Your agreement with us
These Terms of Use explain the rules for using the SOTRANE Publishers Platform. By creating an account, placing an order or using the platform, you agree to follow them.
The platform is operated by SOTRANE Publishers Limited of Room 601, 6th Floor, Kulima Tower Building, Katunjila Road, Lusaka, Zambia. If you do not agree with these terms, please do not create an account. You may contact us first if anything is unclear.
Who may use the platform
You must be at least eighteen years old to hold an account in your own name. Where publishing work concerns a younger author, a parent, guardian, school or other properly authorised adult should hold the account and supervise the arrangement.
Your account
Give us accurate, current information and keep your sign-in details private. You are responsible for activity carried out through your account unless you tell us promptly that somebody else may have gained access.
A Visitor account lets you explore the platform and contact SOTRANE. Author, staff and administrator access is given only where it is appropriate. You must not try to obtain access that has not been given to you.
- Use your own email address and a strong password.
- Tell us promptly if your email, name or contact details change.
- Do not share an account or allow another person to act as you.
How these terms fit with your project documents
If there is ever a conflict, this is the order that applies:
- A signed publishing agreement, contract, quotation or invoice for your project comes first.
- These Terms of Use come next.
- What a platform screen displays comes last.
- We will not quietly change a signed project agreement through a screen update.
Publishing services and project information
The platform helps you follow publishing work, exchange messages, receive documents and view project information. It does not replace a signed publishing agreement, quotation, invoice or other project-specific document.
Timelines and progress indicators are practical updates. They are not guarantees that work will be completed on a fixed date unless a signed document says so.
Your manuscripts and files
You keep ownership of the original work you submit. Copyright remains yours, and it moves only under an agreement you have signed.
By uploading a manuscript, image or other file, you give SOTRANE permission to store, review, edit, format, produce and share it with authorised people only as needed to provide the service you requested. That permission ends when the service ends, except where we must keep a record or where a signed agreement provides otherwise.
You promise that you have the right to submit the material and that it does not unlawfully copy another person's work, misuse private information or violate another person's rights. If a claim is made against us because that promise was not true, you agree to cover the reasonable cost of dealing with it.
Our content and our marks
Everything we publish on the platform that is not your own material belongs to SOTRANE Publishers Limited or to our authors, illustrators and licensors. That includes catalogue data, book descriptions, cover artwork, photographs, page design and the text of this platform.
You may read it, and print or save reasonable extracts for your own non-commercial use. You may not reproduce it commercially, republish it, systematically extract it, or use automated means to copy it, without our written permission.
The SOTRANE name and logo and the FITABO International Book Fair name are ours. Please do not use them without asking.
Respectful and lawful use
Use the platform for genuine publishing, reading, account and support purposes. Treat authors, clients and team members with respect.
- Do not upload harmful software, false documents or unlawful material.
- Do not harass, threaten, impersonate or deliberately mislead another person.
- Do not probe, bypass or interfere with security, permissions or service availability.
- Do not copy, scrape or automate access in a way that harms the platform or its users.
- Do not disclose another person's project information that you have seen through the platform.
Reader discussions and community content
Blog discussions are public once a comment is published. Your public display name, any role label we apply, the time of the comment, the comment itself and its reaction counts may be visible to anyone who reads the article. Your email address, phone number, account ID and private profile information are not displayed with a comment.
You keep ownership of the words you post. By submitting a comment or reply, you give SOTRANE the limited permission needed to store it, display it with the article, include it in the discussion thread, notify a person you replied to, and moderate it under these terms.
Discussion is for thoughtful questions, relevant experience and different points of view. Disagreement is welcome. Harassment, hate or abusive content, spam, unlawful material, copyright infringement, impersonation and persistent off-topic disruption are not.
You may edit or delete your own comment. Where other people have already replied, a deleted parent may remain as a neutral deletion marker so their legitimate replies do not disappear with it.
A report does not automatically remove a comment. Authorised SOTRANE staff review reports and may keep a comment published, hide it, restore it, mark it as spam or remove it where appropriate. Moderation actions are recorded for accountability.
Comments express the views of the people who post them. Publication of a reader comment does not mean SOTRANE endorses the view expressed.
- Do not post another person's private contact, account or project information.
