Permission to copy and use our material
This page contains the information you need to seek permission to reprint, copy or reproduce any printed or electronic material produced by The Good Book Company. First, check out the FAQ section below to see if what you want to do is covered by our general permission policy. If it is not covered, you can use the web form below to ask for formal permission. Please note that in some cases a fee may be required. We will deal with your request within 5 working days.
To request permission to translate one of our books or resources into another language, please visit this page for guidance.
Reproducing Text from our Publications
We are only able to grant permission to reproduce material that we publish. We cannot grant permission for non-TGBC publications.
The Good Book Company grants churches and other not-for-profit organisations permission to use material from our publications in church bulletins, newsletters and other short-term non-book publications free of charge, within the following limits: the paragraphs quoted must not amount to a complete chapter of the book or account for 20% of the total work in which they are quoted.
A notice of copyright should appear in the work as follows:
‘[Title] by [author], copyright [date] by The Good Book Company, used by kind permission’.
Under the practice known as 'fair dealing’, you are permitted to use a single extract under 400 words or several extracts from the same publication, each under 300 words and totalling under 800 words with no charge. However, if an extract is included in a commercially published project permission must be sought to include the extract no matter what its length and a fee may apply.
Reproducing Images and Illustrations
Our copyright includes covers, illustrations, Christmas card designs and other graphic material.
The standard fee for reproducing these is £75 (including VAT). However, if you have already spent at least this amount in purchasing the original product, you may reproduce them for free. If you have not purchased the product, please contact us.
For many purposes, including newsletters, websites and presentation slides, the images from our website will be of sufficient resolution. If you need higher resolution images, please contact us and we will be happy to provide them.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can I copy a book (or part of a book) to give out to my Bible-study group?
A: Copyright law allows you to copy up to 10% of a publication for personal study. Any multiple copies of a book requires you to seek permission. As a publisher, we work hard to make our resources affordable for use by all. Please respect the fact that we have worked hard to create these books and resources, and that our existence as a publisher depends upon people respecting the law in regard to copying.
Q: Can I reproduce the cover of one of your books? For example, for a book review, or in a church newsletter?
A: Our copyright includes covers, illustrations, Christmas card designs and other graphic material. The standard fee for reproducing these is £75 (Including VAT). If you have already spent at least £75 purchasing the original product, you may reproduce it for free. If you have not purchased the product, please contact us. We will be happy to provide a high-resolution image if you need it.
Q: Can I use one of your Christmas card designs to produce a poster for our Christmas outreach?
A: Yes. If you have already spent at least £75 purchasing the original product, you may reproduce it for free. If you have not purchased the product, please contact us. We will be happy to provide a high resolution image if you need it.
Q: Can I read excerpts of one of your books in a podcast?
A: Yes. Please mention the title of the book, the name of the Author, published by The Good Book Company. Let us know the name of the podcast and where to find it online by emailing hello@thegoodbook.co.uk.
Q: Can I buy the Christianity Explored digital download version for use in our church, so that different church members be able to access from their individual devices when they run a CE course?
If you need to share the downloads with a number of members at your church, what you need to buy is the Multi User version of the course, which allows access to up to 50 users. Alternatively, you can buy one Leader’s Kit and we offer a 50% discount on any additional materials.
Q: I have bought the e-version (e-book) of a leader’s guide of one of your Click Sunday School Materials, can I share it with other leaders I teach with?
A:Yes. Click leader's manuals can be shared with up to 4 leaders so that you avoid the hassle of coordinating who has the leader's manual for the following session. If you have more leaders than this in your group, you can obtain additional leader’s manuals at a special 50% discount. Please contact us to order: hello@thegoodbook.co.uk.
Q: I have bought an ebook from you and we are going to run a course at church using that book. Can I share it with the other leaders?
A: We only allow this kind of sharing with Click Sunday school materials, which can be shared with up to 4 other leaders. So technically, no, you can’t share your e-book with other leaders. You will need to purchase a paperback, hardback or e-book for each one of your leaders. We are happy to offer 50% off the list price for additional copies of our publications when you are using them to run a course. Please contact us to order: hello@thegoodbook.co.uk.
Q: We bought a single CE kit (all downloadable files, no hard copies) and we will be running 5 simultaneous groups in and outside our church. Can we share these files with the 5 groups?
A: Each group requires their own copy of the CE video and leader’s guides. However, when you have purchased one set of the material, you can obtain additional copies at a special 50% discount. Please contact us by email or phone to place your special order.
Q: Can I paraphrase and write up lessons of one of your Good Book Guides for a group with low literacy? No commercial purpose is intended.
A: Yes. As long as you have bought a copy of the guide for each participant, we will be delighted for you to use the content in any way you would like, for free, on the condition that the paraphrase version you produce is not sold to anyone else.
Q: We have some members of our group who have impaired vision. Can we make large-sized copies of one of your Bible studies for them to take part in the group?
A: Yes. We are delighted to grant permission for this kind of reproduction to help those with visual disabilities. Many of our publications are also available in large print or braille from the Torch Trust. View and search their catalogue here.
Permissions Request Form
If your query has not been answered by the above examples, please contact us by filling in the following form. We will aim to reply within 5 working days, but if your request is particularly urgent, please call us on 0333 123 0880 or email hello@thegoodbook.co.uk and we will be happy to help.