Privacy Policy

1.  INTRODUCTION

1.1 This privacy notice (Privacy Notice) sets out the ways in which we, (we, us, our), collect and use your personal data (your personal information) in connection with our businesses. It also explains what rights you have to access or change your personal data.

1.2 We appreciate that you may be reading this Privacy Notice for a range of reasons. You may be a reader/purchaser, an author, a service provider or prospective employee, or a Consumer Insight participant (each a Group).

1.3 Paragraphs 1 to 11 of this Privacy Notice apply to you, no matter who you are. However, depending on which Group you fall into, specific information in relation to our use of your personal data is set out in the sections below.

1.4 Where we refer to the website in this policy, we are referring to any of these websites.

2.  ABOUT US

2.1 We a company registered in England under company numbers (11503460)

2.2 You can contact as follows:

Email: enquiries@spiritlandproductions.com

3. INFORMATION WE COLLECT ABOUT YOU

3.1 The following applies to all opt-ins:

3.2.1 if you are a visitor to this website we will collect certain information about how you use our website and the device that you use to access our website. This might include your IP address, geographical location, device information (such as your hardware model, mobile network information, unique device identifiers), browser type, referral source, length of visit to the website, number of page views, the search queries you make on the website and similar information. This information may be collected by a third-party website analytics service provider on our behalf and/or may be collected by third parties (such as Facebook) using cookies which are active on our website.

3.2.2 if you contact us (whether using a query button on our website or by email, telephone, or social media), we will collect any information contained in any correspondence between us.

3.2.3 if you upload or post to any website account and/or any correspondence or interactions that you may have with other website account holders, we will collect that information.

3.3 If you follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, we may also, in accordance with the privacy policies of those social media platforms, collect information about other people that you follow, or interact with, on social media.

3.4 In certain circumstances, we will receive information about you from third parties. For example, if you have indicated to such third party that you would like to hear from us.

4.  THE BASIS ON WHICH WE PROCESS YOUR INFORMATION

4.1 We will only ever use your personal data on the following grounds:

4.1.1 performance of your contract with us and the provision of our services to you;

4.1.2 your consent (where we request it);

4.1.3 our legitimate interests (see paragraph 4.5 below); or

4.1.4 compliance with our legal obligations.

4.2 No matter which Group you fall into, we may use your information:

4.2.1 to provide you with access to our website in a manner convenient and optimal and with personalised content relevant to you, including sharing your information with our website hosts and developers (on the basis of our legitimate interest to ensure our website is presented in an effective and optimal manner);

4.2.2  to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorised, or illegal activity, (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so); and/or

4.2.3 to enable us to comply with our policies and procedures and enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees  and share your information with our technical and legal advisors (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so).

4.3  We may also collect information about you (such as your IP address) from your use of our website and share this with social media platforms (such as Facebook), so that, if you use such platform, they may select and serve relevant adverts to you and others who are similar to you. More information can be found in our Cookie Policy. To disable the Facebook cookie so that we cannot collect information about you, please consult your Facebook settings. 

4.4 Where we refer to using your information on the basis of our “legitimate interests”, we mean our legitimate business interests in conducting and managing our business and our relationship with you, including the legitimate interest we have in:

4.5.1 personalising, enhancing, modifying or otherwise improving the services and/or communications that we provide to you;

4.5.2 detecting and preventing fraud and operating a safe and lawful business; and/or

4.5.3 improving security and optimisation of our network, sites and services.

4.6 Where we use your information for our legitimate interests, we make sure that we take into account any potential impact that such use may have on you. Our legitimate interests don’t automatically override yours and we won’t use your information if we believe your interests should override ours unless we have other grounds to do so (such as your consent or a legal obligation). If you have any concerns about our processing, please refer to details of “Your Rights” in paragraph 9 below.

5.  WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

5.1 In connection with the purposes and on the lawful grounds described above, we may share your personal information with third parties.  These include:

5.1.1 third parties we work with to deliver our business (including for example third party providers of services including: hosting, operating or developing the website and our databases, site and app analytics, digital advertising and marketing, information storage, and technical assistance).

5.1.2 any selected third party that you consent to our sharing your information with for marketing purposes;

5.1.3 any member of our group, which means our subsidiaries, our ultimate group holding company and its subsidiaries, as defined in section 1159 of the UK Companies Act 2006; 

5.1.4 any prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets, only in the event that we decide to sell or buy any business or assets; and/or

5.1.5 any other third parties (including legal or other advisors, regulatory authorities, courts and government agencies) where necessary to enable us to enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees or where such disclosure may be permitted or required by law.

