We respects your concerns about privacy and values the relationship we have with you. This Privacy Policy describes our privacy practices with respect to information collected through our websites, applications, the various social networking platforms we use, and any other online service that links to this Privacy Policy, including any websites and online services we operate on behalf of our authors (collectively referred to as the “Sites”). This Privacy Policy does not apply to information that you may provide to us other than through our Sites, such as over the phone, by mail, or in person unless expressly indicated by us (e.g., by including a link to this Privacy Policy).
Please review our full Privacy Policy below before using our Sites. In particular, please review the sections: What Information We Collect About You (including information about cookies and similar technologies), How We Use Your Information, and Who We Share Your Information With. By using our Sites, you are accepting the practices described in this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms of this Privacy Policy, please do not use the Sites. We reserve the right to modify or amend the terms of our Privacy Policy from time to time without notice. Your continued use of our Sites following the posting of changes to these terms will mean you accept those changes.
WHAT INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU
The information collected when you interact with our Sites falls into two categories: (1) Personal information you voluntarily provide such as your name, address, email address, and credit card number; and (2) non-personal information collected through technology, which includes tracking information collected by us as well as third parties.
Personal Information You Provide Directly To Us:
We may ask you to provide your personal information, demographic information or information about your preferences or interests when you:
Register for an account on the Sites
Sign up to receive email newsletters from us
Make a purchase on the Sites
Enter a contest or sweepstakes
Participate in surveys or special promotions
Participate on social media accounts involving our authors, books or brands
Participate in communities or forums on the Sites
Submit user generated content on any part of the Sites that permit it
Knowingly volunteer information on any other part of the Sites (e.g., request for customer service, submit a job application)
Non-Personal Information Collected Using Technology:
In addition to any information you provide directly to us, we and our third party service providers may use a variety of technologies that automatically collect certain tracking information when you interact with the Sites or emails sent to you. By using our Sites, you consent to our use of tracking technologies as described below:
Device Information
We may collect certain information about your computer or other device that you use to access the Sites, including IP address, geolocation information, unique device identifiers, browser type, browser language, and other transactional information.
Usage Information
We may log certain information about your use of the Sites (e.g., log files, clickstream data, a reading history of the pages you view, your search terms and search results) and additional “traffic data” (e.g., time of access, date of access, software crash reports, session identification number, access times, referring website addresses).
Location Information
Some of our Sites may deliver content based on your current location if you choose to enable that feature of the Site (e.g., enabling location tracking settings on your mobile device or browser). If you enable the location-based feature, your current location will be stored locally on your device, which will then be used by the Site. If you elect to have a location-based search saved to your history, we will store that information on our servers. If you do not enable the location-based service, or if a Site does not have that feature, the Site will not transmit to us, and we will not collect or store, location information.
Cookies, Web Beacons, Local Storage and Other Similar Technologies
We and the third party service providers with whom we work may place, view, and/or use cookies, web beacons, local storage objects or similar technologies to collect information about your use of the Sites and other websites. This information may include information about the web pages you view, the links you click and other actions you take on our Sites and in response to our advertising or email newsletters. We and our third party service providers use the information collected for various reasons, including to remember you and your preferences, track your use of our Sites, facilitate your payment transactions, manage access to and use of the Sites, and provide a personalized experience.
A “cookie” is a small text file stored on your computer or other device when you visit certain web pages that record your preferences and actions. Most web browsers automatically accept cookies, but, if you prefer, you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. However, please note that refusing a cookie may limit your access to or use of the Sites.
We may use local storage objects such as “HTML5” (the language some websites are coded in) to store information on your computer or device about your Site usage activities. This information can be retrieved by us to determine how our Sites are being used by our visitors, how they can be improved, and to customize them for our users.
Targeted Advertising
We may allow third parties to use cookies, web beacons and similar technologies to better understand your behavior and browsing activities, so that we can serve you targeted advertising while you are on our Sites and display our ads to you when you visit other third party sites. For example, we work with third party network advertisers who may set these technologies to better provide advertisements about goods and services that may be of interest to you. We do not control these third party technologies, and they are not subject to this Privacy Policy. We do not authorize these third party network advertisers to use this technology to collect personal information about you and they do not have access to your personal information from us.
HOW WE USE YOUR INFORMATION
We use the information we learn about you to help us personalize and continually improve your experience with us. We may use your personal information and non-personal information in the following ways:
General Uses
Provide you with the products and services you request
Post your user generated content to our Sites as you request
Communicate with you about your account or transactions with us and send you information about features on our Sites
Communicate with you about changes to our policies
Send you newsletters, offers and promotions for our products and services, third party products and services, or special events by email or another medium
Personalize content and experiences on our Sites and within emails sent to you, including providing you recommendations based on your preferences
Serve you targeted advertising, both on our Sites and elsewhere online, based on information we previously collected from you, including your activity on the Sites or activity on third party sites and applications
Administer our loyalty programs
Administer contests, sweepstakes, promotions, and surveys
Optimize or improve our products, services and operations
Detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies or be illegal
Perform statistical, demographic, and marketing analyses of users of the Sites and recipients of our emails, including browsing and purchasing patterns
Send-a-friend communications (in these cases, we only use the friend’s email address to send the friend the email or card – we do not store the friend’s email address for any longer than reasonably necessary to send the email or card to the friend)
Combination of Your Information
To perform the above functions, we may match information collected from you through different means or at different times, including both personal information and non-personal information, and use such information along with information collected from other sources (including third parties), such as demographic information and updated contact information. We or our third party service providers may also use your information to assess the level of interest in, and use of the Sites, our emails, and our other campaigns both on an individual basis and in the aggregate. We may also use and/or combine information we collect off-line or from third party sources to check the accuracy of, enhance and supplement your user records, and to better customize your experience with us.
