Terms of Service

Who We Are

FirstReader is operated by FirstReader LLC, a South Carolina limited liability company. When these terms say "we," "us," or "FirstReader," we mean FirstReader LLC. When they say "you," we mean the person or entity using the service. By creating an account or using FirstReader, you agree to these Terms.

What FirstReader Is

FirstReader is an AI-powered fiction craft analysis tool. It analyzes your manuscript against established editorial principles and produces structured reports covering prose quality, dialogue, point of view, scene structure, pacing, and continuity. It is a developmental analysis tool, not an editor, ghostwriter, or grammar checker.

What FirstReader Is Not

FirstReader is not a substitute for a professional human developmental editor. It is a first-pass analysis tool designed to help you identify craft patterns in your manuscript. The reports are generated by AI and may contain errors, misattributions, or suggestions you disagree with. Every recommendation is a suggestion, not a directive. You are the author, and the final decisions about your manuscript are always yours.

FirstReader does not provide legal, publishing, editorial, or business advice. Nothing in a FirstReader report should be relied upon as professional advice of any kind.

Eligibility

You must be at least 16 years old to create an account or use FirstReader. If you are under 18, you represent that you have the consent of a parent or legal guardian to use the service. FirstReader is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 13. If we learn that we have collected information from a child under 13, we will delete it.

Your Account

You are responsible for maintaining the security of your account credentials. One account per person. Do not share your login with others. We reserve the right to suspend or terminate accounts that violate these Terms.

Beta Services and Ongoing Changes

FirstReader is actively evolving. Some features may be marked as beta, experimental, or early-access. Beta features may be modified, discontinued, suspended, or made unavailable at any time without notice and may contain bugs or produce unexpected results. Significant changes to the service or these Terms will be communicated via email.

Your Manuscript

• You retain full copyright and ownership of any manuscript you upload.
• By uploading, you grant FirstReader a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to process your manuscript text through our analysis pipeline (including third-party AI services we use to deliver the service) for the sole purpose of generating your report.
• We do not read (in any editorial or review sense), publish, share, or use your manuscript for any purpose beyond analysis.
• We do not use your manuscript to train AI models — our own or any third party's — now or in the future, without your express separate written consent.
• You represent and warrant that you have the right to upload the manuscript — that it is your own original work, or that you have the rights holder's permission. If you upload content you do not have the right to submit, the Indemnification section below applies.
• FirstReader never modifies your manuscript. All analysis is read-only.

Your Reports

When FirstReader generates a report from your manuscript, you may freely view, print, download, share, quote, and excerpt that report — including with your editor, beta readers, writing group, or in your own marketing and teaching about your revision process. To the extent copyright exists in the report, you may use it for any lawful purpose subject to the limits below.

You agree not to:

• Represent or imply that FirstReader, FirstReader LLC, or any cited author endorses, certifies, recommends, or guarantees your manuscript. The report is analysis, not endorsement.
• Republish reports in bulk (for example, as a free alternative to FirstReader or as a substantial collection of reports outside your own revision process).
• Remove or obscure the attribution footer or the AI-generated-content disclaimer when sharing the report in whole.

Note on AI-generated content. Portions of your report are generated by AI and may not qualify for copyright protection under current U.S. law. This does not affect your practical ability to use the report as described above.

Aggregate data.FirstReader may use anonymized, aggregated statistics drawn from reports (for example, "the most common craft issue across all analyzed manuscripts is X") for product development, research, and marketing, provided no individual manuscript, report, user, or identifiable detail is exposed.

Payments and Refunds

Analysis fees are charged at the time of purchase via Stripe. Pricing is displayed before you commit to an analysis tier. Once an analysis begins processing, the fee is non-refundable, as API costs are incurred immediately.

If an analysis fails due to a system error and no report is generated, we will either re-run the analysis at no additional cost or issue a full refund at your choice.

AI-Generated Content

Reports are generated by AI (Anthropic's Claude). While we strive for accuracy, AI analysis can and does make mistakes. Findings may misidentify craft patterns, misattribute dialogue, conflate characters, or miss context that a human reader would catch. We are transparent about this: every report includes a disclaimer noting that it is AI-generated.

You should treat report findings as suggestions to evaluate, not facts to accept uncritically. FirstReader is a tool to inform your revision process, not to dictate it.

Acceptable Use

Do not upload content that is illegal, infringes on others' copyrights, or is designed to exploit the service. Do not attempt to reverse-engineer the analysis pipeline, prompts, dimensions, principle catalogue, or scoring algorithms. Do not use automated tools, scraping, or any means to submit manuscripts in bulk or extract proprietary methodology from service output without our express written authorization. Do not interfere with the service's operation, attempt to gain unauthorized access, or probe for security vulnerabilities outside of a disclosed bug-bounty channel.