7. HOW WE LOOK AFTER YOUR INFORMATION AND HOW LONG WE KEEP IT FOR

7.1 We operate a policy of “privacy by design” by looking for opportunities to minimise the amount of personal information we hold about you.   We use appropriate technological and operational security measures to protect your information against any unauthorised access or unlawful use, such as:

7.1.1 ensuring the physical security of our offices, warehouses or other sites;

7.1.2 ensuring the physical and digital security of our equipment and devices by using appropriate password protection and encryption;

7.1.3 maintaining a data protection policy for, and delivering data protection training to, our employees; and

7.1.4 limiting access to your personal information to those in our company who need to use it in the course of their work.

7.2 We will retain your information for as long as it is current (i.e. it is necessary to provide you with the services that you have requested from us). We may, however, retain the information for longer periods where it may reasonably be required for legal proceedings, to deal with tax issues, or where we are permitted to do so for purposes of academic, literary expression and research purposes. We operate a data retention policy and look to find ways to reduce the amount of information we hold about you and the length of time that we need to keep it.

8. INTERNATIONAL TRANSFERS OF YOUR INFORMATION

8.1 Our businesses are located in the United Kingdom whom we may share your personal information.  

8.2 Your personal information will generally not be processed outside of the European Economic Area (EEA), except where we are sharing your information with one of our group companies or where we use a third-party service provider with servers located outside the EEA.  We take all steps necessary to ensure that any of your information which is passed is adequately protected and processed in accordance with this Privacy Notice, including but not limited to using all appropriate cross-border transfer solutions such as the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses or the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework.  By way of example the steps we take in relation to some of these territories are as follows:

8.2.1 USA, Australia, China and India group companies: personal information is transferred via the European Commission’s Standard Contractual Clauses; and

8.2.2 New Zealand and Canada group companies: the European Commission has determined that personal data can safely be exported to these territories without any further safeguards in place.

8.3 In addition, if you are a reader or purchaser who has purchased, or wishes to purchase a product from us, we may supply your personal information to:

(a) an e-commerce service provider in the USA via the EU-US Privacy Shield Framework;

(b) an e-commerce service provider in Australia via the Standard Contractual Clauses.

9. YOUR RIGHTS TO THE INFORMATION WE HOLD ABOUT YOU

9.1 You have certain rights in respect of the information that we hold about you, including:

9.1.1 the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes;

9.1.2 the right to request access to the information that we hold about you; and

9.1.3 in certain circumstances, the right to ask us to stop processing information about you.

9.2 You may exercise your rights above by contacting us using the details in paragraph 2of this Privacy Notice, or in the case of preventing processing for marketing activities also by not giving us consent where we ask for it, unsubscribing or otherwise updating your marketing preferences via your account with us.

9.3 Please note that we may need to retain certain information for our own record-keeping and research purposes. We may also need to send you service-related communications relating to any website user account even when you have requested not to receive marketing communications.

9.4 Please note that you are entitled to request one detailed summary of any information we are holding about you in accordance with paragraph 9.1.2 at no cost, but for any further summaries, we reserve the right to charge a reasonable fee based on administration costs.

9.5 From 25 May 2018, in accordance with new data protection laws which will be in force from that date, you will have certain additional rights in respect of the information that we hold about you, including:

9.5.1 the right to lodge a complaint about us to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (https://ico.org.uk/) or the relevant authority in your country of work or residence;

9.5.2 the right to withdraw your consent for our use of your information in reliance of your consent (refer to paragraph 4 and the relevant Group sections of this Privacy Notice to see when we are relying on your consent), which you can do by contacting us using any of the details at the top of this Privacy Notice;

9.5.3 the right to object to our using your information on the basis of our legitimate interests (refer to paragraph 4 and the relevant Group sections of this Privacy Notice to see when we are relying on our legitimate interests;

9.5.4 the right to receive a copy of any information we hold about you in connection with the performance of our contract with you or on the basis of your consent (or request that we transfer this to another service provider) in a structured, commonly-used, machine readable format; and

9.5.5 the right to ask us to rectify, limit, cease processing or erase information we hold about you in certain circumstances.

