orders in our sole discretion.

3. License You Grant to Us
The Site allows you to create your own writing project or pick an existing project and add your own portion or “chapter” at any point in the storyline (collectively, “User Submissions”). If you submit any User Submissions to the Site, you agree that you grant us a nonexclusive, royalty-free, perpetual, irrevocable, and fully sublicensable right to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, and display such content throughout the world in any media for commercial or non-commercial use. Any license you grant us by submitting a User Submission is waivable by us at our sole discretion.
We may seek to publish and otherwise use any User Submissions for commercial purposes. If we use any of your User Submissions for commercial use, the terms of such use will be governed by a separate agreement between you and us explaining the rights and obligations of each party. Our goal in any agreement is a mutually beneficial deal for commercial use of your User Submission. The details of any agreements will depend on a case-by-case review, but we will use reasonable efforts to allow for a distribution of profits from any commercial use of your User Submission.
If you submit a User Submission and decide to use it for a commercial purpose outside of the Site, including but not limited to, entering into a partnership, profit-sharing or royalty agreement or other similar arrangement whereby any income or profits are, or might be, shared between you and any third party, you agree that we will retain a right to share in any profits realized from such arrangement. The terms of any profit-sharing arrangement will be governed by a separate agreement between you and us explaining the rights and obligations of each party.

4. License We Grant to You
Subject to your compliance with these Terms and payment of any applicable fees, we grant you a revocable, limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to use the Site for personal and non-commercial use.
This license does not include any resale or commercial use of the Service or its contents, any collection and use of any product listings, descriptions, prices, or any derivative use of the Service or its contents, any downloading or copying of account information for the benefit of another merchant, or any use of data mining, robots, or similar data gathering and extraction tools.
All rights not expressly granted to you in these Terms or any ancillary terms related to the Services are reserved and retained by us or our licensors, licensees, suppliers, publishers, rights holders, or other content providers.

5. User Submissions 

We are not obligated to offer you compensation, privacy, or confidentiality with respect to any User Submission. User Submissions may be available to other users on our open-source forum (“Community Books”). We may refuse or remove User Submissions at any time. You represent and warrant that all User Submissions are your original and unique content to enable you to grant us the rights to the User Submissions described above. We have no obligation to pre-screen User Submissions or any other content on the Site or Services, although we reserve the right in our sole discretion to refuse or remove such content. You may not remove any User Submissions posted on Community Books. User Submissions posted on closed forums (“Private Books”) may be removed at your discretion. Private books are an exclusive benefit for paying users.

6. Intellectual Property Rights Related to Services
All of our text, graphics, user and visual interfaces, photographs, logos, sounds, music, artwork, applications, computer code, button icons, images, books, digital downloads, and data compilations, and other content available on or through the Services (collectively “Our Content”), including but not limited to the design, structure, arrangement and “look and feel” of the Services, is owned by or licensed to us and is protected by copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights and laws.
No part of the Services and none of Our Content may be copied, reproduced, sold, republished, transmitted, displayed, reposted or otherwise distributed for public or commercial purposes without express written permission from us.
Our name, our logo and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are our trademarks and are registered in certain jurisdictions. You may not use such marks without our prior written permission. All other names, logos, symbols, brands and marks are used for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. No affiliation, connection, or sponsorship with any third party trademarks, services marks, brands, logos, symbols, is implied.
Subject to the restrictions in this section, you may create a hyperlink to the home page of nextchapters.com so long as the link does not portray us, the Site or Services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive matter. This determination shall be at our discretion.
We reserve the right to remove or disable access to any materials posted to or otherwise displayed through the Site or Service, including any content that you submit which violates or otherwise allegedly infringes on the copyright or other intellectual property, proprietary, or other rights of any person, company or other entity. We will not be liable for the removal of or disabling of access to any content which may violate intellectual property rights.

