1. Scope

This Privacy Policy covers personal information we process when you:

• Visit our websites, including plotfoundry.com and readerling.com;
• Use Scribi Writer’s Studio and its optional cloud sync or backup services;
• Use Readerling as an author, a reader, or both;
• Make a purchase or receive a payout through any PlotFoundry product;
• Contact our support team; or
• Interact with us in any other way.

PlotFoundry is the data controller across the entire ecosystem. A single PlotFoundry account works across Scribi, Readerling, and any other PlotFoundry product, and this policy governs the data associated with that account regardless of which product you used to create it.

2. Information We Collect

Account & Contact Data

Name, email address, and similar identifiers needed to create and manage your account. We also collect your date of birth at signup, which is used to verify eligibility for age-restricted features (including Mature Content access on Readerling). Date of birth cannot be edited by the user directly; corrections require contacting admin@plotfoundry.com.

Transactional Data

Purchase records, license information, subscription details, and (for authors) payout records. This includes both Scribi purchases and any current or future Readerling transactions.

Payment Data

Payment card information is processed directly by our payment processor (currently Stripe) and is not stored by PlotFoundry. We receive limited transaction metadata from the processor — such as last-four digits of a card, the country of issue, and confirmation status — for fraud prevention, reconciliation, and customer support. See Commerce and Payment Data for further detail.

App Telemetry (Optional & Minimal)

Non-content diagnostics such as crash logs or performance metrics — never your manuscripts or creative work. Basic telemetry such as crash reports may be collected automatically to maintain service stability; you can disable this in app settings at any time.

Opt-In Productivity Analytics

If you choose to participate, we may collect anonymized, aggregated usage data — such as feature usage frequency, session duration, and workflow patterns — to help us improve our products and develop insights into how writers use our tools. This data is stripped of personally identifiable information before analysis. Participation is entirely voluntary, requires your explicit opt-in, and can be withdrawn at any time through app settings. We never collect the substance of your creative work through this program.

Reader Engagement Data

When you use Readerling as a reader, we collect data about your interactions with the platform — including which authors you follow, which books you view or purchase, your reading progress within books read in the Readerling reader, your reactions to posts, your participation in beta reads, and other activity that helps us operate the platform. By default, only aggregated and anonymized versions of this data are shared with authors. See Reader Analytics and Author-Facing Data for details on what authors can see and what requires your explicit consent.

Demographic Data (Optional)

Readerling provides optional demographic fields (such as age range, region, and reading preferences) that you may choose to provide. These fields are opt-in, with opt-out as the default. You may also choose, on a per-author basis, whether to share your demographic data with authors you follow.

Support Communications

Emails and messages you send us directly.

Usage Data

Basic web analytics, such as page views and referrers, to understand how people find and move through our sites. We do not use cookies for behavioral advertising. Our website analytics come in two forms — a cookieless aggregate visitor count and optional, opt-in Google Analytics — described in Cookies and Similar Technologies.

User Content

Your manuscripts, outlines, notes, images, and any other creative materials you store locally in Scribi or choose to sync to our cloud. We store and process User Content only to provide the Services you request — never for training, marketing, or analysis.

Published Content

Material you have explicitly chosen to publish to Readerling — author profiles, book pages, posts, ebook files made available for purchase or beta reading, and so on. Published Content is intentionally public-facing on Readerling and is stored, displayed, and (where applicable) delivered to readers in accordance with the license you grant under our Terms and Conditions.

3. How We Use Information

We use personal information to:

• Provide, maintain, and improve the Services;
• Authenticate users and manage licenses, subscriptions, and roles;
• Verify age eligibility and apply Mature Content controls;
• Process payments, calculate royalties, and issue author payouts;
• Prevent fraud, financial abuse, and unauthorized access;
• Investigate piracy of ebook files using watermark data;
• Operate Readerling features including following, beta reading, mailing list opt-ins, and any future commerce or community features;
• Troubleshoot and provide customer support;
• Send service-related updates, security notices, and policy changes;
• If you have opted in, analyze anonymized productivity data to improve our products; and
• If you have opted in, share aggregated or anonymized reader analytics with the authors you follow.

Lawful Bases (for EU/UK Users)

Depending on context, processing relies on:

• Contract (to deliver the Services and process transactions);
• Legitimate interests (security, fraud prevention, piracy investigation);
• Legal obligation (tax reporting, lawful process); or
• Consent where required (including opt-in analytics, demographic data, and any reader-to-author data sharing).

4. No Selling or Sharing

We do not sell or “share” your personal information for cross-context advertising or any marketing purposes. We do not provide your personal data to data brokers or advertising networks. If this ever changes, you will receive clear notice and an explicit opt-in before any data is used in this way.

5. AI and Data Use Commitments

• No AI Training: We do not use your User Content, Published Content, reading activity, or any other content you produce or interact with for AI or machine learning training.
• Opt-In Required: If we ever change this position, your explicit consent will be required before any such use. Opt-in only, never opt-out.
• Third-Party AI Tools: If you choose to send text to an external AI model through Scribi, that submission is governed by the third-party provider’s terms, not ours. We clearly identify any such integrations.
• AI Content Flag (Readerling): Readerling provides authors with a voluntary flag to disclose books containing substantial generative AI prose. This is a transparency feature for readers, not a use of your data by us. See our Terms and Conditions for how the flag works.

