PubBound

Terms of Service

Last Updated: August 28, 2026

Welcome to PubBound, a publishing operations platform operated by DartFrog Books LLC (“DartFrog,” “Company,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the PubBound website, platform, applications, and related services (collectively, the “Service”).

By creating an account, purchasing a subscription, accepting an invitation to use the Service, or otherwise accessing or using the Service, you agree to be bound by these Terms. If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not access or use the Service.

If you use the Service on behalf of a company, publishing house, organization, or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms. In that case, “you” and “your” refer to both you and that entity.

1. Description of Service

PubBound is a role-based publishing operations platform designed to help publishers manage book production and related activities, including project workflows, tasks, timelines, author communication, team collaboration, forms, production assets, royalty information, influencer activities, and other publishing operations.

The Service may provide different levels of access based on a user's assigned role, including Publisher Administrator, Team Member, Author, Influencer, or other authorized user roles.

Certain optional services or features, including Shelf Scout, may be subject to additional eligibility requirements, fees, terms, or availability.

We may add, modify, improve, or discontinue features of the Service from time to time.

2. Accounts, Organizations, and Authorized Users

Account Registration

You must provide accurate, current, and complete information when creating an account and agree to keep that information reasonably current.

You are responsible for safeguarding your password, authentication credentials, magic links, and other account-access methods. You agree to notify us promptly if you become aware of unauthorized access to or use of your account.

Publisher Accounts

A publisher or other organization subscribing to PubBound (“Publisher”) may authorize employees, contractors, authors, influencers, and other individuals to access portions of its account.

The Publisher is responsible for managing access to its account and for the activities of users it authorizes to access the Service, except to the extent caused by a security failure attributable to DartFrog.

Publishers are responsible for removing or modifying access when an authorized user should no longer have access to their account or particular projects.

Users may only access information and functionality made available to them through their assigned permissions.

3. Subscriptions, Billing, and Cancellation

PubBound is offered through paid subscription plans. Current subscription pricing, features, and billing intervals are displayed at the time of purchase.

Recurring Billing

By purchasing a subscription, you authorize us and our payment processor to charge the applicable subscription fees and any applicable taxes using your selected payment method.

Subscriptions automatically renew at the end of each applicable billing period unless canceled before the renewal date.

Monthly and Annual Plans

Monthly subscriptions are billed monthly. Annual subscriptions are billed annually.

Features, usage allowances, and pricing may differ between monthly and annual subscriptions as described at the time of purchase.

Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time. Unless otherwise stated at the time of purchase, cancellation becomes effective at the end of the then-current paid billing period, and you will retain access to the Service until that time.

Unless required by applicable law or otherwise expressly stated, payments already made are non-refundable and we do not provide prorated refunds for unused portions of a billing period.

Price Changes

We may change subscription prices from time to time. Any increase to your recurring subscription price will take effect no earlier than your next renewal following reasonable notice of the change.

4. User Content and Intellectual Property

Your Content

You retain all ownership rights in manuscripts, cover files, illustrations, documents, communications, metadata, production materials, and other content that you or your authorized users upload, submit, transmit, or store through the Service (“User Content”).

DartFrog does not acquire ownership of User Content by virtue of its use within PubBound.

Limited License to Operate the Service

By providing User Content through the Service, you grant DartFrog a limited, non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, process, reproduce, display, and transmit User Content solely as reasonably necessary to operate and provide the Service to you and your authorized users.

This license does not transfer ownership of User Content to DartFrog.

Rights and Permissions

You represent and warrant that you have all rights, permissions, licenses, and authorizations necessary to upload, store, process, share, or otherwise use User Content through the Service.

Publishers are responsible for obtaining any permissions necessary from authors, illustrators, editors, contractors, rights holders, or other parties whose content or information they place within PubBound.

PubBound Intellectual Property

PubBound and its software, design, functionality, workflows, templates, branding, interfaces, and original content are owned by DartFrog or its licensors and are protected by applicable copyright, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws.

