How we protect your book

Who can read my book?

Your book isn't available to the public. Only readers you approve can access it for reading.

It does not appear in search results, and readers can open it only through a private reading link that you give them.

BetaShelf book listings are available to signed-in users. If you choose to share your author profile or a book page publicly, only the information displayed on that page is public, such as your book's title, cover, description, or other listing details. Making a profile or book page public does not make your manuscript public.

Every reader gets their own private reading link. You can turn any reader's link off at any time, and that reader immediately loses access.

Can I find out who has opened it?

Yes.

Each time a reading link is opened, we record which link was used and when. If you ever need to look into how your manuscript was accessed, contact us and we'll check those records for you. Access records are kept for 12 months.

With a Book Pass or subscription, Reader Progress on your book's Share page also shows how far each reader has gotten and when they last opened it.

Can someone guess a reading link?

Reading links are long, randomly generated codes. They are not numbers that increase from one reader to the next. They are generated using a cryptographically secure random generator, making them impractical to guess or derive from another reader's link.

Every time a link is used, BetaShelf checks it on the server and confirms that it is still valid and authorized to access that particular book.

Do readers get a copy of my manuscript?

No.

Readers read your book inside BetaShelf. They are not given the original manuscript file as a download.

Readers never get direct access to where your book's text is stored. BetaShelf checks their permission on the server before serving any of it.

Page images and audio are delivered through temporary links that expire after a short time and are limited to content the reader is authorized to access. Covers are public, since they appear on your book page.

We ask every reader to keep your manuscript private, not copy or share it, and never put it into an AI tool. Readers who break those rules can lose access.

Where is my book stored?

Your book text is stored in a private PostgreSQL database provided by Supabase and hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS).

When you upload a manuscript, BetaShelf imports it into chapters so readers can read and comment on specific passages. BetaShelf does not keep the file you uploaded.

Your manuscript database is not publicly accessible.

Your data is encrypted while traveling over the internet and while stored.

Is my book used to train AI?

No. BetaShelf does not use your manuscript to train AI models.

The only AI feature currently active on BetaShelf is read-aloud narration.

When you or a reader presses play, BetaShelf sends the text to our narration provider, DeepInfra, a few sentences at a time, only as it is being read aloud, to create the audio.

DeepInfra states that it does not store this text or use it to train models.

Can people at BetaShelf read my book?

Production-system access is restricted and logged.

We don't routinely read your manuscripts. If content is reported or flagged for a security, safety, or abuse investigation, we may review the minimum information necessary to investigate the issue.

What happens when I delete my book?

Deleting a book removes it from BetaShelf's live systems immediately, including its reading links.

Our database is backed up once a day, and each backup expires automatically after 7 days. This means a copy of database data may remain in a backup for up to 7 days.

Backups are used for disaster recovery and are not part of the live BetaShelf system.

What about my payment details?

Payments are handled by Stripe. BetaShelf does not see or store your full card number.

Found a problem?

If you find a security problem, please email us at hello@betashelf.com. We'll investigate it promptly.