Legal
Terms of Service
These are the full Terms of Service referenced on the submission form. Read them before you submit — you'll be asked to confirm you have. No signature or typed name is required.
Terms of Service
Effective date:August 16, 2026
These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern the submission, publication and use of fiction, audio recordings and related materials submitted to 10 Minutes To… (“10 Minutes To…”, “the Project”, “we”, “us” or “our”), operated by Lawrence Nault.
By submitting material to 10 Minutes To…, you (“Contributor”, “you” or “your”) confirm that you have read, understood and agreed to these Terms. No signature, typed name or printed acknowledgement is required — using the submission form and checking the acknowledgement box is sufficient.
1. The Project
10 Minutes To… is a curated fiction-discovery project that introduces listeners to indie authors through human-narrated pieces of fiction lasting no more than ten minutes.
Selected recordings may be distributed through the 10 Minutes To… website, Spotify, YouTube, podcast or RSS distribution services, social-media channels, playlists and other official 10 Minutes To… distribution channels.
Submission does not guarantee acceptance or publication.
2. Who May Submit
You may submit work that you wrote or for which you otherwise control all rights necessary to enter into these Terms.
If another person narrates your work, you must have that narrator’s permission to record, submit, publish, reproduce and distribute their performance as contemplated by these Terms.
You must be legally capable of entering into these Terms. If you have not reached the age of majority where you live, contact 10 Minutes To… before submitting.
3. What You Are Submitting
For purposes of these Terms, the “Submission” includes any materials you provide in connection with a proposed 10 Minutes To… episode, including as applicable:
the submitted fiction;
the audio recording;
the narrator’s recorded performance;
the title of the piece;
your author or pen name;
narrator information;
author biography;
descriptions or summaries;
book or series information;
book-cover artwork;
photographs or other approved images;
website, book or retailer links;
genre, theme, audience and content information; and
other materials you provide for publication or promotion.
You are not required to submit a book cover or material that is not relevant to your Submission.
4. You Keep Your Copyright
You retain ownership and copyright in your underlying written work.
Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of your story, book, characters, series or other underlying intellectual property to 10 Minutes To….
These Terms grant us a licence to use the specific Submission for the purposes described below.
5. Non-Exclusive Licence
By submitting an accepted work for publication, you grant 10 Minutes To… a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive licence to use the Submission for the full duration of the applicable copyright and related rights.
Once the Submission has been published by 10 Minutes To…, this licence is irrevocable by the Contributor except as expressly provided in these Terms.
The licence includes the right to:
reproduce the Submission;
publish and republish it;
host and store it;
stream it;
communicate it to the public;
distribute it through digital platforms;
include it in podcast and RSS feeds;
create a video version of the audio recording;
make technical format conversions;
compress or encode audio and video;
trim unnecessary silence;
make reasonable loudness or level adjustments;
add standardized 10 Minutes To… introductions, outros, title cards or branding;
create or display captions and transcripts;
correct obvious metadata, caption or transcription errors;
create thumbnails and episode graphics;
display an authorized book cover;
use the author’s name or pen name and narrator’s name in connection with the Submission;
link to the author, book, series or other destination supplied by the Contributor;
include the Submission in curated playlists, collections and discovery features;
move the Submission between appropriate playlists or collections;
feature or recommend the Submission;
use reasonable excerpts from the Submission to promote the episode, the Contributor or 10 Minutes To…; and
permit hosting platforms, technical service providers and distribution services to perform the acts reasonably necessary to provide those services.
10 Minutes To… may use official distribution platforms existing now or developed in the future.
This licence does not give 10 Minutes To… ownership of your underlying work.
6. Your Use Remains Unrestricted
The licence granted to 10 Minutes To… is non-exclusive.
You remain free to use the submitted recording elsewhere.
You may, for example:
publish it on your own website;
share it through your social-media accounts;
include it in your newsletter;
distribute it through your own podcast;
use it to promote your book;
provide it to reviewers or readers;
include it in another non-exclusive project; or
otherwise use or license it as you choose.
You remain responsible for ensuring that any future agreement you enter into does not conflict with the rights you have already granted to 10 Minutes To….
If you later grant rights in the underlying work to a publisher, producer, distributor or another party, those rights must remain subject to this existing licence.
7. Publication Is Intended to Be Ongoing
You may withdraw your Submission at any time before 10 Minutes To… first publishes it publicly.
Once the Submission has been published, you may not require its removal simply because:
you change your mind about participating;
you no longer wish to promote the associated book;
you enter into a new publishing arrangement;
you disagree with a genre or category classification;
you dislike its position within a playlist;
you object to another author appearing in the same playlist or collection;
you disagree with a future editorial collection in which it appears; or
you would prefer to use the recording exclusively somewhere else.
