Terms and privacy

Terms

Participation terms

What this is

The Universal Book of Humanity ("the project") is a book made of 366 life stories written by humans from all over the world, one story per page, one for every day of the year. The project is operated by Luis Esteban Martínez, a natural person, Colombia ("the founder"). Contact: theuniversalbook1@gmail.com.

What you buy when you found your page

When you reserve, you contribute from USD 2 (or the open amount you choose) and you get:

• A numbered reservation to write your story once writing opens (September 5, 2026).
• The guarantee that your story, once submitted, will be read with care by other humans.
• The possibility, not the guarantee, that your story ends up among the 366 in the book.

What you do NOT buy: a guaranteed place in the book. Paying more does not increase your chances. Nobody (not famous people, not patrons, not the founder) gets special treatment.

The threshold: we are born together or not at all

The project is only born if we reach 1,000 reservations before December 5, 2026.

• If we get there: the project is officially underway and funds are used according to the public ledger.
• If we don't: we refund every person their contribution minus the gateway's transaction fee (approximately 5% + USD 0.50): that fee is the cost of taking part and is not returned. The refund arrives within about 10 to 30 business days, depending on your bank.
• Until we cross the threshold, not one peso of the funds raised is spent: it appears in the public ledger as "conditioned funds".

Outside of this case, contributions are non-refundable: they are the project's foundation.

Voluntary withdrawal

You can withdraw your reservation and request a refund of your contribution, minus the gateway's transaction fee, at any time before the project crosses 1,000 reservations, by writing to theuniversalbook1@gmail.com. Once the threshold is crossed, contributions are final: the project is born and begins executing its budget.

This does not limit whatever withdrawal rights the law of your country grants you.

The payment

Payments are processed by Lemon Squeezy, LLC as merchant of record; the charge transaction takes place with them and their purchase terms apply to payment processing. The project never sees nor stores your card numbers.

Your story and its license

When you write and submit your story (from September 5, 2026):

The story must be yours, real, and written by you. By submitting it you sign the oath, in these exact words:

"I am a human. This story will be mine. This will be my only page."

• One life, one page: a single story per person. If a duplicate is discovered, every copy of it leaves the book, even after printing, in the digital edition.
• You keep the copyright to your story. By submitting it, you license it under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0): anyone may share it, translate it and even commercialize it, always with attribution. The version in your original language is canonical and is preserved that way in the book.
• The digital edition of the book will be free forever.
• The project may remove stories that contain illegal content, third parties' personal data, hate speech or spam. Hard stories (war, loss, survived abuse) are not violations: they are humanity.

Uniqueness, not identity

We verify that every page belongs to a distinct person, not your legal identity. Pseudonyms are legitimate. We never ask for documents or biometrics.

What money cannot buy

Paying more never increases the probability of being in the book. There are no reserved seats: nobody (famous, powerful or a patron) gets a page through anything other than founding, writing and competing blind. The project never confirms nor denies anyone's participation.

Minimum age

You must be at least 18 years old to reserve and take part.

Changes and governing law

If these terms change, it will be announced in the site's public changelog, and changes will never retroactively reduce refund guarantees already acquired. These terms are governed by the laws of the Republic of Colombia.