Privacy policy

This site is run by James Robertson, an author in Birmingham. It publishes his fiction a chapter at a time, free to read.

This notice explains what the site does with personal information. It is written in plain English because you should be able to understand it without a solicitor.

In short: if you join the mailing list we keep your email address and a record that you agreed to receive chapters. We don't track you, there are no advertising cookies, and we sell nothing to anyone.

Who is responsible

James Robertson is the data controller for this site. You can reach him at james@jamesrobertsonauthor.com about anything in this notice.

If you join the mailing list

When you sign up we store:

• Your email address, so we can send you chapters.
• The exact wording you agreed to, copied word for word at the moment you ticked the box.
• When you agreed, and the internet address (IP) you agreed from.
• Where on the site you signed up, and which chapter you were reading at the time, if any.

The first is so we can write to you. The middle three exist because the law requires us to be able to show that you agreed, what you agreed to, and when. The last is so we know which parts of the site are worth keeping.

We use your address only to send you the story and news about it. We do not sell it, rent it, swap it, or pass it to anyone for their own marketing.

You have to confirm before we send anything

After signing up you get one email asking you to confirm. Until you click that link, we send you nothing else. If you never confirm, the address is never used.

Leaving

Every email has an unsubscribe link, and it works immediately with no questions and no login.

When you unsubscribe we stop sending and keep a record that you were once subscribed and have now left. That record is what stops us mailing you again by mistake, and it is the evidence that we had your permission while we were writing to you.

If you would rather be erased entirely, say so and we will delete everything, including that record. Ask at james@jamesrobertsonauthor.com.

Cookies

There are no advertising or analytics cookies on this site, and no tracking pixels. We do not use Google Analytics or anything like it. That is why you have not been asked to accept cookies — there is nothing to accept.

The site sets exactly one cookie, called admin_session, and only for the author and the people who help run the site when they sign in to manage it. It keeps them signed in for fourteen days. If you are just reading, you will never receive it.

Reading the site

Like every website, this one runs on a web server that records requests: the page asked for, the time, your IP address, and which browser you are using. These logs exist to keep the site working and to spot abuse. Nobody builds a profile from them, they are not linked to your email address, and they are overwritten as new ones fill up.

Who else is involved

• EmailOctopus stores the mailing list and sends the emails. Their sending runs on infrastructure in the EU.
• IONOS provides the server the site runs on, in the UK.

Both act on our instructions. Nobody else receives your details.

Links to Patreon, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok are ordinary links out. If you follow one, that company decides what it collects, under its own policy — not this one.

How long we keep things

• If you are subscribed: for as long as you stay subscribed.
• If you never confirmed: the address is deleted after 30 days.
• If you unsubscribe: we keep the minimum record described above for two years, then delete it.
• Backups: the site's database is backed up nightly and each backup is kept for about a fortnight, so a deleted record can persist in a backup for that long before it ages out.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you can ask us to:

• show you what we hold about you;
• correct it if it is wrong;
• delete it;
• stop using it;
• hand it over in a portable form, or send it to someone else.

Ask at james@jamesrobertsonauthor.com and we will respond within a month. There is no charge.

Because we only ever send you things you have asked for, you can also simply withdraw your consent at any time using the unsubscribe link, without needing to ask anyone.

If you think we have got this wrong, you can complain to the Information Commissioner's Office at ico.org.uk, or by calling 0303 123 1113. We would rather you told us first so we can put it right.

Changes

If this notice changes in a way that affects you, we will say so in an email to the list rather than quietly editing the page.