Except as expressly permitted through use of the Service, these Terms do not grant you ownership of or rights to PubBound's intellectual property.

5. Privacy and Data Security

Our collection, processing, and handling of personal information is described in the PubBound Privacy Policy.

You are responsible for ensuring that your use of PubBound, including information you upload regarding authors, employees, contractors, influencers, applicants, or other individuals, complies with applicable privacy and data-protection requirements.

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect information maintained through the Service. However, no electronic storage, transmission, or information system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

You should maintain independent copies of manuscripts, production files, financial records, and other information that is important to your publishing operations. PubBound should not be used as the sole backup or archival repository for critical files or records.

6. True Origin Certificates and Credits

PubBound may allow Publishers to create blockchain-backed True Origin certificates or records associated with manuscripts, production files, or publishing milestones.

Certificate Credits

PubBound subscriptions may include a specified number of True Origin certificate credits according to the subscription plan selected.

Unused certificate credits roll over to subsequent billing periods.

Publishers may purchase additional certificate credits at the price displayed within the Service at the time of purchase. Purchased credits are added to the Publisher's available certificate balance.

Certificate allocations, additional-credit pricing, and related terms may change for future subscription periods or purchases upon reasonable notice.

Unless otherwise expressly stated, certificate credits have no cash value, are non-transferable between unrelated PubBound accounts, and are not redeemable for cash.

Nature of True Origin Records

True Origin creates records associated with submitted digital information and production milestones. A True Origin certificate does not independently establish copyright ownership, legal authorship, originality, or the absence of third-party rights in the underlying work.

True Origin certificates and related blockchain functionality are provided subject to the availability and operation of applicable blockchain networks and third-party infrastructure. DartFrog does not control and cannot guarantee the perpetual availability or operation of third-party blockchain networks.

7. Shelf Scout

Shelf Scout is an optional reader-engagement service that may be made available to qualifying PubBound Publishers by invitation.

Participation in Shelf Scout is not included in a standard PubBound subscription unless expressly stated otherwise and may require payment of separate fees.

DartFrog reserves the right to determine eligibility for Shelf Scout participation and may limit participation in order to maintain the quality, integrity, and capacity of the program.

Shelf Scout may provide participating books with access to pre-publication readers, structured reader-response information, and coordinated launch-related activities.

Participation in Shelf Scout does not guarantee reviews, positive reactions, recommendations, publicity, book sales, rankings, awards, media coverage, or any other particular result.

Reader reactions represent the views of individual participating readers and are not controlled or guaranteed by DartFrog.

Additional Shelf Scout terms, participation requirements, or program guidelines may apply and will be provided to participating Publishers where applicable.

8. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Service to:

  • Upload, transmit, distribute, or store content that is unlawful or that you do not have the right to use.
  • Infringe or violate another person's intellectual property, privacy, publicity, contractual, or other legal rights.
  • Impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity, authority, or affiliation.
  • Upload malicious code, malware, viruses, or other harmful technology.
  • Interfere with or disrupt the security, integrity, availability, or performance of the Service.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to accounts, systems, networks, data, or portions of the Service.
  • Bypass, disable, or interfere with access controls, usage restrictions, or security features.
  • Use automated means to scrape, extract, copy, or access the Service except as expressly authorized by DartFrog.
  • Use the Service for fraudulent, deceptive, or unlawful purposes.
  • Use PubBound or its content to create, train, develop, or substantially replicate a competing publishing-management platform without our written authorization.

We reserve the right to investigate suspected violations and to suspend or terminate access where reasonably necessary to protect PubBound, its users, or third parties.

9. Third-Party Services

PubBound may integrate with or rely upon third-party services, including hosting providers, payment processors, email services, blockchain networks, file-storage systems, authentication providers, and other technology providers.

Your use of certain third-party services may also be subject to the terms and privacy policies of those providers.

DartFrog is not responsible for interruptions, failures, modifications, or discontinuation of third-party services that are outside our reasonable control.

