Plain-language submission licence
The House of Lit asks only for the permission needed to assess, list and sell your ebook. The first review of each new book is free, with £1 charged for each further review of the same book. There is no listing fee or exclusive claim.
The House of Lit is a trading name of Inkwell Independent Books Ltd.
Submissions, free first assessments and public book listings are open. Reader purchases, paid reassessments, author account registration and payout setup are not yet open. No payment is collected during this phase. Royalty and sales provisions below describe the intended later service. Further assessments are held until payment becomes available and you choose to pay. Keep your private management link to access your review and withdraw your listing.
Uploading and listing are free. Withdrawing and resubmitting a book does not reset its free review. We check previous manuscript fingerprints and titles under the same email address. If a different book shares a title, contact support before paying. Each new book receives one free literary review and score. Authors may submit multiple different books using the same email address, with a free first review for each. Further assessments of the same book, including revised manuscripts, cost £1 each. Use Upload revised manuscript on the book’s management page to request another assessment of that book. Payment for a further assessment is required before it starts. There is no subscription and technical retries do not incur another charge. Payment does not guarantee a favourable score.
The £1 charge is for carrying out a new manuscript assessment, not for viewing an existing review. For assessment payment problems or an assessment that cannot be delivered, contact us with your payment reference so we can investigate and arrange a refund where appropriate. This does not affect statutory rights.
The author retains copyright, publishing rights and ownership of every submitted file. Nothing transfers ownership to The House of Lit.
The author supplies the copyright holder and copyright year (creation or first publication). The House of Lit may display a notice in the form © rights holder, year. All rights reserved. The notice records the information supplied by the author; it does not register copyright or guarantee ownership.
The author permits The House of Lit to store, assess, display, promote, sell and securely deliver the submitted ebook. The permission is non-exclusive, so the author may publish and sell elsewhere.
The author must not offer an ebook through The House of Lit while it is bound by KDP Select, Kindle Unlimited or another agreement requiring exclusive digital distribution.
After Stripe deducts its payment-processing fee, the author earns 70% of the remaining net proceeds and The House of Lit retains 30%. Refunded, fraudulent or disputed transactions do not earn a royalty.
The ebook price follows The House of Lit’s published readership tiers, beginning at £2 and rising to no more than £5. Only unique completed paid purchases count towards a higher tier.
An author may ask The House of Lit to stop new sales of a book. The House of Lit may retain records required for accounts, fraud prevention and legal compliance, and may continue allowing existing purchasers to retrieve a copy they already bought.
The author is responsible for the accuracy of the book information and for ensuring that the text, cover, quotations and other submitted material do not infringe another person’s rights.
Complete unpublished manuscripts and independently published books are eligible. Submission authorises assessment by our algorithm using OpenAI’s API and automatic publication of the listing, literary score and summary after assessment, provided the required files and rights declarations are supplied. There is no minimum literary score and no manual publishing approval. Scores determine the default listing order. The assessment is automated, may be mistaken and does not promise sales or a publishing contract.
Word text manuscripts can be converted to a reflowable EPUB. Authors should download and check the conversion before submitting. Illustrations, tables, embedded content and tracked changes require a finished EPUB or PDF instead. Original files are stored privately. Available reader formats depend on the files supplied.
Authors must complete Stripe identity and bank verification before sales activate. There is no upload charge. Automatic transfers and bank payouts depend on Stripe approval, supported countries, balances and payout schedules. Refunded or disputed sales may reverse previous royalties.
Keep the private management link supplied after submission. It gives access to the book’s status and literary result and can withdraw it from listing and new sales. Use Upload revised manuscript on your management page. Details and payout setup carry forward. The revised edition replaces the old listing after assessment, with the new score and review. Subsequent assessments cost £1. Existing purchasers retain access to their purchased files.