Privacy Policy
Effective as of: July 9, 2025
Last updated: May 13, 2026
At Saphly, we respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy ("Policy") explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your data when you interact with our website, manuscript submission system, and other related services and community platforms (collectively, the "Services").
By accessing or using our Services, you agree to the practices described in this Policy and our Terms of Service. If you do not agree, you should discontinue use of the Services.
1.1. Usage data and analytics
We collect information about how you interact with our Services to improve your experience and our content. This includes:
- Pages visited, submission activity, and platform interactions.
- Website performance metrics.
- Anonymized usage data.
When you first visit our website, you will be prompted to accept or decline analytics cookies. If you accept, we enable Google Analytics to measure and analyze how you use our site. We only collect analytics data and do not use any advertising or personalization tracking.
If you decline, analytics cookies will not be set, and your usage data will not be tracked. You can change or withdraw your consent at any time by clearing your cookies or resetting cookie consent at the bottom of the page.
1.2. Information you provide
We collect personal information that you directly provide to us through various Services. This includes, but is not limited to:
- Account information: When you register, we collect your chosen username, display name, email address, password (stored in hashed form), date of birth, and any profile information you choose to provide.
- Contact submissions: When you use our contact form, we collect your name, email address, and the contents of your message.
- Newsletter sign-ups: When you subscribe to our marketing communications, we collect your name, email address, and record your consent to be contacted.
- Other interactions: Any other information you choose to provide when you communicate with us.
1.3. Activity & audit logs
When you interact with the platform, we automatically record those actions and associate them with your account. This includes:
- Publishing, editing, and unpublishing actions.
- Purchases, subscription changes, and payment events.
- Account and settings changes.
- Moderation-related events, including warnings, content removals, and suspensions.
These logs are used for platform security, dispute resolution, and administrative purposes. They are not used for analytics or marketing.
1.4. Community data
When you join and participate in our Discord community, we collect and process data to provide moderation, administrative functions, and interactive features. This includes:
- Basic identifiers: Your user ID, username, and avatar.
- Activity data: Message counts, participation metrics, and interaction history used for features like points systems and role assignments.
- Moderation data: Server logs, message deletions, support tickets, and other data used for security and community management.
- Engagement data: Writing sprint progress, games won, scores, and other data generated through interactive features.
- Server preferences: Your channel preferences, settings, and any configuration data you set.
This data is stored securely and used solely for the operation, security, and enhancement of our community services. It enables features like automated moderation, server backups, leaderboards, role rewards, and community games that make the community engaging and functional.
1.5. Manuscript submission data
Submitting a manuscript requires you to provide personal and project-related information. This includes:
- Personal details: Your name, email, and country of residence.
- Manuscript details: Book title, word count, genres, plot summary, synopsis, query letter, and the manuscript file itself.
1.6. Monetization and payment data
If your work is accepted into our monetization program or otherwise generates revenue, we collect additional information necessary to manage payments, comply with tax regulations, and fulfill contractual obligations. This includes:
- Identity information: Your legal name and, where required, date of birth or other identifying details.
- Tax information: Tax identification number (such as VAT, SSN, or equivalent), country of tax residence, and any required tax forms or declarations.
- Payment information: Payout and financial details, including bank account information, payment processor account details (such as PayPal or other third-party providers), billing address, and transaction records.
- Earnings data: Revenue generated from your content, royalty calculations, and payout records.
- Monetized content: Your manuscript and related materials as required to distribute, license, or sell your work, if applicable.
We use your information to provide and improve our Services, process manuscript submissions, respond to your inquiries, and, with your consent, send marketing communications. You can opt out of these updates at any time. We also use your information to develop new services, perform research and analytics, and comply with our legal obligations.
In the context of monetized content, we use your data to calculate and distribute earnings, verify your identity, comply with tax and financial reporting obligations, prevent fraud, and fulfill contractual agreements related to publishing and revenue sharing.
The legal bases for processing your data under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) include:
- Performance of a contract: Ensuring the website, submission processes, and related Services function as intended.
- Legitimate interest: We process data for purposes such as improving and securing our Services, preventing fraud, and for our own internal administrative and analytical purposes, provided these interests are not overridden by your data protection rights.
- Consent: In specific cases, we will ask for your clear, explicit consent. This applies primarily to receiving marketing communications, like our newsletter.
- Legal obligation: We may process your data to comply with a legal or regulatory requirement, such as tax law or responding to a valid legal request.
Under the GDPR, you have rights in relation to your personal data, including the right to access, rectify, or erase your data, the right to restrict or object to processing, and the right to data portability. To exercise any of these rights, contact us.
