GENERAL PROVISIONS

UPDATED 6 April 2025

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Thank you for deciding to use Rachel Lawston (sometimes referred to as ‘I’ and ‘Me’ below). These terms set out how I work with clients and cover both your rights and responsibilities. Please read through them carefully and if you have any questions please let me know before signing. Many thanks!

Services

1. You, the Client, have commissioned Rachel Lawston to carry out the Services outlined in the Deal Terms above and Rachel Lawston agrees to provide such Services. 

Payment and Expenses

2. In consideration of the Services You agree to pay the Fee consisting of the Deposit and Balance of Fee. The Deposit is payable upon signature of this Agreement and I reserve the right not to start work on the Services until I have received the Deposit amount. 

3. I will invoice for the Balance of Fee following completion of the Services. 

4. We may occasionally agree further expenses for which You will reimburse Rachel Lawston, for example if You were to require a specific font or image from a third party which is outside the normal scope of expenses  for the Services. I will never incur such expenses without Your prior approval. I will invoice you for any such expense and reserve the right to do so before incurring the expense. 

Cancellation

5. Rachel Lawston provides bespoke services and reserves the right to charge a Cancellation Fee if You cancel at any time following signature of this Agreement and/or my receipt of the Deposit. 

6. I will inform You by email when I am about to start significant work on the Services. Please regularly check your email and spam filters so that you see my messages.

7. If you cancel the Services before I have started significant work on the Services I will refund your Deposit minus £100 to cover administration costs. 

8. If You cancel the Services after I have informed you that I have started significant work I will calculate a reasonable cancellation fee based on the total Fee proportionate to the number of hours  I have spent performing the Services. For example if You cancel on or very close to delivery I reserve the right to charge 100% of the Fee and will send You an invoice for such amount minus any Deposit already paid by You. 

9. On rare occasions I may need to cancel our contract at my sole discretion. If this situation arises I will not charge for work already done and will refund any amount You have already paid over, which will represent my total liability to you under this Agreement.

10. In the event of cancellation by ownership of all rights arising from the Services  under this Agreement shall revert to and remain with  Rachel Lawston unless otherwise agreed.

Payment Terms

11. All payments and expenses are due within 28 days of the date of invoice, the ‘Due Date’. 

12. I reserve the right to charge a late payment  fee of 10.00% per month on any amount still owing calculated from the Due Date until the date of receipt by Rachel Lawston as an estimate of the interest and administration costs suffered by my business when I am not paid on time.

Copyright and rights

13. Copyright in the Commissioned Design and Illustration including visuals is the exclusive property of Rachel Lawston.

14. Rachel Lawston will include the Copyright Notice on the back cover of any cover design and/or copyright page and/or other suitable location within the Commissioned Design and Illustration and You agree to use the Copyright Notice and/or credit Rachel Lawston where possible. 

15. Rachel Lawston grants to You the Client’s Rights to use the Commissioned Design and Illustration as listed in the Deal Terms above.  Please check before signing this Agreement that the Client’s Rights correspond to Your understanding of what You are paying for. Please note that unless otherwise stated in Special Terms You may only reproduce the Commission Design up to 500,000 times. This is imposed by the general limit from image libraries unless You or Rachel Lawston purchase an extended licence.  If in any doubt please contact Me to discuss. 

16. All other rights in the Commissioned Design and Illustration and related products of the Services carried out by Rachel Lawston under this Agreement are either retained by Rachel Lawston or a third party. The Commissioned Design and Illustration cannot be reused, re-sold, loaned to a third party, or distributed in any way other than for purposes consistent with the Client’s Rights without further permission.

17. Rachel Lawston may use fonts licensed through YouWorkForThem in the Commissioned Design and Illustration. YouWorkForThem has a LARGE VOLUME COMMERCIAL USE OF MORE THAN 250,000 INSTANCES clause. If you publish a book or series with sales over 250,000 (print and/or ebook), You may need to purchase a font license extension so please ask Me for font details if needed. You are responsible for notifying Rachel Lawston and/or purchasing the large volume extension license. You can view YouWorkForThem’s license here: www.youworkforthem.com/font-license.

18. Please contact Me if you need permission to use the Commissioned Design and Illustration for further purposes. For example if the Client’s Rights are for e-book only you will need to contact me for further permission if You wish to use the Commissioned Design and Illustration for a paperback cover. Where I am able to grant You permission I reserve the right to charge a further fee.  Please also note that imagery used in the Commissioned Design and Illustration may have been purchased from a third party by Rachel Lawston for use only in the Commissioned Design and Illustration. An example of unacceptable further use would be the use of elements of the Commissioned Design and Illustration in marketing materials where this is not included in the Client’s Rights.  I may not be able to grant You permission for further use but will use all reasonable efforts to refer You to the appropriate person or business who may be able to do so.  

19. If You secure a publishing contract and your publisher wishes to use the Commissioned Design and Illustration for the same formats as outlined in the Services, please ensure they credit Rachel Lawston on the cover and copyright page and that I am notified in writing. Any artwork created by another commissioned illustrator or images purchased for the design will need to be relicensed by the publisher. 

Return of Property

20. Upon completion or cancellation of this Agreement, Rachel Lawston will return to You any property, documentation, records, or confidential information which is the property of You, the Client.

Rachel Lawston as Independent Contractor 

21. In providing the Services under this Agreement it is expressly agreed that Rachel Lawston is acting as an independent contractor and not as an employee. Both parties acknowledge that this Agreement does not create a partnership or joint venture between Us, and is exclusively a contract for service. 

Interpretation

22. The Deal Terms (including Special Terms) together with the General Provisions constitute the Agreement. The Deal Terms will take precedence over these General Provisions and any Special Terms will take precedence over the other Deal Terms. You may have seen that I have similar General Provisions on my website. The provisions should be broadly the same but in the event of any difference the General Provisions in this Agreement will take precedent over the website version. All previous agreements and understandings whether written or oral are superseded. Any amendment or modification of this Agreement or additional obligation assumed by either Party in connection with this Agreement will only be binding if evidenced in writing signed by each Party. Further, any Client amendments to the General Provisions and/or Deal Terms will only be valid if initialled by Rachel Lawston. 

23. In the event that any of the provisions of this Agreement are held to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, all other provisions will nevertheless continue to be valid and enforceable with the invalid or unenforceable parts severed from the remainder of this Agreement.

Governing Law

24. This Agreement will be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England.

Signature below signifies acceptance of the terms set out in this Agreement.