Terms of Use

1. Acceptance of terms#

Welcome to Storysea. By creating an account or using Storysea at www.storysea.io (the "Service"), you agree to these Terms of Use ("Terms"). If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may change these Terms. When we do, we post the new version on this page and update the "Last Updated" date. If you keep using the Service after that, you accept the updated Terms.

Questions: hello@storysea.io.

2. What Storysea is#

Storysea is a social reading and writing platform for long-form fiction. In this alpha, the Service includes:

• Creating an account and a profile under your username
• Writing, importing (DOCX/EPUB), publishing, and reading stories and chapters
• Thoughts (discussions) on stories and chapters
• Direct messages (one-to-one)
• Collections, library tools (likes, bookmarks, continue reading), and explore/discovery
• Blocking other users
• Mature-content preferences for users who are 18 or older

Other features may be available from time to time (for example series, follows, and notifications).

Storysea is free during this alpha. There is no billing and no paid plans.

Features may be incomplete, change, break, or be removed without notice. Alphas work that way.

3. Alpha access#

Access during alpha is up to us. We may grant, limit, pause, or revoke access at any time, including for capacity or product reasons.

Joining our Discord community does not guarantee access. Discord is a separate service. Storysea is not affiliated with Discord. Discord's own terms and privacy policy apply to anything you do there.

We will not wipe or permanently delete your alpha data without notice, except as described in these Terms (for example when you ask us to delete your account, or when we remove content that violates these Terms).

4. Eligibility and accounts#

4.1 Age#

You must be at least 14 years old to create an account or use the Service.

Users under 18 cannot enable or view mature-rated content. Mature stories are only available to users who are 18 or older and who choose to see them.

4.2 Accounts#

You need an account to use the Service. Accounts can be created with email and password or by signing in with Google. You can also connect or disconnect Google later in settings. If you use Google, Google's own terms and privacy policy apply to that sign-in. You publish and interact under your username. Your profile page is public; some sections stay limited to what you choose to share.

You are responsible for keeping your login details safe and for activity on your account, including the Google account you connect. Give accurate information and keep it up to date.

We may suspend or permanently ban accounts that break these Terms, or when we need to for alpha capacity or product reasons.

4.3 Account deletion#

If you want your account deleted during this alpha, email hello@storysea.io. We will delete your account on request.

Full self-serve export of your data is not available yet. You can contact us for help, and export tools are planned for later. Until then, Our Values still describe the direction we are building toward.

5. Your content#

5.1 Ownership#

You own the content you create on Storysea, including stories, chapters, thoughts, messages, images, and other uploads ("Your Content").

5.2 License to Storysea#

To run the Service, you give Storysea a worldwide, non-exclusive license to host, store, display, reproduce, and distribute Your Content as needed to operate Storysea. That includes showing your work to readers, generating previews, converting uploads, and powering recommendations.

5.3 Story licenses you choose#

When you publish a story, you choose a license (for example All Rights Reserved or a Creative Commons option). That license tells other people what they may do with your story. It does not replace the limited license you give Storysea in section 5.2 so we can operate the platform.

5.4 Original work and fan fiction#

Stories on Storysea are marked as Original or Fan Fiction.

You alone are responsible for making sure you have the rights to publish Your Content. That includes fan fiction that uses someone else's characters, settings, or lore. Storysea does not check every work for infringement and does not endorse unauthorized use of others' intellectual property.

5.5 Feedback#

If you send ideas or feedback about Storysea, we may use them without owing you anything in return.

6. Acceptable use#

You agree not to:

• Break the law or post illegal content
• Infringe copyrights or other rights, or upload others' work without permission
• Harass, threaten, hate, or abuse others
• Post or seek sexual content involving minors (including fictional depictions)
• Spam, scrape, or use bots or automated tools without our permission
• Bypass age or mature-content restrictions
• Impersonate others or misrepresent who you are
• Attack, disrupt, or probe the security of the Service
• Use the Service for anything other than its intended reading, writing, and social purposes

We may remove content, limit features, or suspend accounts that violate these rules, with or without prior notice.

7. Reporting and moderation#

You can report product bugs through the channels we provide (including Discord bug reporting where available). General content reporting for stories, profiles, and similar items is not part of this alpha.

To report allegedly illegal content on Storysea, email legal@storysea.io. Include the URL of the content, why you believe it is illegal, and your contact email so we can follow up.

We review reports when we can. We do not guarantee a particular outcome or timeline.

8. Intellectual property in the Service#

Storysea's name, logos, design, code, and the tagline "Your stories deserve better." are owned by Storysea or its licensors. You may not use our brand without permission.

Some landing or marketing visuals may use public-domain artworks. Those artworks are not owned by Storysea.

9. Third-party services#

The Service may link to or rely on third parties such as Google (for optional sign-in), Discord, GIF providers, and hosting. We do not control those services and are not responsible for their availability, content, or practices. Their terms and privacy policies apply when you use them.

10. Disclaimers#

The Service is provided "as is" and "as available." To the fullest extent allowed by law, Storysea does not promise that the Service will be uninterrupted, error-free, secure, or fit for a particular purpose.

We are not responsible for:

• Your Content or other users' content
• Third-party services (including Google sign-in, Discord, and GIF providers)
• Loss of data, except that we will not wipe alpha data without notice as stated in section 3

11. Limitation of liability#

To the fullest extent allowed by law, Storysea is not liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for loss of profits, data, or opportunities, arising from your use of the Service.

12. Privacy#

Our Privacy Policy explains how we collect and use personal information. It is part of these Terms.

13. Other#

If one part of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remains in effect.

These Terms and the Privacy Policy are the whole agreement between you and Storysea about the Service.

If we do not enforce a right under these Terms, that is not a waiver of that right.

14. Contact#

Email: hello@storysea.io

Thanks for using Storysea during alpha.