This is necessary because published episodes may become incorporated into playlists, websites, recommendations, links, shares, search results and other discovery systems that develop over time.
A Contributor may contact us where continued distribution is alleged to violate the law, infringe rights that the Contributor could not reasonably have known about when submitting, or materially breach these Terms.
Nothing in this section prevents 10 Minutes To… from voluntarily removing an episode.
8. Editorial and Playlist Control
10 Minutes To… is a curated project.
You may suggest genres, themes, moods, geographic categories, audience classifications and other discovery categories when submitting your work.
Those suggestions are advisory.
10 Minutes To… retains final editorial control over all official playlists and collections.
This includes:
genre classification;
thematic classification;
mood classification;
geographic classification;
audience classification;
playlist inclusion;
playlist order;
featured collections;
seasonal collections;
recommendation lists;
episode sequencing; and
other forms of editorial organization or discovery.
A Submission may appear in multiple collections.
For example, the same episode might appropriately appear in:
Speculative Fiction;
Environmental Fiction;
Canadian Authors;
Young Adult;
Hopeful Futures; and
Five Minutes or Less.
Participation does not give Contributors approval or veto rights over other authors whose work appears in the same playlist, category or collection.
9. Human Narration Requirement
Every Submission must be performed by a human narrator.
Synthetic, text-to-speech or generative-AI narration is not accepted.
The narrator may be:
the author; or
another human narrator authorized to perform and distribute the work.
Where someone other than the Contributor performs the work, the Contributor is responsible for obtaining all permissions necessary for 10 Minutes To… to use that performance under these Terms.
10 Minutes To… may require separate confirmation or a narrator release before publication.
10. Spoken Word Only
Audio submitted to 10 Minutes To… must contain spoken-word narration only.
Do not include:
background music;
intro or outro music;
sound effects;
ambient recordings;
film or television audio;
radio clips;
game audio;
commercial jingles;
third-party voice recordings; or
other external audio material.
This requirement applies even where you believe material is royalty-free, licensed, public domain or permitted under an exception to copyright.
The purpose of this rule is to keep the rights associated with each episode clear and minimize future copyright disputes, automated copyright claims and platform takedowns.
11. Recording Quality and Production
The Contributor is responsible for supplying audio that is substantially ready for public listening.
10 Minutes To… does not provide full audio-production or editing services.
We may perform limited technical adjustments such as:
trimming excess silence;
modest loudness adjustments;
format conversion;
encoding;
adding standardized program identification; and
other minor changes necessary for publication.
We are not responsible for:
removing repeated takes;
repairing substantial background noise;
reconstructing performances;
removing significant room echo;
extensive equalization or mastering; or
substantially editing the narration.
We may request a replacement recording where the submitted audio is not suitable for publication.
12. Technical and Promotional Adaptations
You authorize 10 Minutes To… to make reasonable technical adaptations needed to distribute the Submission through different platforms.
These may include creating:
MP3 or other audio formats;
video versions of the audio recording for distribution on video-based platforms, using static images, moving images or video clips that are openly licensed, properly licensed for such use, or otherwise lawfully available to 10 Minutes To…. Any visual material added by 10 Minutes To… is intended only to provide a simple, non-distracting background for the narration and will not be created or selected to illustrate, dramatize, interpret or visually represent the events, characters or meaning of the submitted work;
captions;
transcripts;
thumbnails;
title cards;
promotional graphics; and
short promotional audio or video excerpts.
Unless separately agreed, these adaptations will not intentionally alter the substance, plot or meaning of the submitted fiction.
13. Moral Rights and Consent to Limited Modifications
To the extent permitted by applicable law, the Contributor consents to, and waives any moral rights only to the extent necessary to permit, the technical, editorial and promotional uses expressly authorized by these Terms.
This limited consent and waiver includes:
technical format conversion;
audio normalization;
trimming silence;
adding standardized branding;
creating captions or transcripts;
displaying the work within playlists and collections;
using reasonable promotional excerpts; and
creating the video, graphic and technical versions necessary to distribute the Submission.
This clause does not authorize 10 Minutes To… to rewrite or materially alter the substance of the Contributor’s fiction without separate permission.
Where another person narrates the Submission, the Contributor confirms that they have obtained, or will obtain before publication, any performer consent or limited moral-rights waiver necessary to permit the uses described in these Terms.
14. Attribution
10 Minutes To… intends to identify the author by the name or pen name supplied with the Submission and to identify the narrator where appropriate.
You are responsible for providing accurate attribution information.
An inadvertent attribution, spelling or metadata error does not constitute a material breach of these Terms provided that 10 Minutes To… corrects the error within a reasonable period after receiving notice.
