The deal is this: you respect my privacy, I respect yours.
I have a fairly strong preference for privacy. I don’t want to collect information about you simply because technology makes it possible. If I don’t need it, I don’t want it.
This website is a place for essays and reviews about fiction, literature, and the strange ways art shapes how we see the world. It is not a social network, an advertising platform, or a particularly elaborate surveillance operation.
What information I collect
If you subscribe to my newsletter, I collect your email address.
That’s it. I do not ask you for your name, postal address, telephone number, interests, or other personal information.
I use your email address to let you know when a new essay is published and to give you a brief idea of what it is about. The newsletter will also be used to announce the publication of my novel and provide occasional relevant updates.
The newsletter
My newsletter is delivered using Buttondown.
When you subscribe, Buttondown processes your email address so that the newsletter can be delivered to you. The subscription uses email confirmation (double opt-in): after entering your address, you will receive a confirmation email and need to confirm your subscription before it is completed.
I have disabled newsletter open and click tracking. I am not interested in knowing whether you opened an email, clicked a link, or read an essay at three in the morning while you were supposed to be doing something else.
I also do not use your newsletter subscription to build a profile of your interests or activity.
You can unsubscribe from the newsletter at any time using the unsubscribe link included in newsletter emails.
This website
There is no comments section and no user registration on this website.
I do not use Google Analytics, advertising trackers, social-media tracking tools, or similar services to monitor your activity on this site.
Like any website, this site may process certain technical information necessary to deliver and secure the site, such as information associated with a web request or connection. This is technical information required for operating the website, not a system I use to track your reading habits.
Cookies
This website does not use advertising or analytics cookies.
WordPress and the services used to operate the website may use technically necessary cookies or similar technologies where required for the site to function, for example for administrative functions or security.
Who I share information with
I do not sell, rent, or trade your personal information.
Your newsletter email address is processed by Buttondown, which provides the newsletter delivery service.
Apart from services necessary to operate this website and newsletter, I do not share your personal information with third parties for advertising or marketing purposes.
How long information is kept
Your newsletter subscription remains in Buttondown while you are subscribed or until it is otherwise removed in accordance with Buttondown’s systems and policies.
If you unsubscribe, you will no longer receive newsletter updates from me.
Your choices
You are free to subscribe or not subscribe.
If you subscribe and later change your mind, you can unsubscribe at any time using the unsubscribe link included in the newsletter.
That’s it. No forms, no questionnaires, no membership accounts, no exit interview.
Changes to this policy
If the way this website or newsletter handles personal information changes, I will update this page.
For now, the principle is simple:
I don’t need to know much about you to let you know what’s new here. So I won’t ask to know much about you.