Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

Welcome to Pendrilo. By creating an account, signing in, or using any part of the Pendrilo service (the "Service"), you agree to be bound by these Terms of Service ("Terms"). If you do not agree to these Terms, do not use the Service.

Pendrilo is a writing studio for indie authors, including a manuscript editor, formatting and export tools, cover-dimension calculator, story codex, beta-reader sharing, release tracking, and related features. We may add, change, or remove features at any time.

2. Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your account credentials and for all activity that occurs under your account. You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized use of your account.

You must be at least 13 years old to use the Service. By using Pendrilo, you represent that you meet this age requirement.

3. Your Content

You retain full ownership of every manuscript, chapter, note, cover design, and other work you create or upload to Pendrilo (collectively, "Your Content"). We claim no ownership of Your Content.

You grant Pendrilo a limited, non-exclusive license to store, process, and display Your Content solely to operate and provide the Service to you. This license ends when you delete Your Content or close your account.

We do not use Your Content to train artificial-intelligence models, and we do not sell Your Content to anyone, as further described in our Privacy Policy.

You are solely responsible for Your Content, including its legality, accuracy, and that you have all rights necessary to upload and use it.

4. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use Pendrilo to:

• Upload, store, or share content that is unlawful, infringing, defamatory, obscene, or otherwise harmful
• Violate any third party's intellectual-property, privacy, or other rights
• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Service, other accounts, or our systems
• Distribute malware, conduct denial-of-service activity, or scrape the Service in violation of these Terms
• Resell, sublicense, or commercially exploit access to the Service without our written permission

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these rules.

5. Purchases, Payment, and Refunds

Free accounts. Pendrilo offers a free account tier as described on our Pricing page. Free accounts do not expire, require no payment information, and are not time-limited trials.

Lifetime access. Full access to the Service is sold as a one-time purchase. There are no subscriptions and no recurring charges. Your purchase includes all features of the Service available at the time of purchase and all future updates and improvements to the Service for as long as we operate it. There are no upgrade fees, version fees, per-book fees, or export limits.

Payment processing. Payments are handled by our third-party payment processor. Prices are stated in U.S. dollars, and applicable taxes may be added at checkout depending on your location.

30-day money-back guarantee. If Pendrilo isn't right for you, contact us through our contact form within 30 days of your purchase and we will refund your payment in full. Refunds are issued to the original payment method. After a refund, your account returns to the free tier and Your Content remains available to you as described in Section 9.

Price changes. We may change the price of lifetime access for future purchasers at any time. Price changes never affect access you have already purchased.

6. Beta-Reader Sharing

Pendrilo lets you create read-only share links for beta readers. You are responsible for who you share these links with and what content you share. We are not a party to the relationship between you and your readers.

7. Service Availability

We work hard to keep Pendrilo running smoothly but cannot guarantee uninterrupted availability. The Service is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, express or implied.

We may schedule maintenance, push updates, or have unplanned outages. We will give reasonable notice for planned maintenance when we can.

8. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, Pendrilo and its operators will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, revenue, data, or goodwill arising from your use of the Service.

Our total liability for any claim related to the Service is limited to the amount you paid us for the Service in the twelve (12) months preceding the claim, or one hundred U.S. dollars ($100), whichever is greater.

Some jurisdictions do not allow these limits — in that case, the limits apply to the fullest extent permitted in your jurisdiction.

9. Backups and Data Export

We take regular snapshots of your manuscripts as a convenience, and Pendrilo gives paid accounts a one-click JSON backup of any book, downloadable at any time. You are responsible for keeping your own copies of work that matters to you. If you ever need a copy of Your Content and cannot export it yourself — including after a refund or account closure — reach us through our contact form and we will provide one within a reasonable time.

10. Termination

You may close your account at any time by contacting us. We may suspend or terminate your account for material breach of these Terms or for actions that risk harm to other users or the Service.

After termination, we will retain Your Content for a reasonable transition period (typically 30 days) so you can export it, then delete it from active systems. Backups may persist for a longer period as described in our Privacy Policy.

Termination of your account for material breach does not entitle you to a refund outside the 30-day guarantee window described in Section 5.

11. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. Material changes will be announced on this page and, when reasonable, by email to registered users. Continued use of the Service after a change means you accept the revised Terms.

12. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Oklahoma, United States, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles. Any dispute will be resolved in the courts located there, unless applicable law provides otherwise.

13. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach us through our contact form.