Terms of Use

1. Terms

By accessing Thy Olive Tree's Fiat Self-Publishing Academy, "Academy," you are agreeing to be bound by these Terms of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site and any third-party sites in which we deliver components of the Academy. The materials contained in this Academy are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law.


2. Use License

  1. Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of any downloadable materials on the Academy's website for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. (Important: Not all materials are available for download.) This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you may not:
  2. modify or copy the materials;
  3. use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);
  4. attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on the Academy's web site;
  5. remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; or
  6. transfer the materials to another person or 'mirror' the materials on any other server.
  7. This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Thy Olive Tree at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

3. Disclaimer

The materials within the Academy and on its website are provided 'as is'. The Academy makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, the Academy does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its website or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site.


4. Limitations

In no event shall the Academy be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of data or profit, or due to business interruption) arising out of the use or inability to use the materials on the Academy's website, even if the Academy or an authorized person of the Academy has been notified orally or in writing of the possibility of such damage. Because some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties, or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, these limitations may not apply to you.


5. Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing within the Academy and on its website may include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. The Academy does not warrant that any of the materials on its site are accurate, complete, or current. The Academy may make changes to the materials contained on its site at any time without notice. The Academy does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.


6. Links

The Academy has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its website and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by the Academy of the site. Use of any such linked website is at the user's own risk.


7. Site Terms of Use Modifications

The Academy may revise these Terms of Use at any time without notice. By using this website and participating in the Academy, you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms of Use.


8. Return Policy

Return policies vary by product.

Founding Members: We do not issue refunds or allow the stopping of payment plans.

Fiat Author Monthly Members: No refunds. Cancel your subscription any time before next bill.

Self-Publishing 101 Roadmap: Obtain a refund in first 14 days (minus a $25 process fee). No refunds after 14 days.


9. Maximum Damages

You agree that the maximum amount of damages you are entitled to in any claim relating to this agreement is not to exceed your total cost paid to Thy Olive Tree for your participation in the Academy in the previous 12 month period.


10. Indemnification

You shall indemnify, defend and hold harmless Thy Olive Tree for any expense, liability, loss, claim or proceedings arising out of or in the course of your participation in the Academy.


11. Governing Law

Any claim relating to the Academy's website shall be governed by the laws of Michigan, USA without regard to its conflict of law provisions.



Additional Academy Terms of Use

In addition to the above terms:

  • We use Teachable for our course and resources. We use Heartbeat.chat as our community platform.
  • Academy offerings are subject to change and refunds are not provided for such changes. This includes, but is not limited to, changes of:
  • Event dates and times, including cancellations
  • Academy Instructors
  • Member Discounts
  • Platforms used to deliver courses, community access, and live events
  • Information included within the course
  • Members will not share any videos, event links, discount codes, directories, digital resources, or other content obtained within the Academy, with anyone else. This includes sharing passwords or sending emails with this information to family and friends.
  • Thy Olive Tree will not support the creation of books contrary to Catholic Church teaching. 
  • The views, opinions, and recommendations of our Instructors and Guest Speakers are not neccesarily those of Thy Olive Tree.
  • We want members to be comfortable sharing book ideas and brainstorming as a group. You agree not to use our platforms to steal ideas or copy the work of other authors and illustrators.
  • If you participate in virtual video events, chats, etc., your name, audio, image, and any content you share may end up appearing in video and audio recordings, photos, and transcripts. By participating, you are providing a media release and consent for Thy Olive Tree to use and make available to others (e.g. through courses, memberships, etc.) these recordings, photos and transcripts, even if you are no longer a Member.
  • When participating in Academy events, discussions, chats, and other communications, you will be careful not to disclose any confidential or sensitive information. You hold Thy Olive Tree harmless for any such confidential or sensitive information you reveal.
  • Upon leaving the Academy and/or Heartbeat, your data (comments, images, profile, posts, etc.) from Heartbeat will remain in Heartbeat (or whatever platform we use, including transfers of data to other platforms). This is to preserve the information for others to see and learn from, and to allow you to instantly have your content if you ever re-join. If you’d rather your data be deleted, we are happy to do so with a written request to [email protected]
  • You should always review third-party platform terms of use, especially those in which you plan to use to publish your book. These platforms are constantly changing and it is your responsibility to make sure you are using them correctly.
  • Most of what is discussed within the Academy is based on knowledge and experience in the United States, and it may not apply to you if you live outside of the U.S. Use what is discussed as a starting point for what you may need to research about publishing within your own country. 
  • We are not your lawyer, tax professional or business advisor. While the Academy will cover legal, tax, and business considerations, and sometimes provide coaching or Q&A's related to these topics, this is only for informational purposes and should not be taken as advice. Always consult with your lawyer, tax professional or business advisor when making decisions.
  • We strive to give you the best and most accurate information, but the self-publishing industry is always changing. A recommendation made today may be slightly different tomorrow. Rules for what’s allowed on Amazon, for example, could change overnight. You should always do your due diligence and double check terms and agreements, especially when it comes to the use of third-party platforms or tools that are out of our control.
  • Additionally, it is impossible to go into detail for each individual situation. We often provide broad recommendations which will require you to still do research to determine if it works for you unique situation.
  • Video captions are made available using AI-generated captions. While very good, these are prone to errors and may not be 100% accurate.

