Privacy policy

Bookery Inc. operates Bookery and is responsible for the personal data described here. You can reach us about privacy at legal@bookery.com.

Depending on how you use Bookery, we collect:

• Account details: name, email address, a hashed password, role, and optional profile information such as a bio or avatar.
• Location: an approximate country derived from your IP address at signup, used to set a default reading currency.
• Reading activity: books you follow or favourite, chapters you unlock, reading progress, bookmarks, highlights, ratings, and comments.
• Purchases and earnings: coin purchases, gifts, unlocks, writer royalties, and payout requests. Card details are handled by our payment providers and never stored by Bookery.
• Payout details (writers): bank account or USDC wallet details you enter to receive payouts.
• Messages: conversations with editors or readers in the inbox, and questions you ask the reading assistant.
• Security data: sign-in events, IP address and browser details on API requests and sensitive actions, and records of attempted screen capture of paid chapters.

We use personal data to:

• run your account and deliver the chapters, coins, and features you use;
• process payments, royalties, and payouts, and keep accurate financial records;
• send service emails such as verification, password resets, and notifications you have enabled;
• recommend books based on your reading activity;
• review reports, enforce our terms, and protect paid content and accounts from abuse.

We share data only with providers that help us run Bookery, under contracts that limit their use of it:

• Payment processors (Flutterwave, and Stripe for legacy purchases) for coin purchases, API credit top-ups, and payouts.
• An email delivery provider for account and notification emails.
• Cloudinary for storing uploaded images such as book covers and avatars.
• Pusher for real-time message delivery.
• AI model providers, when you use the reading assistant, to generate answers from your question and the relevant book context.
• Our hosting and database providers.

Your display name appears with your comments and ratings. Writers see the display names of readers who send them gifts. Your reader profile and reading activity are private unless you choose to make them public in your settings. Books, chapters, and writer profiles that are published are public.

We keep account data while your account is open. Financial records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires. Security and audit logs are deleted after the retention period set by our administrators. You can ask us to close your account at any time by emailing us from the address on the account. When an account is closed we delete or anonymise its personal data unless we need to keep it for a legal reason.

We use a session cookie to keep you signed in. Your browser also stores reading preferences (theme and font size) and unsent chapter drafts locally on your device. We do not use advertising cookies.

You can update your profile and notification preferences in your account settings at any time. Depending on where you live you may also have the right to access, correct, export, or delete your personal data, or to object to certain processing. To make a request, email us from the address on your account. You can also complain to your local data protection authority.

Passwords are hashed, API keys are stored hashed, and access to administrative tools is limited by role. No system is perfectly secure, so please use a strong, unique password and tell us straight away if you suspect your account has been compromised.

We will post any changes on this page and update the date above. If a change materially affects how we use your data we will notify you before it takes effect.