6. Commerce and Payment Data

PlotFoundry is the merchant of record for all transactions processed through our Services. Payment processing is currently handled by Stripe.

When you make a purchase:

• Your payment card details are entered directly into Stripe’s systems and are not stored by PlotFoundry.
• We receive transaction metadata from Stripe — including transaction ID, amount, currency, country of issue, and the last four digits of the card — which we retain for reconciliation, fraud prevention, refund processing, and tax compliance.
• We retain a record of the transaction (what was purchased, when, and for how much) for as long as required by applicable law and for legitimate business purposes such as customer support and audit.

When you receive a payout as an author:

• Payout method details (bank account, payout email, etc.) are handled by Stripe Connect or a comparable service and are not stored by PlotFoundry in clear form.
• We retain payout records and any tax documentation (W-9, W-8BEN, 1099, or equivalents) for the period required by applicable tax law.

Stripe’s use of your data is governed by Stripe’s own privacy policy.

7. Watermarking

Every ebook file downloaded from Readerling is compiled with a per-user watermark embedded in the file. The watermark contains an internal PlotFoundry account identifier — not your name, email address, or any other information that would identify you outside PlotFoundry’s systems. PlotFoundry maintains the internal mapping between the watermark identifier and your account.

We use watermarks only for investigating piracy and unauthorized distribution. If a watermarked file is found in unauthorized distribution channels, we may use the watermark to identify the source account and take action under our Terms and Conditions. We do not use watermark data for marketing, analytics, profiling, or any purpose unrelated to anti-piracy.

Watermark mapping data is retained for as long as you maintain an account with us, and may be retained beyond that period where necessary to investigate or respond to ongoing piracy issues.

8. Reader Analytics and Author-Facing Data

Authors on Readerling receive analytics about how readers engage with their content. By default, all author-facing analytics are aggregated and anonymized — an author sees totals, trends, and patterns, not individual reader identities.

For example, an author may see: total followers, total reads, total purchases, where readers paused or accelerated in a book they’re reading, the geographic distribution of their audience at country or region level, and similar aggregate statistics.

An author can only see your individual identity in connection with their content under these specific opt-in conditions:

• Follower visibility: When you follow an author, you may choose to make your follow public or to keep it private. If public, your reader profile badge is visible to that author. If private, the author sees only that one of their followers has opted for privacy. Privacy is the default.
• Demographic sharing: You may opt in, on a per-author or platform-wide basis, to share your demographic data with authors. This is off by default.
• Mailing list opt-in: If you opt in to an author’s mailing list (where the author has chosen to offer one through Readerling), the author receives your email address for the purpose of sending you newsletters. PlotFoundry also retains your email as the platform operator. Mailing list opt-in is explicit and off by default; you may withdraw at any time. See Mailing List Data for details.
• Beta reader participation: Authors can see who is participating in their beta read, including identifiable reader profile information for those participants, because beta reading is a direct, invitational relationship. Beta feedback is treated separately; see Beta Reader Program Data.

Outside these specific cases, authors do not receive personally identifying information about their readers.

9. Mailing List Data

Authors may offer mailing lists to their readers through Readerling. Reader subscription to an author’s mailing list is explicit opt-in, with opt-out as the default. We do not automatically subscribe readers to any author’s mailing list based on follows, purchases, or other activity.

When you opt in to an author’s mailing list:

• Your email address is provided to the author for the purpose of sending you newsletters and related communications;
• PlotFoundry continues to retain your email as the platform operator;
• You may unsubscribe at any time through Readerling or through the unsubscribe mechanism in the author’s emails;
• Authors are independently responsible for their use of your email under applicable law (such as CAN-SPAM, GDPR, or CASL).

10. Beta Reader Program Data

When you participate in a beta read on Readerling, we collect data necessary to operate the program, including:

• Your reading progress within the beta copy;
• Engagement signals such as where readers paused or accelerated, used to build aggregated heat maps for the author;
• Any comments and reactions you submit as beta feedback.

Beta access is time-limited and revocable. When the beta period ends, beta access expires and beta feedback is no longer accessible to the reader who submitted it.

By default, your beta feedback is shared with the author in a form that identifies you as the beta reader who submitted it — this is the working assumption of a direct beta-reading relationship. You may, on a per-beta basis, opt in to allow the author to share specific feedback publicly in anonymized form (with no personally identifying information). Public anonymized sharing is off by default.

11. Children’s Privacy

Our Services are not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect data from them. If you believe a child has provided us information, contact us immediately and we will delete it. Mature Content on Readerling is restricted to users 18 and over who have explicitly opted in; see our Terms and Conditions for details on how the gate works.

12. Security

We use administrative, technical, and physical safeguards appropriate to the sensitivity of the data. These include:

• Encryption in transit (TLS) and at rest, using industry-standard methods;
• Least-privilege access controls and credential rotation;
• Network segmentation and routine security review;
• Secure development practices and dependency management;
• APIs secured following OWASP recommendations.

