Privacy policy
Last updated: November 1, 2026
Shelf Starter (“we,” “us”) is run by Travis Rickett, a sole proprietor in Florida, USA. This policy explains what we collect when you use the Shelf Starter website (shelfstarter.app) and Shelf Scout, our free Chrome add-on (extension) that checks real Amazon books for you, why, and the choices you have. Questions? Email [email protected].
What we collect from you
- Account details: your email address and, if you sign in with Google, your name as Google shares it. If you use a password, it’s stored only in scrambled (hashed) form by our sign-in provider; we can’t see it.
- Your books and plans: what you enter while planning a book, such as your book idea, answers to the book questions, your outline, your progress, and which AI tools you use.
- Basic technical information: like any website, our hosting provider handles details such as your IP address and browser type to deliver the site and keep it secure.
Pictures and text you load into the book maker, puzzle maker, and Cover & Interior studio are processed in your own browser to make your PDFs, including “Sharpen for print,” which runs its AI entirely on your computer. We don’t upload or keep them.
Amazon search data (pooled and anonymous)
When you check a book idea with Shelf Scout, it reads public information from Amazon’s search and product pages in your own browser: book titles, Amazon product IDs (ASINs), sales rank, number of reviews, star rating, price, page count, publish date, and whether a book is self-published, plus the search words you used.
To build sales history and trends that help every user, we save these facts in a shared database that combines searches from all users. This pooled data is anonymous: we don’t store who ran a search. To prevent abuse, we keep only a daily count of how many searches each account sends, not what was searched. We don’t save cover images, review text, or anything about your Amazon account, purchases, or browsing.
The Brainstorm chat
When you use “Brainstorm with me,” the messages you type in that chat are sent to Cloudflare’s AI service (Workers AI), which runs the AI that writes the replies. Please don’t type private details (like addresses, phone numbers, or health information) into the chat. We don’t save your Brainstorm conversations on our servers; your browser keeps your current chat for up to a day so you can pick up where you left off. We only keep a count of how many AI messages each account uses per day, to keep the service fair and affordable. If you start a book from the chat, the book idea and your answers about the reader, daily time, and AI tools are saved with that book.
How we use your information
- To run your account and save your books so you can pick up on any computer.
- To send account emails, such as sign-in links and password resets.
- To improve Shelf Starter and, from the pooled anonymous data, show trends.
- To keep the service secure and prevent abuse.
We don’t sell your personal information, and we don’t show you ads.
Who helps us run Shelf Starter
We use a few trusted services that process data on our behalf: Supabase (database and sign-in), Stripe (payments), Cloudflare (website hosting, security, and the AI behind the Brainstorm chat), Resend (account emails) and Google (if you choose “Continue with Google”). Stripe processes payments for paid plans. We never see or store your card number; we keep only what we need to know your plan is active: your Stripe customer and subscription IDs, the plan’s status, and whether it’s monthly or yearly.
Cookies and local storage
We use your browser’s storage to keep you signed in. Shelf Scout stores your saved ideas and settings in your browser. We don’t use advertising or tracking cookies.
Help chat questions
When you use the Help chat, we save your question and the answer so we can spot problems and improve the site. We save them without your name, email or account: only the page you came from and your plan type (for example Starter or Pro). Before saving, we remove anything that looks like an email address, phone number or card number. Saved questions are deleted after 60 days, and only the Shelf Starter team can read them. Please don’t type passwords or card numbers into the chat.
Your choices
- You can view and change your books at any time, and delete any book from its page.
- To delete your account and everything linked to it, email us from the address on your account. We’ll do it within 30 days. Pooled search data can’t be traced back to you, so it stays in the shared database.
- You can ask us what personal information we hold about you.
How long we keep information
We keep your account and books while your account is open, and delete them when you ask us to. Pooled anonymous search data is kept to build long-term trends.
Security
Your data is sent over encrypted connections, and our database rules let each person read and change only their own books. No online service can promise perfect security, but we take reasonable steps to protect your information.
Children
Shelf Starter is for adults. You must be 18 or older to use it, which matches Amazon KDP’s own age requirement. We don’t knowingly collect information from children.
Changes
If we change this policy, we’ll update the date at the top, and for important changes we’ll let you know by email or on the site.