Here's what I read in the agreement (I use asterisks to emphasize terms):

Section 1: "We reserve the right to change the terms and conditions contained in this Agreement ..." -- always something to keep in mind. Unless you act, it is assumed that you agree with the changes, which you would have to find on your own ("Changes to referenced policies and guidelines or any other information in any Products, Help, or other web pages may be posted without notice to you").

While it is true that Section 6.1 specifies a "nonexclusive" license, I would take note of the third paragraph: "Accordingly, for each of your written Titles you hereby grant us permission, on a nonexclusive, ***perpetual*** basis, to (x) reproduce and store the entirety of each Title in digital form on one or more computer facilities of or under the control of us or our affiliates or our independent contractors; and (y) to display portions of each Title on the Amazon Properties so that a user will be able to (i) use queries to locate, select and display excerpts that include the search terms for every occurrence of the search terms; and (ii) view a limited number of pages within a Title during any single session."

Section 6.5 sounds especially squishy to me: "Subject to the licenses set forth in this Section 6 and the following sentence, and as between the parties, you own all right, title and interest in and to the Content, including all patent, copyright, trademark, service mark, mask work, moral right, trade secret or other intellectual property or proprietary right (collectively, "Intellectual Property Rights") therein. Subject to your underlying rights in the Content, as between the parties, we will own all right, title and interest in and to the templates and other materials created, provided or used by us in our performance under this Agreement (including ***Source Files***, Future-Proof Archive Files and Packaging Materials), including all Intellectual Property Rights therein."

While the agreement states that you own all right, title, and interest in and to the Content, Amazon/CreateSpace will own all right, title, and interest in (among other things) the Source Files. The submissions section specifies that source material be delivered in these formats: .pdf, DVD, CD, videotape, and MP3. If you have rights to the content but they have rights to the source files, how much flexibility does that give you for delivering your content in a "nonexclusive" manner? Many publishers/printers want .pdf files if they're going to produce a book. Note also that Section 6.5 survives the termination of the agreement; see below.

Section 10: "The following Sections will survive termination of this Agreement: 4.1, 4.4, 5, 6 (except subsections 6.1(a)-(d) and (f)), 8.1, 8.3, 9, 10, 14, 15, and 16."

Note that this includes Section 6. Even excluding the stated subsections, you would still be granting Amazon/CreateSpace *perpetual* permission to use your work as stated in the third paragraph (reproduced above).

Another section that survives termination of the agreement is Section 8.1: "You will indemnify, defend and hold us and our affiliates (and the respective employees, directors, members, managers and representatives of each) and any operator of an Amazon Property harmless from and against any and all claims, judgments, damages and expenses (including without limitation reasonable attorneys' fees) (collectively, "Claims") arising out of any breach or alleged breach by you of the terms of this Agreement..."

"Affiliates" is a loaded term here. Note in Section 16, for example, "We may sublicense the rights granted to us hereunder to our affiliates or to any third party designated or engaged by us and acting on our behalf for purposes of fulfilling our obligations or exercising our rights under this Agreement..." Note that this includes the rights Amazon/CreateSpace would hold in perpetuity, including past the termination of the Agreement.

Could this be important? Consider that Amazon's "Search Inside!" feature (to which the agreement gives Amazon/CreateSpace perpetual rights that survive termination of the agreement) works much the way that Google's digitization of books works. The Google Settlement will create a Book Rights Registry that would pay the author a nominal fee while taking away the lion's share of income and control. You can read the Ashley Grayson Literary Agency's take on it here:
graysonagency.com/blog/publ...ettlement/

So far as I know, the Google settlement does not apply to Amazon's "Search Inside!" feature. It does, however, set a dangerous precedent. First, the Google settlement supersedes actual contractual language between publisher and author ("...grants the publisher electronic rights to those books even though the contracts may not contain e-rights language"). Second, the agreement expands to control more formats at the expense of the author ("The agreement allows for Google and the Book Rights Registry to expand upon this with future additional offerings such as Print-on-Demand, Consumer Subscription, and other uses and services"). Third, it empowers affiliates at the expense of the author ("While it sets up one agency the authors can’t fire, it also allows any number of additional sellers of display and e-rights to start businesses with the virtual guarantee that they never have to pay an author more than Google did. So Microsoft, Apple, The Open Source Republic of Gimmiestan, Piranah.com, etc. can all start businesses of any type and draw on all authors’ works without any further negotiation").

If Google, through this settlement, can reassign authors' rights and income to its affiliates, what might that say about Amazon/CreateSpace, whose section on sublicensing survives agreement termination?

If I sound paranoid here, it's for a reason: a contract is only as good as your ability to enforce it. I have not received a penny in royalties from my former publisher, nor any kind of royalty statement since February 2008 for a book published in September 2007. Furthermore, the royalty statement contradicts my contract. I and other authors who have experienced the same have consulted with lawyers, including a specialist in intellectual property. Bottom line: we could each take the publisher to small claims court, but even if we won our cases, there would be no way to enforce the judgment. Our best course of action was to register our works with the U.S. Copyright Office (which I have done for all six books in my series), which does not protect one against infringement but provides important legal support if infringement occurs. Most important, all of our rights have returned to us. And, given what I've stated above, rights are not to be taken lightly.

Given my and others' experiences with a small press publisher, how much more power do you think Amazon has? All I'm saying is to go into any agreement with your eyes as wide open as possible.