Terms of Use

Last updated November 1, 2026

Firstfruits Readers (firstfruitsreaders.com and firstfruitsreaders.org) is run by True Bearing Press LLC, a Michigan company in Saranac, Michigan. In these terms, "we" and "us" mean True Bearing Press LLC, and "you" means anyone who visits or uses the site.

The site connects authors and publishers of Christian books with readers who want to read those books before they come out. Authors list a book and offer free advance copies. Readers request the ones they want, download them, and read them. Nothing more is asked of anyone.

By using the site, or by checking the box that says you agree when you create an account, you agree to these terms and to our Privacy Policy, which explains what we collect and how we use it. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.

1. Who can use the site

You must be 18 or older and able to enter into a binding agreement. The site is for personal reading and for authors and publishers promoting their own books. Using Firstfruits Readers is free. If we ever add optional paid features, we'll describe them and their price before anyone is charged.

2. Your account

• One account per person. Don't share your account or use anyone else's.
• Give us your real name and an email address you check. Authors may use a pen name for their author profile.
• Keep your password to yourself. If you think someone else has it, change it and tell us at hello@firstfruitsreaders.com.
• You're responsible for what happens under your account.

3. Reviews are never required

This is the heart of how the site works, so we want to be plain about it.

• Readers never owe anyone a review, rating, or note. Getting a copy doesn't depend on reviewing, and neither does getting future copies.
• Nobody is paid or rewarded for reviews. There are no points, credits, or swaps.
• When a book comes out, we may send readers who downloaded it one or two reminders saying they're welcome to share whatever they thought, with links to places they can post. They go to readers who downloaded the book regardless of what they thought of it, and each one has a link to stop them.
• If you do post a review anywhere, say that you received a free advance copy, and follow that site's own rules for reviews. An honest negative review is as welcome as a positive one.

4. For readers

Your copies

When an author approves your request, you get a private download link. That copy is for you alone. You may read it on your own devices and quote short passages in a review. You may not share, forward, upload, sell, or post the file or its contents, lend it to anyone, or try to remove the markings in it.

Every copy is marked with your name, your email address, and a hidden code that identifies your copy. If a copy turns up somewhere it shouldn't, we can tell whose it was. In that case we may close the account, tell the book's author or publisher whose copy it was, and cooperate with any steps they take to protect their book.

Advance copies are uncorrected. They may have typos, and the final book may differ. If you quote from one, it's wise to check the published edition.

Limits

New readers can hold one book at a time. Once you finish a book or leave a note, you can hold more. Download links expire after a few days and a few uses, and you can make a new one from your shelf. These limits keep copies with people who read them. We may pause an account that requests many books without reading them, or that breaks these terms.

Private notes

You can leave a private note for an author. Only that author and we can read it. Authors may not publish your note, or quote it on a cover or in marketing, unless you give them permission.

What authors see about you

When you request a book, its author sees your display name and how many advance copies you've finished on the site. Authors don't see your email address.

5. For authors and publishers

What you promise

• You have the right to distribute the files you upload, either as the author or as a publisher with the author's permission, and they don't infringe anyone else's rights.
• Your book fits our content standards, and the description, release date, and content ratings you give are accurate.
• You've checked that sending free advance copies to individual readers is allowed under your own agreements, including Amazon KDP Select or Kindle Unlimited if your ebook is enrolled. That's your responsibility, not ours.
• You won't require reviews, ask for positive ones, offer readers anything in exchange for a review or rating, or contact readers about their reviews.
• You won't use the site to collect readers' personal information, and you won't publish readers' private notes without their permission.

Permission you give us

You keep all rights in your book. By listing it, you give us permission to store your files, add each reader's name, email address, and copy code to the copies we send, deliver those copies to the readers you approve, and show your cover, title, description, and author information on the site, in our emails, and in posts promoting your listing. This permission is non-exclusive and free of charge. It ends when you remove the book, except for copies readers have already downloaded and for backups we keep for a short time.

What we may do

We review every author and every book before it appears. We may decline, pause, or remove a book or an account at any time, including books that don't fit our content standards. We don't promise any number of readers, notes, or reviews.

