Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

The information we collect depends on how you use the Site.

Information you provide

We may collect:

• Contact and subscription information, such as your email address, subscription status, consent record, signup source, and email preferences.
• Messages and submissions, including information you send through a contact form or email. The current contact form requests your first name, last name, email address, and message.
• Optional information you choose to provide in a promotion, questionnaire, or reader-research form.

Please do not submit sensitive personal information unless we specifically ask for it and explain why it is needed.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the Site, we and our service providers may automatically collect:

• IP address and approximate location derived from it;
• browser, device, operating-system, and language information;
• pages viewed, links clicked, referring pages, dates, times, and session data;
• cookie identifiers and similar online identifiers; and
• information about interactions with our emails, forms, advertisements, and retailer links.

Information received from other services

We may receive information from services that help operate the Site, manage subscriptions and forms, measure traffic, prevent abuse, or measure advertising. For example, Brevo provides subscription, consent, form, and campaign activity. Google Forms processes survey responses. Payhip hosts the Site and may process technical information needed to serve it.

We do not sell products or process payments through the Site. When you follow a book link to Amazon, Amazon handles the visit and any resulting transaction under its own terms and privacy policy.

2. How We Use Information

We may use personal information to:

• operate, secure, maintain, and troubleshoot the Site;
• respond to contact-form messages and other requests;
• provide a free resource offered with mailing-list signup;
• collect and analyze voluntary reader-survey responses;
• send newsletters, release news, promotions, or Lore Bits when you have confirmed your subscription;
• record and honor subscription, unsubscribe, and privacy choices;
• measure Site traffic, campaign results, retailer clicks, and reader interest;
• improve the Site, products, communications, and reader experience;
• detect abuse, fraud, security incidents, and technical problems;
• comply with legal and recordkeeping obligations; and
• establish, exercise, or defend legal claims.

3. Legal Bases for Processing

Where the law requires us to identify a legal basis, we rely on one or more of the following:

• Consent: for email marketing and non-essential cookies or similar technologies where consent is required. Consent also covers sending the free signup resource and the mailing-list content described on the form. You may withdraw consent at any time.
• Legitimate interests: to operate and secure the Site, understand its use, respond to messages, prevent abuse, and improve the Site, provided those interests are not overridden by your rights.
• Legal obligation: to meet tax, accounting, consumer-protection, and other legal requirements.

4. Email and Newsletter Choices

If you subscribe, we use Brevo to maintain the mailing list, record consent and signup source, and send emails. Brevo uses double opt-in: after submitting the form, you must confirm through an email before becoming an active subscriber.

The signup offer may include a free resource, such as Lore Bits or other bonus content. The signup form should state what you will receive and that confirming the subscription means agreeing to receive the described mailing-list emails. You may unsubscribe after receiving the resource.

The mailing-list form requests only your email address. Brevo records the technical and consent information needed to operate and document the double opt-in process.

You can unsubscribe through the link in any marketing email or contact us. An unsubscribe does not prevent necessary confirmation, response, or administrative messages. We may retain the minimum information needed on a suppression list so that we can honor your request not to receive further marketing.

Brevo explains its own practices in its privacy policy.

5. Surveys

We may use Google Forms for voluntary reader surveys. These surveys do not require you to sign in to a Google account and are not configured to collect your email address automatically. We receive the answers you submit and any personal information you voluntarily include in a response. Google may process technical and usage information when it provides the form under Google’s Privacy Policy.

6. Cookies and Similar Technologies

The Site and its service providers may use cookies, pixels, tags, local storage, and similar technologies. These technologies may fall into the following categories:

• Necessary: required for security, network operation, forms, abuse prevention, and your privacy choices.
• Analytics: used to understand visits and interactions through Google Analytics.
• Advertising: used to measure campaigns and advertising through Meta Pixel.
• Functional and security: used for forms, fonts, content delivery, and invisible hCaptcha bot detection.

Google Analytics may collect device and browser data, approximate location, Site activity, and cookie or similar identifiers. Google describes its practices in Google’s Privacy Policy and its explanation of how Google uses information from sites that use its services.

Meta Pixel may collect or receive information about your browser or device, Site visits, referring pages, and interactions with the Site. We use this information to measure advertising performance and understand whether an ad led to a Site visit or action. Meta may use information under its own Privacy Policy.

Our current Google Tag Manager configuration uses:

• a Google tag on all pages;
• Google Analytics measurement when a visitor clicks an Amazon link;
• Meta Pixel PageView measurement on all pages;
• Meta Pixel ViewContent measurement on the Introit page; and
• Meta Pixel measurement when a visitor clicks an Amazon link.

An Amazon outbound-click event means only that a visitor selected a link to Amazon. It does not tell us whether that visitor purchased a book.

