By accessing or using Whimsy Ink ("the Service," operated by Michael Benko, doing business as Whimsy Ink — "Whimsy"), you agree to these Terms. If you don't agree, don't use the Service.
Defined terms used in these Terms:
Whimsy Ink provides an AI-powered novel generation and reading platform. By accessing or using our platform, you agree to be bound by these terms.
When you create a book on Whimsy Ink, you are the author. Your name or pen name goes on it. You retain authorship credit in perpetuity.
Please be hereby notified that pursuant to Thaler v. Perlmutter (D.C. Circuit, March 18, 2025), the U.S. Court of Appeals affirmed that the Copyright Act requires all eligible work to be authored in the first instance by a human being. This means that AI-generated content, without sufficient human creative input, may not be eligible for copyright protection.
You own your copyright to the extent it can be owned. The degree of your creative input — your prompt, your choices, your edits — determines the scope of that ownership. Whimsy makes no representation regarding the copyrightability of any specific work generated through the Service.
A Book Credit entitles the holder to one AI-generated novel of at least 20,000 words, generated to the specifications provided during the Brainstormer session. Whimsy may, at its discretion, apply an editorial pass to any book — automated, by hand, or both — but this is not guaranteed.
Word count guarantee. If your delivered novel is under 30,000 words, you are entitled to a free regeneration within 30 days of delivery. A novel of 30,000 words or more is considered a full delivery. If your novel is under 20,000 words, you may request a new Book Credit to generate a different book by emailing support@trywhimsy.com — you keep the delivered book. This guarantee is fulfilled in Book Credits, not cash, does not apply where Whimsy determines the shortfall resulted from edits you made to intentionally produce a short book, and is otherwise subject to exceptions at Whimsy's discretion.
Book Credits are a one-time purchase — not a subscription. They do not expire. Regardless of how a Book Credit is obtained (purchased, gifted, or granted promotionally), you are the author and owner of every book you create.
Generation is a discretionary benefit, not a guaranteed service. Whimsy may limit, pause, or discontinue generation at any time.
Your book is private by default.
Deleting Your Book. You may delete any book that has not been Published at any time. Deleted books are held for seven (7) days, during which you may restore them from your library. After seven days the deletion is completed by Whimsy and cannot be undone. When you delete a book, Whimsy deletes the book text, your original idea or wish as you typed it, and the book's share links. Whimsy retains the platform-generated materials described in Section 4 — including Brainstormer outputs, the Lorebook, and back cover copy — which are provided on a non-exclusive basis and are not part of your book. If a purchase associated with the book was refunded, Whimsy retains a copy of the book as described in Section 11 (Refund & Rights Revocation). Whimsy may also retain records where required by law. Published books are governed by the Shelf terms below and cannot be deleted, except with Whimsy's explicit permission.
Every book on Whimsy exists in one of three states:
No Confidentiality Guarantee. Whimsy stores and transmits your content using commercially reasonable safeguards, but no online service is perfectly secure. Do not use the Service to create or store content whose confidentiality is critical to you. To the maximum extent permitted by law, Whimsy is not liable for unauthorized access to or disclosure of your content, including access through a share link you created or distributed.
Whimsy stores your content as a convenience. We do not guarantee the permanent availability, integrity, or security of stored content. You are solely responsible for maintaining your own backups. Export is available while your account is active. Whimsy is not liable for any loss, corruption, or unavailability of stored content.
Publishing to the Whimsy Ink Shelf is voluntary. If you choose to publish, your book becomes available for other users to read. Publication is permanent — once published, your book cannot be unpublished or withdrawn, except with Whimsy's explicit permission. You may remove your name from a published book at any time (it becomes anonymous), but the book remains on the Shelf.
Accidental Publication. If a book is published to the Shelf in error — whether due to a mistake by you or an administrative or system error on our part — Whimsy is held harmless from any claim, loss, or damage arising from that publication. The permanence rule above does not apply to a publication made in error; Whimsy may remove it at its discretion.