6. Things you may not do

• Break the law, or help someone else do it, on or through the site.
• Share, sell, or post advance copies, or remove or alter the markings in them.
• Harass, threaten, or deceive other people on the site, including through private notes.
• Pretend to be someone else, or open accounts to get around limits or a pause.
• Upload anything you don't have the right to share, or anything with viruses or other harmful code.
• Scrape the site, use bots to request books, or try to get into parts of the site you aren't allowed into.
• Overload or interfere with the site, or try to get around its security or limits.
• Use the site to send advertising or spam.

7. Reports and enforcement

Authors can flag a reader they believe shared a file or sent an abusive note, and anyone can write to us about a problem. We look into reports and decide what to do. That may mean a warning, removing content, pausing or closing an account, or doing nothing. We may also share information with law enforcement, or with someone whose rights were violated, when the law requires it or when it's needed to protect a book, a person, or the site.

8. Ending your account

You can stop using the site at any time. To close your account, write to hello@firstfruitsreaders.com. We may close or pause an account that breaks these terms. When an account closes, its download links stop working. The parts of these terms that by nature should continue, such as the limits on sharing copies and the sections below, still apply.

9. Copyright complaints

If you believe something on the site infringes your copyright, send a notice to our copyright agent, by email to hello@firstfruitsreaders.com with the subject line "Copyright notice," or by mail to Copyright Agent, True Bearing Press LLC, 226 Mill St, Saranac, MI 48881. Please include:

1. your physical or electronic signature;
2. the copyrighted work you believe is infringed;
3. where the material is on the site, with enough detail for us to find it;
4. your name, mailing address, phone number, and email address;
5. a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. a statement, under penalty of perjury, that the information in your notice is accurate and that you're the owner or authorized to act for the owner.

If your material was removed and you believe that was a mistake, you can send a counter-notice to the same email or mailing address. We close the accounts of people who repeatedly infringe others' copyrights.

10. Our name and site

The Firstfruits Readers name, logo, and site design belong to True Bearing Press LLC. Please don't use them in a way that suggests we endorse you or your book. You're welcome to link to the site.

11. Links to other sites

The site links to places like Amazon, Goodreads, and authors' own websites. We don't control those sites and aren't responsible for them. Their own terms apply when you use them.

12. No warranties

The site and the books on it are provided "as is" and "as available." We make no promises, express or implied, about the site, its availability, or the books listed, including any implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement. Books come from their authors and publishers, not from us, and we aren't responsible for what they say. We don't promise the site will always work, or that it will be free of errors or harmful code. Some places don't allow these disclaimers, so they may not all apply to you.

13. Limit of our liability

To the fullest extent the law allows, True Bearing Press LLC and its owners, employees, and service providers won't be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for lost profits, data, or goodwill, arising from your use of the site or the books on it. Our total liability to you for any claim about the site is limited to the greater of $50 or the amount you paid us in the 12 months before the claim. These limits don't apply where the law doesn't allow them.

14. Your responsibility

If someone brings a claim against us because of something you uploaded, something you did on the site, or your breaking these terms, you agree to cover our reasonable costs of dealing with it, including reasonable attorneys' fees.

15. Michigan law

Michigan law governs these terms, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Any lawsuit about the site or these terms must be brought in the state courts of Ionia County, Michigan, or in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, and you agree to those courts' jurisdiction. Before filing anything, please write to us first. Most problems can be sorted out by email.

16. The rest of the fine print

• If a court finds part of these terms unenforceable, the rest still applies.
• If we don't enforce a term right away, we haven't given up the right to enforce it later.
• You can't transfer your account or these terms to anyone else. We may transfer them if the site changes hands.
• These terms, the Privacy Policy, and the agreements you check when you sign up are the whole agreement between you and us about the site.

17. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms. When we do, we'll change the date at the top. If a change is significant, we'll also tell account holders by email or on the site before it takes effect. If you keep using the site after a change takes effect, you're agreeing to the updated terms. A change to section 15 won't apply to a dispute we already knew about before the change.

Questions

Write to hello@firstfruitsreaders.com, or to True Bearing Press LLC, 226 Mill St, Saranac, MI 48881.