While we apply strong protections, no system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute protection against unauthorized access. We continuously monitor and improve our security posture.

Regardless of the technical protections in place, we maintain the data-use commitments described elsewhere in this policy: we do not use your User Content for AI training, marketing, or analysis; we do not sell or share your personal information; and any future change to these positions will require explicit opt-in.

13. Data Retention

We retain personal data only as long as necessary to provide the Services, comply with legal obligations, and resolve disputes. You may request deletion of your account and any stored content at any time by emailing admin@plotfoundry.com.

Please be aware:

• Certain account data — specifically your email address and license key — is required to validate and maintain your Scribi software license. If you request full deletion of your data, we will comply, but your license will be permanently deactivated as a result, since the records needed to verify it will no longer exist on our servers. Refunds will not be issued for licenses that become unusable due to a user-initiated data deletion request.
• Transactional records (purchases, refunds, payouts, tax documents) may be retained for the period required by applicable financial and tax law, even after account deletion.
• Watermark mapping data may be retained beyond account deletion where necessary to investigate or respond to ongoing piracy issues.
• Published Content you have removed from Readerling is no longer publicly visible, but operational records of completed transactions involving that content (for example, prior sales) may be retained.

14. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your jurisdiction, you may have rights to:

• Access personal information we hold;
• Request correction or deletion;
• Receive a copy (data portability);
• Restrict or object to certain processing;
• Withdraw consent when processing is based on consent (including opt-in analytics, demographic sharing, mailing list subscriptions, and follower visibility).

To exercise any of these rights, email admin@plotfoundry.com. We will respond within 30 days (or sooner if required by applicable law).

We do not discriminate against users who exercise their rights.

15. International Data Transfers

If you use our Services from outside the United States, your information may be transferred internationally. Where required, we use appropriate legal safeguards such as Standard Contractual Clauses.

16. Service Providers and Processors

We engage third parties to help operate our Services. They are contractually obligated to process personal data only for the services they provide to us and to maintain appropriate safeguards. Categories of processors include:

• Payment processing: Stripe, which handles payment card data and author payouts;
• Cloud infrastructure: hosting, storage, and database providers used to operate our backend systems;
• Email delivery: services used to send transactional and notification emails;
• Customer support tooling: services used to receive and respond to support requests.
• Website analytics: Google Analytics (Firebase Analytics), enabled only if you opt in through our cookie banner;

Each processor’s use of your data is governed by its own privacy policy and our data processing agreement with that provider.

17. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We keep our use of cookies and device storage deliberately small, and we never use them for advertising or profiling.

• Essential cookies and storage. Cookies and local browser storage needed for login, session management, and to remember your cookie choice. These are always active — the site can’t function without them.
• Cookieless visitor count (no consent required). When you load a page, our server creates a one-way, irreversible hash of your IP address so we can count unique daily visitors in aggregate. We never store or log your actual IP address, set no cookie for this, and use a small local flag only to limit how often your browser sends the ping. This data contains no personal identifiers, is used solely for aggregate traffic statistics, and is automatically deleted after 45 days.
• Analytics cookies (opt-in only). Only if you select “Accept” on our cookie banner do we enable Google Analytics, which sets cookies to help us understand how readers find PlotFoundry. We never enable these without your explicit consent, and you can change your choice at any time through “Cookie Settings” in the site footer. Declining also turns off the cookieless visitor count above.

We do not sell the data collected through any of these measures.

18. “Do Not Track” Signals

At this time, we do not respond to browser-based “Do Not Track” signals, as no common standard exists. If one emerges, we will update this policy accordingly.

19. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make material changes, we will notify users by email or in-app notice. The current version of this policy is always available through our websites. PlotFoundry tracks the version of this policy each user has agreed to; when a new version takes effect, you may be prompted to review and accept the revised policy before continuing to use the Services.

20. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your data, contact us at:

General inquiries: info@plotfoundry.com

Privacy & data requests: admin@plotfoundry.com

Mail: 5441 S Macadam Ave Ste N, Attn: PlotFoundry LLC Privacy, Portland, OR 97239, USA

21. Additional Notices

California Residents

We do not sell or share personal information as defined under California law. If this changes, we will notify you and honor opt-out preference signals as required.

International Users

We comply with applicable international privacy regulations and provide the same protections described in this policy to all users, regardless of location.

22. Developer-Facing Summary

For transparency, here’s a plain-language overview of our technical privacy practices:

• User Content is processed solely for the purposes of syncing, backup, and recovery.
• Data is encrypted in transit (TLS) and at rest using industry-standard methods.
• Access keys and credentials are rotated regularly and follow least-privilege principles.
• APIs are secured following OWASP recommendations.
• Payment card data is handled exclusively by our payment processor; PlotFoundry does not store card data.
• Ebook downloads include an internal-only watermark identifier; the user-to-identifier mapping never leaves our systems.
• Reader engagement data is exposed to authors only in aggregated, anonymized form unless the reader has explicitly opted in to further sharing.
• Optional, anonymized productivity analytics are available on an opt-in basis only; no stored User Content is ever used for analytics, AI training, or marketing.