rĀthe is a service of Hiraeth, LLC, (“Hiraeth”). Hiraeth is a Texas limited liability company.

1. Acceptance

By accessing rĀthe you agree to these Terms and affirm that you have read our Privacy Policy. You represent and warrant that you have the legal capacity to enter into these Terms, and that entering into these Terms does not conflict with any arrangements or agreements between you and any other person or entity. You affirm that you will only use rĀthe in compliance with these Terms and all applicable laws, rules and regulations. You are prohibited from using rĀthe if you do not accept all terms of the Agreement.

1. Amendment

Hiraeth reserves the right to change these Terms at any time and will notify you of those changes by emailing them to your rĀthe registered email account. Changes are effective on the date first posted. Your continued use of rĀthe after we post changes constitutes your acceptance of the changes. If you do not agree to the changes, you must terminate your access and use of rĀthe.

1.  Term

The term of this Agreement begins upon your Acceptance and continues until terminated by us or by you. We may terminate this Agreement and access to your rĀthe Author account at any time. We will notify you in the event of such termination. You may terminate this Agreement at any time by providing us written notice of termination. We may also suspend your rĀthe account at any time with or without notice to you and for any reason. Following termination or suspension of your Author Account, we will continue to fulfill any customer orders for your Works pending as of the date of termination or suspension in order to provide continuing access to or re-downloads of your Works to support customers who have purchased your Works prior to your termination or suspension. The following provisions of this Agreement will survive termination of this Agreement: Sections 1, 3, 4.5, 4.6, 4.7, 4.8, 4.9, 4.10, 5, 6 and any other provisions that, by their nature, are intended to survive. All rights to Works acquired by customers will survive termination. 

1. Accounts

Registering with rĀthe provides you access to the Services and Content by entering a username and password (“Account”) and potentially other information. A rĀthe “Author Account” provides personalized access for you to publish your original works of authorship (“Works”) on rĀthe. A rĀthe “Reader Account” provides personalized access for you to read Works published on rĀthe.

1. Minimum Age Requirement

You confirm you are at least 18 years old and that you are able to form a legally binding contract. You must have an active Author Account to publish a Work on rĀthe. You must have an active Reader Account to download a Work from rĀthe. Account Information

All information you provide to register your rĀthe account must be accurate and updated while using rĀthe. You are not permitted to create Accounts or upload a Work with a word or name likely to be confused with any third-party trademark(s), or Accounts that appear to be Accounts of other non-fictional persons or organizations. Any Account deemed to be in violation of this rule may be blocked, deleted, or renamed at any time at the sole discretion of Hiraeth.

1. Account Security

You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your Account username and password. You are responsible for all activities occurring through your Account. You may not permit any third party to use rĀthe through your Account. You will not use the Account of any third party. You will immediately notify Hiraeth of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account. 

1. Adult Works

Individuals under the age of 18 are prohibited from accessing rĀthe, regardless of parental or legal guardian approval.

Furthermore, Adult-themed Works are required to be categorized as such by the Author, and Hiraeth reserves the right to remove content or terminate memberships for any violation of this policy. Users are required to verify they are over 18 years of age before accessing any Adult content on rĀthe. If we become aware that a minor is accessing Adult Works on rĀthe, we will be notify the Account holder by email, and further action may be taken at Hiraeth’s sole discretion.

1. Reader Account

A rĀthe “Reader Account” provides personalized access for you to read Works published on rĀthe. Works are released 625 words at a time once a day (“Episode”) to Reader Accounts.

1. Cost. The first Episode of a Work is free. Subsequent Episodes of a Work cost 10 cents per Episode. A Reader Account holder may cancel his or her Account at any time. Upon cancellation, your purchased Episodes are no longer accessible.

1. Payment. rĀthe uses the payment method associated with your Apple ID account to pay for episodes.  In order to use an iPhone, a user is required to have an Apple ID.  To make iTunes or App purchases on the iPhone, a user is required to input their payment method information.  Possible payment methods include credit card, debit card, or Apple Gift Card.  If you want to make an app purchase and do not have a payment method on file, Apple will redirect you to add that information under iPhone settings. 

1. Author Account

A rĀthe “Author Account” provides personalized access for you to publish your original works of authorship (“Works”) on rĀthe.