By publishing to the Shelf, you grant Whimsy a non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, royalty-free license to:
This license does not cover film, television, radio, or interactive media adaptations. This license is non-exclusive — you retain full rights to publish, sell, and exploit your book anywhere else. Whimsy retains the right to remove or decline to display any book at its sole discretion.
Upon account deletion, your name is removed from any published books (they become anonymous), but the book text remains on the Shelf.
You retain your ideas. The executed book — generated from your idea — is also yours. If you publish it to the Shelf, the license in Section 3 applies.
Intermediate outputs from the generation system — including Brainstormer results, suggested titles, back cover copy, and Lorebooks — are provided on a strictly non-exclusive basis. The same or similar outputs may be provided to other users. You will not assert intellectual property claims against Whimsy or any other user based on similarity between such materials.
Similar or Identical Outputs. The generation system is procedural: different users' prompts may cause the Service to produce similar — or even identical — titles, Lorebooks, back cover copy, or book text. Your ownership of your book does not include any exclusive right to its themes, premise, plot, characters, style, or any text the Service independently generates for another user. Whimsy may deliver similar or identical outputs to any user at any time, and you will not assert intellectual property or other claims against Whimsy or any other user based on similarity or identity between independently generated outputs.
You may not systematically access, collect, reproduce, or reconstruct the prompts, templates, genre modules, or orchestration logic used by Whimsy's generation systems. You may not reverse engineer, decompile, or attempt to derive the design, architecture, methods, or algorithms of the Service.
The Service uses third-party AI providers to generate content from your prompts. Whimsy does not use your prompts, generated content, or personal data to train AI models. Third-party providers process your prompts as part of delivering the Service and are governed by their own terms and privacy policies, which may include data retention or training practices outside of Whimsy's control.
Whimsy personnel may access and review user-submitted content — including prompts and generated novels — for content moderation, safety enforcement, quality assurance, and service improvement. This does not constitute use of your data for AI model training.
Purchasing a Book Credit covers Personal Commercial Use — use by an individual or team of five (5) or fewer people for their own creative projects. This includes self-publishing, content creation, merchandise, indie game development, and any project where you are the primary creator.
All commercial rights are subject to the copyright notice in Section 3. Ownership rights extend only to the extent permitted by applicable law.
A separate Commercial License is required when the Service is used:
Contact support@trywhimsy.com for Commercial Licensing.
Accounts found operating under consumer plans for uses requiring a Commercial License may be suspended and invoiced retroactively at Whimsy's then-current commercial rates.
Whimsy staff may read your prompts and manuscripts — including books you have generated but not yet published — for the purpose of quality review, editorial improvement, and service development.
We may edit your manuscript, either by hand or using AI tools, and deliver an improved version to you. When we do this, the delivered manuscript remains yours under the ownership terms in Section 3.
This access does not constitute use of your content for AI model training. It is editorial in nature — the same access a human editor would have when working on your book.
If you do not want Whimsy staff to access your manuscript for editorial purposes, you may indicate this preference at support@trywhimsy.com. Content moderation and safety review access is not affected by this preference.
The platform includes optional marketing features for authors — including AI-generated marketing strategies, social copy, blurbs, trailer scripts, ad creative, book landing pages, and "Pip," an AI marketing chat assistant (together, the "Marketing Tools").
AI Output — No Guarantees. All Marketing Tools output, including anything Pip says, is generated by artificial intelligence and is provided for informational and creative purposes only. It may be inaccurate, incomplete, or outdated. Whimsy makes no representation, warranty, or guarantee of any marketing outcome whatsoever — including sales, readers, followers, engagement, advertising performance, or revenue. Marketing results depend on factors outside our control, and past or projected performance described by any Marketing Tool is not a promise of results.
Not Professional Advice. Marketing Tools output is not professional, legal, financial, tax, or advertising-compliance advice, and no professional-client relationship is created by your use of the Marketing Tools. Consult a qualified professional before making decisions that require one.
