Short Stories Booknook Privacy Policy

Please review the privacy policy for this book website to understand how your information is collected, used, and protected while enjoying our book‑lover content.

GENERAL

Thank you for choosing to be part of our community at ShortStoriesBooknook.com ("Company," “I”, "we," "us," or "our"). We are committed to protecting your personal information and your right to privacy. If you have any questions or concerns about this privacy notice or our practices with regard to your personal information, contact us using our Contact form.

By visiting and using this fiction blog website, you accept and agree to be bound by this privacy policy. You must not access or use our book website if you do not wish to be bound by this Privacy Policy. 

This privacy notice describes how we might use your information if you:

  • Visit our website at ShortStoriesBooknook.com.

  • Engage with us in other related ways - including any sales, marketing, or events.

  • In this privacy notice, we refer to:

    • "Website or Site," we are referring to any website of ours that references or links to this policy

    • "Services," we are referring to our Website, and other related services, including any sales, marketing, or events

The purpose of this privacy notice is to explain to you in the clearest way possible what information we collect, how we use it, and what rights you have regarding it. If there are any terms in this privacy notice that you do not agree with, please discontinue use of our Services immediately. 

Please read this privacy notice carefully, as it will help you understand what we do with the information that we collect.

CHILDREN’S PRIVACY 

We are committed to protecting the privacy of children and “child” means an individual under the age of 13. All information and content on this book site is intended for individuals over the age of 18. Children under the age of 13 are prohibited from using this website and our services. We do not knowingly collect, use or disclose personal information from children under the age of 13 without prior parental or guardian consent. If you believe personal information has been collected from someone under the age of 13 without parental or guardian consent, contact us to have that information deleted.

WHAT INFORMATION DOES THIS BOOK SITE COLLECT? 

We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us when you express an interest in obtaining information about us or our products and services, when you participate in activities on our website or otherwise when you contact us. 

The personal information that we collect depends on the context of your interactions with us and the website, the choices you make and the products and features you use. The personal information we collect may include the following: 

  • Personal information provided by you. We collect names; email addresses; contact or authentication data; debit/credit card numbers; billing addresses; and other similar information when you make a purchase.

  • Information automatically collected

We use Google Analytics to automatically collect certain information when you visit, use or navigate the website. This information does not reveal your specific identity (like your name or contact information) but may include device and usage information, such as your IP address, browser and device characteristics, operating system, language preferences, referring URLs, device name, country, location, information about how and when you use our website and other technical information. This information is primarily needed to maintain the security and operation of our Website, and for our internal analytics and reporting purposes.

HOW DO WE USE YOUR INFORMATION? 

We use personal information collected via our Website for a variety of business purposes described below. We process your personal information for these purposes in reliance on our legitimate business interests, in order to enter into or perform a contract with you, with your consent, and/or for compliance with our legal obligations. We indicate the specific processing grounds we rely on next to each purpose listed below. 

We use the information we collect or receive:

  • To facilitate account creation and logon process. If you choose to link your account with us to a third-party account (such as your Google or Facebook account), we use the information you allowed us to collect from those third parties to facilitate account creation and logon process for the performance of the contract.

  • Request feedback. We may use your information to request feedback and to contact you about your use of our Website.

  • To enable user-to-user communications. We may use your information in order to enable user-to-user communications with each user's consent.

  • To manage user accounts. We may use your information for the purposes of managing our account and keeping it in working order.

  • To send administrative information to you. We may use your personal information to send you product, service and new feature information and/or information about changes to our terms, conditions, and policies.

  • To protect our services. We may use your information as part of our efforts to keep our website safe and secure (e.g., for fraud monitoring and prevention).

  • To enforce our terms, conditions and policies for business purposes, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements or in connection with our contract.

  • To respond to legal requests and prevent harm. If we receive a subpoena or other legal request, we may need to inspect the data we hold to determine how to respond.

  • Fulfill and manage your orders. We may use your information to fulfill and manage your orders, payments, returns, and exchanges made through the Website.

  • Administer prize draws and competitions. We may use your information to administer prize draws and competitions when you elect to participate in our competitions.

  • To deliver and facilitate delivery of services to the user. We may use your information to provide you with the requested service.

  • To respond to user inquiries/offer support to users. We may use your information to respond to your inquiries and solve any potential issues you might have with the use of our Services.

  • To send you marketing and promotional communications. We and/or our third-party marketing partners may use the personal information you send to us for our marketing purposes, if this is in accordance with your marketing preferences. For example, when expressing an interest in obtaining information about us or our Website, subscribing to marketing or otherwise contacting us, we will collect personal information from you. This information is kept confidential and we do not share, sell or trade your email information with third parties except as otherwise stated in this privacy policy. You can opt-out of our marketing emails at any time. We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and do not spam or send misleading information. Should you wish to no longer receive communication or email marketing from us, you have the option of unsubscribing by clicking unsubscribe at the bottom of the email we send to you.

