Effective June 4, 2026 · Last updated June 4, 2026
1. Acceptance and scope
These Terms and Conditions ("Terms") govern your access to and use of ennismsalam.com and the public pages, writing, images, links, commission descriptions, and related materials made available through this site. The site is operated by Ennis M. Salam ("I," "me," or "my").
By using the site, contacting me through an email address listed on the site, requesting permission to use my work, or discussing a commission connected to the site, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. A separate written commission agreement, invoice, license, publisher contract, event agreement, or signed document controls if it conflicts with these Terms for that specific engagement.
2. What the site provides
The site provides information about my writing, books, public work, commissioned poems, collaborations, and ways to contact or follow me elsewhere. It may include excerpts, photographs, external links, book retailer links, Substack links, social links, commission references, and descriptions of past or available work.
Nothing on the site is a guaranteed offer, guaranteed availability, legal advice, tax advice, financial advice, publishing advice, medical advice, or professional counseling. Descriptions of past commissions, books, publications, awards, collaborations, or public work do not guarantee a future result, response, timeline, price, retailer listing, event, publication opportunity, or commission availability.
3. Lawful use
You agree to use the site only for lawful purposes. You may not interfere with the site, attempt to gain unauthorized access, overload infrastructure, introduce malware, scrape or copy content at unreasonable volume, remove rights notices, impersonate another person, misrepresent your affiliation with me, use the site to harass or threaten anyone, or use the site in a way that violates applicable law or third-party rights.
4. Writing, images, and intellectual property
Unless otherwise stated, the poems, essays, page copy, excerpts, visual presentation, design, photographs, and other materials on this site are owned by Ennis M. Salam or used with permission. All rights not expressly granted are reserved.
You may link to public pages and share brief excerpts for personal, educational, journalistic, review, or social purposes with clear attribution and a link back where reasonable. You may not copy, republish, sell, train models on, adapt, translate, merchandise, distribute, frame, remove attribution from, or present substantial portions of the work as your own without written permission.
If you want to reproduce, perform, display, quote at length, publish, license, commission, translate, record, or otherwise use my work beyond ordinary linking or brief attributed quotation, write to salam@ennismsalam.com first.
5. Books and third-party retailers
Book availability, pricing, taxes, shipping, delivery, returns, refunds, formats, retailer listings, and payment processing are handled by the relevant bookseller, distributor, marketplace, publisher, or platform. I do not control third-party checkout systems, inventory, shipment timing, listing accuracy, retailer policies, or platform availability.
Links to retailers or public platforms are provided for convenience. A link does not mean I control, endorse, or accept responsibility for the third-party site's terms, privacy practices, content, prices, security, availability, or customer-service decisions.
6. Substack and external services
Writing subscriptions, reader accounts, email delivery, comments, paid subscriptions, platform analytics, and related newsletter features may be provided by Substack or another external service. Those services are governed by their own terms, privacy policies, payment rules, moderation rules, and account practices.
The site also links to social profiles, collaborators, venues, nonprofits, businesses, book retailers, ShieldStone Labs, DumpsterSuite, and other external websites. I am not responsible for third-party content, availability, security, errors, outages, policies, or changes.
7. Commission inquiries
Mentions of commissioned poems or commissioned writing are invitations to inquire, not a standing offer or guaranteed acceptance. A commission begins only when scope, price, deadline, deliverables, rights, revision expectations, payment terms, and any required deposit are confirmed in writing.
You are responsible for providing accurate project information, necessary permissions, usable reference material, and any authority needed to share personal stories, photographs, venue details, organization names, or information about other people. If a commission concerns a minor or another person, you represent that you have the right and consent needed to request and discuss the work.
8. Commission process, creative judgment, and revisions
Commissioned writing is creative work. Unless a written agreement says otherwise, I retain creative judgment over language, structure, tone, and final execution. I may decline a commission or requested revision if the project is outside my scope, requires false statements, violates rights, creates safety concerns, conflicts with my values, requests unethical use, or cannot be done responsibly within the requested timeline.
Revision rounds, delivery dates, formats, presentation materials, printing, framing, public display, event participation, and related deliverables must be agreed in writing. Client delays, late feedback, missing materials, expanded scope, third-party delays, or urgent deadline changes may affect timing, price, and what can be delivered.
9. Payments, cancellations, and refunds
Fees, deposits, payment methods, payment schedules, expenses, taxes, delivery costs, rush fees, and refund terms are determined by the written quote, invoice, or commission agreement for the specific project. Unless otherwise agreed in writing, no paid commission work begins until the required deposit or full payment has been received.
