Privacy Policy – May 16, 2018

Sharon Gerlach is an independent author and freelance proofreader, editor, and formatter. Her website is http://www.sharongerlach.com.

The objectives of her work are to write novels, novellas, short stories, poetry, and articles and to provide writing services. Sharon Gerlach may collect personal data through a newsletter signup via Mailchimp for the purpose of sharing information with those people who are interested in her writing and services.

Sharon Gerlach is committed to protecting any data collected. This Privacy Policy sets out the details of any personal information Sharon Gerlach collects about you and how we use that information.

This Statement of Privacy applies to Sharon Gerlach’s website and governs data collection and usage. Any information collected by Sharon Gerlach may be shared safely and securely by the Mailchimp third Party App. Your details will only be shared with other reputable organizations (third-parties) for the purpose of delivering benefits such as offers, news and information about Sharon Gerlach’s writing and services.

Collection of Personal Data

The legal basis (EU General Data Protection Regulation 2018) for collection of your subscription personal data is consent. You chose to complete our Mailchimp sign-up form for contact at your request and consent. You may change your consent preferences at any time (as detailed below) and we are committed to keeping all data secure. If you supply contact details by another method and offer your personal data we will always ask for your consent to use it and you will be offered the same opportunities to change your preferences (as detailed below).

Contacting You

Sharon Gerlach asks you to supply your personal data so that she can contact you as requested by you. Information collected from subscribers will only be used for the purposes of contacting for and supplying of information, a newsletter, news of events and webinars, meetings and other services connected with Sharon Gerlach’s work from time to time.

The most information we need to fulfill contact requests is: names, address, telephone number, email address. We usually ask only for name and email address

Processing your data

Sharon Gerlach does not collect personal information by any ways that are not obvious to you and does not combine your data with external data. We do not use this information to profile you for sales targeting or any other purposes outside what you have agreed to by signing up to request information.

Changes to data, data requests and complaints

We store your information in a secure Mailchimp App. You can change your information online within the Mailchimp App and you can let us know if you want information changed, deleted or you wish to access you information by the following methods:

Mail       Sharon Gerlach, 1419 N Lee St, Spokane WA  99202

Email    author (at) sharongerlach (dot) com

And we promise that

• We will store the information you provide securely
• We will use this information to send you relevant information or to contact you about events, meetings and other information relating you your subscription
• We will only use your information for the purpose of your subscription and will not share your information with anyone else without your consent
• You may change or delete your information at any time by contacting the Sharon Gerlach by email or mail. We will make any changes as soon as possible, but within 30 days. You are able to unsubscribe from Mailchimp via the unsubscribe link in the footer.
• You may request to see the data we hold for you at any time by email or mail. We will answer such requests and provide this data by email or hard copy, as soon as possible, but within 30 days
• We are careful with your data, but if data is breached, we will inform you immediately.
• We will not ever use your details for automated decision-making or sales profiling
• We will only hold your data as long as you are subscribed and delete it securely as soon as possible, but within 30 days of ceasing subscription

Use of Personal Data

Sharon Gerlach protects the privacy of your information using a secure network and passwords. The information that you provide will be kept confidential and used to support your subscription.

Third Parties

Your details will only be shared with other reputable organizations (third-parties) for the purpose of delivering your subscription.

Otherwise, except for the purposes of law enforcement, regulation or legal proceedings, or with your explicit permission, Sharon Gerlach will not give or sell its subscribers’ and other contacts’ personal information to third parties.

Email Mailing List & Marketing Messages

We operate an email mailing list program, used to inform subscribers about services, news and events. Subscribers can unsubscribe at any time in the footer of sent messages. The type and content of messages subscribers receive are those connected with subscription services only, as requested when signing up. Our sign-up process includes a separate consent tick box.

Email messages may contain tracking beacons / tracked clickable links or similar server technologies in order to track subscriber activity within email marketing messages. Where used, such marketing messages may record a range of subscriber data relating to engagement, geographic, demographics and already stored subscriber data.

