Who we are

Words to Keep Books is a trading name of Kevin Nash, Ardpatrick, County Louth, Ireland. You can reach us at [email protected].

What you are buying

The Heirloom Edition is a personalised, cloth-bound hardback book made from words written by the people you invite. Up to 25 contributors are included. At checkout you can add optional extras: a priority linen paperback, an extra hardback copy, and 20 additional contributors. Starting a book is free. The price shown at checkout, in euro, is the price you pay once you have seen your full watermarked viewing copy and approved it for print.

How an order works

• You start your book for free. You tell us who the book is for and the date it needs to arrive, and we send you your private contributor link. You don’t pay anything at this stage.
• The people you invite write their pages.
• We build a full watermarked viewing copy of the whole book (the proof) and send it to you. You can read every page before you pay.
• If you’re happy, you approve the proof and pay for your order through Stripe. We confirm it by email. Your contract with us starts when we send that confirmation. Nothing prints until you have approved the proof and paid.
• We print and deliver the book.

Your part

Please give us accurate names, spellings, dates and delivery details, and check the proof carefully. Once you approve the proof, we print exactly what you approved. If the printed book differs from the approved proof, we will put it right as set out in Refunds and returns.

Contributors and their words

Contributors keep ownership of what they write. By submitting a page they allow us to print it in the book and to share it with the person who ordered the book and the printer. We will not use anyone’s words in our marketing without separate, explicit permission from the person who wrote them. A child’s page should only be submitted with a parent or guardian’s agreement. We may decline to print content that is unlawful or abusive, and we will tell you if we do.

Delivery

Delivery is included in every edition to Ireland, Northern Ireland and mainland UK. Your hardback is delivered about four weeks after you approve the proof and pay. The priority linen paperback, if you add it, is delivered about two weeks after proof approval, with the hardback following. These are our planned timings, and we schedule every book back from the date you give us. If we see that your date is at risk, we will tell you straight away and offer the choices set out in Refunds and returns. Please check your delivery address. We cannot be responsible for a book that is not delivered because of an incorrect address.

Price and payment

You don’t pay to start a book. You pay in full when you have seen your full watermarked viewing copy and approve it for print, by card through Stripe. We never see or store your card details. Add-ons are priced as shown at checkout.

Cancellations, refunds and your rights

Our refund policy is on the Refunds and returns page and forms part of these terms. Because every book is made to your own specification, the usual 14-day right to cancel online purchases does not apply. Our policy goes further than the law requires, and it does not affect your statutory rights, including if a book is faulty or not as described.

Our responsibility

Nothing in these terms limits any liability that cannot be limited by law, including for fraud, or for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or your legal rights as a consumer. Otherwise, our liability for any order is limited to the amount you paid for it. We are not responsible for delay or failure caused by events beyond our reasonable control, and we will tell you promptly if that affects your order.

Changes to these terms

If we change these terms, the version that applies to your order is the one in force on the day you placed it.

Governing law

These terms are governed by Irish law, and the Irish courts have jurisdiction. If you live elsewhere in the EU, you keep the consumer protections of the country where you live.

Questions or a complaint

Email [email protected]. A real person answers, usually the same day.

Who we are

Words to Keep Books is a trading name of Kevin Nash, Ardpatrick, County Louth, Ireland. We are the data controller for the information described here. You can reach us at [email protected].

What we collect

If you start or order a book: your name, email, phone number and delivery address; the recipient’s name; the date the book needs to arrive; your dedication; and how many people you expect to contribute. Payment is handled by Stripe — we never see or store your card details.

If you write for a book: your name, your relationship to the recipient, and the words you submit. For children writing a page, we ask their age, because it’s printed beside their name in the book. Please only submit a child’s page with a parent or guardian’s agreement.

If you visit the site: basic analytics and advertising measurement data, only with your consent (see Cookies).

Why we use it

What we will never do: sell your data, use anything written in a book in our marketing without separate, explicit permission from the person who wrote it, or target ads based on anything private you’ve told us.

Who we share it with

Only the services that help us make your book, each bound by a data processing agreement:

• Stripe — payments
• Typeform — order and contributor forms
• Bookvault (United Kingdom) — printing and binding. The UK is covered by an EU adequacy decision.
• An Post — delivery, using your name, address and phone number
• Gmail — order and progress emails
• Carrd — hosts this website
• Google and Meta — ad measurement, only if you accept cookies

Some of these providers are based in the US. Where data leaves the EEA, it’s protected by the EU–US Data Privacy Framework or standard contractual clauses.

Cookies

We use cookies from Google and Meta to see which ads lead to orders. They only load if you say yes in the cookie banner, and you can change your mind at any time using the link at the bottom of every page. Strictly necessary cookies (for checkout to work) don’t need consent.

How long we keep it

• Book contents and proof files: 3 years after delivery, so we can reprint if another copy is required or something goes wrong — then deleted. Ask sooner and we’ll delete sooner.
• Books that were started but never paid for, including the contributions to them: 6 months after the last activity, then deleted. Ask sooner and we’ll delete sooner.
• Order and invoice records: 6 years, as Irish tax law requires.

Your rights

You can ask to see the data we hold about you, correct it, delete it, restrict or object to how we use it, or get a copy to take elsewhere. Contributors can ask us to remove their page any time before the book is approved for print. We’ll reply within one month.

If you’re unhappy with how we’ve handled your data, you can complain to the Data Protection Commission at dataprotection.ie. We’d appreciate the chance to put it right first.

Contact

Email [email protected] with “Privacy” in the subject line.