For the purposes of these Content Policies, the terms “Book” and “Books” apply to ebook, audiobook, and print content.
Content Policies
Our content policies play an important role in ensuring a positive experience for both our communities and publishing clients. Please join us in this effort by respecting our guidelines. We may make exceptions to these policies based on artistic, educational, historical, documentary, or scientific considerations, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public. These policies are subject to change, so please check back for updates. Please feel free to contact our team for more information.
Our Policies
Spam, Misleading, & Disappointing Content.
Do not provide content that misleads readers, could be considered spam, or is plagiarized. Material that isn’t allowed includes, but isn’t limited to:
- Content that can be easily found online at no charge
- Transmission of malware, viruses, or anything that may disrupt the service or harm others
- Books whose sole purpose is to advertise or drive the purchase of other Books
- Metadata that’s confusingly similar to existing Books, including misleading titles, authors, descriptions or covers, or that may cause confusion as to the format of the Book
- Books with quality issues in one or more content files that render the content difficult to understand
- Audio that’s primarily music, except for educational songs, or performances that mix stories with music
- Low-quality machine-read audio content
Public Domain Content.
Multiple versions of the same Book provide little distinguishing value. Due to its widespread duplication, Books containing public domain material are not accepted, except from select publishing partners.
Violent, Threatening, or Disgusting Materials.
Incitement to violence or terrorism is not permitted. This includes materials that are intended to harass, or which threaten to cause serious physical injury or death to an individual or rally support to physically harm others. In addition, we will not allow extremely graphically violent or scatological materials.
Hate Speech.
Content that promotes hate, violence, or genocide towards any identifiable or protected group or individual is not permitted. Protected groups and individuals include those based on race or ethnicity, nationality (including citizenship), religion, disability, gender, age, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
Sexually Explicit Material.
At our discretion, we allow sexually explicit content and images of nudity with educational, artistic, historical, or documentary value. Publishing partners must mark their content as being “For mature audiences” on the publication platform selected by the publishing company.
Despite the previous paragraph, if we determine a Book contains sexually explicit content, we may remove its preview from our website and other media to limit its visibility for underage users. This helps ensure that Between Friends Publishing maintains a safe place for all to browse, view, and discover Books.
However, we do not allow these types of content:
- Sexually explicit text, images, or audio content depicting extreme sexual acts such as acts of pedophilia or sex with animals
- Content that drives traffic to pornographic online services
Please note that we may make exceptions based on artistic, educational, historical, documentary, or scientific considerations, or where there are other substantial benefits to the public.
Fraudulent or Abusive Activity.
Publishers won’t engage in fraudulent behaviors that result in the purchase of Books or access to their Books through any automated, deceptive, fraudulent, or other invalid means. Fraudulent behaviors include, but aren’t limited to:
- The use of robots or other automated tools
- Computer generated search requests
- Fraudulent use of software, credit cards, or gift cards
Child Safety.
Between Friends Publishing has a zero-tolerance policy against child sexual abuse in either text, imagery, or audio. We strictly prohibit the use of our brand and platform to create, possess, or distribute child sexual abuse text, imagery, or audio. Be advised that we work closely with law enforcement. We will report purveyors of child exploitation, and any content promoting these activities will be turned over to the proper authorities.
Personal and Confidential Information.
Don’t share personal or confidential information. We prohibit unauthorized selling or distribution of private and confidential information, such as credit card details, Social Security numbers, driver’s and other license numbers, or any other information that is not publicly accessible. Keep in mind that in most cases, information that is already available elsewhere on the internet or in public records is not considered to be private or confidential under our policies.
Copyright.
Respect copyright laws. We will respond to clear notices of alleged copyright infringement. Repeated infringement of intellectual property rights, including copyright, will result in a termination of any active service agreements and/or contracts.
Trademark.
We don’t allow books that infringe on others’ trademarks. A trademark is a word, symbol, or combination that identifies the source of a good or service. Once acquired, a trademark gives the owner exclusive rights to the trademark usage with respect to certain goods or services.
Trademark infringement is improper or unauthorized use of an identical or similar trademark in a way that is likely to cause confusion as to the source of that product. Trademark infringement will result in a termination of any active service agreements and/or contracts.
Policy review & enforcement.
When assessing content or individuals to determine whether they violate our policies, we take various information into consideration when making a decision, including book metadata such as book title, cover photos, and descriptions, book content, and other publicly available information.
We reject content which violates our policies and is deemed harmful or inappropriate for our brand and platform to share with the world.