Terms of Use

1. What is Writing Café Journal

Writing Café Journal is a literary platform publishing original writing. We may review, lightly edit, publish, reject, and remove submissions at our discretion, consistent with our Submission Guidelines.

2. Submission Guidelines

All submissions must comply with our Submission Guidelines. If your content violates these guidelines, we may decline, remove, or restrict access without notice.

3. Eligibility and Recognition

If Writing Café Journal offers monthly recognition, features, or prizes, eligibility is limited to approved submissions that meet our guidelines. We may verify authorship and identity before issuing any award. All editorial decisions are final.

4. Identity and Pen Names

You may publish under a pen name. However, each submission must come from one real individual. Using multiple identities, email addresses, or other methods to obscure authorship for the purpose of gaining unfair advantage or repeated eligibility is prohibited.

5. Your Content and Rights

You keep ownership. You retain all rights to your original work.

You grant us a license to publish. By submitting content, you grant Writing Café Journal a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to host, store, reproduce, display, and publish your submission on Writing Café Journal and in our official communications that promote your published work (for example, featured story announcements or editor newsletters).

You are responsible for what you submit. You represent that your submission is original (or properly licensed) and that it does not infringe any copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights of any third party.

No AI generated content. Submissions must be the original, human authored work of the submitting writer. AI generated or AI assisted content will be rejected and may result in permanent disqualification from the platform.

6. Editing and Formatting

We may make light edits for clarity, formatting, spelling, punctuation, and house style. We will not intentionally alter your meaning or voice. We may also shorten excerpts used for previews, the homepage, or social media promotion of your work. We will not edit your poem. If you misspelled a word, we will leave it. Poems are written in your voice. If you want a correction, email the editors.

7. Prohibited Use

• Submitting content that violates our Submission Guidelines.
• Plagiarism, impersonation, or misrepresenting authorship.
• Submitting AI generated or AI assisted content.
• Spamming, scraping, or attempting to disrupt site services.
• Attempting to bypass security measures, access restricted areas, or probe the database.
• Harassment, threats, hate speech, or doxxing of any person.
• Submitting false or misleading information.

8. Comments and Community Conduct

If Writing Café Journal provides commenting or community features, your conduct must comply with our Community Standards. We reserve the right to remove any comment or restrict any user who violates those standards.

9. Advertising and Sponsored Content

Writing Café Journal may display advertising from vetted partners. All sponsored content and advertisements will be clearly labeled as such. Editorial content is never influenced by advertising relationships. Our Advertising Policy governs what advertising we accept and how it is displayed.

10. Third-Party Links

We may link to third party sites (including social platforms or partner communities). Those services are not controlled by Writing Café Journal and have their own rules and policies. Use them at your own risk.

11. Termination

We may suspend or terminate access to Writing Café Journal at any time for violations of these Terms or our Submission Guidelines, or to protect the integrity of the site and our community.

12. Disclaimers

Writing Café Journal is provided "as is" and "as available." We make no guarantees that the site will be uninterrupted, secure, or error-free. Content published on the site reflects the views of individual authors and not the views of Writing Café Journal or its editors.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Writing Café Journal will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, consequential, special, or punitive damages arising from your use of, or inability to use the site or any content on it.

14. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to conflict of law principles. Any disputes arising under these Terms shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts located in Texas.

15. Changes to These Terms

We may update these Terms at any time by posting a revised version on this page. Your continued use of Writing Café Journal after any changes constitutes your acceptance of the updated Terms.