- Quote or reproduce other people's work only where you have the right to do so.
- Keep replies connected to the article or the discussion you are joining.
- Use Report for genuine concerns rather than as a way to silence ordinary disagreement.
Orders, fees and payments
Prices, publishing fees, royalty information and shop orders are handled in the currency and on the terms shown in the relevant quotation, invoice, contract or checkout screen.
A submitted order is a request to buy. It is confirmed only after SOTRANE verifies the order and, where required, the payment. Delivery or collection arrangements shown for an order form part of that order.
If a price is displayed in error and the error is obvious, we may cancel the order and refund you in full rather than supply at the wrong price. We will contact you before doing so.
Delivery, risk and returns
Delivery timeframes shown for an order are estimates given in good faith rather than guaranteed dates. Risk in goods passes to you on delivery or collection. Ownership passes once we have received payment in full.
Cancellations, returns and refunds are covered by our Returns and Refunds Policy, which forms part of these terms.
Digital publications
When you buy a digital publication you are buying a personal, non-transferable licence to read it. You may not copy, share, resell, upload or make it publicly available, in whole or in part.
Our digital publications carry encryption and a watermark. Removing that protection or circulating a copy infringes copyright and breaks these terms.
Royalties and author payments
Where you are one of our authors, your royalty entitlement, rate, statement frequency and payment timing are set by your signed publishing agreement. Royalty figures shown on the platform are for your information and are subject to reconciliation against sales and returns records.
Availability and changes
We work to keep the platform secure, accurate and available, but maintenance, internet failures or events outside our reasonable control may interrupt it. We may update features to improve security, performance or the publishing service.
We do not promise that the platform will be uninterrupted, error-free, or available at any particular moment, and we may withdraw or change a feature. We may correct clear mistakes in displayed information.
Links to other websites
The platform may link to other websites. We do not control them and are not responsible for their content or their privacy practices. Please review their own terms before using them.
Suspending or closing an account
We may restrict or suspend an account when we reasonably believe it is being misused, presents a security risk, breaks these terms or must be restricted by law. Where practical, we will explain the reason and what can be done next.
You may ask us to close your account. Closing an account does not cancel unpaid amounts, active contractual duties or records that we must reasonably keep for legal, financial or security purposes.
Our responsibility
We are responsible for providing the platform and services with reasonable care, and for loss that is a foreseeable result of our failing to do so.
We are not responsible for loss caused by inaccurate information you supplied, unauthorised use of your account that you failed to report, third-party internet services, or material you did not have the right to submit. We are not responsible for loss of profit, loss of business or loss of opportunity.
Except where liability cannot lawfully be limited, our total responsibility in connection with an order or a project is limited to the amount you paid us for it.
Nothing in these terms removes a right or responsibility that cannot lawfully be removed, including your rights under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act.
Events outside our control
We are not responsible for delay or failure caused by something outside our reasonable control, including power failure, network or courier disruption, fire, flood, civil unrest or the act of a public authority. If such an event causes a substantial delay we will contact you, and you may cancel and be refunded for anything undelivered.
If you have a complaint
Tell us first, at info@sotranepublishers.com. We will acknowledge it within two working days and aim to resolve it within fourteen days. If we cannot resolve it between us, you may refer the matter to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission.
How we contact each other
We will normally contact you by email at the address on your account, or through a notice on the platform. Keep your details current, because a notice sent to an out-of-date address still counts as given. You can reach us by email, by telephone or at our office.
Changes to these terms
We may update these terms when the platform, our services or legal requirements change. We keep earlier versions on record.
If a change materially affects registered users, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to their attention. If you continue to use the platform after a change takes effect, you accept the updated terms. If you do not accept them, you may close your account.
General
If any part of these terms is found not to apply, the rest continues in force. If we do not enforce something immediately, we do not give up the right to enforce it later. You may not transfer your account or your rights under these terms to someone else without our agreement. We may transfer ours if our business is transferred, and we will tell you if that happens.
Law, questions and contact
These terms are governed by the laws of Zambia, and the courts of Zambia have jurisdiction. We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve a concern fairly and promptly.
Email info@sotranepublishers.com or visit our office at Kulima Tower Building, 6th Floor, Room 601, Katunjila Road, Lusaka, Zambia.