1. Work Eligibility. If you do not control the exclusive rights to your Work or the primary content in your Work, you cannot submit it for publishing on rĀthe. For example, if your Work consists primarily of content that is in the public domain or licensed by you on a non-exclusive basis (i.e., if others can also publish this content), you cannot submit it to rĀthe for publication. We reserve the right to determine the types of Works that we accept. We can choose not to accept your Work or to remove it at any time in our discretion. 
2. Exclusivity. When you upload your Work to rĀthe for publication, you give us the exclusive right to sell and distribute your Work in 625-word Episodes in accord with the “in this manner” clause of the publishing rights outlined in the service agreement. During this period of exclusivity, you cannot sell or distribute, or give anyone else the right to sell or distribute, your Work (or a work that is substantially similar) in digital episode delivery format.
3. Grant of Rights. You grant Hiraeth, throughout the term of this Agreement, an exclusive and irrevocable right and license to reproduce and distribute your Work in digital format delivered in episodes. This right includes, without limitation, the right to: (a) reproduce, index and store Works on one or more computer facilities, and reformat, convert and encode Works; (b) display, market, transmit, distribute, sell, license and otherwise make available all or any portion of Works for customers and prospective customers to download, access, copy and paste, print, annotate and/or view online and offline, including on portable devices; (c) permit customers to store purchased Works on servers and to access and re-download such Works from time to time both during and after the term of this Agreement; (d) display and distribute (i) your trademarks and logos in the form you provide them to us or within Works (with such modifications as are necessary to optimize their viewing), and (ii) portions of Works, in each case solely for the purposes of marketing, soliciting and selling Works; (e) use, reproduce, adapt, modify, and distribute, as we determine appropriate, in our sole discretion, any metadata that you provide in connection with Works; and (f) transmit,  reproduce and otherwise use (or cause the reformatting, transmission, reproduction, and/or other use of) Works as mere technological incidents to and for the limited purpose of technically enabling the foregoing (e.g., caching to enable display). In addition, you agree that we may permit our affiliates and independent contractors, and our affiliates' independent contractors, to exercise the rights that you grant to us in this Agreement, though only insofar as our affiliates’ independent contractors are engaged in efforts directly benefitting rĀthe.
4. Content Requirements. You must provide your Work in electronic file format to us at your own expense. Pornography and other offensive content are prohibited. Illegal and infringing content is prohibited. You must immediately withdraw any of your submitted Work upon learning it is not in compliance with these content requirements. We may remove or modify your provided Work description or graphic if we determine they do not comply. At our sole discretion, we may remove a Work from sale or display. We may impose additional restrictions on Authors who submit such prohibited Work. You agree to indemnify, hold harmless and forever discharge rĀthe from any damages or causes of action of any kind relating to your provision of pornographic, obscene, infringing, or any other prohibited Work.
5. Responsibility for Completion. Responsibility for the completion of all Works is exclusively the responsibility of the Author. Hiraeth does not accept in-progress Works not yet completed.

1. Work Rejection. We may determine what content we accept and distribute through rĀthe in our sole discretion. If we request that you provide additional information relating to your Works, such as information confirming that you have all rights required to permit our distribution of the Works, you will promptly provide the information requested, and you represent and warrant that any information and documentation you provide to us in response to such a request will be current, complete, and accurate. You authorize us, directly or through third parties, to make any inquiries we consider appropriate to verify your rights to permit our distribution of the Works and the accuracy of the information or documentation you provide to us with respect to those rights.

4.6.7) Withdrawal. You may withdraw your Works from further sale at any time on ten business days written notice. We may fulfill any customer orders completed through the date the Works are available for sale. All withdrawals of Works will apply prospectively only and not with respect to any customers who purchased the Works prior to the date of removal.  Authors who have no Episode Sales of a specific Title are free to remove that Title at any time and are released from their obligation. However, if one Episode has been purchased, the “in this manner” clause of the publishing rights outlined in the service agreement remains in full effect until all mobile app users have access to the complete Title in Episode form or the equivalent thereof has been satisfied.

1. Reformatting. We may, in our discretion, reformat your Works, and you acknowledge that unintentional errors may occur in the process of reformatting of your Works. If any such errors do occur, you may remove the affected Works from further sale in rĀthe, and this will be your only remedy for the errors. We may also, in our discretion, correct any errors existing in a Works file as you deliver it to us. 

