Effective date: to be set upon legal review
OurBookmark is a family reading platform that helps families and children discover books, record reading activity, celebrate reading, discover children's book authors, and participate in our Early Reader Program. This policy describes what information we collect, how we use and share it, how we protect it, and the choices available to users. OurBookmark is built with families' and children's privacy in mind: we intentionally limit what we collect about children, we do not display children by name outside their own family's account, and we place parents and caregivers at the center of every decision about their family's information.
We collect information that users voluntarily provide, along with limited information generated through use of the platform.
When an adult creates an account, we may collect an email address, family name, account credentials or authentication information, and information necessary to manage the family account. Our standard account creation does not require a home address, phone number, or other unnecessary identifying information.
A parent or authorized caregiver may create profiles for children in their family. We limit a child's profile to a first name and an age.
How a child's first name is used. A child's first name is used only inside the family's own private account, to help the parent tell their children's profiles apart. A child's first name is never shown to authors or to other families, and is never made public. Anywhere a child appears outside the family's own account — including to authors and in any publicly posted review — the child is identified only as part of the family and by age, in the form "the [Family] family (age N)."
We do not request or require a child's last name, home address, phone number, email address, school name, photograph, or social media accounts. We do not use photographs or profile images for child avatars. Parents and caregivers are responsible for ensuring the information they provide about a child is accurate and appropriate to share.
When families use OurBookmark, we may collect books added to a family's reading history, books a child has read or had read to them, reading progress, favorites and rereads, reading lists, and reviews, ratings, or comments submitted by the adult account holder. Reading information may be associated with a child's first name and age within the family's private account. It is not associated with a child's first name anywhere outside that account.
Authors may voluntarily provide their name, email address, biography, book information, photograph, website, social media links, publisher information, and other information they choose to share. Some Author Spotlight information may also come from publicly available sources.
The Early Reader Program (also called the ARC, or "Advance Reader Copy," program) connects children's and young-adult authors with interested readers through their parents or caregivers. In connection with the program we may collect a parent or caregiver email address, family name, a child's first name and age, reading interests or preferences, and the ratings, written feedback, and reviews the parent submits about a book.
Feedback may be submitted in two parts — a child's part and a grown-up's part — both entered by the adult account holder. We do not record a child's voice. "Narrated" or audiobook formats mean a child listens to an author-provided audio file; no audio of the child is captured.
We may automatically collect limited technical information such as IP address, browser type, device type, operating system, pages or features accessed, general usage and log information, and security or diagnostic information. We may use cookies, analytics, or similar technologies to operate, secure, maintain, and improve the service. We will not knowingly use children's information for behavioral or targeted advertising.
We may use information to create and maintain accounts; provide reading-tracking, organization, discovery, and recommendation features; maintain family and child profiles; provide Author Spotlights; operate the Early Reader Program and facilitate connections and communications related to Early Reader opportunities; respond to support requests; maintain, secure, and improve the platform; detect and prevent fraud, abuse, and security incidents; comply with legal obligations; enforce our terms; and other purposes disclosed at the time of collection.
We do not sell personal information. We do not sell or share children's personal information for targeted advertising, and we do not use children's reading activity to build advertising profiles.
OurBookmark is used to record reading activity involving children, and we treat information about children with heightened care. Our approach is to:
The Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") and other privacy laws may apply to aspects of our service. Where parental notice, verifiable parental consent, access, deletion, or other requirements apply — including in connection with sharing a child's information with an author — we will implement the appropriate processes and safeguards. We may update our consent mechanisms, eligibility requirements, and features as the platform develops and as applicable requirements change.
OurBookmark is intended to be used by parents, caregivers, or other authorized adults. The adult who creates a family account manages it and decides what information about their family and children is provided. Children should not create accounts or provide information without appropriate parental or caregiver involvement. Parents and caregivers may contact us about information associated with their family or child account.
The Early Reader Program connects authors and publishers with interested readers through their parents or caregivers. A parent browses available books and applies on behalf of a specific child; a participating author reviews applicants and selects readers; selected readers receive the book; and the parent may submit a review.
We structure the program so that:
Delivery of a book happens through the author's own method — for example, a third-party distribution service, download link, or retailer. If a parent chooses to provide information directly to an author, publisher, ARC distribution platform, retailer, or other third party (for example, by entering an email on a delivery service), that third party's privacy policy and terms apply to the information provided.
OurBookmark facilitates connections between authors and readers and is not a permanent digital book-hosting or manuscript-storage platform.
