Privacy

The short version

• Your manuscript is never used to train AI — not by us, and we don’t sell or license it to anyone who would.
• We don’t sell your data. We don’t run ads.
• Readers’ copies are watermarked with their email, and authors can see each reader’s progress and margin comments.
• Readers can switch reading analytics off in the reader’s Aa settings. Raw reading sessions are purged after 90 days.
• You can delete your account from your account page.

What we collect

• Your account: your email address, the name you show, and a photo if you add one.
• What authors upload: manuscripts, chapters, covers and book details.
• What readers do in a book: how far you’ve read, your reactions, highlights, margin comments, suggested edits, poll answers, reviews, and any applications you send to read a book.
• Reading analytics: which paragraphs readers spend time on or re-read, recorded in reading sessions while you read — unless you’ve switched it off.

Your manuscript and AI

Your manuscript is never used to train AI. We don’t train models on it, we don’t let anyone else train on it, and we don’t sell your data to anyone who would. Your book stays yours.

What authors see about readers

Reading an ARC isn’t anonymous to its author. Readers’ copies are watermarked with their email, tiled faintly across every page, so a leaked page shows who it came from. The author can see how far each reader has read, whether they finished, and the margin comments, reactions and reviews they leave.

Detailed reading analytics (where readers slow down or re-read) are shown to authors only in aggregate, never tied to one reader. A reader’s track record (ARCs finished, edits accepted, reviews written) is shown to authors only if that reader chooses to share it.

Turning reading analytics off

While reading, open the Aa settings and switch off “Reading analytics”. Raw reading sessions are purged after 90 days either way; what remains are the aggregate counts that authors see.

Deleting your account

You can delete your account from /account. That removes your identity — your profile, your sign-in and the files you uploaded. Your feedback is anonymized rather than deleted: comments, reactions and reviews you left stay in the books you read, with your name removed, so authors’ aggregate numbers stay honest. If you’re an author, delete or hand over your books first; account deletion is blocked while you still own books, so other readers’ feedback isn’t lost by accident.

Who else handles your data

ARCReader runs on Google Firebase (sign-in, database, file storage and hosting). When paid plans open, card payments will be handled by our payment processor, Stripe; we never see or store your full card number. We don’t sell data to anyone, and we don’t use third-party advertising trackers.

Contact

Questions, requests or problems: shadowedqueens@gmail.com.