1. Marketing and Promotion. We will have sole discretion in determining all marketing and promotions related to the sale of your Works through rĀthe and may, without limitation, market and promote your Works by making portions of your Works available to prospective customers without charge, and by permitting prospective customers to see excerpts of your Works in response to search queries. We will not owe you any fees for any marketing or promotional efforts. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to market, distribute, or offer for sale any Work, or to continuing marketing, distributing or selling a Work after we have commenced doing so. 

1. Currency Conversion. We may sell your Work using multiple currencies. When we do, we may convert the price to other currencies at the current exchange rate.

1. Royalties and Payments. 

Royalties. If you are not in breach of your obligations under this Agreement, we will pay you based on the date you loaded your work, your royalties being 75% of Gross Income before the launch of the mobile app and 65% of Gross Income if you loaded your work after the mobile app launched. For clarity, Gross Income is The Retail price of The Episode packages of 10 Episodes for .99 cents= FixPack , 55 Episodes for$ 4.99 = Crave Case, 120 Episodes for $9.99 = Binge Box or the Retail price of the Electronic version of any Complete Volume sold minus the Apple Transaction fee of 30%.

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2. When We Pay You. We will pay Royalties due approximately 60 days following the end of the calendar month during which the sales were made. At the time of payment, we will make available to you an online report detailing sales of Episodes and corresponding Royalties.
3. Payment Policies. Royalties due will be paid to you through Apple Pay. You must have enabled Apple Pay in your setting in order to receive any owed Royalties. We may require you to provide certain information or to register a valid bank account in your rĀthe account in order to receive Royalty payments, in which case we will not be obligated to make Royalty payments to you unless you do so. We may establish other payment policies from time to time, such as minimum payment amounts for different payment methods and check fees.
4. Payment Disputes. You may not bring a legal proceeding against us with regard to any statement unless you bring it within six months after the date the statement is available. Any such proceeding will be limited to a determination of the amount of monies, if any, payable by us to you for the accounting periods in question, and your sole remedy will be the recovery of those monies with no interest. 
5. Offsets, etc. We can withhold Royalties and offset them against future payments as indicated below. Our exercise of these rights does not limit other rights we may have to withhold or offset Royalties or exercise other remedies.
   
