Terms of Use
Welcome to the website of July First Literary LLC (“July First Literary,” “JFL,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the July First Literary website and any pages, content, features, or services made available through it (collectively, the “Website”).
By accessing or using the Website, you agree to these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with these Terms, please do not use the Website.
About This Website
The Website provides information about July First Literary, its literary agents and other personnel, clients, represented works, submission opportunities, news, and related services and activities.
Nothing on the Website constitutes an offer or guarantee of literary representation, publication, sale, or any other professional relationship or result. Your use of the Website, including contacting July First Literary or submitting materials for consideration, does not by itself create an author-agent, fiduciary, contractual, or other professional relationship between you and July First Literary or any of its agents.
An agency relationship exists only when July First Literary and a client have entered into a written representation agreement.
Submissions
July First Literary accepts queries and submission materials through QueryManager in accordance with the submission guidelines of individual JFL agents. QueryManager is a third-party service, and your use of QueryManager is also subject to its own terms and policies.
Submitting a query, manuscript, proposal, sample pages, or other material does not guarantee review, response, feedback, or an offer of representation.
You represent that you have the right to submit the materials you provide for consideration. You retain ownership of your submitted materials, and submitting materials to July First Literary does not transfer copyright or other ownership rights to us.
July First Literary does not accept submissions for manuscripts containing material content created by generative artificial intelligence, including AI-generated text or artwork.
Because literary agencies routinely receive and review submissions involving similar ideas, themes, premises, characters, settings, titles, genres, tropes, and other elements, you acknowledge that July First Literary may already represent, review, or later receive material that resembles aspects of your submission.
Your submission does not restrict July First Literary or its clients from developing, representing, selling, publishing, or otherwise working with independently created material containing similar elements.
Writers should retain copies of all materials submitted. Unless expressly agreed otherwise in writing, July First Literary is not responsible for lost, corrupted, inaccessible, or deleted submissions.
July First Literary does not accept queries or submission materials from individuals under 18 years of age.
Intellectual Property
Unless otherwise indicated, the Website and its contents—including text, copy, articles, blog posts, agent biographies, wish lists, submission information, graphics, photographs, artwork, logos, branding, design elements, icons, and other materials—are owned by or licensed to July First Literary and are protected by applicable copyright, trademark, and other intellectual-property laws.
You may access and use the Website for your personal, noncommercial use. Except as permitted by applicable law, you may not reproduce, republish, distribute, modify, transmit, display, sell, license, create derivative works from, or otherwise exploit Website content without prior written permission from July First Literary or the applicable rights holder.
The names, logos, marks, book covers, artwork, photographs, and other materials belonging to authors, publishers, and other third parties remain the property of their respective owners.
Artificial Intelligence, Automated Scraping, and Data Mining
Automated scraping and AI training are restricted. Except as expressly authorized by July First Literary in writing or permitted by applicable law, you may not use automated means—including bots, crawlers, scrapers, spiders, data-mining tools, or similar technologies—to access, copy, collect, extract, download, reproduce, or otherwise obtain Website content.
Website content may not be used to train, develop, fine-tune, evaluate, benchmark, ground, augment, or otherwise contribute to an artificial-intelligence system, machine-learning model, large language model, generative-AI system, dataset, or similar technology without July First Literary’s prior written permission.
This restriction includes, without limitation, JFL-created text, articles, blog posts, agent biographies, manuscript wish lists, submission guidelines, graphics, branding, photographs, and other Website content.
Nothing in this section limits uses of the Website that cannot lawfully be restricted under applicable law.
User Accounts and Restricted Areas
Certain portions or features of the Website may require an account, password, or other access credentials.
If you create an account or receive access credentials, you are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality and security of those credentials and for activity occurring through your account. You agree to provide accurate information and not to access an account or restricted area that you are not authorized to use.
We may suspend or terminate access to restricted areas when reasonably necessary to protect the Website, July First Literary, its clients, or other users.
Acceptable Use
You agree not to use the Website in a manner that:
- violates applicable law or regulation;
- infringes or misappropriates the rights of another person or entity;
- attempts to gain unauthorized access to the Website, its systems, accounts, or restricted areas;
- introduces viruses, malicious code, automated attacks, or other harmful technology;
- interferes with the operation, integrity, or security of the Website;
- impersonates another person or misrepresents your identity or affiliation;
- harvests personal information about other users; or
- violates the restrictions concerning automated scraping, data mining, or artificial intelligence contained in these Terms.
Third-Party Websites and Services
The Website may contain links to or interact with third-party websites and services, including QueryManager, Substack, social-media platforms, publishers, authors, and other online services.
These third parties operate independently from July First Literary. We do not control and are not responsible for their content, availability, security, privacy practices, or terms. When you leave the Website or use a third-party service, your use of that service is governed by the third party’s applicable terms and policies.
The inclusion of a link does not necessarily constitute an endorsement of the linked website, service, organization, or content.
Informational Content
We make reasonable efforts to keep information on the Website accurate and current. However, publishing information and agency practices may change, and we do not guarantee that all Website content will always be complete, accurate, or up to date.
Information appearing on the Website is provided for general informational purposes and does not constitute legal, tax, financial, business, or other professional advice.
Disclaimer of Warranties
To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Website and its contents are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis without warranties of any kind, express or implied.
July First Literary does not warrant that the Website will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, free of harmful components, or that information appearing on the Website will be complete or accurate at all times.
Nothing in these Terms limits any warranty or right that cannot lawfully be excluded.
Limitation of Liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, July First Literary and its owners, employees, agents, contractors, and representatives will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages arising from or relating to your access to or use of, or inability to access or use, the Website.
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits liability that cannot legally be excluded or limited.
Privacy
Your use of the Website is also subject to our Privacy Policy, which describes how information may be collected, used, disclosed, and otherwise processed in connection with the Website.
Changes to These Terms
We may update these Terms from time to time to reflect changes to the Website, our practices, or applicable law. When we make changes, we will update the Effective Date appearing above.
Your continued use of the Website following the posting of revised Terms constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms to the extent permitted by applicable law.
Governing Law
These Terms and your use of the Website are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
To the extent a dispute concerning these Terms or the Website is properly brought in court, and subject to applicable law regarding jurisdiction and venue, the parties consent to the jurisdiction of the appropriate state and federal courts located in Kentucky.
Severability
If any provision of these Terms is determined to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full force and effect.
Questions about these Terms?
July First Literary LLC