7. Your Use of the Services
Your use of the Services is subject to all applicable laws and regulations, which may vary depending on your jurisdiction of residence and from where you access or use the Services.
In addition to the agreeing to these Terms, by accessing the Site or using the Services you are agreeing to not:

• Use any automatic device, program, algorithm, methodology, or any manual process to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of the Services or any of Our Content or obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not purposely made available through the Services.
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion of the Services or any of Our Content, or any systems or networks connected to the Services, by hacking, password “mining” or any other illegitimate means.
• Use the Services to violate the legal rights (including the rights of intellectual property, publicity and privacy) of others or to violate the laws of any jurisdiction.
• Upload to or transmit via the Services any defamatory, indecent, obscene, harassing, violent or otherwise objectionable material (as determined in our discretion), or any material that is, or may be, protected by copyright or trademark laws, without permission from the copyright or trademark owner.
• Frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any trademark, logo, or other proprietary information (including images, text, page layout, or form) without express written consent.
• Use meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing our name or trademarks without our express written permission.

8. Outside Content
We may permit visitors to post reviews, comments, photos, send messages, submit suggestions, ideas, comments, questions, or other information using the Service (collectively referred to as “Outside Content”).
Any Outside Content provided by third parties and made available on our Site or through our Services are those of the respective author(s) and not the us. We do not guarantee the validity, accuracy, truthfulness, completeness, reliability or usefulness of any Outside Content. Under no circumstance will we be liable for any loss or damage caused, directly or indirectly, by your reliance on any such Outside Content.

9. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy applies to the use of the Services, and your use of the Services constitutes your acceptance of our Privacy Policy and consent to its terms. The Privacy Policy is incorporated in and made part of these Terms. You can view our Privacy Policy here.

10. Disclaimer of Warranties and Limitation of Liability
THE SITE, SERVICES AND ALL CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, OUR CONTENT, ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, FREEDOM FROM INTERRUPTION, VIRUSES OR OTHER DEFECT, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT OR REPRESENT THAT YOUR ACCESS TO THE SITE, SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, OUR CONTENT, WILL BE SECURE, UN-INTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE.
YOUR SOLE REMEDY AGAINST US FOR DISSATISFACTION WITH THE SITE, SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, OUR CONTENT, IS TO STOP USING THE SERVICES. IN NO EVENT SHALL WE OR OUR OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, LICENSORS OR CONTENT PROVIDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SITE, SERVICES OR ANY CONTENT, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, OUR CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT WE, OR ANY PARTICIPATE ENTITY, ARE ADVISED ON THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
ANY CAUSE OF ACTION YOU MAY HAVE WITH RESPECT TO THE SITE, SERVICES OR CONTENT MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION ARISES OR ELSE SUCH CLAIM OR CAUSE OF ACTION SHALL BE BARRED.
CERTAIN STATE LAWS DO NOT ALLOW LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. IF THESE LAWS APPLY TO YOU, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS, OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MIGHT HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.

11. Termination and Indemnity
You agree that we may, at any time, and at our sole discretion, terminate your account or suspend or prohibit your access to the Services without prior notice to you for violating any of the Terms or for any other reason whatsoever.
You agree to defend, indemnify and hold us harmless from and against any demands, loss, liability, claims or expenses (including attorneys’ fees) made against us due to or arising out of your use of the Services, Site or any content on the Services.
In the event that we terminate your account or prohibit your access to the Services, any refunds of fees paid to us or purchases made through the Site will be at our sole discretion.

12. Digital Millennium Copyright Act
If you believe in good faith that content or materials available on the Site or the Services infringe your copyright, you may request removal of (or access to) that content or material by providing the copyright agent below with a written notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), 17 U.S.C. § 512, containing the following:

• A physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright that is allegedly infringed;
• A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed;
• A description (such as the URL) of where the material that is claimed to be infringed is located on the Site or the Services;
• Your name, address, telephone number and email address;
• A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law;
• A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notification is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Our designated agent to receive notifications of claimed copyright infringement is:
Copyright Agent
Next Chapters Stories LLC Legal Department
900 State Street #301C
Erie, PA 16501
phone: (814) 240-2400
e-mail: copyright@nextchatpers.com

