Terms and how your files are handled

Who we are. Tradewinds Brief services are delivered by Hatchling Media, an independent publishing studio that produces and publishes its own books.

Payment.

• Fixed-price services (the starter services, the Integrity Audits and the Listing Package) are paid in advance, either directly with the order buttons on our services page or through a secure Stripe payment link we email you.
• Quoted work (Editorial and Series Services) is paid after you accept a written quote, before work begins.

Turnaround clock. Delivery times are counted in business days (Monday to Friday, excluding US federal holidays). The clock starts when both payment and every file and answer listed under “What you provide” have arrived.

Refunds.

• Full refund if you cancel before work begins.
• Full refund if we find we cannot deliver the stated scope, for example if the file cannot be processed.
• If you order a service that does not fit your book (for example the short audit for a longer manuscript), we tell you before starting and either move you to the right service, with you paying only the difference, or refund you in full.
• After delivery, fees are not refundable; the included follow-up or revision round applies instead.

Your rights.

• You keep all rights to your work.
• We never publish, sell or reuse your manuscript or materials, and we never submit them to a retailer or publisher.
• We show a client’s work as a sample only with separate written permission.

How your files are handled.

• How they reach us. You send files by email after we confirm your order. They pass through our email provider in the ordinary way.
• Who processes them. Your files are handled by Hatchling Media using:
  • our own audit scripts, which run inside our Claude workspace (below) and make no outside connections;
  • Anthropic’s Claude, an AI service, used under our Claude account to help run checks and draft materials. On that account the setting that allows chats and files to be used to train AI models is switched off.
• What for. Only to deliver the service you ordered. Nothing else.
• What we do not do. We do not publish your files, give them to anyone beyond the services named above, or submit them to any retailer or publisher.
• Deletion. We delete your files from our own working storage within 30 days of delivery, or sooner if you ask. Copies held by Anthropic in connection with our account are governed by Anthropic’s own retention terms, which we do not control.
• Hands-on review. Albert Massay of Hatchling Media works on every project himself. AI tools may propose findings, marks or draft text under his direction; he checks every finding against your manuscript and approves each deliverable before it is sent. Nothing reaches you without that approval.

Research use.

• Buying a service never enrolls your work in product research or testing.
• If we ever ask to use your material to improve our tools, we ask separately, in writing. Saying no changes nothing about your service.

What we never do.

• We never ask for your KDP, retailer, bank or email passwords, and we never log into your accounts.
• We never upload or submit your book to a retailer, distributor or publisher on your behalf.

No guarantees. A service improves your materials; it does not guarantee an error-free book, sales, rankings, retailer approval, agent representation, or publication.

Services are not acquisitions. Buying a service never makes Hatchling Media or Tradewinds Brief more or less likely to publish, license or acquire your work. We never charge a fee to consider a project.