Terms of Service

These Terms of Service (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of the websites, products, and custom picture books provided by The Little Penguin Press (“we”, “us”, “our”). By placing an order, uploading photographs, or using your library, you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use our services.

1. Our service

We create a bespoke picture book based on a photograph, story prompts and details you provide. Each page of the book is an animated scene, with narration, music and sound where your package includes them, delivered to a private online library, with an optional printed hardcover. The packages, page counts, revisions, and prices available are as described on our website at the time of your order.

You explicitly acknowledge that our visual illustrations, character likenesses, narrative adaptations, and optional digital audio tracks are generated using advanced artificial intelligence tools. Subtle artistic interpretations, stylizations, and variations from submitted photographs are an inherent part of AI artistic output and do not on their own make your book faulty or not as described.

2. Orders and payment

You place an order through our order form. An order is confirmed once we accept it and payment has been received. Prices are as listed at the time of order, and additional pages or the printed add-on are charged at the rates shown. Payment is processed by Stripe; applicable taxes may be added depending on your location.

3. Your materials and the rights you grant us

If you provide a photograph, story text, names, or other materials, you do so under the confirmations and consent set out in our order form. You represent that you have the right to provide those materials, and you grant us a licence to use them solely to create and deliver your book. We handle materials as described in our Privacy Policy.

You must not upload photographs of celebrities or public figures, images of trademarked or copyrighted characters, or any other image you do not have the right to share.

You agree to indemnify The Little Penguin Press against reasonable losses, damages, and legal fees we incur because of a third-party claim, such as a copyright or privacy claim, to the extent the claim results from your breach of this section.

4. Photographs and children

We use your photograph only to design the illustrated character for your book. We may use an AI service to help us write a short description of the person’s visible features, such as hair colour and style; that description, not your photograph, then guides our illustrations. We do not use your photograph for facial recognition or to create facial templates or other biometric data. We handle and delete photographs as described in our Privacy Policy.

If a photograph or other materials you provide relate to a child, you confirm that you are the child’s parent or legal guardian, or that you have the permission of the child’s parent or legal guardian to provide them for this book.

5. Intellectual property

The story, illustrations, animation, music, and other content we create remain our intellectual property.

On full payment, we grant you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to access and enjoy your book for personal, non-commercial use. You may not resell, redistribute, publicly perform, or commercially exploit the book, or extract its underlying assets, without our written permission.

6. Your online library and how long we host it

Your finished book is delivered to a private online library that you access with a link or login. We will host your library for at least three (3) months from the date we deliver it. This hosting is a convenience, not permanent storage: after that initial three-month period we reserve the right to stop hosting your library and to remove it from our servers, at our discretion and without further notice, so that we are not required to host it indefinitely.

We strongly recommend you download and keep your own copy of your book while it is available, so you can enjoy it after the hosting period ends. Where we offer a downloadable copy or a printed hardcover, that copy is yours to keep and does not depend on our continued hosting. We are not liable for any loss of online access after the initial three-month hosting period.

7. Cancellations and refunds

Each book is personalised and made to order. You may cancel for a full refund any time before we begin production. Because personalised goods are generally exempt from statutory cancellation rights, once production has begun your order is non-refundable, except where the book is faulty or not as described. This does not affect any statutory rights you cannot waive.

8. Acceptable use

You agree not to submit materials that are unlawful or infringing, or that you are not authorised to share. We may decline or stop an order that breaches these Terms and will refund you as appropriate.

9. Disclaimers and limitation of liability

Our services are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we disclaim implied warranties, and our total liability arising out of or relating to an order is limited to the amount you paid for that order. We are not liable for indirect or consequential losses. Nothing in these Terms limits liability that cannot lawfully be limited, such as for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by our negligence.

10. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which The Little Penguin Press is established, and any disputes will be subject to the courts of that jurisdiction.

11. Changes to these Terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. We will post the updated version on this page and revise the “Last updated” date above. Your continued use of our services means you accept the updated Terms.

12. Contact us

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at thelittlepenguinpress@gmail.com.