15. Book Covers and Other Images
You are not required to provide a book cover.
If you provide a book cover, photograph, illustration or other visual material, you confirm that you own the material or have sufficient permission to authorize its use by 10 Minutes To….
You grant 10 Minutes To… a non-exclusive licence to display that material in connection with:
your episode;
the associated playlist;
the 10 Minutes To… website;
Spotify;
YouTube;
social media;
promotional material; and
other official project channels.
If you are uncertain whether you have permission to authorize use of a book cover or image, do not submit it.
16. Author and Book Links
You may provide a primary link for listeners who wish to discover more about you or your work.
This might lead to:
your author website;
a book page;
a series page;
a universal book link;
a retailer;
a publisher page; or
another appropriate destination.
10 Minutes To… may update or correct a link at your request where the destination changes.
We are not responsible for the availability, security, content or operation of third-party websites.
17. Mature and Adult Material
Mature and adult fiction may be considered.
Contributors must accurately disclose material that may require content warnings, explicit-content designation, age restriction or special handling.
10 Minutes To… may:
add content warnings;
classify an episode as mature;
mark content as explicit where appropriate;
restrict where it is promoted;
decline a Submission;
decline to distribute a Submission on a particular platform; or
remove an episode where required by platform policy or applicable law.
Material whose primary purpose is explicit sexual gratification is not accepted.
All published material must comply with the rules of the platforms through which it is distributed.
18. Contributor Representations and Warranties
By submitting your work, you represent and warrant that:
You have the legal authority to enter into these Terms.
You wrote the submitted fiction or control the rights necessary to submit and license it.
The Submission does not knowingly infringe another person’s copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity or other legal rights.
You have permission from any narrator whose performance you submit.
You have obtained all necessary permissions for any book cover or other visual material you provide.
The audio does not contain prohibited third-party music, sound effects or other audio material.
The information you provide about the author, narrator, book and Submission is accurate to the best of your knowledge.
You have disclosed material requiring content warnings or mature-content classification.
Your grant of rights to 10 Minutes To… does not knowingly conflict with another agreement.
You will not subsequently grant rights to another person in a manner that purports to cancel or override the licence already granted under these Terms.
19. No Submission or Participation Fee
10 Minutes To… does not charge a fee to submit eligible work.
There is no participation fee for a selected Contributor.
Acceptance is based on editorial selection rather than payment.
20. No Contributor Payment or Royalty
Unless a separate written agreement expressly provides otherwise, participation in 10 Minutes To… does not entitle the Contributor or narrator to:
an appearance fee;
licence fee;
royalty;
revenue share;
advertising share;
streaming payment;
sponsorship payment; or
other compensation from 10 Minutes To….
The purpose of participation is author and work discovery.
10 Minutes To… may monetize the Project or its distribution channels in the future through platform advertising, sponsorship, grants or other means used to support the Project.
Unless separately agreed in writing, such revenue belongs to 10 Minutes To… and does not create an obligation to account to individual Contributors.
21. No Guarantee of Results
10 Minutes To… makes no guarantee regarding:
audience size;
number of plays;
number of views;
playlist placement;
search ranking;
recommendation algorithms;
book sales;
website visits;
reviews;
followers;
future publication opportunities; or
commercial results.
Participation creates an opportunity for discovery, not a guarantee of it.
22. No Guarantee of Continued Platform Availability
10 Minutes To… intends published episodes to remain part of the catalogue.
However, we cannot guarantee that an episode will remain available on every third-party platform indefinitely.
Spotify, YouTube and other platforms may change:
policies;
technical requirements;
distribution systems;
recommendation systems;
account rules; or
content availability.
10 Minutes To… may move, replace, re-upload, temporarily suspend or cease distributing material through a particular platform where reasonably necessary.
23. Our Right to Decline or Remove Material
10 Minutes To… may decline a Submission before publication for any lawful editorial reason.
We may also suspend, restrict or remove published material where reasonably necessary because of:
an actual or suspected rights dispute;
a copyright or other legal complaint;
platform policy;
legal requirements;
inaccurate rights representations;
failure to disclose relevant mature content;
fraud or misrepresentation;
technical problems;
safety concerns;
the discontinuation of the Project or a distribution service; or
other substantial editorial, legal or operational concerns.
Removal by 10 Minutes To… does not create an obligation to compensate the Contributor.
Archival copies may be retained where reasonably necessary for records, backups, dispute resolution or legal compliance.
24. Publication of Previously Unpublished Work
If your Submission has not previously been made public, you understand that publication through 10 Minutes To… will make the work publicly available.
You are responsible for considering whether publication may affect your ability to offer first-publication, first-serial, exclusive or similar rights to another publisher or publication.
