If i type my name instead of signing is a contract legal?

I'm agreeing with the prior advice. As long as you meant for the typing of your name to have the same effect as "signing" your name, you intended to be bound by the contract. But maybe you should bring the contract to a local attorney?

Is this “helpful” or a “best” answer? Please mark it if it was, and I hope it was! Thank you! Nancy L. Ballast is an attorney in west Michigan, with a practice centered on family law, estate planning, and criminal law. Grandrapidslaw.blogspot.com

In one Utah case, Salt Lake City v. Hanson, 19 Utah 2d 32, 34, 425 P.2d 773, 1967 Utah LEXIS 560 (Utah 1967), the court reiterated the well-established principle that:

In regard to a signature, it is the intent rather than the form of the act that is important. While one's signature is usually made by writing his name, the same purpose can be accomplished by placing any writing, indicia or symbol which the signer chooses to adopt and use as his signature and by which it may be proved: e. g., by finger or thumb prints, by a cross or other mark, or by any type of mechanically reproduced or stamped facsimile of his signature, as effectively as by his own handwriting.

This seems to be the general standard throughout the country. See McGrady v. Munsey Trust Co., 32 A.2d 106 (D.C.Mun.App.1943); State ex rel. Independent School Dist. No. One v. Williamson, 352 P.2d 394 (Okla.1960); Maricopa County v. Osborn, 60 Ariz. 290, 136 P.2d 270 (1943); 80 C.J.S. Signatures §§ 7, 9.

So, the answer is, if you typed your name and sent it in to the publishing (i'm assuming) company, with the intent that the typed response would act as your signature, it is valid.

I may or may not be licensed to practice law in your state. I have also not engaged any asker as my client solely through my response to this question, and no attorney-client relationship is intended. For that reason, any answer I provide should be taken with a strongly-implied recommendation that you consult an attorney in your local area who specializes in the particular field of law relative to your question. If you need assistance locating an attorney, consult your state's bar association.

An electronic signature is just as legal and enforceable as a manual one. The federal ESIGN Act provides that a contract or signature “may not be denied legal effect, validity, or enforceability solely because it is in electronic form”. I think you're stuck, unless there are other reasons to question the validity of the contract.