Your Responsibility to Review. You are solely responsible for reviewing, editing, and approving all Marketing Tools output before using it anywhere, and for ensuring that your use of it complies with applicable law and with the current policies of any third-party platform where you use it, including advertising platforms and social networks. If you run advertisements, you do so through your own advertising accounts, under your own agreements with those platforms, at your own cost and risk. Whimsy is not a party to those campaigns and is not responsible for their approval, rejection, performance, cost, or consequences.
Third-Party Platforms. Whimsy Ink is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Meta Platforms, Inc., Google LLC, TikTok, Reddit, Pinterest, or any other third-party platform referenced in or usable with the Marketing Tools.
AI Disclosures. Some Marketing Tools output includes AI-content disclosure notices. You agree not to remove such a disclosure where it is required by applicable law or by the policies of the platform where you use the material.
Availability & Limits. The Marketing Tools are optional features. They may be metered (including in Whims), rate-limited, modified, or discontinued at any time as described in Section 11.
The following content is permitted with appropriate content warnings: literary violence, profanity, dark themes (abuse, addiction, trauma, grief, mental health), and romantic content including desire, emotional intimacy, tension, and love scenes that fade before explicit depiction.
The following is never permitted and will result in immediate removal and potential account termination:
If content violates this Section or applicable law, Whimsy may remove, disable access to, or permanently delete that content at any time without notice or liability. Whimsy may also suspend or terminate the associated account. Nothing in this Section transfers ownership of the content to Whimsy.
You must not use the Service to generate content that infringes copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights — including using protected character names, world names, or describing copyrighted works in enough detail that the output would be recognizable as a recreation.
AI-generated content may inadvertently resemble existing works. If you identify that any generated content resembles a copyrighted work, do not distribute it and report it to support@trywhimsy.com.
You agree not to misuse the Service. You are strictly prohibited from:
Subscription fees are billed on a recurring monthly basis. You may cancel at any time; access continues through the end of the current billing period. First-time subscribers may cancel and request a full refund within seven (7) days of their first subscription purchase — once per user, first subscription term only. Otherwise, subscription fees already charged are non-refundable except in cases of billing error. Where required by law, Whimsy will refund.
Book Credits are a one-time purchase. Each Book Credit entitles you to one complete AI-generated novel as described in Section 3. Member pricing on Book Credits is available only while a qualifying subscription is active.
Chapter 1 Preview. Before any Book Credit is spent on generation, you are able to generate a free preview consisting of the first chapter of your book and a partial view of its story materials, and to retry that preview a limited number of times. Spending a credit occurs only when you elect to unlock or generate the full book.
All Sales Final. All Book Credit purchases are final once any generation has been used in connection with the purchase — including free Chapter 1 previews and other sample generation. No cash refunds are given. Where a refund or remedy is owed under the Generation Delivery Guarantee below, it is provided as a Book Credit returned to your account. Where required by law, Whimsy will refund.
Generation Delivery Guarantee. If your book fails to generate due to a technical error on our end, your Book Credit is automatically returned to your account so you can try again. This guarantee is fulfilled in Book Credits, not cash, and covers technical failure only; it does not cover subjective dissatisfaction with a successfully delivered book.
Preview Retention. Unused previews are retained in your account for thirty (30) days, after which they may be deleted. A preview that has been unlocked by spending a credit is retained indefinitely until you generate the book or delete it yourself.
Refund & Rights Revocation. If you receive a refund for any purchase, all rights granted to you under Section 3 with respect to any associated generated book are revoked upon refund. You may not publish, distribute, sell, or otherwise exploit the book following a refund. Whimsy retains a copy of the work solely to monitor for unauthorized distribution and enforce this provision.
Fraud & Abuse. In the event of suspected fraud — including mass account creation, mass subscription sign-ups, or patterns of bulk purchasing followed by refund requests — Whimsy reserves the right to refuse any refund request, in whole or in part, at its sole discretion.