NOTE: THE ABOVE CONTACT INFORMATION IS PROVIDED EXCLUSIVELY FOR NOTIFYING NEXT CHAPTERS THAT YOUR COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL MAY HAVE BEEN INFRINGED. ALL OTHER INQUIRIES, (E.G., REQUESTS FOR TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE OR CUSTOMER SERVICE, REPORTS OF EMAIL ABUSE, AND PIRACY REPORTS), WILL NOT RECEIVE A RESPONSE THROUGH THIS PROCESS AND SHOULD BE DIRECTED TO OUR CUSTOMER SERVICE GROUP VIA EMAIL TO OR BY PHONE TO (814) 240-2400.

13. Notices
Any notice that we may send you with respect to the Services will be delivered by email message to the email address listed in your account, or by posting on the Site.
Any notices will be deemed delivered to the party receiving such communication as of the date of transmittal if sent via email or on the date we post the notice to the Site.

14. Dispute Resolution
Any dispute or claim relating in any way to your use of the Site or Services will be resolved by binding arbitration, rather than in court, except that you may assert claims in small claims court if your claims qualify. The Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to these Terms.
We each agree that any dispute resolution proceedings will be conducted only on an individual basis and not in a class, consolidated or representative action. If for any reason a claim proceeds in court rather than in arbitration we each waive any right to a jury trial. We also both agree that you or we may bring suit in court to enjoin infringement or other misuse of intellectual property rights.
The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will administer the arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes. The arbitration will be held in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The AAA rules will govern payment of all arbitration fees.
You may opt out of this agreement to arbitrate. To do so, you must notify us in writing within 30 days of the date that you first became subject to this arbitration provision. You must use this address to opt out:
Next Chapters Stories LLC Legal Department
900 State Street #301C
Erie, PA 16501
You must include your name, residence address, the email address you use for your account on the Site, and a clear statement that you want to opt out of this arbitration agreement.

15. Governing Law and International Use
The Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States of America, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. You agree to the personal jurisdiction by and venue in the state and federal courts in Pennsylvania and waive any objection to such jurisdiction or venue. In any action to enforce the Terms, the prevailing party shall be entitled to attorneys’ fees and costs.
We are headquartered in the United States and the Services are operated out of the United States. Although the Services may be accessible worldwide, we make no representation that materials on the Services are appropriate or available for use in locations outside the United States, and accessing the Services, Site and any content, including, without limitation, Our Content, from locations where its use is illegal is prohibited.
Some software from the Services may be subject to export controls imposed by the United States and may not be downloaded or otherwise exported or re-exported: (a) into (or to a national or resident of) any country to which the United States has placed an embargo; or (b) to anyone on the U.S. Treasury Department's Specially Designated Nationals List or the U.S. Commerce Department's Table of Deny Orders. If you download or use the Site or software, you are, in effect, confirming to us that you are not located in, are not under the control of, and are not a national or resident of any such country, and that you are not on any such list. You may not use or export the materials from the Services in violation of U.S. export laws and regulations.

16. Entire Agreement
These Terms represent the entire agreement between you and us with respect to the subject matter addressed in the Terms and supersede all prior or contemporaneous agreements or understandings, written or oral with respect to their subject matter.
The Terms shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of you and us and our respective successors and lawful assigns. If any provision of these Terms is unlawful, void or unenforceable, it will not affect the validity and enforceability of the remaining provisions.

17. Waiver
Any failure by us to enforce or exercise any provisions of the Terms shall not constitute a continuing or future waiver of that right or any other provision. Our failure to act with respect to a breach by you or others does not waive our rights to act with respect to subsequent or similar breaches.

18. Contact Us
If you have any questions regarding our Terms, you may contact us at the following address:

Next Chapter Stories, LLC
900 State Street, Suite 301C
Erie, PA 16501

Email: support@nextchapters.com