Privacy Policy

What we collect

Account information. Your name, email address, and password when you sign up. Passwords are stored hashed, which means we cannot read them. If you sign in with Google, Google sends us your name, email address, and profile photo instead.

Pledges. When you back a book, we record the amount, the book you backed, and when you pledged. If you pledge as a guest, we record the email address you give us so we can send your receipt and campaign updates.

Payments. Payments are handled entirely by Stripe. Your card details never touch InkSplode's servers. Stripe tells us whether your payment went through so we can confirm your pledge.

Author content. If you publish with us, we store what you submit: your manuscript, pitch materials, cover images, and profile photo. Your unpublished manuscript is treated as confidential. We use it only to provide the services you asked for, and we never share it outside the people and providers needed to produce your book.

Technical data. Like nearly every website, our servers and security tools automatically log basic technical details such as your IP address and browser type. We use these to keep the site running and to block spam and abuse.

Why we use it

To run InkSplode: creating your account, processing pledges, sending receipts and campaign updates (including refund notices if a campaign does not reach its goal), answering support emails, blocking bots and fraud, and counting page visits.

What we do not do

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share it for cross-context behavioral advertising unless you opt in through our cookie banner, and you can withdraw that choice at any time. If you decline, or if your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, no advertising pixels load, nothing is shared, and InkSplode works exactly the same.

Who helps us run InkSplode

A small set of providers, each getting only what it needs to do its job:

• Stripe processes payments. Card details go directly to Stripe under Stripe's own privacy policy.
• Supabase provides our database, sign-in system, and file storage.
• Resend delivers emails we send you, such as pledge receipts and notifications.
• Vercel hosts the website and provides our visit counts.
• Cloudflare runs the bot check on our sign-in pages.
• Google provides the optional Google sign-in, and our support inbox runs on Google Workspace, so emails you send us are stored there.

Each of these providers is bound by its agreement with us to use your information only to provide its service to InkSplode. The optional analytics and advertising tools described in the Analytics and advertising section only ever run with your consent.

When we would share beyond that

Only in three situations: if the law requires it (for example, a valid court order), if it is necessary to prevent fraud or protect someone's safety, or if InkSplode is ever sold or merged, in which case your data would transfer with the service and you would be told of any change to this policy.

Cookies

We use cookies to keep you signed in and to protect the site. These are necessary and always on. The cookie banner sets one small cookie of its own to remember your choice.

If you allow them, we also set analytics and advertising cookies as described in the Analytics and advertising section. Your first visit shows a cookie banner where you choose, and Cookie Preferences in the footer lets you change your mind later.

Analytics and advertising

We use Vercel Analytics to count page visits. It is cookieless and does not track you across other sites, so it runs on every visit.

With your consent, we also use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use InkSplode, and Microsoft Clarity to see how pages are used through session replays and heatmaps. These tools set cookies.

With your consent, we use the Meta Pixel, the LinkedIn Insight Tag, and the TikTok Pixel to measure our advertising and reach readers who may be interested in the books on InkSplode. These tools set cookies and may link your visit to your account on those platforms.

These tools load through Google Tag Manager. None of the consent-based tools run until you allow them in our cookie banner, and you can change your choice at any time using Cookie Preferences in the footer. If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, we treat it as a decline for advertising automatically, no banner click needed.

Emails from us

We send the emails needed to run the service: pledge receipts, campaign outcome notices, and account emails like password resets. If we ever start a newsletter or marketing emails, they will be optional and every one will include an unsubscribe link.

How long we keep it

For as long as your account is active or as long as we need it to run the service. Pledge and payment records are kept as long as tax and accounting rules require, even if you delete your account.

Deleting your data

Email support@inksplode.com to request deletion of your account and data, and a real person will handle it. We will delete everything except records the law requires us to keep, such as payment records for taxes and accounting. Stripe keeps its own payment records under its own policy.

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, state law gives you specific rights over your personal information. We honor these for everyone, not just where the law requires it:

• Know and access: ask us what information we have about you and receive a copy.
• Correct: ask us to fix information that is wrong.
• Delete: ask us to delete your information, as described in Deleting your data.
• Opt out: decline analytics and advertising in the cookie banner, or turn on Global Privacy Control in your browser and we will treat it as an opt out automatically.
• No retaliation: exercising these rights never changes how InkSplode works for you.

To exercise any of these, email support@inksplode.com from the address on your account so we can verify it is you, and a real person will respond within 45 days. If we ever decline a request, we will explain why, and you can appeal by replying to that response. These rights apply under California law and similar laws in Virginia, Colorado, Connecticut, Utah, and a growing list of other states.

Security

Your data travels encrypted over HTTPS, card handling stays with Stripe, and access to our systems is limited to the people who run InkSplode. No online service can promise perfect security, but if a breach ever affects your data, we will tell you.

Children

InkSplode is for adults. You must be 18 or older to create an account, pledge, or run a campaign, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. InkSplode is not directed at children under 13. If you believe someone under 18 has given us their data, email support@inksplode.com and we will delete it.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we will update the effective date at the top. For meaningful changes, we will also post a notice on the site or email you.

Contact

Privacy questions go to support@inksplode.com.