Privacy Policy for My Bedtime Books
Last updated: 9 October 2026
To make a personalized book we need a photograph of a child. We do not take that lightly, and this policy is written to be specific about it rather than reassuring in general terms. If anything here is unclear, please ask us.
1. Who this policy covers
This policy applies to mybedtimebooks.com and to the books, digital editions and audiobooks we produce. Our customers are adults buying a book for a child. Children do not create accounts with us and we do not market to them.
2. What we collect
From you, when you order
- The child’s first name, and whether the book should be the boy’s or girl’s edition.
- A photograph of the child. This is the heart of the product and the most sensitive thing we hold. See section 4 for how long we keep it.
- Your email address, for order updates and the links to the digital edition.
- A shipping name and address, collected by Stripe during checkout and passed to our printer.
- Optionally, a gift giver’s name and a short dedication message, which are printed in the book.
Automatically
- Standard web log data (IP address, browser type, pages visited), and — only if you allow it — analytics and advertising measurement. See section 10.
We never see your card details. Payment is handled entirely by Stripe. Card numbers are submitted to Stripe directly and never reach our servers.
3. What we do with it, including AI
We use what you give us to make and deliver the book you ordered, to email you about that order, and to answer you when you contact us.
Your child’s photograph is processed by an AI image model (Google Gemini) to produce an illustrated character — their StoryLikeness™ — which is then drawn into each page of the book. This is automated. You are shown the result and asked to approve it before anything is printed, and you can ask for it to be redrawn.
We do not use your photographs or your child’s details to train AI models, we do not sell personal information, and we do not share it with advertisers.
We will only send you marketing email if you ask us to, and every such email has an unsubscribe link.
4. How long we keep things
| What | How long |
|---|---|
| The original photograph you uploaded | 14 days, then automatically deleted |
| The illustrated StoryLikeness™ character | 365 days from the last time it was used |
| Your order record, including shipping address | 7 years, for tax and accounting |
| The finished book files and digital edition | While your digital edition link remains active |
The photograph is deleted automatically by a storage rule, not by somebody remembering to do it. We keep the illustrated character longer so that a second book can reuse it — that is what the code on the back cover is for, and it means you do not have to upload a new photograph for the next adventure. If you would rather we did not keep it, tell us and we will delete it.
5. Who else handles your data
We use a small number of companies to run the service. Each only receives what it needs.
- Stripe — payment processing and checkout, including your shipping address.
- RPI Print — printing and shipping. Receives the book files, the child’s name and your shipping address.
- Amazon Web Services — hosting and storage, in the United States.
- Google (Gemini) — generates the illustrations from the photograph.
- ElevenLabs — generates the audiobook narration, including the pronunciation of the child’s name.
- HubSpot — our contact form.
- Google Analytics — website usage statistics. Only with your consent.
- Microsoft Clarity — anonymised recordings of how pages are used, so we can see where the site confuses people. Only with your consent. Form fields, including anything you type, are masked before the recording leaves your browser.
- Meta (Facebook) — advertising measurement, so we know which ads lead to an order. Only with your consent.
We may also disclose information where the law requires it, or to establish or defend legal claims.
6. Children’s privacy
Our service is for adults. We do not knowingly collect information directly from children under 13, and children cannot create accounts, buy anything or communicate with us through the site.
By uploading a photograph of a child, you confirm that you are that child’s parent or legal guardian, or that you have their parent or guardian’s permission. If you believe a child’s information has reached us without that permission, contact us and we will delete it.
7. Your rights
You can ask us to show you what we hold about you, correct it, delete it, or send you a copy. You can ask us to stop sending marketing email at any time. You can withdraw permission for us to keep your child’s illustrated character, and we will remove it.
Depending on where you live — for example in the United Kingdom, the European Union, California or Australia — you may have additional rights, including the right to object to certain processing and the right to complain to your data protection regulator. We apply the rights above to everyone regardless of where they live.
To exercise any of these, contact us. We will respond within 30 days.
8. Where your data is processed
We operate from the United States and our hosting, storage and processing happen there. If you order from outside the United States, your information is transferred to and processed in the US.
9. Security
Data is encrypted in transit and at rest. Access to customer photographs is limited to the systems that need it to build your book. Download links for your previews and digital editions are time-limited and unguessable. No system is perfectly secure, and we do not claim otherwise; if a breach affects you, we will tell you.
10. Cookies and your choices
Three kinds, and you control two of them:
- Necessary — what makes the site work: your basket, your order, security. These cannot be switched off and they are not used to track you.
- Analytics — Google Analytics and Microsoft Clarity, which tell us which pages help and which do not.
- Advertising — the Meta pixel, which tells us whether an ad led to an order.
If you are in the UK, the EEA or Switzerland, nothing in the second or third group runs until you say yes. Everywhere else they start on, we tell you on your first visit, and one click turns them off.
You can change your mind whenever you like: Cookie settings at the foot of every page reopens the choice. If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control signal we treat that as an opt-out on its own and never ask again.
Turning everything off does not limit the site. Reading a story, ordering a book, approving an illustration and getting your money back all work exactly the same.
11. Changes
If we change this policy materially we will post the new version here and update the date above. If the change affects how we handle photographs, we will email customers whose photographs we still hold.
12. Contact
Questions, requests or complaints: contact us.
