Privacy Policy

At a glance

• Your libraries and journal notes are private to your account.
• Approved reviews appear without your name.
• Your email address is visible to connected readers and people you invite or send book recommendations to.
• We use service providers to run Book Herald and process memberships.
• We do not sell personal information or share it for targeted advertising.
• You can request access, corrections, or deletion by contacting us.

1. Information we collect

Information you provide

• Account information: your name, email address, password if you use password sign-in, and information needed to authenticate and manage your account.
• Your reading activity: libraries and their names, books you add, reading status, journal notes, ratings, reviews, and book details you submit.
• Connections and recommendations: the people you connect with, email addresses you invite or send recommendations to, books you recommend, and accompanying notes.
• Membership information: your plan, trial or subscription status, and payment, refund, and dispute records.
• Communications: information you send when you contact us, including support and privacy requests.

Account credentials can be sensitive personal information under applicable privacy laws. We use them to authenticate you and protect your account. We do not ask you to provide information such as your health, religious beliefs, racial or ethnic origin, or sexual orientation. Notes, reviews, and messages are free-text fields, so they may contain sensitive information if you choose to include it.

Payments and Google sign-in

You enter payment and billing details on pages hosted by Stripe. We do not receive or store your full card number or card security code. Stripe handles payment processing; we receive membership and transaction information and may receive limited payment-method and billing details through its services. See Stripe’s privacy policy. If you sign in with Google, we receive the profile information described in Google sign-in below.

Information collected automatically

Our hosting providers keep technical request logs, which can include your IP address, browser and device details, and the pages requested. We use cookieless analytics to understand page views and performance. These events exclude your name, email address, and account ID. We remove search terms and invitation codes from reported page addresses. Technical data such as an IP address can also indicate an approximate location.

We keep delivery and abuse-prevention records for invitations and recommendations. See Cookies and tracking for information about browser storage.

2. How we use information

We use information to:

• Create accounts, sign you in, and manage your account.
• Save your libraries, reading activity, notes, and reviews.
• Moderate submitted reviews and book details.
• Connect readers and deliver the invitations and recommendations you request.
• Manage trials, memberships, payments, refunds, and disputes.
• Send account emails and respond to support and privacy requests.
• Understand usage and performance, troubleshoot problems, and improve Book Herald.
• Prevent abuse and fraud, protect the service, and meet legal obligations.

We do not sell personal information, share it for targeted advertising, or send marketing email. Account emails include confirmation, password reset, and welcome messages; invitations and recommendations are sent at a reader’s request.

3. Visibility and sharing

What other readers can see

Your libraries and journal notes are private to your account. Approved ratings and reviews appear on a book’s page without your name. We retain the association between a review and your account, and review moderators can access that association. Book details you submit may be reviewed for inclusion in the shared catalog.

Readers you are connected with can see your email address. When you invite someone or recommend a book, the recipient can see your email address and any note you include. We send the invitation or recommendation email on your behalf. Recipients may keep a copy even if you later delete your account.

Services we use

We use service providers for hosting, account authentication, data storage, email delivery, analytics, payments, and privacy requests. We disclose information as needed for those functions. Some providers also use information for security, fraud prevention, and legal compliance under their own privacy policies.

Maps and external links

Maps load from providers that receive your IP address. Map search terms are sent to a mapping provider. With your permission, your browser uses your location to position the map. Those coordinates are not sent to Book Herald’s servers; the map provider receives requests for the area displayed.

Some bookseller links include an affiliate code. If you follow an external link, the destination’s privacy policy governs information you provide there.

Other disclosures

We may disclose information when required by law, to respond to lawful requests, enforce our terms, or protect readers and the service. Information may also be disclosed or transferred in connection with a proposed or completed merger, financing, acquisition, or sale of business assets, subject to applicable law.

4. Cookies and tracking

Book Herald uses the following cookies:

• Sign-in session cookies to authenticate you and keep you signed in.
• A library preference cookie, lasting 30 days, to remember which of your libraries you last opened.
• An invitation cookie, lasting up to one hour, to preserve an invitation while you sign up.

Our analytics and performance measurement do not use cookies or similar storage on your device. We do not use advertising or cross-site tracking cookies. You can block or delete cookies through your browser settings, but sign-in and other features that depend on them may stop working.

5. Google sign-in

If you choose “Continue with Google,” Google supplies your name, email address, and profile-picture URL to our authentication provider. We use your name and email address for your account and sign-in; we do not display your Google profile picture. We do not request access to your contacts, Gmail, Drive, or calendar.