  • Deliver targeted advertising to you. We may use your information to develop and display personalized content and advertising (and work with third parties who do so) tailored to your interests and/or location and to measure its effectiveness.

WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE? 

We only share information with your consent, to comply with laws, to provide you with services, to protect your rights, or to fulfill business obligations. We do not sell any information shared with us.  

We may process or share your data that we hold based on the following legal basis:

  • Consent: We may process your data if you have given us specific consent to use your personal information for a specific purpose.

  • Legitimate Interests: We may process your data when it is reasonably necessary to achieve our legitimate business interests.

  • Performance of a Contract: Where we have entered into a contract with you, we may process your personal information to fulfill the terms of our contract.

  • Legal Obligations: We may disclose your information where we are legally required to do so in order to comply with applicable law, governmental requests, a judicial proceeding, court order, or legal process, such as in response to a court order or a subpoena (including in response to public authorities to meet national security or law enforcement requirements).

  • Vital Interests: We may disclose your information where we believe it is necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding potential violations of our policies, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the safety of any person and illegal activities, or as evidence in litigation in which we are involved.

  • Business Transfers: We may share or transfer your information in connection with, or during negotiations of, any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business to another company.

DO WE USE COOKIES AND OTHER TRACKING TECHNOLOGIES? 

We may use cookies and similar tracking technologies (like web beacons and pixels) to access or store information. This information may be relevant to third parties, such as ad networks used on our website to tailor the advertising based on your behavior and interests. 

We may use cookies for various reasons, such as optimizing and personalizing your browsing experience, checking our website analytics, saving your preferences and settings for future use, serving ads based on your liking and interests, affiliate marketing and for posting comments on our website. 

We may use social media pixels to track and collect general information about your use in compliance with different social media sites for the purpose of promoting products, tracking conversions, remarketing, or running target advertisements. 

This information is only collected to better serve and understand your user experience on the website. You have the option of turning off cookies on your computer should you wish to do so. If you choose to do that, you may not be able to view all features and content of this website.

WHAT IS OUR STANCE ON THIRD-PARTY WEBSITES? 

The Website may contain advertisements from third parties that are not affiliated with us and which may link to other websites, online services or mobile applications. 

Social media accounts and sharing options are available on this website. Social media sites (Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter (X), YouTube, etc.) can track your personal information. Should you choose to interact with us on social media, please note that you will be voluntarily disclosing that personal information. 

We may use Google Adsense advertising along with any other third-party advertising on our website. Google uses cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits for the purpose of providing a positive user experience. You can opt out of Google by visiting their privacy policy and ad settings. 

We cannot guarantee the safety and privacy of data you provide to any third parties. Any data collected by third parties is not covered by this privacy notice. We are not responsible for the content or privacy and security practices and policies of any third parties, including other websites, services or applications that may be linked to or from the Website. You should review the policies of such third parties and contact them directly to respond to your questions.

HOW LONG DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION? 

We will only keep your personal information for as long as it is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice, unless a longer retention period is required or permitted by law (such as tax, accounting, or other legal requirements). No purpose in this notice will require us keeping your personal information for longer than 90 days. 

HOW DO WE KEEP YOUR INFORMATION SAFE? 

We have implemented appropriate technical and organizational security measures designed to protect the security of any personal information we process. However, despite our safeguards and efforts to secure your information, no electronic transmission over the Internet or information storage technology can be guaranteed to be 100% secure, so we cannot promise or guarantee that hackers, cybercriminals, or other unauthorized third parties will not be able to defeat our security, and improperly collect, access, steal, or modify your information. Although we will do our best to protect your personal information, transmission of personal information to and from our website is at your own risk. You should only access the website within a secure environment. 

WHAT ARE YOUR PRIVACY RIGHTS?  

Cookies and similar technologies: Most Web browsers are set to accept cookies by default. If you prefer, you can usually choose to set your browser to remove cookies and to reject cookies. If you choose to remove cookies or reject cookies, this could affect certain features or services of our Website. To opt-out of interest-based advertising by advertisers on our website, visit http://www.aboutads.info/choices/.

DO CALIFORNIA RESIDENTS HAVE SPECIFIC PRIVACY RIGHTS?

California Civil Code Section 1798.83, also known as the "Shine The Light" law, permits our users who are California residents to request and obtain from us, once a year and free of charge, information about categories of personal information (if any) we disclosed to third parties for direct marketing purposes and the names and addresses of all third parties with which we shared personal information in the immediately preceding calendar year. 

Please be advised we do not sell your personal information to third parties. We do not intend to sell your personal information in the future either. 

If you would like to exercise any of your rights under California law, please submit a verifiable consumer request to us using our Contact form.

CCPA Privacy Notice

The California Code of Regulations defines a "resident" as: 

(1) every individual who is in the State of California for other than a temporary or transitory purpose and

(2) every individual who is domiciled in the State of California who is outside the State of California for a temporary or transitory purpose 

All other individuals are defined as "non-residents." 

