Disclosures

Last updated October 21, 2026

We want you to know exactly what you're looking at in Tell A Tail Book Center. Here's what is paid for, what is automated, and what belongs to us.

Paid placement

These spots are paid advertising. Authors and resellers pay a monthly fee for them:

• Courtyard banners facing the front door ($20 a month)
• Sidewalk booths on the red carpet out front ($10 a month)
• The featured shelf and the featured seller case in the Used & Antique room ($8 a month)
• Newsletter spotlights: author posts on the blog and in our email newsletter are paid by the author. The store owner reads and approves every one, and each post says it's a paid spotlight.

Each one is labeled as an upgrade in the store. Paying for a spot doesn't mean we recommend or check that seller's books. Spots go to whoever bought first, so earlier buyers are nearer the door.

The order of authors in the nooks and the Author Wing is based on when they joined, not on payment.

The store owner sells here too

The person who runs the store also sells books here:

• Used and collectible books in the Tails & Treasure booth in the Used & Antique room, run by the store owner ("Pirate Joe")
• The American Heritage Books catalog by Jack Ferm, JD, in Jack Ferm's nook. The store owner produces those books.

The owner doesn't pay plan or add-on fees, so these books may get spots others would pay for. Everything else follows the same rules as every other seller.

Avatars are not real people

The people you see in the store, including the door greeter, the authors at their tables, Pirate Joe and Pirate D, shoppers, booth tenders, visitors from the spacecraft, the witch and the girl with her dragon, are animated characters. An author's or seller's avatar stands in for them when they aren't there.

When a real author or seller is signed in and available, the store says "In store now" or "Author in store now." When you join their line and accept their invitation, the chat messages from them are typed by them. The door greeter's tips and the Pirate avatars' lines are written in advance. They are not live people and not an AI chatbot.

Artificial intelligence

We use AI in one place: the "Suggest a price" button for resellers. It uses Anthropic's Claude AI with a web search to look at recent sales and listings, then suggests a price range. It's an estimate, it can be wrong, and the seller always sets the final price.

Some of the store's decoration was made with the help of AI tools. Book covers, photos, descriptions and trailers come from the authors and sellers themselves.

Sample books and display copies

Some shelves are decorated with sample books so the store doesn't look empty, such as the main floor, the Children's Wing and the magazine room. Tapping one says it's a sample. In the Used & Antique room, shelf spots without a real listing are marked "Display" and aren't for sale. Nooks and booths without an author say "Open."

The preview version of the store (shown outside the real website) is filled with made-up authors and listings so people can see how it works.

Links to other booksellers

Some books, such as Jack Ferm's catalog, link to outside booksellers like Barnes & Noble. We don't earn a commission from those links unless the link says so. Outside sites have their own prices, terms and privacy policies.

Questions

If anything in the store isn't clear about what's paid, real, or automated, ask us.