Whims are a second, smaller virtual currency used for utility features such as Pip messages, cover generation, and other Marketing Tools. Whims have no cash value, are not money, property, or legal tender, are non-transferable, and cannot be exchanged or converted into Book Credits, cash, or any other consideration. Whims included with a subscription are granted each billing cycle and, unless we state otherwise at the time, reset at the start of the next cycle. Purchased Whim packs expire only as stated at purchase. Whims are non-refundable except where required by law or in cases of billing error, and unused Whims are forfeited when your account closes. The Whim price of any feature may change at any time. Complimentary Whims and free feature allowances (including free Pip messages) are discretionary gifts governed by the Free & Promotional terms below. Where required by law, Whimsy will refund.
Free Brainstormer sessions, free Chapter 1 previews, promotional credits, and any free tier or beta access (including Reader access during beta) are discretionary gifts with no cash value. They create no obligation or entitlement. Whimsy may limit, pause, modify, revoke, or discontinue them at any time — including in response to automated abuse, unusual usage patterns, or server load — without notice or liability.
Credits that are accidentally issued, obtained through system errors, or fraudulently obtained may be revoked by Whimsy at any time without refund or compensation.
Gift codes and promotional Book Credits are non-transferable unless expressly stated in writing by Whimsy, have no cash value beyond stated use, and expire as stated at issuance.
All purchases are processed by secure third-party payment processors. Whimsy does not store your payment card details.
We reserve the right, without notice and in our sole discretion, to terminate or suspend your account and block your access to the platform for any violation of these terms, fraud, or abusive behavior.
THE SERVICE AND ALL GENERATED CONTENT ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE" WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, ACCURACY, ORIGINALITY, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT. WHIMSY DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, ERROR-FREE, OR FREE OF HARMFUL COMPONENTS. AI-GENERATED CONTENT MAY CONTAIN ERRORS, INACCURACIES, OR UNINTENDED SIMILARITIES TO EXISTING WORKS. YOU USE THE SERVICE AND RELY ON ANY GENERATED CONTENT AT YOUR OWN RISK. TO THE EXTENT THAT ANY IMPLIED WARRANTY CANNOT BE DISCLAIMED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, SUCH WARRANTY IS LIMITED IN DURATION TO THE MINIMUM PERIOD REQUIRED BY LAW.
You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Whimsy Ink, its affiliates, officers, directors, employees, and agents from any third-party claims, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable legal fees) arising from: (a) your content; (b) your violation of these Terms; or (c) your infringement of any third-party intellectual property or other rights. This indemnification applies only to claims caused by your own actions or content, not to claims arising from Whimsy's own conduct or from the ordinary operation of the Service.
TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WHIMSY'S TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIMS ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE SHALL NOT EXCEED THE TOTAL AMOUNT YOU PAID TO WHIMSY IN THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING THE CLAIM. IN NO EVENT SHALL WHIMSY BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING LOSS OF PROFITS, DATA, OR GOODWILL, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. NOTHING IN THIS SECTION EXCLUDES OR LIMITS LIABILITY THAT CANNOT LAWFULLY BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW, INCLUDING LIABILITY FOR FRAUD OR WILLFUL MISCONDUCT.
If any provision of these Terms is found to be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable by a court of competent jurisdiction or arbitrator, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these Terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions, which will remain in full force and effect.
The Service is not available in territories subject to comprehensive OFAC sanctions, including the Russian Federation, Iran, Cuba, Syria, and the Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, or any region where use of the Service is prohibited by applicable law. Using VPNs or proxies to circumvent these restrictions is a violation of these Terms and grounds for immediate account termination.
Whimsy implements commercially reasonable security measures to protect your information, including encryption of data in transit and at rest, secure authentication, and access controls. No method of electronic storage or transmission is 100% secure. In the event of a data breach affecting your personal information, we will notify affected users as required by applicable law.
If you have any questions regarding these terms, please contact us at support@trywhimsy.com or by mail at:
Whimsy Ink
Attn: Legal Department
712 H St NE, Unit #738
Washington, DC 20002
USA