Free Speech

Books have advanced society by allowing us to share information, ideas, opinions, and feelings. Sometimes, those books which speak against prevailing wisdom, social norms, or entrenched power are the most important and beneficial to society, helping to promote a robust democracy and an active intellectual life.

We support the right to free speech, and we oppose censorship. This policy outlines our commitment to our clients and to independent authors everywhere.

Who We Serve

We serve all independent authors, regardless of:

• Political or personal views
• Personal characteristics (sex/gender, age, ethnic background, sexual orientation, class or caste, or any other characteristic)
• Membership in or support or opposition of any group or organization
• Criminal record or status
• Whether we like you or agree with what you have to say

We are not aware of any situation (hypothetical or real) where the law would require us to turn away an author before we even know what's in your manuscript. Therefore, for all practical purposes, we serve everyone.

Books to Which We Will Contribute

We are willing to contribute our services to the publication and promotion of your book regardless of:

• The genre or subject matter
• The content, including adult or controversial content
• Whether it conforms to social norms
• Whether it has any commercial potential

However, we cannot or will not contribute to books which:

• Are illegal to publish in Canada for any reason
• Are, as far as we can determine, directly plagiarized in part or in whole
• Otherwise violate the copyrights or other rights of any people
• Promote hatred toward any individual or group
• Instruct in techniques or technologies whose sole purpose is to terrify, injure, or kill
• Promote money-making schemes which solely benefit the author, even if legal
• Contain any statements we reasonably believe are false or libellous
• Would in any way endanger or harm IndieBookLauncher.com or our partners if published
• Would in any way violate any contract we have previously signed in good faith

None of these circumstances come up very often (if ever), but we feel it's important to give a complete list here.

How We Protect Your Right to Free Speech

We also make the following commitments to protect your right to free speech:

• We will never request that you alter any aspect of your book to make it more palatable to us, our business partners, or any third party.
• We will not alter the way we deliver our services in the hopes of avoiding public scrutiny arising from your book.
• We will assist you by sharing with you accurate information regarding censorship policies and past actions by vendors, distributors, and other potential business partners of yours.
• We will support technologies and ideas that reduce the public call for censorship by empowering readers to make their own choices about content.
• We will publicly and actively oppose censorship and promote free speech within the publishing industry through the content we post to our site and to blogs.

In general, we will act in ways which we believe will advance and protect free speech for independent authors.

Contacting Us with Questions

Do you have a question about our free speech policy? Are you the author of a controversial manuscript, or an author who has been affected by censorship, and would like our advice or input?

Please contact us through our general contact page and we'll get back to you promptly.