1. Scope; the Operator
This Privacy Policy describes how personal information is collected, used, and disclosed in connection with enterthethinplaces.com (the “Site”), the marketing website for The Thin Places book series. The Site is operated by Ace Works, the publisher of the series (“we,” “us,” or the “Operator”). By accessing or using the Site, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy and accept the collection of usage data by PostHog described in Section 2.2. By submitting the newsletter form, you additionally accept the handling of your email address by Kit described in Section 4, and by submitting the reader feedback form, the handling of your feedback by Airtable described in Section 4. This Policy does not apply to third-party websites, including the retailer sites the Site links to, which maintain their own privacy practices.
2. Information we collect
2.1 Information you provide. You may provide information through two optional forms. (a) The newsletter signup form collects an email address. (b) The reader feedback form on the sample chapter page, open to adults 18 and older only, collects your answers to three multiple-choice questions (how much of the chapter was read, whether the reader wants to continue, and who was reading), an optional written comment, confirmation that you are 18 or older, and, only if you tick the box agreeing to one follow-up question, an email address. Each feedback response is stored with the date and time it was sent and, where the visit came from one of our advertisements or from a link on the Site, a label naming that advertisement or page. Reading the chapter never requires submitting anything. The Site offers no user accounts or on-site purchasing, and does not request or collect names, postal addresses, payment information, or any category of sensitive personal information; please leave names and other private details out of feedback comments.
2.2 Information collected automatically. When you visit the Site, the hosting provider records the IP address, requested page, and browser details of each request in server logs, which are used to serve pages and protect the Site from abuse. The Site also uses PostHog, an analytics service, to collect usage information such as pages viewed, links and buttons clicked (including which retailer link was selected), how far down the sample chapter a visitor scrolls, which of our advertisements or pages referred the visit, referring pages, approximate general location derived from IP address, and browser and device characteristics. Click identifiers that advertising platforms add to links (such as Facebook’s fbclid) are masked before any usage data is sent and are not stored. Feedback answers, comments, and email addresses are never sent to PostHog. In addition, when you confirm a newsletter subscription, the email service provider records the IP address and timestamp of the confirmation as the record of consent.
2.3 Categories. For the purposes of laws that classify personal information by category, the Site collects: (a) identifiers (email address; IP address); (b) internet or other electronic network activity information (the usage data described in Section 2.2); and (c) the opinions you choose to share in the reader feedback form (Section 2.1(b)). No other categories are collected.
3. How information is used
Personal information is used solely to: (a) deliver the email newsletter you requested, including news about the books and the series; (b) maintain the record of your subscription consent; (c) understand how the Site is used and improve it; (d) learn which readers connect with the sample chapter and which of our advertisements reach them, from feedback responses; (e) send one follow-up question about the sample chapter, only to an email address given with the follow-up box ticked; and (f) comply with applicable law. An email address given for a follow-up question is not added to the newsletter. Personal information is not used for targeted advertising, is not used to build profiles for any third party, and neither the newsletter list nor feedback responses are combined with analytics data.
4. How information is shared
Personal information is disclosed only to the following service providers, acting on the Operator’s behalf and under contractual limitations on their use of the data: (a) Kit (formerly ConvertKit), which stores the subscriber list and sends the newsletter (see kit.com/privacy); (b) PostHog, which processes the analytics data described above; (c) Airtable, which stores reader feedback responses (see airtable.com/company/privacy); and (d) Vercel, which hosts the Site, passes feedback responses to Airtable, and processes the server logs described in Section 2.2. Personal information may also be disclosed if required by law, legal process, or to protect legal rights, and may be transferred to a successor if the Site or the series is sold, assigned, or otherwise transferred, in which case this Policy will continue to apply to it. Personal information is never sold, rented, or traded, and is not shared for cross-context behavioral advertising.
5. Cookies, local storage, and tracking
The Site sets no advertising cookies. PostHog may set a cookie or use browser local storage to recognize a returning browser for analytics purposes; the cookie persists for up to one year. On the sample chapter page, PostHog sets no cookie and stores nothing in the browser, so a returning browser is not recognized there. The Site itself sets two functional local storage values, named tp-newsletter-done and tp-slidein-dismissed: one recording that you have already subscribed to the newsletter and one recording that you dismissed the signup prompt. These values contain no personal information, are not transmitted to any server, and persist until you clear them. The sample chapter page also sets two session storage values, named tp-read-campaign and tp-read-ref, recording which of our advertisements or pages brought you there, so that a page refresh does not lose it; they contain no personal information and are erased when you close the tab. You may block or delete cookies and local storage through your browser settings; the Site remains usable if you do. The Site does not respond to browser “Do Not Track” signals, for which no common standard exists. Because the Site does not sell or share personal information, no sale or sharing opt-out mechanism is required or provided, and a Global Privacy Control signal does not change how the Site treats your information. If that practice ever changes, this Policy will be updated and an opt-out, including recognition of the Global Privacy Control signal, will be provided before the change takes effect.
