Who we are
Tropesmith is operated from South Africa and provides AI-assisted trope research and market intelligence for romance authors via tropesmith.com. This Privacy Policy explains how we handle information when you visit the site, build a Map, or buy credits.
For privacy questions, contact us at support@tropesmith.com.
What we collect
Only what we need to deliver a Map and run the business.
You give us directly:
- Email address — required, used to deliver your Map and authenticate sign-in.
- Display name — optional, only if you provide it.
- Brief inputs — genre, subgenre, heat level, format, series name, and comp titles you supply.
- Newsletter preference — your opt-in for Trope Pulse (when launched).
Collected automatically:
- Page events — anonymous data about which pages you view, scroll depth, and which buttons you click, used to improve the site. Stored in our database (Supabase) without third-party cookies.
- Google Analytics — we use Google Analytics 4 to understand how visitors find and use the site (pages viewed, time on page, navigation paths, and whether you complete actions like building a Map or signing up). This sets cookies and shares usage data with Google. We have IP anonymisation enabled and do not use Google Analytics for advertising. Analytics cookies load only after you accept them in our cookie banner.
- Technical data — IP address, user agent, referrer, timestamps, captured in standard server logs.
When you pay:
- Payment is processed by Stripe. We do not see, store, or have access to your card number. Stripe returns to us only a transaction ID, the amount, currency, last 4 digits of the card, and your billing email — what we need to record the purchase and reconcile our books.
Why we collect it
We process your information for the following purposes only:
- Deliver the service — building your Map, emailing it to you, applying credits to your account, authenticating sign-in.
- Operate the business — tax records, fraud prevention, customer support.
- Improve the product — aggregated page events tell us which sections of a Map readers actually read.
- Communicate — transactional emails (sign-in links, Map delivery, receipts) are sent unconditionally. Trope Pulse and other marketing emails are sent only if you opted in, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
How long we keep it
- Account data and Maps — kept while your account is active so you can return to your library. Deleted within 30 days of an account-deletion request, except where retention is required by law.
- Payment records — kept for at least 5 years to comply with tax and accounting law.
- Page events — aggregated and retained for up to 24 months for product analysis.
- Server logs — typically rotated within 30 days.
Your rights
Depending on where you live, you have rights over your personal information. Tropesmith honours these rights for all users globally, not just those covered by specific laws.
- Access — request a copy of what we hold about you.
- Correction — update inaccurate information.
- Deletion — request that we delete your account and personal data.
- Portability — receive your data in a machine-readable format.
- Object / restrict — object to certain processing, including marketing.
- Withdraw consent — at any time, for processing based on consent.
- Lodge a complaint — South African users can contact the Information Regulator (POPIA); EU/EEA users can contact their national data protection authority (GDPR); UK users can contact the ICO.
To exercise any of these rights, email support@tropesmith.com from the address on your account. We'll respond within 30 days.
Security
We use industry-standard safeguards including TLS for all traffic, encrypted database storage, role-based access controls, and least-privilege secrets management. No system is perfectly secure, and we can't guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet — but we take it seriously. If we ever discover a breach affecting your personal information, we'll notify you and the relevant regulator as required by law.
Children
Tropesmith is intended for adult romance authors. We do not knowingly collect information from anyone under 18. If you believe a minor has provided us with personal information, contact us and we'll delete it.
Changes to this policy
We'll update this page when we change how we handle your data. The "last updated" date at the top tells you when. Material changes will also be announced by email to active users.
Contact
Questions, requests, or complaints? Email support@tropesmith.com. We read every message.
