This privacy policy is for this website, https://carolynhughesauthor.com, and governs the privacy of the users who choose to use it. The policy explains how this website complies with the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), in force from 25th May 2018. You can read an overview of the GDPR here.

The owner of this website is Carolyn Hughes [“the Owner”]. If you have questions or comments, please email carolyn.hughes@gmail.com.

Website visitor tracking and the use of cookies

This website uses tracking software to monitor its visitors to better understand how they use it. The software will save a cookie to your computer’s hard drive in order to track and monitor your engagement and usage of the website. You can read Google’s privacy policy here for further information.

This website uses cookies. Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server, to provide the users with a tailored experience

Where applicable, this website allows the user to give explicit permission or to deny the use of /saving of cookies on their computer/device.

Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computer’s hard drive, they should take necessary steps within their web browser’s security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors, or use the cookie control system if available upon their first visit.

Contact and communication

Visitors contacting, following, subscribing and interacting with this website and/or its Owner do so at their own discretion and provide any such personal details requested at their own risk. As well as alerting users to new blog posts, pages and comments, this website and its Owner also use any information submitted to provide users with further information about the products/services the Owner offers or to answer any questions, comments or queries.

Details provided by users will not be passed on to any third parties at any time.

Email mailing list and marketing emails

The Owner operates an email mailing list programme, currently managed by MailChimp, used to provide subscribers with news, request help or feedback, or send free content (such as a free story) published by the Owner, through the medium of marketing emails. The type and content of marketing emails that subscribers receive is clearly defined at the point of subscription.

Users subscribe to the mailing list through an online automated process (outlined below), where they give their explicit permission to receive marketing emails from the Owner, as defined at the point of subscription, but do so at their own volition and discretion. 

If you subscribe to the mailing list, the information collected about you is your email address, first name and last name. Subscriptions are taken in compliance with the EU GDPR. All personal details relating to subscriptions are held securely and in accordance with those regulations.

Subscribers can unsubscribe from the mailing list at any time, using the unsubscribe link in the footer of all sent marketing messages.

Mailing list subscription process 

Subscription is through a ‘double opt-in process’, whether direct from this website or from a book marketing promotion. This means that, after providing your personal details (name and email address), you will receive an email asking you to confirm that you do want to subscribe. You will only be included as a subscriber to a list if you confirm by clicking the link and generating a return email that this is what you want to do.

Subscribing through this process means that:

• your contact information is transferred to the Owner’s account on the third party site, MailChimp, and stored there,
• you give your consent to be sent emails via that MailChimp account
• interactions such as open rates can be collected to inform future marketing and mailings.

You may request a copy of personal information held about you by emailing carolyn.hughes@gmail.com.

Emails sent to subscribers may contain tracking facilities within the actual email. Subscriber activity is tracked and stored in a database for future analysis and evaluation. Such tracked activity may include: the opening of emails, forwarding of emails, the clicking of links within the email content, times, dates and frequency of activity. This information is used to refine future email campaigns and supply visitors with more relevant content based around their activity.

You can read MailChimp’s privacy policy here.

Social media policy and usage

Communication, engagement and actions taken through external social media platforms used by this website and its Owner are subject to the terms and conditions and privacy policies held with each social media platform respectively.

Users are advised to use social media platforms wisely and engage on them with due care and caution in regard to their own privacy and personal details. The Owner will never ask for personal or sensitive information through social media platforms and visitors wishing to discuss sensitive details are recommended to contact the Owner through primary communication channels such as email (carolyn.hughes@gmail.com).

This website may use social sharing buttons, which help share web content directly from web pages to the social media platform in question. You use social sharing buttons at your own discretion and accept that doing so may publish content to your social media profile feed or page.

You can read about social media privacy and usage policies for Twitter here and Facebook here.

External websites, adverts and sponsored links

Other links within this site to other websites are not covered by this policy. Users are advised to find out about their privacy policies on your first visit to any such website. This website may (but rarely) contain sponsored links and adverts by third parties. These will typically be served through advertising partners, who may have detailed privacy policies relating directly to the adverts they serve. 

Clicking on any such links/adverts will send users to the provider/advertiser’s website through a referral program, which may use cookies and will track the number of referrals sent from this website. This may include the use of cookies which may in turn be saved on your computer’s hard drive. 

Other cookies may be stored to your computer’s hard drive by external vendors when this website uses referral programs, sponsored links or adverts. Such cookies are used for conversion and referral tracking and typically expire after 30 days, though some may take longer.

Users click on all external links, including advert and sponsored links, at their own risk and neither this website nor its Owner can be held liable for any damages or implications caused by visiting any external links mentioned.

Any downloadable documents, files or media made available on this website are provided to users at their own risk. Users are advised to verify their authenticity using third party anti-virus software or similar applications.