Our third party service provider is Mailchimp. You can read their privacy policies on their website.

Reporting

The information that you provide may be held and used by Sharon Gerlach for production of internal reports, for allocating you to the correct information and for sending information to you about her activities, services, and publications. You may change your preferences at any time by contacting us. Please see the section Changes to data and data requests and complaints if you would like to change your preferences.

Payments

If you wish to buy anything from Sharon Gerlach’s website, you will be directed to an external payment area via a link. No payments are taken via the website directly and no payment details are stored by Sharon Gerlach.

Tracking your behavior on the website

Subject to the preferences that you have indicated, Sharon Gerlach sends emails to its existing subscribers and contacts . Links included in these may be personalized to allow us to determine which subscribers and contacts followed such links.

All Web servers record each page request, together with the time and date, and the Internet (IP) address of the user who requested the page.

This website uses cookies to enhance the user’s experience while visiting the website. As required by legislation, where applicable this website uses a cookie control system, allowing the user to give explicit permission or to deny the use of /saving of cookies on their computer / device.

What are cookies? 

Cookies are small files saved to the user’s computer’s hard drive that track, save and store information about the user’s interactions and usage of the website. This allows the website, through its server to provide the users with a tailored experience within this website.

Users are advised that if they wish to deny the use and saving of cookies from this website on to their computers hard drive they should take necessary steps within their web browsers security settings to block all cookies from this website and its external serving vendors or use the cookie control system if available upon their first visit.

In addition, Sharon Gerlach uses Google Analytics, which records the pages requested from particular IP addresses using a small piece of code in the Web page.  This allows Sharon Gerlach to see general trends, such as which areas of the site are popular, the most frequent paths that users follow, and so on. This helps to improve the site for you in future.

Redirects

Sharon Gerlach links to other website that may offer external services. If you choose to receive information from other companies/organizations and later decide that you no longer want to receive further information, you should contact the relevant company/organization directly. You should be aware that, if you give any personal information to another company, the uses to which that information may be put will be determined by that company’s privacy policy. Sharon Gerlach’s privacy policy will no longer apply.

Sharon Gerlach encourages you to review the privacy statements of websites you choose to link to from Sharon Gerlach’s website so that you can understand how those websites collect, use, and share your information. Sharon Gerlach is not responsible for the privacy statements or other content on websites outside of Sharon Gerlach’s controlled website.

Social Media Policy & Usage

 We will never ask for user passwords or personal details on social media platforms. Users are advised to conduct themselves appropriately when engaging with us on social media.

There may be instances where our website features social sharing buttons, which help share web content directly from web pages to the respective social media platforms. You use social sharing buttons at your own discretion and accept that doing so may publish content to your social media profile feed or page. You can find further information about some social media privacy and usage policies in the Social Media Policy on request.

Your responsibilities

You must not share the password for your account for Sharon Gerlach’s contact signup apps. Your passwords are your responsibility, and must not be disclosed to any third party. This is important for your own protection and that of your personal data.

If you access the Sharon Gerlach’s website from a computer that can be used by any other person, such as those at work or at college or in an Internet café, there are some basic guidelines to follow:

• Be aware of others close by who may try to take note of your username and password
• Never leave the computer unattended when you are logged on to your account
• At the end of your Internet session, use the Logout link that appears on every page; you should also delete cookies and files, and always close the Web browser correctly using the exit button or File – Close/Exit.

Sharon Gerlach recommends that you do not use the ‘Remember Me’ logon option wherever computers are shared and/or in a public place. If you suspect that your password or account information has been compromised, please inform us promptly and change your password.

Updates to this policy

The privacy of subscribers and visitors is important to Sharon Gerlach. This policy will be kept under continual review, and changes may be made from time to time.

Contacting us about this policy

We welcome questions or comments about this statement and how we collect and use your data. Please direct any comments to author (at) sharongerlach (dot) com.