Terms of engagement

Your agreement is with Word & Deed Private Writing. It begins when you accept your written proposal and pay the first instalment. If your proposal and these terms ever disagree, the proposal applies.

The person whose story is told is the author. Where someone else commissions and pays for the book, such as a son or daughter, we call them the client. The author's wishes about the content of the book always come first.

Every project has a fixed price, set out in your proposal and including GST. For a Profile, half is payable when you accept the proposal and half when the author approves the final draft. For the Hundred-Year Book, payment is made in the instalments set out in your proposal, usually monthly over the year.

If you go on to the Hundred-Year Book within twelve months of receiving a Profile, the amount you paid for the Profile is deducted from the price of the book.

Extra copies, photo restoration, additional conversations and other extras are quoted separately and charged only if you approve them in advance.

Conversations are held in person or by video, at times agreed with the author. If a conversation needs to be moved, please give us at least two working days' notice so that we can rearrange it. Conversations are recorded so that nothing is lost, with the consent of everyone present.

The author reads each chapter as it is written and approves the final proof before anything is printed. Each project includes reasonable corrections and changes at each stage. Changes requested after the final proof has been approved, or a substantial rewrite of approved material, may be quoted separately.

We write what the author tells us and do not invent events. The author confirms that, to the best of their knowledge, what they tell us is true and that they are entitled to share it. We may suggest leaving out material that could harm someone else or expose the author to legal risk, and we may decline to print material we believe is defamatory.

A Profile usually takes about two months from the first conversation to delivery, and the Hundred-Year Book about a year, or about six months if conversations are held fortnightly. These are estimates rather than guarantees, because a good book depends on the author's availability and on approvals being given along the way.

If the author's health changes, please tell us straight away. We can hold conversations more often, pause the project, or bring the book to a close sooner using the material already recorded.

If the author is unable to continue, we will complete the book from the chapters and recordings we already have, with the client's approval, and deliver it. Instalments for work not yet started will be refunded.

You may end the project at any time by writing to us. You will pay for the work completed up to that point, and we will refund anything you have paid in advance for work not yet started, and give you the recordings and drafts made so far.

The author owns the copyright in the text of their book and in the recordings of their conversations, and we assign to the author any copyright we create in the text. Photographs and documents remain the property of whoever owned them.

We keep your book and its contents confidential. We will not show any part of it, including its cover, without the author's written permission, and anyone who works on your book does so under a confidentiality agreement. We use personal information only to make your book and run our practice, and we never sell it or share it without permission.

We will carry out the work with due care and skill. Nothing in these terms excludes any right you have under the Australian Consumer Law. To the extent the law allows, our total liability in connection with a project is limited to the price paid for it.

These terms are governed by the law of New South Wales. If something goes wrong, please tell Alexander first, at alexander@wordanddeed.com.au, and we will do our best to put it right.

Last updated 19 October 2026.