Illustrator & Service Provider Terms of Use For Joining Our Directories

In addition to our general Terms of Use, Illustrators and Service Providers who join our Directory, agree to the following terms:

  • As we work on building our Directory, it is currenty free to join! This may change in the future, but we will always notify you in advance to discuss any changes.
  • Currently, the Directory will only be made available to Thy Olive Tree Fiat Self-Publishing Academy Members. We reserve the right to change this method.
  • If we decide to include you in our Directory, we will follow up to let you know. 
  • We reserve the right to remove any Illustrator or service provider, especially if we find the application was dishonest or we receive complaints from authors. 
  • We may edit your responses as needed, especially for clarity, length or formatting. 
  • You should always do your due diligence when deciding whether or not to work with an author to make sure the project and scope is a good fit. 
  • It is your responsibility to review your posted listing. If included in the Directory, you will notify us as soon as possible if any of your information changes or if you wish to be removed. 
  • You attest any images provided for the Directory are yours and you are not violating any copyrights by supplying us with these images.
  • DO NOT INCLUDE ANY PRIVATE OR CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION in your application.
  • By completing the application, you give us permission to use the content you've provided in any public and/or members-only databases we create.
  • These terms are subject to change. The most recent terms will always be posted here.

Affiliate Program Terms

We offer 2 Commission Tiers:

  • TIER 1 COMMISSIONS are 40% and reserved for our Academy Instructors.
  • TIER 2 COMMISSIONS are 20%. Interested affiliates must apply. We are looking for affiliates with websites, blogs, email lists, active social media channels and/or other platforms that would be a good fit for reaching Catholic authors.

Terms for our program:

  • When you refer a student to us who joins a subscription plan, you'll receive a commission each time the student is billed for as long as the student remains on that plan, as long as your account remains active.
  • If a payment plan is used instead of a subscription, you'll receive your commission each month for the length of that particular payment plan.
  • For Tier 2 Affiliates, we require a minimum of 1 new referral per year to keep your account active, and to keep receiving any current commissions.
  • The referral window allows referrals from initial clicks within 30 days.
  • All referred purchases are last touch and attributed to the buyer’s last-clicked affiliate link or code.
  • Affiliates are paid via PayPal on the first business day of every month, after an initial 30 day hold.
  • Affiliates may be limited to certain products or courses.
  • You may not purchase similar or competing domain names in which to promote your affiliate links.
  • You may not use your own affiliate link to sign up for our products or services.
  • You are responsible for any applicable taxes on money that you earn.
  • Per FTC guidelines, you agree to clearly disclose your affiliate status when posting affiliate links.
  • We use Teachable to handle our Afilliate Program. As such, changes to our Affiliate Program, commission, term lengths, etc. may be out of our control or require modification if the Teachable Affiliate Program offerings are changed.
  • We may remove an affiliate at any time for violation of any of these terms or for any reason we deem just, which would lead to forfeiture of all future commissions.
  • These terms and conditions are subject to change and will be posted on this page.


Date last updated: 2/1/2024