WHO WE SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH
Except as disclosed in this Privacy Policy, we do not use or disclose your personal information to any companies not part of our family of companies. Although, as disclosed below, we may provide your personal information to our business partners, in no event will we sell or rent your personal information as part of a customer list or similar transaction without your express permission. We may share non-personally identifiable site usage information (including aggregate data) with others, for their own use, in a form that does not include your personal information.
Third Party Service Providers
We have third party service providers that perform functions on our behalf, such as hosting, billing, marketing, analytics, customer service, fraud protection, etc. These entities have access to your personal information only as needed to perform their functions and they are obligated to maintain the confidentiality and security of that personal information. They are obligated not to use, sell, distribute or alter this information in any way other than to provide the requested services to the Sites.
Third Parties With Whom We Do Business
We may share your personal information with certain third parties with whom we do business, such as our authors or promotional co-sponsors, so that they can provide you with special offers, promotional materials, and similar materials that may be of interest to you. Although our treatment of your personal information is governed by this Privacy Policy, the third party’s treatment of your personal information will be governed by its privacy policy. You may withdraw your consent to our sharing of your personal information with such third parties at any time by sending us an email.
SECURITY OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
We takes reasonable steps to help protect and secure your personal information. However, please remember that no data storage or data transmission over the Internet, or by other means, can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Thus, We cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit to us. Therefore, you understand, acknowledge and agree that you transmit your personal information to our Sites at your own risk.
THIRD PARTY CONTENT AND LINKS TO THIRD PARTY WEBSITES
Our Sites may contain content hosted or served by third parties or link to websites operated by affiliates of ours or third parties. Please be advised that the practices described in this Privacy Policy do not apply to information gathered by these third parties. We are not responsible for the actions and privacy policies employed by any third party, and our hosting of third party content or linking to third party websites does not constitute an endorsement of the content or business practices of those third parties.
PUBLIC AREAS, FORUMS, REVIEWS, AND COMMUNITY AREAS
Please remember that any information you share in public areas, such as forums, message boards or feedback sections, becomes public and anyone may take and use that information. Please be careful about what you disclose and do not post any personal information that you expect to keep private. Please consult our Terms of Use and the applicable guidelines, if any, for use of our forums and other community areas for more information.
ASSIGNMENT
We may change our ownership or corporate organization while providing the Sites. We may also sell certain assets associated with the Sites. As a result, please be aware that in such event we may transfer some or all of your information to a company acquiring all or part of our assets or to another company with which we have merged. Under such circumstances we would, to the extent possible, require the acquiring party to follow the practices described in this Privacy Policy, as it may be amended from time to time. Nevertheless, we cannot ensure that an acquiring company or the merged company will have the same privacy practices or treat your information the same as described in this Privacy Policy.
RIGHTS WITH RESPECT TO YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION
Depending on the jurisdiction, you may have the right to access, correct, delete, restrict use of or receive a copy of, certain information covered by this Privacy Policy. Depending on the jurisdiction, you may also have the right to request that we refrain from processing such information. Please bear in mind that if you exercise such rights this may affect our ability to provide our products and services. You may review, update or modify certain of the personal information that is stored in your user account on the Site (if you have one) by logging into the “My Account” or similar area of the Site. You can also contact us at our email id given on our contact us page on wesbite. While we will make reasonable efforts to accommodate your request, we also reserve the right to impose certain restrictions and requirements on your requests, if allowed or required by applicable laws.
CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY POLICY
As our Sites continue to develop, we may add new services and features to them. In the event that these additions affect our Privacy Policy, or if other changes in our privacy practices or applicable laws necessitate changes to the Privacy Policy, this document will be updated accordingly. If we make a material change in the way we use your personal information, we will provide prominent notice of the change on the Sites or in an email to you. We will not, however, materially change our policies and practices to make them less protective of personal information we have previously collected from you without your express consent.
HOW TO OPT-OUT OF EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
You may always opt-out of receiving future commercial emails and newsletters from us. We provide you with the opportunity to opt-out of receiving such communications from us by clicking on the “unsubscribe” link within the email you receive. You may also opt out of receiving further communications from us by sending us a message at our email id as given on contact us page on our website. Please note that your request not to receive unsolicited commercial emails from us will not apply to messages that you request or that are not commercial in nature. For example, we may contact you concerning any purchases you have made with us, even if you opt out of receiving unsolicited commercial messages.
HOW TO CONTACT US
If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, you may contact us by visiting the website contact us page.
