The deal, in plain language

These terms are the agreement between you and ApicBooks. They are written in plain language on purpose, and the short version is: be honest, be kind, and this stays a nice place to read. The privacy policy is the other half of the deal and is part of these terms.

1. What ApicBooks is

A reading companion: shelves and reading tracking, a reading room in your browser, an AI librarian named Anika, a free library of public-domain classics we call the Archive, notes and journals, a private locker for your own EPUB files, and links to shops that sell books. It is free to use. By creating an account you accept these terms and confirm you have read the privacy policy.

ApicBooks is not a shop. We sell nothing, and a store link is a plain search on that shop’s own site: prices, availability and the purchase are theirs, under their terms. There are no affiliate arrangements today; if that changes, the privacy policy will say so first.

2. Your account

• You must be eighteen or older to create an account. If we learn that an account belongs to someone younger, we close it and delete its data.
• One person, one account, with a real email address — it is how we reach you and how you delete your account.
• Keep your sign-in to yourself. You are responsible for what happens under your account, and if you think someone else is in it, tell us at once.

3. Your content

Reviews, notes, quotes, journal entries, collections, series suggestions and anything else you create on ApicBooks stay yours. You give us only the permission needed to store them and show them where you have chosen — a public review on a book’s page, an item in your followers’ feed. Nothing you mark private is shown to anyone.

Do not post anything unlawful, hateful, harassing, or that infringes someone else’s rights, and do not spam. We do not read or approve content before it appears; we act on what is reported to us, and we may remove content that breaks these rules or the law. To report something, write to hello@apicbooks.com.

4. Your uploaded books

You may upload EPUB files for your own private reading only. For every file, you confirm that you have the right to store it: you bought it without DRM, it is in the public domain, its author offers it for download, or you wrote it.

• Uploads are private by design. Nobody else can see, open or be told about them — not other readers, not any outside service, and Anika is told only that you are reading “a private book”. The privacy policy describes how this is enforced.
• There is no sharing feature, and none will be added. That promise is what keeps the locker legal for everyone who uses it.
• We do not open your files. If we receive a valid legal complaint about one, we will remove it and tell you.
• Storage limits apply — three books, ten megabytes each, thirty in all — and may change.
• ApicBooks is not a backup service. Keep your own copies.

5. The Archive

The books in the Archive are works whose copyright has expired under Indian law (the life of the author plus sixty years), with the texts sourced from Standard Ebooks and Project Gutenberg and covers composed from public-domain paintings. They are free to read and free to keep; the text belongs to nobody. Our covers and the site around them are our own work — please do not mirror or redistribute the Archive as our packaging, or bulk-download it. If you believe a book in the Archive is still in copyright in India — translations in particular carry their translator’s term — tell us, and we will check.

6. Anika

Anika is an AI. Think of her as a well-read friend at the front desk, not an oracle: she can misremember a plot, muddle two authors, or recommend with more confidence than she has earned. Her suggestions are opinions, not professional advice of any kind. Fair-use limits apply to the AI features so that they stay free for everyone. Do not use her to generate abuse, or to try to reach any other reader’s data.

7. Behave

No breaking into things, no scraping or collecting other readers’ data, no automated bulk access, no spam, no abuse of other readers, and no use of ApicBooks for anything unlawful. We may suspend or close an account that does these things — with notice, unless the situation makes notice unreasonable.

8. Honest limits

ApicBooks is provided as it is, by one person, for free. We work to keep it up and your data safe, but we cannot promise perfection or uninterrupted service, and features may change or be withdrawn. To the fullest extent Indian law allows, our liability to you is limited to what you have paid us, which is nothing. Nothing in these terms limits a right the law says cannot be limited.

9. Leaving

You can delete your account at any time; the privacy policy says how. We can end these terms or the service with reasonable notice, and if ApicBooks ever has to close, we will give you notice and time to take your data with you.

10. The legal frame

These terms are governed by the laws of India, and any dispute goes to the courts in India. If one clause is found invalid, the rest still stand. Changes to these terms are announced on the site, with the date at the top; if a change matters, we say so in the app. Continuing to use ApicBooks after a change means you accept it.

11. Contact

hello@apicbooks.com, or the contact page.

— a fellow reader