Draft for counsel review · Last updated September 2026 · Placeholders are highlighted
Novelop is a platform for novels made with AI and shaped by people. Dark themes, difficult subjects, villains, violence and sex all have a place in fiction, and they have a place here — labeled correctly and behind the right gate. A short list of things does not. This policy is part of the Terms of Service and the Author Agreement.
1. Never allowed
Sexual content involving anyone under 18, or characters presented or coded as minors, in any style, framing or "age-up" device. We report this to NCMEC and law enforcement.
Sexual or intimate depictions of real, identifiable people, and "real person" fiction that a reasonable person would find degrading.
Content that promotes hatred, dehumanization or violence against people because of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, immigration status or similar characteristics. Depicting bigotry in a story is fine; endorsing it is not.
Glorification or instruction of terrorism, mass violence, suicide, self-harm or eating disorders presented as fact or encouragement rather than story.
Real-world instructions for serious harm (weapons, drugs, attacks on people or systems) dressed as fiction.
Non-consensual sexual content presented approvingly, and sexual content that exists mainly to eroticize violence.
Books you don't have the right to publish: copies, close paraphrases, machine "rewrites" or fan fiction of works under copyright without permission; and books built to imitate a living author's name, series or distinctive style so that readers could mistake them.
Impersonation: publishing under another real person's name or likeness, or claiming a credential or identity you don't have.
Misrepresenting how the book was made — the wrong label, models omitted, or "Human-written" claims for text that AI wrote or drafted.
Spam, keyword-stuffed listings, near-duplicate books published under multiple titles, and mass low-effort uploads.
Personal data of private people, doxxing, or anything that facilitates harassment.
2. Allowed behind the 18+ setting
Explicit sexual content between adults.
Graphic violence, gore or horror.
Heavy profanity, drug use or other adult themes as part of the story.
Mark these books as mature when you upload. Mature books are hidden from everyone who has not confirmed they are 18 or older and opted in from Account. Their covers and blurbs must themselves be suitable for a general audience. Publishing mature content without the label is a violation, and moderators may add the label themselves.
3. The label: how the book was made
Every book carries one of four labels, chosen by the author and shown to readers on the book page, in the reader, and as a filter on the shelf:
Human-written — a person wrote every line. No AI in the prose. (Spell-check and grammar tools don't count as AI here; a model that suggests, rewrites or drafts sentences does.)
Human-written · AI-assisted — a person wrote the prose; AI helped with research, outlining, suggestions or line edits.
AI-drafted · human-edited — AI produced drafts that a person substantially rewrote and edited.
AI-written · human-curated — the prose was generated by AI; a person planned, prompted, selected and arranged it.
Where AI was used, name the models. The label is a promise to readers; a wrong label is grounds for removal, and a book labeled Human-written that turns out to contain AI-written prose will be removed and the author's account reviewed. When in doubt, choose the label that gives AI more credit, not less.
The narration label
Audiobooks carry a second label: AI-narrated (a synthetic voice; name the tool or voice if you like) or Narrated by a named person. The same honesty rule applies. Two further rules for audio:
No cloned voices without consent. A synthetic voice that imitates a real, identifiable person — a celebrity, a well-known narrator, anyone — is only allowed with that person's written consent, which you must be able to show us. Stock voices from a licensed tool are fine.
The audio is the book. The recording must be the same text, complete (or clearly marked abridged), with no advertising, added commentary or content that would fail Sections 1 and 2 as text. An 18+ book's audiobook is 18+ too.
4. What we look for beyond the rules
Moderators approve books that are complete books (20,000 words or more), readable from start to finish, formatted into chapters, with a cover and blurb that describe the book honestly. We send back books with broken chapters, placeholder text, untranslated passages, missing endings, or blurbs that don't match the story. We don't judge taste or genre.
5. Ratings, reviews and reports
Only readers who unlocked a book and read at least a quarter of it can rate it. Reviews must be your own opinion: no paid, traded, coerced or self-authored reviews, no harassment of authors or other readers, no spoilers without warning, no personal attacks. Reports must be made in good faith; repeated false reports are themselves a violation.
6. How review works
Every upload runs through automated checks: length, duplicate detection against the catalog, and an AI screen for the categories above.
A person reads the book before it goes live, usually within 24 hours, and checks the label and the 18+ flag.
Readers can report any book from the book page; reports go to a person, who can dismiss the report, keep the book up and note the author, or take it down. Taking a book down closes all open reports on it.
Readers can block an author, which hides all of that author's books from them.
We remove books on valid copyright notice under the DMCA process in the Terms, and may suspend authors who repeatedly violate this policy.
7. Enforcement
Depending on severity and history, we may: send the book back with a note; add or correct a label; unpublish the book; remove the book and withhold royalties earned from the violating content; suspend or close the account; and, for illegal content, report to authorities. Readers who already unlocked a removed book keep it unless the content is illegal, in which case it is withdrawn from all libraries.
8. Appeals
If a book is sent back or removed, the author sees the reason on their dashboard and in their inbox and can reply at appeals@example.com within 30 days. A different staff member reviews every appeal, and we answer within 10 business days.
9. Changes
We update this policy as the catalog and the law evolve; the date at the top changes when we do, and material changes are announced to authors 14 days in advance.