Privacy Policy

StoryBolt ("we", "our", "us") builds personalised children's books. Your privacy — and your child's privacy — matters to us. This policy explains exactly what we collect, why, and what happens to it afterwards. The short version: we only collect what we need to make your book, and nothing more.

1. What We Collect

We only collect information that is directly needed to create and deliver your book:

• Your email address — so we can send you order updates and your digital book
• Child's first name and age — to personalise the story
• Appearance details — hair colour, eye colour, and skin tone, so the character looks like your child
• Interests and story preferences — to tailor the story theme
• Shipping address — only if you order a printed book

Payment details are handled entirely by Stripe. We never see or store your card number.

That's it. We don't track you around the web, we don't build advertising profiles, and we don't collect data we don't need.

2. Uploaded Photos

If you upload a photo of your child to help us create their character, that photo is used solely to generate the illustrated character and is automatically and permanently deleted from our servers immediately after the character illustration has been created. We do not store, archive, or use uploaded photos for any other purpose.

3. How We Use Your Information

Your information is used for one thing: making your book. Specifically:

• Generating your child's personalised story and illustrations
• Processing your payment and delivering your order
• Sending you order updates (confirmation, proof ready, shipping notification)

We do not use your information for marketing, advertising, or anything unrelated to your order.

4. Children's Data

We understand the sensitivity of children's information and handle it with extra care:

• We only collect the bare minimum needed to create the book — a first name, age, and basic appearance details
• We never collect surnames, dates of birth, school names, or any other identifying information about your child
• Children's details are never sold, shared for marketing, or used for any purpose beyond creating your book
• Our AI providers process child details transiently — they don't store them
• You can request deletion of all your child's data at any time

5. AI-Generated Content

We use AI to write your child's story and create the illustrations. The details you provide (name, appearance, interests) are sent to our AI systems solely to generate your book. These details are processed in real time and are not retained by our AI providers after generation is complete. All content is checked for child-appropriateness.

6. Who We Share Data With

We only share your information with the services needed to make and deliver your book:

• Stripe — processes your payment securely
• Lulu — prints and ships your physical book (they receive your shipping address only)
• Resend — delivers your order emails

We do not sell or share your data with advertisers, data brokers, or anyone else.

7. Cookies

We use a small number of essential cookies to save your progress as you create your book. We do not use tracking cookies, advertising cookies, or any third-party analytics. See our Cookie Policy for details.

8. Data Retention

We keep your order data for as long as needed to fulfil your order and meet legal requirements (e.g. tax records). Uploaded photos are deleted immediately after character generation. You can request deletion of all your data at any time by emailing privacy@storybolt.co.uk.

9. Your Rights (UK GDPR)

You have the right to:

• See what personal data we hold about you
• Ask us to correct anything that's wrong
• Ask us to delete your data
• Object to how we process your data
• Request a copy of your data in a portable format
• Complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) if you're not happy with how we handle your data

10. Contact Us

Questions about your privacy? Email us at privacy@storybolt.co.uk — we're happy to help.