Copyright & DMCA

FirstReader respects intellectual property. If you believe content submitted through the service infringes your copyright, please see our Copyright & DMCA Policyfor the notice-and-takedown procedure and the contact information for our Designated Copyright Agent. Repeat infringers' accounts will be terminated.

Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless FirstReader LLC and its officers, members, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or in any way connected with: (a) your use of the service; (b) your violation of these Terms; (c) your violation of any third party's rights, including without limitation any copyright, property, or privacy right; or (d) any content you submit to the service, including any claim that it infringes on intellectual property rights or is defamatory, obscene, or otherwise unlawful. We reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any matter subject to indemnification, in which case you agree to cooperate with our defense.

Warranty Disclaimer

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS, IMPLIED, STATUTORY, OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, TIMELY, SECURE, OR ERROR-FREE, OR THAT ANY REPORT WILL MEET YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR REQUIREMENTS.

Some jurisdictions do not allow the exclusion of certain warranties, so some of the above exclusions may not apply to you. In that case, our warranties are limited to the minimum scope permitted by applicable law.

Limitation of Liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL FIRSTREADER LLC BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, GOODWILL, OR PUBLISHING OR EDITORIAL OPPORTUNITIES, ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING FROM OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE WILL NOT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE AMOUNT YOU PAID TO US FOR THE SPECIFIC ANALYSIS GIVING RISE TO THE CLAIM, OR (B) ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

We are not liable for any publishing, editorial, or business decisions you make based on a FirstReader report.

Service Termination and Export

You may delete your account at any time. Upon deletion, your manuscripts, reports, and personal data are permanently removed as described in our Privacy Policy.

If FirstReader LLC discontinues the service, we will provide at least 60 days' notice via email, during which time you will be able to download your reports in a machine-readable format.

Dispute Notice Period

Before filing any claim against FirstReader LLC, you agree to first contact us in writing at support@firstreader.app with a description of the claim and allow us 30 days to attempt in good faith to resolve the matter informally.

Governing Law & Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of South Carolina, without regard to its conflict-of-laws rules. Any claim or dispute arising out of or related to these Terms or the service will be resolved as follows:

Binding Individual Arbitration

Except for the small-claims carveout and the opt-out provision below, you and FirstReader LLC agree that any dispute will be resolved through binding individual arbitrationadministered by the American Arbitration Association (AAA) under its Consumer Arbitration Rules. Arbitration will be conducted in Berkeley County, South Carolina, or remotely at the arbitrator's discretion. Judgment on the arbitration award may be entered in any court of competent jurisdiction.

Class Action Waiver

You and FirstReader LLC agree that any dispute will be brought solely in an individual capacity, not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, consolidated, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate claims or preside over any form of representative proceeding.

Small Claims Carveout

Either party may bring an individual action in small-claims court for any claim within that court's jurisdiction, in lieu of arbitration.

Arbitration Costs

FirstReader LLC will pay the portion of any arbitration filing fees that exceeds what a comparable court filing fee would cost you. Each party otherwise bears its own attorneys' fees and costs unless otherwise awarded by the arbitrator or required by law.

Opt Out

You may opt out of this arbitration and class-action-waiver provision by sending written notice to support@firstreader.app within 30 days of creating your account. The notice must include your full name, the email associated with your account, and a clear statement that you wish to opt out. If you opt out, disputes will be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Berkeley County, South Carolina, and both parties consent to the jurisdiction and venue of those courts.

Claims Not Subject to Arbitration

Claims for injunctive or equitable relief to protect intellectual property rights (including trade secrets) may be brought in court without first proceeding to arbitration.

General Provisions

Severability. If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions will remain in full effect.

Assignment. You may not assign these Terms without our written consent. We may assign these Terms, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, reorganization, or sale of assets.

Force Majeure. We are not liable for any failure or delay caused by events beyond our reasonable control, including but not limited to outages of third-party infrastructure (hosting, AI providers, payment processors), natural disasters, acts of government, or labor disputes.

Entire Agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and Copyright & DMCA Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and FirstReader LLC with respect to the service.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms as the service evolves. Continued use after changes constitutes acceptance. Significant changes will be communicated via email at least 14 days before they take effect, where practicable.

Contact

Questions about these Terms? Contact us at support@firstreader.app. For DMCA matters, see our Copyright & DMCA Policy.

FirstReader LLC
6650 Rivers Ave., Suite 100
Charleston, SC 29406