Information submitted through the project form
The project form can collect your name, email address, project type, manuscript stage, estimated page count, a project-files link, an optional author-visible referral code, the details you choose to write, and your permission to receive a reply. If you arrived through a labeled marketing or referral link or a Google or Microsoft ad, the site temporarily keeps a sanitized referral code, source, medium, campaign, term, and content labels and advertising click identifiers (GCLID, GBRAID, WBRAID, or MSCLKID) in browser session storage so they can remain attached if you navigate to the contact form. This first-touch attribution is limited to the current browser-tab session and does not store manuscript text. The form can include those labels, codes, or identifiers so Toby can understand which marketing or referral outreach led to the inquiry and, when appropriate, connect a later project outcome to that inquiry. The referral code is visible and editable before submission. This information is used to review the inquiry, respond, discuss scope, measure which outreach is useful, administer referral eligibility, and manage a project if you choose to proceed.
Referral credit does not require a tracked link, tracking cookie, contact list, or one-to-one introduction. An eligible author may confirm one valid active code through the visible form field, email, text, written chat, a documented phone call, or an author-confirmed partner introduction. Confirmation may occur after work starts but must happen before final payment clears and before another partner code is confirmed. The first author-confirmed code locks to the project; a clear clerical correction may be documented.
An accepted partner’s direct link in the form https://mybookillustrator.com/contact.html?service=free-sample&ref=YOUR-AFFILIATE-ID places the affiliate ID/referral code in the visible, editable referral field for author confirmation. This prefill uses the URL and does not require a referral tracking cookie or manual code entry. Email messages and any files or links you provide become part of that correspondence.
Referral partner applications and records
The referral application uses FormSubmit and can collect an applicant’s name, email address, optional public or business name, optional suggested affiliate ID/referral code, optional public website or profile, referral plan, required program confirmations, and sanitized marketing or advertising attribution. It does not request bank, tax, card, password, payment-account, or client confidential information. Payout details, if needed after acceptance and an earned commission, are arranged separately.
For an accepted partner, Toby may keep the partner’s affiliate ID/referral code, acceptance correspondence, the first valid code confirmed by the author, the confirmation channel and time, documented clerical corrections, the 180-day new-lead check, a separate per-project referral record ID, qualifying project, cleared/non-pending payment dates, 24-hour failure/reversal waits, delivery status, refunds, reversals, proportional adjustments, future-commission offsets, eligible amounts, and payout dates. The affiliate ID/referral code identifies the partner; the referral record ID identifies one author/project. Referral attribution does not require partners to provide author contact lists, and MyBookIllustrator does not require a referral tracking cookie. These records are used to decide eligibility, provide a status or ledger, correct errors, prevent duplicate or fraudulent credit, and maintain ordinary payment and tax records.
Partners may ask Toby for their referral ledger or request correction of an attribution, milestone, refund, offset, or payout record by emailing tobymikle@gmail.com. Customer privacy limits the project details that can be disclosed to a partner.
Author Showcase submissions
The Author Showcase form collects a private contact name and email address plus an author or pen name, book title, publication status, intended reader age, story summary, author introduction, optional story notes, a required book-cover image, an optional adult author photo, and public book or author links you choose to provide. It also collects confirmations about age, rights, accuracy, image and likeness permission, automatic posting, photographs of minors, child privacy, and the Showcase terms.
Image uploads first enter the host’s temporary upload area. The server checks the file type, byte size, and pixel dimensions; decodes, resizes, and re-encodes a new JPEG display copy; and removes embedded metadata such as EXIF and location data when present. Original upload bytes are not published or retained after processing. Metadata removal cannot hide a private address, school, location, or other information visibly pictured in the image, so submitters must inspect the visible background before uploading.
The public listing is limited to the author or pen name, book title, author-provided publication status, intended reader age, story summary, author introduction, optional story note, sanitized book-cover image, optional sanitized adult-author image, and at most one recognized public book, retailer, library, or author link allowed by the server’s link rules. The private record contains the contact name, email address, any submitted link that is withheld, the consent record and timestamps, technical image descriptors, marketing attribution and advertising click identifiers, verification and management token hashes, and the keyed rate-limit HMAC. None of those private fields is included in the public listing or feed.
After server-side validation and submitter email verification, the public fields and sanitized images are posted automatically as an author-submitted, not independently verified community listing. MyBookIllustrator does not independently verify the submitter’s identity, authorship, image ownership, a pictured adult’s consent, publication status, claims, or external links and does not endorse the listing. Community submissions are kept out of search-result snippets with data-nosnippet. Public external links are marked as user-generated and nofollow links.
