Welcome

LitHive operates an online service for people to write, publish, sell, discover and discuss books. The Partner program helps to connect books with prospective purchasers while giving Partners an opportunity to earn commissions on the sales of books and potentially other items sold via LitHive.

We are excited for you to be part of the LitHive Partner Program (LPP). These legally binding Partnership Terms (collectively with our End-User Terms of Use , Privacy Policy and Copyright Policy the "Partnership Terms") guide your use and enjoyment. Please read them. If you do not agree to all of these terms, you are not allowed to participate in the LPP.

You may serve as a Content Provider, a Marketing Partner or both within the LitHive Partner Program (LPP):

  1. As a Content Provider. When you publish a book with LitHive, you are automatically enrolled in the Partner Program by default in order to help you connect with prospective readers and purchasers of your book. You may either alter the commission you are willing to pay to opt out as a Content Provider, but this is not recommended.
  2. As a Marketing Partner. This is the subject of this Partner Program Agreement. The LitHive Partner Program allows independent Internet marketing professionals, Web site operators, bloggers, authors, publishers and operators of online communities to direct traffic to LitHive and earn commissions on most book purchases.

THIS AGREEMENT (the "Agreement") is made by and between LitHive Corporation, a Delaware Corporation ("LitHive"), and you (the “Partner,” and collectively, the "Parties").

Terms and Conditions

By joining the LPP, Partner acknowledges their willingness to refer the books of LitHive authors and publishers to prospective readers and purchasers, using legal and ethical online marketing methods, including but not limited to web site hyperlinks, blog hyperlinks, hyperlinks in opt-in mailing lists, hyperlinks in paid search engine advertising, and hyperlinks in online communities owned and operated by Partner;

In consideration of this Partner agreement, and all the promises and commitments made herein, the Parties agree as follows:

LitHive agrees to:

  1. Provide Partner with a list of books, other content, and/or promotions to which they may refer other users via a unique hyperlink such that any referral made via that unique hyperlink and that results in a qualified sale can be attributed to Partner.
  2. Grant Partners the non-exclusive right to utilize various LitHive promotional assets and tools such as logos, images, Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), and other associated metadata that can be used for promotional activity.
  3. Payment of Commissions: LitHive agrees to pay commissions, under the rates, policies and procedures disclosed in this agreement and published elsewhere by LitHive, to the Partner, provided the Partner honors its obligations under the agreement.
  4. Customer Support: LitHive will provide all customer service to users of LitHive services.

The Partner agrees to:

  1. Promote LitHive products, services, and the books and other materials published by participating Content Providers.
  2. Promote LitHive books utilizing legal and ethical marketing practices. The following list provides a sample of prohibited and unethical marketing practices, which, if used by the Partner, will result in immediate termination of this Partner agreement and the complete forfeiture of all accrued commissions:
    1. The Partner agrees not to use unsolicited spam email, or engage the services of third party spammers or their associates, to directly or indirectly drive traffic to the LitHive website, or to drive traffic to sites operated by Partner or its associates used to drive traffic to LitHive. Similarly, Partner agrees not use the LitHive brand name, or LitHive promotion tools (see below for definitions) in any unsolicited email.
    2. The Partner further agrees to not utilize any deceptive marketing practices, such as black hat SEO practices designed to trick search engines or manipulate search engine rankings.
    3. The Partner agrees not to use or benefit from spyware, malware, exploits or botnets in its efforts to drive traffic to LitHive.
    4. The Partner agrees to not use deceptive practices such as “shadow domains” or “doorway” pages to aggregate traffic and drive it to LitHive or any other practices deemed objectionable by leading search engine providers such as Google and Microsoft.
    5. The Partner agrees not to require, request of, or trick, potential LitHive visitors to provide their email address to any party as a condition to being directed to LitHive web pages. Similarly, the Partner will not collect payments, or charge users or other parties, for access to the LitHive web site or to view LitHive books and book samples.
    6. The Partner agrees not to use confusing or deceptive domain names (such as domains that contain “LitHive” or variations or misspellings of “LitHive”), or domains that contain words meant to trick search engines or users.
    7. The Partner agrees to not place Partner hyperlinks in unsolicited (spam) email, blog comments (comment spam) for blogs you do not author or operate, guestbook forms, newsgroups, and message board communities. Exception to items noted in "G.": links are permitted in personal profiles and signatures, provided the operator of the community or social network permits them.
  3. Use of LitHive promotional tools.