OurBookmark does not store authors' complete manuscripts, ARC PDFs, full digital books, or other complete copies of authors' works on our servers as part of the Early Reader Program. Authors distribute reading materials through third-party services or author-controlled methods. OurBookmark is not responsible for the privacy, security, copyright practices, or terms of third-party delivery services, and does not acquire ownership of an author's work through the author's participation.
We may feature children's book authors through Author Spotlights, which may include an author's name, biography, photograph, book information, publisher information, website, social media links, and other information the author voluntarily provides. We do not publish children's personal information as part of an Author Spotlight.
We share information only in the limited circumstances below.
We may share information with trusted service providers that help us operate OurBookmark — for example hosting, database (Supabase), authentication, email delivery, analytics, security, support, technical infrastructure, and application monitoring. These providers may access information only as reasonably necessary to provide services to us and subject to applicable contractual and legal requirements.
When a parent chooses to participate in an Early Reader opportunity, the participating author receives only the following, and only for families who applied to that author's book:
The author does not receive: the child's first name; any photograph; the parent's or child's email address, phone number, or home address; or access to the family's account or full profile.
We may disclose information where reasonably necessary to comply with law; respond to a subpoena, court order, legal process, or governmental request; protect the rights, safety, or property of OurBookmark, our users, or others; investigate fraud, abuse, or security incidents; or enforce our agreements.
If OurBookmark is involved in a merger, acquisition, financing, sale of assets, reorganization, bankruptcy, or similar transaction, information may be transferred as part of that transaction, subject to applicable law.
We do not sell personal information. We do not sell children's personal information. We do not provide children's personal information to advertisers for targeted advertising, and we do not use children's reading activity to create advertising profiles.
We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect information from unauthorized access, loss, misuse, alteration, or disclosure, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) and authenticated access controls. No online service can guarantee absolute security. Parents and caregivers should protect their account credentials and notify us promptly of any suspected unauthorized access.
We retain information for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the service and its reading-history features, maintain accounts, facilitate Early Reader opportunities, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce agreements, and prevent fraud or maintain security. When information is no longer reasonably necessary, we delete, anonymize, or otherwise dispose of it in accordance with our retention practices and applicable law. We may retain certain information where required or permitted by law.
Depending on applicable law, parents and account holders may contact us to request access to information associated with their account or their child; request correction of inaccurate information; request deletion of their account or of information associated with their child; export their data; withdraw from the Early Reader Program; or ask questions about our practices. We may need to verify the identity or authority of the person making a request before acting on it. Where applicable law provides additional rights, we will honor them.
Parents and account holders may request deletion by contacting hello@ourbookmark.com. Upon a valid request, we will take reasonable steps to delete applicable personal information associated with the account, subject to information we are required or permitted to retain under applicable law. Deletion may result in the loss of reading history, profiles, and other account information.
OurBookmark may link to or integrate with third-party services, including author and publisher websites, book retailers, social media platforms, and ARC distribution services, as well as Supabase (database and authentication), ISBNdb / Google Books (book search and metadata), and Amazon / Bookshop.org (affiliate links, activated only if you click a link). We do not control these third parties' privacy practices. If you choose to visit or use a third-party service, that service's privacy policy and terms apply, and we encourage you to review them before providing information.
We may use cookies, pixels, analytics tools, and similar technologies to operate the platform, maintain security, understand how the service is used, diagnose issues, improve the experience, and measure performance. We do not use third-party advertising cookies or cross-site tracking. We will not knowingly use children's personal information for behavioral advertising. Where required by law, we will provide appropriate disclosures and choices regarding these technologies.
Depending on where you live, you may have additional rights under state or local privacy laws, which may include rights to access, correct, delete, or obtain information about the personal information we collect, and to opt out of certain uses or disclosures. To exercise an applicable right, contact hello@ourbookmark.com. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before completing a request.
OurBookmark is intended primarily for users in the United States. If you access it from outside the United States, your information may be processed in the United States or other locations where we or our service providers operate. International users may have additional rights under applicable law.
We may update this Privacy Policy as OurBookmark develops new features, including the reading tracker, Author Spotlights, the Early Reader Program, and family features. If we make material changes, we may provide notice through the website, application, email, or another appropriate method, and the updated policy will carry a revised effective date.
Questions about this Privacy Policy, your account, your child's information, or the Early Reader Program? Contact OurBookmark at hello@ourbookmark.com. We welcome questions from parents, caregivers, authors, publishers, educators, and others in the OurBookmark community.