Safety

How we keep these books safe

This is a product for children, made partly by machine, from things a parent typed. Here is exactly what is checked, and when.

Four checks, in order

Before anything is written. What you type is checked in two passes — a set of rules that runs instantly, and then a review by a separate model that is asked only one question: would this be acceptable in a picture book for a one to nine-year-old? If either says no, nothing is generated and we tell you why.
While the story is written. The story model is given your details as information, never as instructions, and works to a brief that rules out violence, weapons, injury, romance, alcohol, drugs and anything frightening beyond a heartbeat of suspense that resolves on the same page.
After the story is written. The finished text is screened again before you ever see it. A page that fails is rewritten; a book that fails is not delivered.
Before anything is drawn. Illustration briefs are assembled by us, from the character sheet and the scene, in our words. Nothing a parent types is passed to an image model, which is the most reliable way to make sure nothing unexpected is drawn.

Photographs

A photograph is optional — describing your child works just as well. If you do upload one, here is exactly what happens to it:

It is stored privately. There is no address that makes it public, and no other customer can reach it.
It is used once, in a single step, to draw ONE original illustrated character — a stylised drawing that carries their hair, colouring and general look, not a copy of their face.
Every page of the book is then drawn from that drawing. The photograph itself is never used for a page, and never reaches an illustrator more than that one time.
It is deleted as soon as the character is drawn — usually within seconds, and within 50 minutes in the worst case, whatever happens.
It is never shared, never published, and never used to train any model, ours or anyone else’s.

What we refuse

Violence, weapons, injury and death. Anything sexual, at all. Alcohol, drugs, smoking and gambling. Anything hateful about a person or a group. Characters, worlds and brands that belong to somebody else. Contact details or addresses that would end up printed in a book.

Difficult subjects are not on that list, and never will be. A new baby, a bereavement, a hospital stay, a divorce, a disability, a fear of the dark — those are the reasons the best books in this shop exist, and a story that handles them honestly is worth more than one that avoids them.

If something gets through

No automated check is perfect. If a page in your book is not right — anything at all — rewrite it in the editor, or email hello@taleforme.com and tell us. We read every one of those, and they are how the checks get better.