6. Children’s privacy
The books marketed on this Site are written for young readers, but the Site and the newsletter are directed to adults: parents, guardians, teachers, librarians, and adult readers. The Site is not directed to children under 13, and the Operator does not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. Children under 13 should not submit an email address; a parent or guardian may subscribe on a child’s behalf. Anyone may read the sample chapter, but the reader feedback form is for adults 18 and older only, including an adult describing a child’s reading; it asks for no information about the child. If the Operator learns that personal information has been collected from a child under 13, it will be deleted promptly. A parent or guardian who believes a child has submitted personal information may contact legal@enterthethinplaces.com and the information will be removed.
7. Data retention
Newsletter email addresses are retained while the subscription is active. When you unsubscribe, the email service provider keeps your address only on a suppression list so that you are not emailed again; you may instead request full deletion, which is executed with the provider promptly. The consent record is retained as long as the subscription is active, as evidence of consent. Reader feedback responses, including any follow-up email address, are retained until the reader research study they were collected for has ended, and are then deleted or reduced to aggregate totals that identify no one; you may request deletion of your own response sooner. Analytics data is retained for a limited period consistent with the analytics provider’s settings and then deleted or aggregated. Server logs are retained by the hosting provider for a short period under its own retention practices.
8. Your rights and choices
Regardless of where you live, you may: (a) unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the link included in every email, with immediate effect; (b) request access to the personal information held about you; (c) request correction or deletion of that information; (d) receive a copy of the information you provided in a portable form; (e) object to processing based on legitimate interest; and (f) withdraw consent to processing based on consent. Requests may be made free of charge to legal@enterthethinplaces.com and will be honored within a reasonable time, subject to verification that the request concerns your own information.
9. Notice to California residents
This section supplements the rest of this Policy for California residents. In the preceding 12 months, the Site has collected the categories of personal information identified in Section 2.3 (identifiers; internet or other electronic network activity information; opinions shared in reader feedback), from you directly and automatically from your browser, for the business purposes described in Section 3, retains them for the periods described in Section 7, and has disclosed them only to the service providers identified in Section 4. The Site does not sell personal information and does not share personal information for cross-context behavioral advertising, and has not done either in the preceding 12 months. It does not collect sensitive personal information and does not use or disclose personal information for purposes other than those described in this Policy.
Subject to applicable law, California residents have the right to: know and access the personal information collected about them; delete personal information; correct inaccurate personal information; and not receive discriminatory treatment for exercising these rights. The Operator may fall below the thresholds at which the California Consumer Privacy Act applies to a business, but honors requests to access, correct, and delete from any resident regardless. Requests may be submitted to legal@enterthethinplaces.com. California Civil Code Section 1798.83 (“Shine the Light”) permits requests for information about disclosures to third parties for their direct marketing purposes; the Site makes no such disclosures.
10. Notice to visitors in the EU, UK, and EEA
Where the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation applies, the Operator is the controller of the personal information described in this Policy. The legal basis for processing your email address is your consent, evidenced by the double opt-in confirmation, which you may withdraw at any time; the legal basis for processing a reader feedback response, and any follow-up email address given with it, is your consent in choosing to submit it; the legal basis for analytics processing and server logging is legitimate interest in understanding, improving, and securing the Site, or consent where required. The service providers identified in Section 4 are located in the United States, so your information is transferred to and processed there. Those transfers rely on the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent lawful safeguard incorporated in each provider’s data processing terms; details are available on request. You additionally have the right to lodge a complaint with your local supervisory authority.
11. Security
The Site is a static website and stores no personal information on its own infrastructure: the reader feedback form passes each response directly to Airtable without keeping a copy, and its contents are not written to server logs. Personal information is held by the service providers identified in Section 4, each of which maintains its own administrative, technical, and physical safeguards. Reasonable measures are used in the selection of those providers; however, no method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and absolute security cannot be guaranteed.
12. Changes to this policy
This Policy may be updated from time to time. The current version will always be posted at this address with its effective date; material changes affecting subscribers will additionally be announced by email. Continued use of the Site after a revised Policy is posted constitutes acceptance of the revision.
13. Contact
Questions, requests, and complaints concerning this Policy or your personal information may be directed to legal@enterthethinplaces.com.