10 Minutes To… does not provide advice about how participation may affect another publishing contract.
25. Confidentiality of Submissions
Submitting material does not create a confidential, fiduciary or agent relationship between you and 10 Minutes To….
We will not intentionally publish a rejected Submission merely because it was submitted for consideration.
However, you should not submit information that requires a separate confidentiality or non-disclosure agreement.
26. Independent Relationship
Participation does not create:
an employment relationship;
partnership;
joint venture;
agency relationship;
publisher-author relationship; or
representation agreement.
The Contributor remains an independent rights holder participating in a promotional and discovery project.
27. Third-Party Platforms
Distribution through services such as Spotify and YouTube is subject to those platforms’ terms, policies and technical systems.
10 Minutes To… does not control third-party platforms and is not responsible for their:
outages;
errors;
recommendation decisions;
advertising;
account changes;
content restrictions; or
discontinuation of services.
Where a platform requires removal, modification of metadata, age restriction or another action, 10 Minutes To… may take the action reasonably necessary to maintain compliance.
28. Claims and Indemnification
You are responsible for the rights and permissions associated with the materials you submit.
To the extent permitted by law, you agree to indemnify and hold harmless 10 Minutes To…, its operator and persons acting on its behalf from third-party claims, losses, liabilities and reasonable legal costs arising directly from:
your breach of these Terms;
a false representation or warranty made by you;
your lack of authority to grant the rights provided in these Terms; or
material you submitted that infringes another person’s rights.
This provision does not apply to claims caused solely by 10 Minutes To… using the Submission outside the rights granted by these Terms.
29. Limitation of Liability
To the extent permitted by applicable law, 10 Minutes To… will not be liable for indirect, incidental, consequential or special damages arising from participation in the Project, including lost sales, lost publishing opportunities, lost profits or loss of anticipated exposure.
Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot legally be excluded.
30. Transfer of the Project
10 Minutes To… may transfer or assign these Terms and the associated licence to a successor that acquires or continues the 10 Minutes To… project or substantially the same discovery service.
A Contributor who sells, assigns or otherwise transfers copyright in their underlying work must ensure that the transfer remains subject to the licence previously granted to 10 Minutes To….
31. Changes to These Terms
10 Minutes To… may update these Terms for future submissions.
Your Submission will remain governed by the version you accepted unless:
a change is required by law;
a change is required by a distribution platform and does not materially expand our rights in your work; or
you expressly agree to the revised Terms.
A material expansion of the licence for an already-published Submission will not be imposed solely by changing the terms on the website.
32. Notices and Corrections
Questions, factual corrections, legal notices and other communications concerning these Terms or a published Submission should be sent by replying to the email address from which you received your publication confirmation or other official 10 Minutes To… correspondence concerning that Submission.
Please include the title of the Submission and your author or pen name so that we can identify the relevant record.
If you are unable to use the original correspondence, you may contact 10 Minutes To… through the contact method provided on the Project website.
33. Governing Law
These Terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Alberta and the federal laws of Canada applicable in Alberta, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.
Subject to any law requiring otherwise, disputes relating to these Terms will be determined by the courts of Alberta.
34. Severability
If any part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will continue to apply to the fullest extent permitted by law.
35. Entire Terms
These Terms, together with any submission requirements or releases expressly incorporated into them, constitute the entire agreement between the Contributor and 10 Minutes To… concerning the Submission.
It replaces prior discussions or understandings concerning the rights granted for that Submission.
36. Acceptance
These Terms do not require a signature, typed legal name or any other identifying acknowledgement.
Checking the acknowledgement box on the submission form and submitting the form constitutes your acceptance of these Terms.
You should retain a copy of these Terms for your records.
Contributor Acknowledgements
Before submitting, the Contributor must affirm each of the following:
I have read and agree to the 10 Minutes To… Terms of Service.
I confirm that I control the rights necessary to submit this written work and audio recording.
I confirm that the recording is performed by a human narrator and contains no background music, sound effects or other third-party audio.
If another person narrates the work, I confirm that I have their permission to submit and distribute the performance and will provide any additional narrator release requested by 10 Minutes To….
I understand that I retain copyright in my work and may use the submitted recording elsewhere.
I understand that I may withdraw my Submission before publication, but once it has been published the licence granted to 10 Minutes To… is ongoing and I cannot require removal simply because I change my mind or disagree with playlist placement or other contributors.
I understand that playlist placement, classification, ordering and curation are editorial decisions made by 10 Minutes To….
I understand that participation is unpaid unless a separate written agreement expressly provides otherwise.
I confirm that I have accurately disclosed mature content and relevant content warnings.
No signature, typed name or printed date is required. Checking the acknowledgement box on the submission form and submitting it confirms all of the above.