File Fix Terms of Service
These terms apply when you submit a book file to GKS Creative for File Fix diagnosis or repair. Please read them before you send your files. By ticking the agreement box on the File Fix form, you accept these terms on behalf of yourself or the company you represent.
1. What File Fix is
File Fix is a technical diagnosis and repair service for book cover and interior files that a print-on-demand printer has rejected or that you want checked before you upload. We examine your file against the technical requirements of the printer you name, tell you in plain English what is wrong, and, depending on the tier you buy, repair it and return print-ready files.
File Fix is a production service. It is not editorial, proofreading, design critique, or legal advice, and it does not include changes to the content, wording, or artwork of your book unless we agree that separately in writing.
2. What you confirm when you send us a file
By submitting files you confirm that all of the following are true:
- You own the files you send us, or you have permission from the owner to send them to us and to have them modified.
- You hold all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions for everything inside those files, including artwork, photographs, illustrations, logos, and text.
- You hold valid licenses for the fonts used in the files, and those licenses permit the font to be embedded in a PDF for commercial print.
- The content does not infringe anyone's copyright, trademark, or other rights, and is not unlawful.
We do not verify ownership, licensing, or clearance, and we are not able to. Responsibility for the rights in your files stays with you.
3. Fonts
Font licensing is the single most common legal problem in a rejected print file, so it gets its own section.
A font can only be embedded in a print-ready PDF if its license permits embedding. Some licensed and variable fonts refuse to embed at all. Where we find a font that cannot be embedded, we will tell you and recommend a substitution, but we will not embed a font in breach of its license, and we cannot advise you on whether your font license is valid. Buying the correct license is your responsibility.
If we substitute a font at your direction, you accept the visual change that results.
4. What we cannot guarantee
We have decades of experience with these printers, but we do not control them. We cannot and do not guarantee that a printer will accept your file.
Printers change their specifications without notice, apply their own judgment, and reject files for reasons that have nothing to do with technical compliance, including content policy, metadata, ISBN and imprint records, and account status. Our work addresses the technical condition of the file only.
If a file we repaired is rejected again for a technical reason within the scope of the work you paid for, tell us within 30 days and we will correct it at no further charge. That correction is your sole remedy in those circumstances.
5. Checking the work before you print
We fix technical faults. We do not read your book for errors.
Before you upload or approve anything for print, you are responsible for reviewing the files we return and confirming that the content is correct, including spelling, page order, images, captions, prices, barcodes, and ISBNs. Once you approve a file or send it to print, responsibility for what is printed is yours.
We strongly recommend ordering a physical proof from your printer before any full print run. We are not responsible for the cost of a print run made without one.
6. Prices, quotes, and payment
Tier 1 is a fixed fee of $99 and covers diagnosis of a single PDF file, simple repairs, and a written guide. Tier 2 and Tier 3 are quoted individually because the price depends on the severity of the problems found.
If the diagnosis shows your file needs Tier 2 or Tier 3 work, we send you a quote before doing that work, and the $99 you already paid is subtracted from that tier's price. No further work begins, and nothing further is charged, until you approve the quote in writing.
The Tier 1 fee covers the diagnosis itself. Once the diagnosis has been delivered it has been performed, and that fee is not refundable. You are free to take the diagnosis and guide and do the repairs yourself.
7. Timing
Timeframes we give are estimates made in good faith, not guarantees. They run from the point at which we have everything we need from you, including your files, the printer's error message, and your book's specifications.
We are not liable for losses caused by a delay, including missed launch dates, pre-order deadlines, advertising commitments, or printing slots.
8. Your files and your privacy
We treat your manuscript and artwork as confidential. We do not sell your files or your personal information, and we do not share them with anyone except where it is necessary to carry out your job, such as a printer you have asked us to deal with on your behalf.
Files submitted through this form are transmitted and stored using our form provider. We keep working files for up to 12 months after a job closes so that we can help with reprints and later editions, then delete them. You can ask us to delete your files sooner by emailing us, and we will do so unless we are required to keep them.
9. Showing the work
We may show finished covers and interiors we have worked on in our portfolio and marketing after your book is publicly available. If you would rather we did not, tell us and we will not. We will never show unpublished work, manuscripts, or anything you send us in confidence.
10. Limits of our liability
Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited.
Subject to that, our total liability arising out of or connected with File Fix work, whether in contract, negligence, or otherwise, is limited to the total fees you have paid us for the job in question.
We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses, or for loss of profit, revenue, sales, royalties, goodwill, or anticipated savings, or for the cost of reprinting, pulping, shipping, or re-uploading books, however those losses arise.
11. Your indemnity to us
You agree to cover our losses, including reasonable legal costs, if a third party brings a claim against us because of the content of files you supplied, including claims about copyright, trademark, font licensing, defamation, or privacy.
12. Cancellation
You may cancel at any time before we begin the diagnosis for a full refund. Once the diagnosis has been delivered, the Tier 1 fee is not refundable. For Tier 2 and Tier 3 work already under way at the point you cancel, you are charged for the work completed to that point.
We may decline or stop a job if the files are outside our expertise, if we believe the content is unlawful or infringing, or if the working relationship becomes unreasonable. If we do, we refund any fees for work not yet done.
13. General
These terms, together with the quote you approve, are the whole agreement between us for File Fix work, and they replace anything discussed beforehand.
We may update these terms. The version that applies to your job is the one published on this page on the day you submit your file, and the date at the top of this page tells you when it last changed.
These terms are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, and the courts of Tennessee have exclusive jurisdiction.
14. Contact
Questions about these terms, or a request to delete your files, can be sent through our contact form.