10. Service Availability

We strive to maintain reliable access to PubBound but do not guarantee that the Service will be available uninterrupted, error-free, or at all times.

The Service may occasionally be unavailable because of maintenance, upgrades, security issues, technical failures, third-party outages, events beyond our reasonable control, or other operational circumstances.

We may modify, update, replace, or discontinue particular features when reasonably necessary to maintain, improve, secure, or develop the Service.

11. Data Following Cancellation or Termination

Following expiration or termination of a subscription, access to the Publisher's account and User Content may be limited or discontinued.

Publishers are responsible for maintaining their own copies of important User Content.

12. Suspension and Termination

You may discontinue use of PubBound at any time and may cancel a paid subscription as described in Section 3.

We may suspend or terminate access to the Service if:

  • You materially violate these Terms.
  • Required subscription fees remain unpaid.
  • Your use creates a security, legal, or operational risk.
  • We reasonably believe the Service is being used fraudulently or unlawfully.
  • Continued provision of the Service is prohibited by law.

Where reasonably practicable, we will provide notice and an opportunity to resolve the issue before terminating an account, except where immediate suspension or termination is reasonably necessary for security, legal, fraud-prevention, or similar reasons.

13. Disclaimer of Warranties

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS.

DARTFROG DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT.

WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, COMPLETELY SECURE, OR FREE FROM HARMFUL COMPONENTS, OR THAT ANY INFORMATION OR RESULTS OBTAINED THROUGH THE SERVICE WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE, OR SUITABLE FOR ANY PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Nothing in these Terms excludes warranties or rights that cannot lawfully be excluded.

14. Limitation of Liability

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT SHALL DARTFROG, ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, PARTNERS, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, OR AFFILIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, USE, GOODWILL, BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES, OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES, ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO YOUR ACCESS TO, USE OF, OR INABILITY TO ACCESS OR USE THE SERVICE.

TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY OF DARTFROG AND ITS DIRECTORS, OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, PARTNERS, AGENTS, SUPPLIERS, AND AFFILIATES FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THE SERVICE OR THESE TERMS SHALL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT PAID BY YOU TO DARTFROG FOR PUBBOUND DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING THE EVENT GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM.

Some jurisdictions do not permit certain exclusions or limitations of liability. In such jurisdictions, these limitations shall apply only to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

15. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to indemnify, defend, and hold harmless DartFrog and its directors, officers, employees, agents, and affiliates from and against claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and reasonable costs and expenses, including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of or relating to:

  • User Content submitted or made available through your account.
  • Your violation of these Terms.
  • Your violation of applicable law or the rights of another person or entity.
  • Your use of the Service in a manner not authorized by these Terms.

This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from DartFrog's own unlawful conduct or breach of these Terms.

16. Changes to the Service or Terms

We may modify these Terms from time to time.

If we make material changes, we will provide reasonable notice through the Service, by email, or through another appropriate method before the changes take effect.

Your continued use of the Service after updated Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.

If you do not agree to a material change, you may discontinue use of the Service and cancel your subscription.

17. Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by the laws of the State of North Carolina.

18. General Provisions

Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with the Privacy Policy and any additional terms expressly applicable to a particular Service or feature, constitute the entire agreement between you and DartFrog regarding your use of PubBound.

Severability

If any provision of these Terms is determined to be invalid or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.

No Waiver

Our failure to enforce any provision of these Terms shall not constitute a waiver of that provision or any other provision.

Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent. DartFrog may assign these Terms in connection with a merger, acquisition, corporate reorganization, sale of assets, or similar transaction.

Force Majeure

DartFrog shall not be liable for delays or failures in performance caused by circumstances beyond its reasonable control, including natural disasters, acts of government, labor disruptions, internet or telecommunications failures, widespread service outages, or failures of third-party infrastructure.

Headings

Section headings are provided for convenience and do not affect the interpretation of these Terms.

19. Contact Us

If you have questions regarding these Terms, please contact us at:

DartFrog Books LLC / PubBound

support@pubbound.com