Please note that some rights are subject to limitations, for example, the right to erasure does not apply where we are required to retain data to comply with a legal obligation, to fulfill a contract, or to establish, exercise, or defend legal claims. We will respond to all valid requests within the timeframe required by applicable law.
We do not sell or share your personal information or manuscript data with third parties. Information you provide is shared only within Saphly and with authorized staff who require access to review, process, or deliver Services. However, we may disclose your information to investigate or prevent abuse, fraud, or security threats, or in response to legal process, including tax reporting requirements, financial regulations, or lawful requests from authorities. Where we are required by law to report suspected child safety violations or other illegal content, we will share the minimum information necessary to comply with that obligation without prior notice to the account holder.
4.1. Content & account data
We retain your information for as long as necessary to provide our Services, fulfill our contractual obligations, or comply with legal requirements. We will delete this information upon your valid request or when it is no longer needed for the purposes for which it was collected. Financial and tax-related data may be retained for longer periods where required by applicable tax, accounting, or regulatory laws.
4.2. Moderation & enforcement data
We retain records of moderation actions—including warnings, content removals, and account suspensions—for as long as necessary to enforce our policies and protect the platform. This data is used solely for platform safety and administration. In cases involving illegal content, particularly child safety violations, we may retain and share relevant data with law enforcement regardless of any deletion request.
4.3. Account and content deletion
If you request account deletion, your non-published personal data is marked for deletion and removed within 30 days. During this period, you may sign back in to cancel the deletion request and restore your account. Content you have published is handled as follows:
- Free or not public works: Removed from public access immediately upon account deletion and permanently deleted after the 30-day window, if no sign-in has occurred.
- Purchase-monetized works: If readers have purchased access to your work, those readers retain access to their purchased content. The work is removed from public discovery and new purchases are disabled. The underlying data is retained until all purchase records and any applicable obligations are resolved.
- Subscription-monetized works or any monetized account: You may not delete your account or your published works unilaterally while a monetization relationship is active. To close your account or remove monetized content, contact us directly. We will work with you to conclude the monetization relationship, remove the content from public access, and close your account once all outstanding payouts and obligations have been settled. We retain the necessary data until that process is complete.
We may retain certain records beyond the deletion period where required by law, including financial, tax, and moderation data.
We take reasonable measures to protect your information, including manuscript files, from unauthorized access, alteration, or destruction. These measures include:
- Secure storage of data and uploaded files.
- Limited access to data (only accessible to authorized personnel).
- Virus and malware scanning of uploaded manuscript files.
- Regular security audits and reviews of data handling practices.
- Encryption of data transmission (e.g., HTTPS).
However, no security measure is perfect, and we cannot guarantee the security of your information. By using our Services, including submitting manuscripts or joining community platforms, you acknowledge and accept this risk.
Our Services may link to or rely on third-party platforms (such as external retailers, community platforms like Discord, or essential service providers like our cloud hosting and database infrastructure). Your direct interactions with these third-party services are governed by their own privacy policies. We are not responsible for the privacy and security practices of these third parties, and we encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party services you interact with.
While we vet our service providers, we cannot be held liable for data breaches, outages, or other incidents that originate from these third-party platforms, even if they affect our Services.
We do not knowingly collect data from individuals under the age of 13 without verified parental consent. Users of our mature content features are responsible for ensuring they meet the applicable age requirements in their jurisdiction. If you believe that data from a minor has been collected, please contact us immediately and we will take appropriate steps to delete the data and address the situation.
By submitting your manuscript, you confirm that your submission meets our guidelines and that you own the rights to the work or have been authorized to grant permission for its review. These confirmations are given via explicit checkboxes on the submission form. You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting us, though doing so may affect our ability to consider your manuscript.
If you participate in monetization programs, you are responsible for ensuring that your tax information is accurate and up to date. We may withhold payments or request additional documentation where required by applicable laws.
We may report earnings and related information to tax authorities as required by law. Depending on your jurisdiction, this may include reporting income, withholding taxes, or issuing tax documentation.
Failure to provide required information may result in delays or suspension of payouts.
We may update this Policy periodically, indicating any changes through the "Last Updated" date. Continued use of our Services after changes constitutes your acceptance of the new Policy.
This Policy is governed by the laws of Portugal, without regard to its conflict of law principles. Any legal action or dispute arising from this Policy will be resolved in accordance with these laws and regulations.
If you have any questions about this Policy or need assistance, please contact us via the appropriate email address or form you can find on the Contact page. For real-time assistance or to reach out via community support, you can also contact us on our Discord server.
