These terms govern your use of the Pardes Press website (pardespress.com), the storefront, the manuscript-submissions service, and any account you may hold with us. By using the site you agree to these terms; if you don't agree, please don't use it.
1. Who we are
Pardes Press is a small fiction publisher operating pardespress.com. You can reach us at hello@pardespress.com. Our handling of personal data is described in our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy, which form part of these terms.
2. Using the site
You may browse our catalogue, read the news, subscribe to the newsletter, submit a manuscript, and (where applicable) buy ebooks and audiobooks. You agree not to interfere with the site's operation, attempt to access areas you aren't entitled to, scrape the catalogue in bulk for commercial use, or use the site to do anything unlawful.
3. Buying a book
Listed prices are in the currency shown at checkout and include any applicable taxes unless stated otherwise. Payment is taken by Stripe at the moment you complete checkout; we never see or store your card details.
When your payment succeeds, you receive a non-exclusive, non-transferable licence to read or listen to the book you bought, for personal, non-commercial use. You may keep your own backup copies. You may not resell, redistribute, sublicence, or publicly perform the book, or strip rights-management or watermarking from any file we deliver.
Ebooks are delivered DRM-free as signed download links. Audiobooks are delivered via our in-browser streaming player and, in addition, as a protected download — the download link is short-lived, count-limited, and tied to the buyer who purchased it.
4. Refunds
Digital goods are generally non-refundable once a download or stream has been accessed, because we can't recall the copy you already have. If a file is defective, the wrong book was delivered, or you have a consumer-law right to a refund in your jurisdiction (for example, the UK/EU 14-day cooling-off period for digital content that you have not yet downloaded or streamed), please write to hello@pardespress.com and we will sort it out.
5. Newsletter
We send the newsletter only after you confirm a double opt-in email. Every issue carries a one-click unsubscribe; you can also email us to be removed. We do not sell or share the subscriber list.
6. Manuscript submissions
Submitting a manuscript through /submissions is free and requires no account. You retain the copyright in your work. By submitting you grant Pardes Press a limited, internal-use licence to read, store, and evaluate the manuscript for editorial purposes, including generating an internal AI-assisted summary to help our editors triage submissions. Your manuscript is not used to train third-party AI models, is not made public, and is not shared outside Pardes Press.
Submissions are governed by the moral clauses summarised on the submissions form and re-stated in §7 below. You must accept the moral clauses to submit. We aim to respond within a reasonable time but cannot guarantee a response window, and we decline far more than we accept. A decline is not a judgment of the work.
7. Moral clauses (submissions & publishing)
These standards apply to everything submitted to Pardes Press and everything published through us. They are intentionally short and plain.
7.1 Rights & originality. By submitting or publishing a work, you represent that:
- The work is your own original creation, or you hold all rights necessary to submit and (if accepted) publish it.
- The work does not infringe any copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret, or other intellectual-property right.
- The work is your own original human authorship. AI tools may be used to assist with editing or feedback, but the work may not be created primarily by an artificial-intelligence tool. Submitting a substantially AI-generated work as your own original authorship is a breach of these clauses.
- Any third-party material (quotations, lyrics, images) is used with permission, properly licensed, or a lawful fair use, and is attributed.
- You have not granted rights in the work to a third party that would conflict with publishing it through Pardes Press.
7.2 Acceptable-content standards. Pardes Press publishes challenging and mature fiction. The following will be rejected in moderation and may not be submitted or published:
- Anything unlawful in the relevant jurisdiction.
- Child sexual abuse material, or any sexualised depiction of minors — including fictional depictions. Zero tolerance.
- Content that incites or instructs real-world violence, terrorism, or serious criminal harm.
- Hate content that dehumanises or promotes violence or discrimination against people on the basis of a protected characteristic. Depicting prejudice within a narrative is permitted; endorsing it as the work's purpose is not.
- Non-consensual disclosure of private information (doxxing) about real, identifiable people.
- Defamatory material presented as fact about real, identifiable people.
- Plagiarised work, impersonation of another author, or metadata/marketing that materially misrepresents the work.
- Malware or harmful files embedded in any uploaded document.
Genre fiction containing violence, sexual content, profanity, drug use, or morally complex characters is welcome. The standard is about real-world harm, unlawfulness, and deception — not subject matter, darkness, or discomfort.
7.3 Maturity labelling. Works containing explicit sexual content, graphic violence, or other adult themes must be accurately labelled so the storefront can age-gate and categorise them. Mislabelling to evade age-gating is a breach.
7.4 Moderation. Every submission and every publish request is reviewed by a human moderator. AI triage may assist but never decides alone. We may decline, unpublish, or remove any work that breaches these clauses, and may do so without prior notice where the content is unlawful or risks harm. A creator may request a review of a decision by writing to us.
7.5 Indemnity. You agree to indemnify Pardes Press against claims, losses, and costs arising from a breach of §7.1 or §7.2 in a work you submitted or published.
8. Accounts
You don't need an account to buy a book or submit a manuscript. If you do create one, you're responsible for keeping your sign-in credentials secure and for activity on your account. We use magic-link sign-in and offer passkeys and TOTP as stronger options; we never ask for a password by email or phone. Tell us promptly if you think your account has been compromised.
9. Intellectual property
The Pardes Press name, logo, site design, and the editorial copy on the site are ours (or used under licence). Book covers and book content are the property of their respective rights-holders, displayed here under the licences they have granted us. Nothing on the site grants you a licence to reuse those marks or materials beyond what these terms or applicable law permit.
If you believe content on the site infringes your rights, write to hello@pardespress.com with enough detail to identify the work and your rights claim, and we will respond.
10. Availability
We aim for the site to be available, but we don't promise uninterrupted service. We may change, suspend, or discontinue features from time to time. Where a change materially affects something you've already bought (for example, your library access), we'll act in good faith to preserve what you paid for.
11. Disclaimers & liability
The site and the books are provided "as is". To the extent permitted by law, we exclude implied warranties and we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss. Nothing in these terms limits or excludes liability that cannot be limited or excluded by law — for example, for fraud, for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, or for your statutory consumer rights.
12. Changes to these terms
We may update these terms from time to time. The "last updated" date at the top of this page reflects the most recent change. Material changes will be flagged on the site or by email to account holders. Continued use of the site after a change means you accept the updated terms.
13. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of the jurisdiction in which Pardes Press is established. Nothing in this section affects your non-waivable rights as a consumer in your country of residence.
14. Contact
Questions about these terms? Email hello@pardespress.com. For data-protection requests, use the data-request form.