The website sends the submitter a verification email containing a token-bearing verification link and a separate private management link. It does not send the submission to Toby by email. Verification confirms control of the submitted email address only; it does not prove authorship, ownership, accuracy, or endorsement. The submitter can use the private management link from that email to remove the listing. Token-bearing verification, confirmation, and management pages do not load the Google Ads or Microsoft Advertising measurement tags.
Showcase records and sanitized images awaiting verification are stored in a private directory outside the public web root and cannot be served publicly. After verification, sanitized display images are delivered only through a same-origin media endpoint, and their URLs may appear in the public feed. Unverified pending submissions and their images expire after 7 days. Rate-limit records are kept for 7 days. Removing a listing makes its media endpoint refuse the images immediately; short-lived technical backups may persist under the stated retention and legal-preservation rules. Published listings otherwise remain until the submitter removes them, MyBookIllustrator removes them for safety or policy reasons, or a longer period is reasonably necessary to handle a legal request or dispute. For abuse prevention, the Showcase keeps a keyed HMAC derived from the request address rather than storing the raw IP address in the Showcase record. The hosting service may separately keep ordinary access or security logs, such as an IP address, request time, requested path, and browser information, under its server settings.
Free browser tools keep working files on your device
Interactive tools such as MyBook and the One Ancestor Story Lab save your working project in private browser storage on that device so it remains available when you return. MyBook creates its project backup and print PDFs inside your browser; your manuscript, artwork, and exported book are not uploaded to MyBookIllustrator for those actions. Use MyBook’s Save button to keep a separate .mybook backup because clearing browser data, using a private window, or losing the device can remove the browser copy.
MyBook requests typefaces from Google Fonts, so Google can receive ordinary technical request information such as your IP address, browser, and the requested font files. That request does not include your manuscript, artwork, or saved project.
FormSubmit processes project inquiries and partner applications
The project-inquiry and referral-partner application forms post to FormSubmit, a third-party form-processing provider, which forwards the submitted information to tobymikle@gmail.com. FormSubmit processes each submission on its own systems under its own terms and privacy practices. The Author Showcase uses MyBookIllustrator’s same-origin submission system instead of FormSubmit. If you do not want to use either FormSubmit form, you may email Toby directly.
The public referral application does not request payout details. Only after a commission stage is eligible, a partner is asked privately for the destination required by their choice of PayPal, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, or mailed business check. A check requires the legal payee name and U.S. mailing address. Do not enter bank or card details, passwords, account logins, tax identifiers, a payout email or handle, or a mailing address in the public application.
PayPal processes deposits
The deposit page sends a fixed payment request to PayPal with the MyBookIllustrator PayPal email, currency, amount, item name, return addresses, and an optional plain-text project reference. PayPal—not this website—collects and processes your PayPal login, card, bank, billing, and transaction information under PayPal’s own terms and privacy practices.
MyBookIllustrator receives the payment information and payer details that PayPal normally provides to a seller for the transaction. Do not email payment-card numbers or account credentials.
Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising measurement
The site loads the Google Ads tag identified as AW-1069544796 and the Microsoft Advertising UET tag identified as 343263550. These tags can send visit, device, browser, and interaction information to Google and Microsoft and may use cookies or similar technologies to measure whether advertising leads to a site visit or inquiry. MyBookIllustrator does not use this information to read the contents of your manuscript or project message.
Google and Microsoft handle that information under their own privacy practices. You can limit cookies through your browser settings. The contact form and PayPal remain separate services with their own technologies when you interact with them.
Project and submission records
Project correspondence, delivered-file records, and payment records may be kept as needed to manage the work, answer questions, and meet ordinary business recordkeeping obligations. Author Showcase retention is described separately above. MyBookIllustrator does not sell project-inquiry or Author Showcase information or use it for third-party advertising.
Private referral records may include the partner’s affiliate ID/referral code and contact information, separate per-project referral record IDs and status, an author-confirmed attribution, commission amounts, payout method, electronic payout email, mobile number, or handle when applicable, legal check payee name and U.S. mailing address when applicable, payout or mailing date, and transaction or check reference. Payout destinations are kept out of the public application and public pages and are used only to administer the program, make payments, resolve record questions, and meet ordinary business or legal obligations. MyBookIllustrator does not request or use a partner’s password, payment-app login, card number, or bank login for a referral payout.
Correction or deletion requests
An Author Showcase submitter can use the private management link issued after verification to remove the public listing without emailing Toby. For other corrections, to ask what project information Toby has, or to request deletion when the management link is unavailable, email tobymikle@gmail.com. Some transaction or business records may need to be kept when required for payment, dispute, tax, or legal recordkeeping; any limitation will be explained in the reply.
Questions
Privacy questions can be sent to tobymikle@gmail.com.