Our use of information received from Google APIs follows the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements. We use this information to provide the account features described in this policy and disclose it only as needed to provide those services or as required by law. Google’s own handling of information is governed by its privacy policy.

6. Retention and deletion

We keep personal information for as long as needed to provide the service and for the purposes described in this policy. Retention depends on the kind of information, your account activity, and legal, accounting, security, and dispute-resolution needs.

Canceling a membership does not delete your account or data. If your access lapses, your libraries are retained but are unavailable until access is restored, such as by subscribing or renewing. You can still contact us to request a copy of your information or account deletion.

• A library you delete is hidden immediately and scheduled for permanent removal from the active database after 30 days.
• Invitations expire after 7 days and connection requests after 14 days. Expiration prevents further use of the invitation or request; it does not necessarily erase its delivery or abuse-prevention records.
• Email delivery records can include recipient addresses, delivery status, and, for failed deliveries, message details. These records may remain until they are removed as part of a privacy request or no longer needed for delivery, support, or abuse prevention.
• Billing information may be retained after account deletion for tax, accounting, fraud-prevention and dispute-resolution purposes. Stripe also retains information under its own policies and legal obligations.

To request account deletion, email hello@bookherald.com from the address on your account or submit a data subject access request. After verifying your request, we will cancel any active membership and arrange deletion of your account and associated libraries, journal notes, reviews, connections, and recommendations, subject to applicable retention requirements. This is a manual process. Closing an account does not automatically entitle you to a refund; see our Terms of Use.

Data is stored in our production database and backups. During the pre-launch beta, we also keep a copy of account and library data in a separate test database with the same provider to test changes before release. That copy is for testing, not live payment processing. Deletion requests cover active test copies as well as production data. Backup copies may remain until they are replaced or expire; they are not used for ordinary service operations.

7. Security

We use technical and organizational safeguards intended to protect personal information. No website, transmission method or storage system can be guaranteed secure. Keep your sign-in credentials private and contact us if you believe your account has been accessed without permission.

8. Children and family use

Readers of any age can explore Book Herald with a parent or guardian. To create your own account, you must be at least 13 and meet any higher minimum age required where you live. If you are below the age of majority where you live, you need a parent’s or guardian’s permission and supervision.

Children under 13 may use Book Herald with a parent or guardian through that adult’s account. They may not create their own account or submit personal information directly. The adult must use their own account and contact details and supervise that use. Parents may enter family reader names and notes in their libraries; we treat that information as private library data under this policy. Include only the personal information you need, and remember that published reviews and messages to other readers have different visibility.

If you believe a child has created an account or submitted personal information contrary to these requirements, contact hello@bookherald.com. When we learn of such information, we will take steps to delete it and restrict the account as appropriate. Parents and guardians can also contact us about information they have entered for a child.

9. Your choices and privacy rights

You can manage libraries and reading activity within Book Herald. Review your account information and manage billing in account settings. To correct your name or email address, contact us. For account deletion, follow the deletion instructions above.

Rights under applicable law

Depending on where you live and which laws apply, you may have rights to know how we process your information, access it, receive a portable copy, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to processing, or withdraw consent where processing relies on consent. Withdrawing consent does not affect earlier lawful processing. You may also have a right to appeal a denied request or complain to your data protection authority.

Some US state laws provide rights to opt out of sales, targeted advertising, or certain profiling. We do not sell personal information, use it for targeted advertising, or use profiling to make decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects. We do disclose information to service providers and other recipients as explained in Visibility and sharing.

Making a request

Email hello@bookherald.com or submit a data subject access request. We may need to verify your identity before acting on a request. Where applicable law allows an authorized agent to act for you, we may ask for proof of that authority. We will respond within the time required by applicable law, explain any refusal and any available appeal process, and will not discriminate against you for exercising protected privacy rights. Some requests may be limited by legal requirements or the rights of others.

10. Browser privacy signals

We do not currently change our practices in response to your browser’s Do Not Track signal. We do not sell personal information or share it for cross-context behavioral advertising, so there is no such activity to opt out of through Global Privacy Control. This does not limit any rights you have under applicable law.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as our service or practices change. The date at the top shows the latest revision. We will notify you of material changes through the service or by email before they take effect. We will obtain consent where required by law.

12. Contact us

Book Herald, LLC is responsible for the personal information described in this policy. For questions or requests, email hello@bookherald.com or use our data subject access request form.