Privacy
Last updated 4 October 2026
Covers by Ai-me is a small shop of book covers, run by one person, Makai, with the help of AI. This page covers this website, the free-sketch form, the email list, the emails we send, the record we keep of each person we deal with, and the shop's social media accounts and the apps that run them. The short version: we collect only what we need to make and send what you asked for, we never sell it, and you can have it deleted at any time by writing to me@makais.app.
About the AI
Every cover and sketch from Covers by Ai-me is made with AI image tools, and Ai-me is an AI character, not a person. Makai, a person, runs the shop, picks and corrects the finished covers, and reads replies.
The free-sketch form
When you ask for a free sketch we receive what you type: your name, email address, pen name, the link to your story or your blurb, your genre and which kind of sketch you want, and the fact that you ticked the consent box. First we email you a link to confirm the address is yours; nothing is made until you click it, and an address that is never confirmed is deleted after 7 days. Once confirmed, we use what you sent for one thing: to make your one free sketch and email it to you.
So that each address gets one free sketch, we keep a short record of every confirmed request: your name, email address, pen name, genre, story link, the date, and whether the sketch was sent. That's all: no tracking of what you do on this site or in our emails. To have it deleted, write to me@makais.app.
- Where it is kept. The form is stored in a database at Cloudflare. Our sketch maker (a program on our own computer) collects confirmed requests from there, makes the sketch, and keeps the short record above.
- AI. To plan the sketch and check it, the text you sent (and the public chapter previews of your story, if you gave a Royal Road link) is sent to an AI model through OpenRouter, only on providers that keep nothing and train on nothing. The pictures themselves are made on our own computer.
- Your story link. If it is a Royal Road link we read that story's public chapter feed (the short previews Royal Road publishes for everyone). We don't log in anywhere and we don't read other sites' pages.
- Email. The confirmation link and your sketch are sent from ai-me@makais.app through Resend, an email delivery service. Replies come to Makai's mailbox, hosted by Microsoft.
Reserving a cover
When you press "Reserve this one" on a cover that isn't on Etsy yet, you give your name, your email and a pen name. We use them for one thing: to list that cover on Etsy just for you and email you the link.
- Confirm first. We email you a link; nothing is listed until you press Confirm. An unconfirmed request is deleted after 2 days.
- Your pen name is public. It goes in the Etsy listing's title ("Reserved for" your pen name), which anyone on Etsy can see while the listing is up (7 days, or until you buy it). Use any name you're happy to show.
- The emails. One to confirm, and one with the link, from ai-me@makais.app through Resend. No marketing.
- How long. The request is kept for a year, then deleted. Our record of who reserved what stays on our own computer with the shop's sales records. Ask, and we delete it.
The email list
If you join the list we keep your email address, when you joined, and the sentence you agreed to. Joining takes two steps: we email you a link, and you're only added once you press Confirm on the page it opens. If you never confirm, the address is forgotten after 30 days and you get nothing else from us. Confirmed addresses are kept in the website's database at Cloudflare until you leave the list; the emails go out through Resend. We send new covers and the odd offer, twice a month at most, and every email has a link to leave. Leaving takes one click; after that we keep only a note that you left, so we never add you again by mistake, and we delete even that if you ask.
If you post that you need a cover
Our lead finder reads a few public feeds (Bluesky and some Mastodon hashtags) for authors asking for a book cover. When a post looks like one, it notes your public name or handle, the post's link and what you asked, so Makai can reply to you there, by hand. It never logs in anywhere, never messages you itself, and reads nothing that isn't public. To tell a real request from an advert, the post's text is checked by an AI model through OpenRouter, only on providers that keep nothing and train on nothing. Ask, and the note is deleted.
One record per person
So that we can answer you properly, and so that nobody who asked us to stop is ever emailed again, we keep one private record for each person we deal with. It joins up what we already hold from the places on this page: the email address you gave us, your Etsy order (your Etsy name and account number, what you bought, and the title you asked for), your pen name and story link, a public post of yours we answered, and the dates of each of those. It also notes whether you may be emailed: only people who confirmed the email list ever get news or offers, and an address that unsubscribed or used a stop link is never emailed again.
- How records are joined. Automatically only when they share an email address or an Etsy account. Anything less certain, like the same pen name, is joined only if Makai decides it is the same person.
- Where it is kept. On our own computer and its backup on our own server, never in the cloud, seen only by Makai and the shop's own programs on that computer. It is never sold, shared, or used for advertising.
Spam protection
The form uses Cloudflare Turnstile to tell people from bots; Cloudflare looks at your browser and connection to do that. To limit how many requests one connection can send, we keep a scrambled code made from your internet address and a secret that changes every day. We never store the address itself.
What we don't do
- No advertising trackers, no analytics scripts, and no cookies of our own on this website.
- We never sell, rent or trade your information. Asking for a free sketch never adds you to the email list; only the list's own two-step sign-up does.
- We don't post your story, or sketches made from it, anywhere public without asking you first.
- Nothing on this site makes pictures on request. The covers and sketches are made by us, on our own computer.
The page's fonts load from Google Fonts, which sees your internet address when it sends them.
How long we keep it
Unconfirmed requests are deleted after 7 days, and confirmed ones from the website's database after 12 months. Our own short record of a confirmed request, and the one-record-per-person book above, are kept for up to two years after we last heard from each other, so each address gets one free sketch and we can answer if you write back. Records of Etsy orders are kept longer, because tax law requires it; once you ask us to delete your information they are kept without your name, title or message. Backup copies on our own server are replaced within six months. Ask, and we delete everything about you sooner.
Stopping emails
Every email we send has a link to stop further emails, and you can also just reply "stop".
The shop's social media and apps
Covers by Ai-me posts on Pinterest, Instagram and TikTok, scheduled through Buffer, and uses those services' official tools (including Pinterest's API) to publish to its own accounts and read its own accounts' statistics, such as how many people saw or saved a post. We see what those platforms show any account owner: counts, and the public names and comments of people who interact with our posts. We use that only to run our own accounts and to reply to comments. We don't collect or keep personal information about the people who see our posts, and we never sell or share it.
Buying on Etsy
Purchases happen on Etsy, under Etsy's privacy policy. Etsy gives us what we need to deliver your order (your name, the order, and the title and author name you want on the cover). We use it to deliver your order and keep it in the record above. If Etsy shares your email address with us, we use it only for your order, never for news or offers; only the list's own two-step sign-up adds anyone to the list.
Who handles your information
- Cloudflare hosts this website and its database (form requests, the email list) and runs the spam check.
- Resend delivers our emails.
- OpenRouter, on zero-retention providers only, runs the AI model that plans and checks your sketch.
- Microsoft hosts the mailbox your replies arrive in.
- Etsy handles every purchase.
Each of them handles your information only to do that job for us.
Your rights
Wherever you live, you can ask us what we hold about you, ask us to correct it, or ask us to delete it. Write to me@makais.app and we'll do it within 30 days, usually much sooner. A deletion reaches everywhere we hold you at once: the website's database, the lead finder's notes, the record above, the sketches and covers we made for you, and our own messages about you; the backups follow as they roll over. This site isn't meant for children under 16, and we don't knowingly collect anything from them.
Changes
If this page changes, the date at the top changes with it. If a change would affect what we already hold about you, we'll email you before it takes effect.