The contact form uses invisible hCaptcha, provided by Intuition Machines, Inc., to distinguish legitimate submissions from bots and abuse. hCaptcha may analyze technical and behavioral signals such as IP address, time on the page, and interaction patterns. Its processing may occur in the background. See hCaptcha’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

You can also delete or block cookies through your browser. Blocking some technologies may affect Site features.

Browser privacy signals

The Site does not currently respond automatically to browser “Do Not Track” or Global Privacy Control signals. You may use the Site’s cookie controls, once implemented as described above, to reject non-essential analytics and advertising technologies. We will update this Policy if our signal-handling practices change.

7. When We Disclose Information

We may disclose personal information to:

• Website hosting providers
• Email and customer-communication providers, including Brevo;
• Survey providers, including Google Forms;
• Analytics and advertising providers, including Google Analytics and Meta Pixel;
• Hosting, content-delivery, security, anti-spam, font, and form providers, including hCaptcha, Google Fonts, and Cloudflare-hosted resources;
• Professional advisers and contractors who need the information to perform services and are subject to appropriate confidentiality obligations;
• Government authorities or other parties when disclosure is required by law or reasonably necessary to protect rights, safety, security, or prevent fraud; and
• A successor or transaction participant in connection with a merger, financing, reorganization, sale of assets, or similar business transaction.

These providers may process information under their own privacy policies as well as under agreements with us.

8. Sales, Sharing, and Targeted Advertising

We do not sell personal information for money.

Analytics or advertising technologies may disclose online identifiers and interaction data to their providers. Some privacy laws may define certain advertising-related disclosures as “selling,” “sharing,” or processing for targeted advertising even when no money changes hands.

We use Google Analytics and Meta Pixel. Google signals is turned off, Google Analytics is not linked to a Google Ads account, and we have not created Meta Custom Audiences or Lookalike Audiences from Site visitors. Meta Pixel measures advertising performance and may process information under Meta’s own settings and policies. Where applicable law gives you a right to opt out of sale, sharing, or targeted advertising, we will provide a method to exercise that right.

9. Third-Party Sites and Retailers

The Site links to third-party services such as Amazon and social networks. If you follow a link, the destination may collect information under its own privacy policy. We do not control those third-party sites or their privacy practices. Amazon, not Theo Sterling, processes purchases made after you leave the Site.

10. Data Retention

We keep personal information only as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this Policy, including to:

• respond to messages and privacy requests;
• provide requested signup resources;
• keep voluntary survey responses for reader research;
• maintain a subscription until you unsubscribe;
• preserve a suppression record after an unsubscribe;
• meet legal, abuse-prevention, and recordkeeping obligations;
• resolve disputes and enforce agreements; and
• maintain security and operational records.

Retention periods vary by the type of information and the service holding it. When information is no longer needed, we delete or de-identify it where reasonably practicable. Our service providers may retain information under their own legal obligations and retention schedules.

Google Analytics is configured to retain user-level and event-level data for 14 months. This setting does not control every aggregated standard report, which Google may retain under separate product settings and policies.

11. Security

We use reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational measures designed to protect personal information. We also use established providers for hosting, forms, and email delivery. No Internet transmission or storage system is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

12. International Data Transfers

Theo Sterling and our service providers may process information in the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, and other countries. Privacy laws in those countries may differ from the law where you live. Where required, we and our providers use recognized safeguards for international transfers, such as approved contractual clauses or another lawful transfer mechanism.

13. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on where you live and subject to applicable exceptions, you may have the right to:

• request access to personal information we hold about you;
• request correction or deletion;
• request a portable copy of information you provided;
• object to or restrict certain processing;
• withdraw consent without affecting earlier lawful processing;
• opt out of marketing, sale, sharing, or targeted advertising where applicable;
• appeal a decision on a privacy request where applicable; and
• complain to the privacy or data-protection authority where you live.

To make a request, contact us using the address below and describe what you are requesting. We may need to verify your identity. An authorized agent may submit a request where applicable, but we may ask for proof of authorization. We will not discriminate against you for exercising an applicable privacy right.

14. Children’s Privacy

The Site is intended for a general adult audience and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from a child under 13. If you believe a child has provided personal information, contact us so that we can investigate and delete it where appropriate.

15. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Policy to reflect changes in our services, vendors, data practices, or legal obligations. We will post the revised version on this page and change the “Last updated” date. If a change is material, we will provide additional notice when required by law.

16. Contact Us

The individual author publishing as Theo Sterling is responsible for the personal information covered by this Policy.

Email: [email protected]

Website: https://theosterlingbooks.com

Use the subject line Privacy Request when contacting us about your personal information.