Deposits are generally non-refundable once work has begun, because they reserve time and support creative development. If you cancel before work begins, any available refund will depend on the written agreement and any payment-processing costs. If you cancel after work begins, refunds are limited to work not yet performed, if any, as determined in good faith from the scope, timeline, correspondence, and completed work. Missed client deadlines, failure to provide materials, or a change in client preference does not automatically create a refund right.
Payment processors, banks, retailers, marketplaces, and platforms may impose their own fees, chargeback rules, currency-conversion costs, refund timing, and dispute procedures. You are responsible for taxes, bank fees, wire fees, platform fees, customs duties, and currency-conversion costs unless a written agreement says otherwise.
10. Rights in commissioned work
Rights in commissioned work are controlled by the written agreement for that project. Unless a separate written agreement says otherwise, I retain copyright and authorship in commissioned poems and related drafts, notes, concepts, frameworks, and creative process materials. After full payment, the client receives a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable license to display, print, share, or use the final commissioned piece for the agreed private, event, institutional, or non-commercial purpose.
Commercial publication, resale, merchandising, advertising campaigns, broad digital distribution, public performance, translation, adaptation, recording, or use by another organization requires written permission unless already included in the commission agreement. The client may not represent that the work was written by someone else or remove authorship credit where credit is reasonably expected.
11. Confidentiality and publicity
I treat private commission discussions, unpublished drafts, sensitive personal stories, and direct correspondence with care. Confidentiality does not apply to information that is already public, independently known, authorized for sharing, required by law, necessary to complete the commission, or anonymized so it no longer reasonably identifies a person.
Unless a written agreement says otherwise, I may refer to completed commissioned work in general portfolio, biographical, or professional contexts after the work has been publicly displayed or after the client has given permission. If a project must remain confidential, that requirement should be stated in writing before work begins.
12. User communications and submitted material
If you send text, photographs, documents, stories, prompts, ideas, or other materials, you represent that you have the right to send them and that their use for the requested purpose will not violate someone else's rights. You remain responsible for the accuracy and lawfulness of what you provide.
Do not send unlawful, infringing, defamatory, threatening, exploitative, or malicious material. Do not send confidential information unless it is necessary and you are comfortable sharing it by email or the agreed channel. I may delete, ignore, or decline material or requests that are inappropriate, unsafe, unlawful, outside scope, or inconsistent with these Terms.
13. No warranties
The site and its content are provided "as is" and "as available." I try to keep information accurate, current, and useful, but I do not guarantee that the site, links, external services, book listings, excerpts, images, descriptions, availability, or communications will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, complete, or current.
I do not warrant that a commission, poem, public display, book, newsletter, external platform, or third-party service will satisfy every expectation, remain available indefinitely, produce a particular response, generate sales, receive publication, obtain press attention, or avoid all technical, editorial, shipping, platform, or event issues.
14. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by law, Ennis M. Salam will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, punitive, or lost-profit damages arising from the site, external links, communications, books, commissions, platform outages, shipping issues, payment processing, third-party services, or use of the work.
To the fullest extent permitted by law, total liability for a paid commission or written service is limited to the amount you paid for that specific commission or service. Total liability for site use where no fee was paid is limited to one hundred US dollars. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so some of these limits may not apply to you.
15. Indemnification
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless Ennis M. Salam from claims, damages, liabilities, costs, and expenses, including reasonable legal fees, arising from your misuse of the site, your violation of these Terms, your submitted material, your violation of another person's rights, your unlawful conduct, or your use of commissioned work outside the rights granted to you.
16. Termination or refusal of service
I may decline, suspend, or end correspondence, permissions discussions, commission work, or access to future services if you violate these Terms, fail to pay, provide false or unlawful information, request unethical or infringing work, act abusively, create safety concerns, miss material deadlines, or materially change the project scope without agreement. Payment obligations for completed work, confidentiality obligations, rights limitations, liability limits, and other provisions intended to survive termination will survive.
17. Privacy
Use of the site and related correspondence is also governed by the Privacy Notice. By using the site or contacting me, you acknowledge that information may be handled as described there.
18. Governing law and disputes
These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. The parties agree to first attempt to resolve disputes through good-faith written discussion. If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the parties agree to pursue mediation in Austin, Texas before filing suit, unless emergency injunctive relief, intellectual-property protection, payment collection, or another urgent legal remedy is reasonably necessary.
19. Changes to these Terms
I may update these Terms from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by the "Last updated" date above. Continued use of the site after an update means you accept the updated Terms. Material changes to an active paid commission will not override a conflicting written agreement already in effect unless the parties agree in writing.
20. Contact
For permissions, commissions, licensing, or terms questions, write to salam@ennismsalam.com.