   1. If we pay you a Royalty on a sale and later issue a refund, return, or credit for that sale, we may offset the amount of the Royalty previously paid for the sale against future Royalties, or require you to remit that amount to us.
   2. If a third party asserts that you did not have all rights required to make one of your Works available through rĀthe, we may hold all Royalties due to you until we reasonably determine the validity of the third party claim. If we determine that you did not have all of those rights or that you have otherwise breached your representations and warranties or our content requirements with regard to a Work, we will not owe you Royalties for that Work’s Episode sales and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us.
   3. Upon termination of this Agreement, we may withhold all Royalties due for a period of three months from the date they would otherwise be payable in order to ensure our ability to off-set any refunds or other offsets we are entitled to take against the Royalties.
   4. If we terminate this Agreement because you have breached your representations and warranties or our content requirements, you forfeit all Royalties not yet paid to you. If after we have terminated your account you open a new account without our express permission, we will not owe you any Royalties through the new account. 
6. Taxes. We are responsible for collecting and remitting any and all taxes imposed on our respective sales of Episodes to customers. You are responsible for any income or other taxes due and payable resulting from payments to you by us under this Agreement. Accordingly, unless otherwise stated, the amounts due to you hereunder are inclusive of any taxes that may apply to such payments. We maintain our right, however, to deduct or withhold any and all applicable taxes from amounts due by it to you, and the amounts due, as reduced by those deductions or withholdings, will constitute full payment and settlement to you. 
7. Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Geofiltering Technology. We may, but are not obligated to, provide you the option to apply DRM technology in connection with the distribution of your Works. If we provide you the option to apply DRM technology, you acknowledge that we make no representations as to the efficacy of the DRM and will not be responsible for any failure of the DRM. We also may, but are not obligated to, use geofiltering technology as a way of determining which customers are entitled to purchase Works, for example, where you indicate that you do not have worldwide distribution rights to a Digital Work through the procedure we provide to you for that purpose. If we use geofiltering technology when distributing your Works, distribution will be deemed to have taken place within the permitted distribution territories for the Digital Works, even though customers may, in fact, be located outside those territories. 
8. Rights Clearances and Rights Dispute Resolution. You will obtain and pay for any and all necessary clearances and licenses for the Works to permit our exercise of the rights granted under this Agreement without any further payment obligation by us, including, without limitation, all royalties and other income due to any copyright owner. If you notify us through the procedure we provide for making claims of copyright infringement that a third party has made a Work available for distribution through rĀthe that you have the exclusive right to make available under rĀthe, then, upon your request and after verification of your claim, we will pay you the Royalties due in connection with any sales of the Work through rĀthe, and will remove the Work from future sale through rĀthe, as your sole and exclusive remedy.
9. Representations, Warranties and Indemnities. You represent and warrant that: (a) you have the full right, power and authority to enter into and fully perform this Agreement and will comply with the terms of this Agreement; (b) prior to your delivery of any content, you will have obtained all rights that are necessary for the exercise the rights granted under this Agreement; (c) neither the exercise of the rights authorized under this Agreement nor any materials embodied in the content nor its sale or distribution as authorized in this Agreement will violate or infringe upon the intellectual property, proprietary or other rights of any person or entity, including, without limitation, contractual rights, copyrights, trademarks, common law rights, rights of publicity, or privacy, or moral rights, or contain defamatory material or violate any laws or regulations of any jurisdiction; (d) you will ensure that all Works delivered under rĀthe comply with the technical delivery specifications provided by us; (e) you will be solely responsible for accounting and paying any co-owners or co-administrators of any Work or portion thereof any royalties with respect to the uses of the content and their respective shares, if any, of any monies payable under this Agreement; and (f) you will not attempt to exploit rĀthe. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold Hiraeth, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, subcontractors and assigns harmless from and against any loss, claim, liability, damage, action or cause of action (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arises from any breach of your representations, warranties or obligations set forth in this Agreement. We will be entitled, at our expense, to participate in the defense and settlement of the claim or action with counsel of our own choosing. RĀTHE IS PROVIDED "AS IS." HIRAETH WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY HIRAETH UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM. WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT HIRAETH CANNOT ENSURE THAT WORKS SUBMITTED BY OR ON BEHALF OF YOU WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES HIRAETH MAY MAKE APPLICABLE IN CONNECTION WITH USE OF WORKS, AND HIRAETH WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. RATHE RELIES ON COMPLEX SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES.  WE STRIVE TO MAKE OUR SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES ERROR-FREE AND EFFICIENT, BUT WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT THEY WILL BE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTE M OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
10. Ownership and Control of Hiraeth/Feedback. Subject to the authorizations you grant to us under this Agreement, as between us and you, you retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interest in and to your Works. We retain all ownership rights in and to the copyrights and all other rights and interests in and to rĀthe, Hiraeth, and any materials we use or provide to you for use relating to your Work (such as a generic cover image used for your Work if you do not provide one). We are solely responsible for, and will have full discretion with respect to the terms, features, and operation of rĀthe and related marketing, but our use of the Works will be subject to the terms of this Agreement. In the event that you elect to provide suggestions, ideas, or other feedback to Hiraeth or any of its affiliates in connection with rĀthe ("Feedback"), Hiraeth will be free to use and exploit the same in any manner without restriction and without any need to compensate you. This Agreement does not grant you any license or other rights to any intellectual property or technology owned or operated by us or any of our affiliates, including, without limitation, any trademarks or trade names. Nothing in this Agreement restricts any rights we may have under applicable law or a separate permission. 
11. Confidentiality. You will not, without our express, prior written permission: (a) issue any press release or make any other public disclosures regarding this Agreement or its terms; (b) disclose Hiraeth Confidential Information (as defined below) to any third party or to any employee other than an employee who needs to know the information; or (c) use Hiraeth Confidential Information for any purpose other than the performance of this Agreement. You may however disclose Hiraeth Confidential Information as required to comply with applicable law, provided you: (i) give us prior written notice sufficient to allow us to seek a protective order or other appropriate remedy; (ii) disclose only that Hiraeth Confidential Information as is required by applicable law; and (iii) use reasonable efforts to obtain confidential treatment for any Hiraeth Confidential Information so disclosed. "Hiraeth Confidential Information" means (1) any information regarding Hiraeth and its affiliates, including, without limitation, information relating to its technology, customers, business plans, promotional and marketing activities, finances and other business affairs, (2) the nature, content and existence of any communications between you and us, and (3) any sales data relating to the sale of Works or other information we provide or make available to you in connection with rĀthe. Hiraeth Confidential Information does not include information that (A) is or becomes publicly available without breach of this Agreement, (B) you can show by documentation to have been known to you at the time you receive it from us, (C) you receive from a third party who did not acquire or disclose such information by a wrongful or tortious act, or (D) you can show by documentation that you have independently developed without reference to any Hiraeth Confidential Information. Without limiting the survivability of any other provision of this Agreement, this Section will survive three years following the termination of this Agreement. 
12. Your Commitment. Your commitment to these terms and conditions is important, and the benefits we provide to you as part of this option are conditioned on your following through on your commitments. If you don’t comply with these terms and conditions, we will not owe you Royalties for that Work, and we may offset any of those Royalties that were previously paid against future Royalties, or require you to remit them to us. We may also withhold your Royalty payments on all your Works for a period of up to 90 days while we investigate. This doesn’t limit other remedies we have, such as prohibiting your future participation in rĀthe.

