Terms of service

Whim & Quill is a trading name of TrailTimes Technology Inc., a company incorporated in Canada. In these terms, “we”, “us” and “our” mean TrailTimes Technology Inc., and “you” means the person placing the order.

You can reach us at hello@whimquill.com. Our mailing address is PO Box 122, Cumberland, BC, Canada.

You must be the age of majority where you live to place an order. Children appear in our books; they do not buy them.

You answer questions about a child. We write a story, design a character, show it to you for approval, illustrate the pages, and print and post a physical book.

Each book is made individually, so no two are identical. Printed colours vary slightly from a screen, and paper and binding vary a little between copies. That is the nature of a printed book rather than a fault.

Starting a book is free. You can answer the questions, have us write the whole story and read it, design your character, choose between versions of them, and see the opening pages illustrated — all before paying anything.

The rest of the book is illustrated once you order it, not before. Illustrating a whole book costs us real money per copy, and we would rather be straight about where that line sits than advertise something we would have to quietly withdraw later.

The price is shown in full, including delivery, before you confirm. It covers writing, illustrating and printing your book.

A personalised book has one possible reader. Once it is printed it cannot be resold, restocked or given to anybody else, so the cut-off for cancelling is the moment printing starts — not despatch.

Before printing starts

Cancel for a full refund, for any reason or none. In practice this is a window of a few hours after you order.

After printing starts

The order cannot be cancelled, because the book now exists and is about your child. Your book stays in your account and can be printed again later.

Damaged, faulty or wrong

Always replaced or refunded, regardless of the above. This is your legal right and nothing in these terms reduces it.

You approve your character before a single page is illustrated. That is deliberate: it is the point at which a mistake is cheapest to fix, and nothing is printed that you have not already agreed to.

You keep ownership of everything you give us — the details you type and any photograph you upload. You grant us permission to use it for the single purpose of making, printing and delivering your book.

By uploading or typing something, you confirm that:

• you are the child’s parent or guardian, or you have their parent’s permission to use their name and likeness;
• you have the right to any photograph you upload;
• it is not somebody else’s copyrighted or trademarked material — a character from a film, a brand, a logo;
• it is not unlawful, hateful, or sexual in any way involving a child.

We may refuse or stop any order that breaches this clause, and will refund anything not yet printed. We report material depicting the sexual abuse of children to the authorities, without exception and without notice.

The book is yours. You may read it, keep it, gift it, photograph it and post pictures of it. You may not resell copies of it commercially or use the artwork as stock imagery.

The underlying system — this site, the art styles, the templates and the way books are put together — remains ours.

Tell us within 30 days of it arriving, with a photograph of the problem, and we will reprint it or refund you. You will not need to post the damaged copy back.

Delivery times are estimates provided by our print partner. We will chase a late or lost parcel and replace it if it does not arrive.

We cannot promise the site is never unavailable, that a story is exactly the one you imagined, or that you will love every illustration. What we do promise is that you see and approve your character, and see the opening pages, before you pay anything.

If we are responsible for something going wrong, our liability to you is limited to the amount you paid for the order in question. Nothing in these terms limits liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else the law does not permit us to limit.

We may update these terms. The version that applies to your order is the one published when you placed it, and the date at the top records when this page last changed.

These terms are governed by the laws of [PROVINCE], Canada, and its courts. If you are a consumer, this does not take away the protections of the law where you live.

See also our privacy policy.