If this definition of "resident" applies to you, we must adhere to certain rights and obligations regarding your personal information.

HOW DO WE USE AND SHARE YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION

More information about our data collection and sharing practices can be found in this privacy notice. 

You can contact us using our Contact form. If you are using an authorized agent to exercise your right to opt-out, we may deny a request if the authorized agent does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf. 

WILL YOUR INFORMATION BE SHARED WITH ANYONE ELSE

We may disclose your personal information with our service providers pursuant to a written contract between us and each service provider. Each service provider is a for-profit entity that processes the information on our behalf. 

We may use your personal information for our own business purposes, such as for undertaking internal research for technological development and demonstration. This is not considered to be "selling" your personal data. 

ShortStoriesBooknook.com has not disclosed or sold any personal information to third parties for a business or commercial purpose and will not sell personal information in the future belonging to website visitors, users, and other consumers.

YOUR RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR PERSONAL DATA

Right to request deletion of the data - Request to delete

You can ask for the deletion of your personal information. If you ask us to delete your personal information, we will respect your request and delete your personal information, subject to certain exceptions provided by law, such as (but not limited to) the exercise by another consumer of his or her right to free speech, our compliance requirements resulting from a legal obligation or any processing that may be required to protect against illegal activities. 

Right to be informed - Request to know

Depending on the circumstances, you have a right to know:

  • whether we collect and use your personal information;

  • the categories of personal information that we collect;

  • the purposes for which the collected personal information is used;

  • whether we sell your personal information to third parties;

  • the categories of personal information that we sold or disclosed for a business purpose;

  • the categories of third parties to whom the personal information was sold or disclosed for a business purpose; and

  • the business or commercial purpose for collecting or selling personal information.

In accordance with applicable law, we are not obligated to provide or delete consumer information that is de-identified in response to a consumer request or to re-identify individual data to verify a consumer request. 

Right to Non-Discrimination for the Exercise of a Consumer’s Privacy Rights

We will not discriminate against you if you exercise your privacy rights. 

Verification process

Upon receiving your request, we will need to verify your identity to determine you are the same person about whom we have the information in our system. These verification efforts require us to ask you to provide information so that we can match it with information you have previously provided us. For instance, depending on the type of request you submit, we may ask you to provide certain information so that we can match the information you provide with the information we already have on file, or we may contact you through a communication method (e.g. phone or email) that you have previously provided to us. We may also use other verification methods as the circumstances dictate. 

We will only use personal information provided in your request to verify your identity or authority to make the request. To the extent possible, we will avoid requesting additional information from you for the purposes of verification. If, however, we cannot verify your identity from the information already maintained by us, we may request that you provide additional information for the purposes of verifying your identity, and for security or fraud-prevention purposes. We will delete such additionally provided information as soon as we finish verifying you. 

Other privacy rights

  • You may object to the processing of your personal data.

  • You may request correction of your personal data if it is incorrect or no longer relevant, or ask to restrict the processing of the data.

  • You can designate an authorized agent to make a request under the CCPA on your behalf. We may deny a request from an authorized agent that does not submit proof that they have been validly authorized to act on your behalf in accordance with the CCPA.

  • You have the right to say no to the sale of your personal information to third parties. Upon receiving a request to opt-out, we will act upon the request as soon as feasibly possible, but no later than 15 days from the date of the request submission.

EMAIL MARKETING 

You have the option of opting in or unsubscribing from our email list. By subscribing and opting in, you agree to receiving newsletters, updates, messages, promotional materials and any other content related to this website. When you send an email, your email message along with email address and responses are saved for communication purposes with you. This information is kept confidential and we do not share, sell or trade your email information with third parties except as otherwise stated in this privacy policy.

If you are in the European Union and opt-in to receive any of our free products or services and/or purchase any products or services through our website then you will be subscribed to receive our free email newsletter once you affirmatively consent to it. Refer to the Opt Out section below should you wish to “unsubscribe” and not receive any emails from us.

But if you are NOT in the European Union then you will be automatically subscribed to receive our free email newsletter once you opt in to receive any of our free products or services and/or purchase any products or services through our website.

OPT OUT

We comply with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 and do not spam or send misleading information. Should you wish to no longer receive communication from us, you have the option of unsubscribing by clicking “unsubscribe” in the bottom of the email we send to you or by contacting us.

For third party websites, please contact them directly to unsubscribe and/or opt out from their communications.

We are in compliance with the GDPR along with the email marketing service we use to collect your data.  

DO WE MAKE UPDATES TO THIS NOTICE?     

We may update this privacy notice from time to time. The updated version will be indicated by an updated "Revised" date and the updated version will be effective as soon as it is accessible. If we make material changes to this privacy notice, we may notify you either by prominently posting a notice of such changes or by directly sending you a notification. We encourage you to review this privacy notice frequently to be informed of how we are protecting your information.

HOW CAN YOU CONTACT US ABOUT THIS NOTICE?      

If you have questions or comments about this notice, contact us using our Contact form.