    4. Partner may only use approved LitHive promotional tools to promote LitHive products and services. These materials cannot be used for any purpose other than to promote LitHive books, authors and website. The license to utilize LitHive-provided promotional tools is non-transferable and non-exclusive. The term of the licenses expires upon the termination of this agreement by either Party.

  4. Intellectual Property

    5. LitHive retains all rights and ownership over promotional tools, as well as all copyrights and trademarks associated with the tools.

  5. Relationship between Partner and LitHive

    6. This Agreement does not create an employment relationship, agency relationship, or partnership between LitHive and Partner. The Partner works on their own behalf as an independent contractor in exchange for referral fees earned by pointing ebook customers to LitHive. The Partner has no authority or ability to enter LitHive into any other agreement outside of this Partner agreement or create agreements or relationships on behalf of, or between, LitHive and other parties.

  6. Breach of contract

    7. By joining this Partner, the Partner agrees and accepts that if the Partner makes any material breaches of the Partner Requirements outlined in this agreement, or makes blatant misrepresentations about the nature of this Partner agreement between the Parties, then LitHive may immediately terminate the agreement and the Partner will forfeit all accrued commissions.

  7. Determining Commissions
    1. Calculation of Commissions, and definition of “Net.”

      2. TBD

    2. Qualified sales

      3. Qualified sales are those sales for which the Partner is entitled to receive a commission. All LitHive authors and publishers are automatically enrolled in the Partner, thereby making their books available for sales by, and commission to, Partners. However, LitHive allows authors and publishers to opt-out of the Partner if they choose. LitHive expects some small percentage of Content Providers to opt out of the Program, however LitHive does not make any guarantees as to what those percentages will be over time.

    3. Payments schedule

      4. TBD

    4. Record keeping

      5. LitHive shall maintain accurate and timely reports of commissions earned by Partners, and these reports will be accessible from the Partner’s Dashboard controls on the LitHive website.

    5. Tracking sources of traffic

      6. Partners are provided Partner codes they append to hyperlinks. When an Partner directs a visitor to the LitHive web site, LitHive deposits a cookie in that visitor’s web browser that identifies the visitor to LitHive as having come from the Partner. LitHive is not responsible for lost or deleted cookies, or for cookies that fail to land in the referred user’s browser due to any number of factors outside of LitHive’ control, which may include anti-cookie software, purged cookies, or technical errors of LitHive. While the cookie is active, all purchases made by that customer on the LitHive web site earn the Partner a credit, provided the purchased products are participating in the Partner Program.

Representations and Warranties:

  1. Partner has the legal authority to enter into this Agreement and to be bound to the promises, covenants, and other duties set forth in this Agreement.
  2. Partner's website does not and will not contain any content that:
    3. a. is unlawful or that advocates unlawful behavior b. exploits children or otherwise promotes the exploitation of children c. violates the copyrights or intellectual property of other parties d. directly or indirectly subverts and/or violates the security or privacy of LitHive or other parties e.
  3. Partner has obtained any necessary rights and licenses for material presented on Partner's website, and the site doe not infringe on the intellectual property rights of others.
  4. If the Partner is an individual person, the Partner represents and warrants they are at least 18 years of age on the date in which the Partner joins the program.

CAN-SPAM Act

Partner using online or other electronic methods of sales channels must comply with the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act and other subsequent Federal Trade Commission rules regarding online marketing. Partner agrees that LitHive may terminate the Partner agreement if such rules are not followed.

Taxes

LitHive shall not be responsible for any taxes owed by Partner arising out of Partner's relationship with LitHive as set forth in this Agreement. LitHive shall not withhold any taxes from the Commissions paid to Partner.

Before LitHive will pay commissions to any Partner, the Partner must provide, via an online form at LitHive, data necessary for LitHive to complete Internal Revenue Service Form W-9 for US citizens and other tax disclosure rules for residents outside the US. By submitting this information, Partner certifies that the tax id number provided is correct and accurate and that Partner is not subject to backup withholding.