1. Force Majeure

Hiraeth will not be liable to you for any failure or delay in the performanceof its obligations under this Agreement caused by any event or circumstance beyond its control, including, but not limited to, denial-of-service attacks, insurrection, fires, flood, storm,
explosions, acts of God, war, terrorism, and labor conditions. 

1. General Legal Provisions

1. Disputes. Any dispute or claim relating in any way to this Agreement or rĀthe 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 United States Federal Arbitration Act and federal arbitration law apply to this Agreement. There is no judge or jury in arbitration, and court review of an arbitration award is limited. However, an arbitrator can award on an individual basis the same damages and relief as a court (including injunctive and declaratory relief or statutory damages), and must follow the terms of this Agreement as a court would. To begin an arbitration proceeding, you must send a letter requesting arbitration and describing your claim to our registered agent, REGISTERED AGENTS INC., 700 LAVACA ST. STE 1401 AUSTIN, TX 78701, USA. The arbitration will be conducted by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its rules, including the AAA’s Supplementary Procedures for Consumer-Related Disputes.
   The AAA’s rules are available at www.adr.org or by calling 1-800-778-7879 (in the United States). Payment of all filing, administration and arbitrator fees will be governed by the AAA’s rules. You or we may bring suit in court on an individual basis only, and not in a class, consolidated or representative action, to apply for injunctive remedies. You may bring any such suit for injunctive remedies only in the courts of the State of Texas, USA. 
2. Applicable Law. The United States Federal Arbitration Act, applicable United States federal law, and the laws of the State of Texas, USA, without regard to principles of conflict of laws, will govern this Agreement and any dispute of any sort that might arise between you and Hiraeth relating to this Agreement or rĀthe.
3. Other Legal provisions. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court or other tribunal with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The parties to this Agreement are independent contractors. Each party will bear its own costs and expenses in performing this Agreement. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement will not constitute a waiver of the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision. Any Hiraeth affiliate may join as a party to this Agreement and will notify you if it does. The joining Hiraeth affiliate will be entitled to exercise the rights you grant under this Agreement. Each Hiraeth party is severally liable for its own obligations under this Agreement and is not jointly liable for the obligations of other Hiraeth parties. Neither party may assign any of its rights or obligations under this Agreement, whether by operation of law or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the other, except that (a) Hiraeth may assign any of its rights and obligations under this Agreement without consent and (b) you may assign all of your rights and obligations under this Agreement to any corporation or other entity without consent in connection with the sale of all or substantially all of your assets, but you must give Hiraeth written notice of the assignment no later than ten (10) business days following the assignment. Subject to the foregoing limitation, this Agreement will be binding upon, inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the parties and their respective successors and assigns. This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter, supersedes any and all prior or contemporaneous agreements between the parties with respect to its subject matter, and does not confer upon any other person other than the parties any rights or remedies. You consent to the use of electronic means to complete this Agreement and to provide you with any notices we give you in relation to this Agreement. To be effective, any notice given by a
   party under this Agreement must be in writing and delivered (i) if by a Hiraeth party, via email, via a message through your Reader Account or Author Account, or (ii) if by you to Hiraeth, via email to notice@rathe.app with a copy to Marjorie Rath at
   MRath@rathe.app. Notices will be effective and deemed received on the date transmitted or posted