I do hereby solemnly promise not to use any information that you provide on my website to purchase products, request information, or contact me in any way, for any of my evil plots (book or real world plots)!

Collection and storage of your info…

My website may collect and store your info for purchases, email contact, or website traffic data. All third party plugins or systems on my site meet all current laws and requirements for safely collecting and storing your data.

Cookies, Breadcrumbs and other stalking…

Yum! Oh wait…they’re telling me not THOSE cookies. <sigh>

Apparently this is supposed to be about the information that is collected from your computer when you visit my site. A cookie allows my website (actually Google Analytics and maybe even Facebook Pixels and other third parties) to gather data like where you live (general location, I’m not coming to your house to stalk you into writing a book with me), how you found my site, what you viewed while you were here, etc. This all really has only one purpose, for me to ensure that you are getting information that you need while you’re on my site or through possible future advertising.

All that said, none of these things tell me, “hey, Suzy Q. was here at 2am watching your videos and listening to your podcasts.” I’m definitely not that into Big Brother. What it stores is not personal info, but your IP address which provides geographical and browsing data for the time you are visiting my site. If you prefer to be completely anonymous, you can block cookies on your browser (you’ll need to Google that yourself I’m afraid), and then you can spend entirely too long staring at the covers of my books. No judgment here. They’re pretty awesome!

exactly how i will use your data…

As I mentioned before, no evil plots. Any data provided is only used to improve your experience on my site or to provide you with information that may be relevant to you based on your previous visits. Your information may be stored in the following third party programs:

Mailchimp / Active Campaign – These are email marketing systems that allow me to send you the information you request when you enter your email and name on my website. It also allows me to send you regular emails (about 4 times a month with special emails in between here and there) with tips on writing and other super awesome stuff that you can easily opt out of at anytime. WARNING – these email systems do track your actions so…if you open an email, it tells me. If you click on a link, I can see that too. It’s not a stalker thing (seriously, who has time for that stuff>). Again, it just allows me to see what you do and do not want to see from me in your inbox.

WooCommerce / Intuit – These are my website shopping cart and accounting systems, respectively. These aren’t your fly-by-night, running the store out of a trunk type of systems. Only the best for my friends (we are friends, right?)! Seriously, I use reputable companies to manage my store and payments so that your information is as safe as possible. What this also means is that I never store your bank or credit card details on my own website. I never even SEE it! When you make a purchase, it is run through Intuit’s payment gateway and all information is stored on their very secure servers.

Opting Out – It’s your right…

Ok, it’s no secret that I’m not all warm and fuzzy. If you don’t want to get my emails, PLEASE unsubscribe. You do know these systems charge by how many people are on your list, right? So, if you don’t want to read my emails, I certainly don’t want to pay for you not to! All of my emails include an unsubscribe link at the bottom so you can easily click and never hear from me again. Simple as that!

IMPORTANT NOTE – If you’ve signed up for a free or paid course from me, and you unsubscribe from my emails, you may lose access to the course or free information. If you do not want to receive marketing or newsletters from me but would like to remain in courses, please email me directly at christine@christine-ink.com and I’ll get you all set!

Being Social…

Have you met me? Of course I use social media! Doesn’t everyone?

I offer a special Facebook group for authors (psssst, that’s a link to the super awesome group if you want to join it) and, if we become friends on Facebook I may invite you to that group and I may also follow you on Twitter, Instagram or other channels (if you find that creepy just refuse the request, remove my follow, or tell me to buzz off!) I also sometimes promote courses or free gifts or even just a plain ol’ blog post via Facebook or other social outlets either as a regular posting or as paid advertising. If you’ve liked my page, visited my site, or done anything that made one of those Big Brothery trackers take an interest in your IP on my behalf, you may see some of those ads.

All Set?

Great! Hope this is all clear as mud. If not and you have any questions, shoot me an email to christine@chrisine-ink.com and I’ll ask someone who knows the answers and get back to you!