9.6 You may contact us with the details at the top of this Privacy Notice if you wish to action any of these additional rights.

10. AUTOMATED DECISION MAKING

We may analyse your personal information to create a profile of your interests and preferences so that we can contact you with information relevant to you. We may make use of additional information about you when it is available from external sources to help us do this effectively.

11. CHANGES TO THIS PRIVACY NOTICE

11.1 We may make changes to this Privacy Notice from time to time. We will post any changes to our site, or notify you of any material changes by e-mail.

This Privacy Notice was updated on 01.09.20.

Schedule 1 – Readers/purchasers

12. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU

12.1 Information that you provide to us

12.1.1 We will collect any information that you provide to us when you:

(a) make an enquiry, provide feedback or otherwise contact us via phone, email, post, our website, or any of our or social media accounts (such as our Twitter or Facebook pages) or apps;

(b) subscribe to our newsletters and mailing lists;

(c) enter one of our competitions and prize draws;

(d) purchase any books or other products from our online shop or website;

(e) create an account for our website;

(f) purchase a ticket for, or attend, one of our events (including live-reads, book signings or Facebook live parties);

(g) download one of our apps, or contact us with any queries relating to your use of our apps;

(h) download one of our podcasts; and/or

(i)  post on our website or in our apps.

12.1.2 The information you provide to us might include:

(a) your name, home and/or work address, email, telephone number;

(b) social media handle or profile;

(c) financial and/or payment details (if you are purchasing a product or service from us);

(d) password and log-in details (if you create an account on our website); or

(e) details about your family e.g. the ages of any children you may have (only if you have expressly chosen to provide this).

13. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND RECIPIENTS OF YOUR INFORMATION

13.1  We may use your information for the following purposes:

13.1.1 to keep in contact with you about our news, events, new website features or services or new books or products that we believe may interest you, provided that we have the requisite permission to do so, and sharing your information with our marketing services provider (either on the basis of your consent where we have requested it, or our legitimate interests to provide you with marketing communications where we may lawfully do so);

13.1.2 to administer orders made from our website or via other means, and sharing your information with our warehousing and delivery service providers (on the basis of performing our contract with you);

13.1.3 to process your entry to any competitions or prize draws (either on the basis of your consent, or performing our contract with you);

13.1.4 to carry out research about general engagement with our website, products, services and the publishing industry generally (either on the basis of your consent where we have requested it, or our legitimate interest in providing the right kinds of products and services to our website users);

13.1.5 to provide customer service and support (on the basis of our contract with you), deal with enquiries or complaints about our products, website or apps and share your information with our website developer, IT support provider, warehouse and delivery service provider, payment services provider as necessary to provide customer support (on the basis of our legitimate interest in providing the correct products and services to you); and/or

13.1.6 to share your personal information with selected third parties such as:

(a) publishing partners and authors, to enable them to contact you with information about things that may interest you (where we have your consent to do so); and

(b) social media platforms (such as Facebook) so that relevant adverts may be selected and served to you, and others who are similar to you, via those platforms (on the basis of our legitimate interests to market our products to you and others who have similar preferences to you).

14. WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

14.1 In addition to the parties listed in paragraph 5.1.1 above, the third parties with whom we work to deliver our business and with whom we might share your personal information include:

(a) e-commerce providers (including Shopify),

(b) courier and transport providers (e.g. DHL);

(c) competition, newsletter and survey providers

(d) ticket sales providers (including, Eventbrite);

(e) invoice and payment service providers (including, Basware);

(f) editorial and advertisement production service providers;

(g) building security service providers (eg Pearson); and

(h) technical assistance and support service providers.

Schedule 2 – Authors

15. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU

15.1 Information that you provide to us

15.1.1 We will collect any information that you provide to us when you:

(a) submit manuscripts to us by post, email or via our website; and/or

(b) negotiate and/or enter into a contract with us for us to publish your book.

15.1.2 The information you provide to us might include:

(a) your name, home and/or work address, email, telephone number;

(b) financial and/or payment details (if we are paying you for your work);

(c) details of your sexual orientation, race, religious or political views (only if you have agreed to have this information processed for the purpose of our publishing or promoting your book); and/or

(d) passport or other identity document information (if we arrange foreign travel for you). 

15.2 Information we receive from third parties

15.2.1 In certain circumstances, we will receive information about you from third parties. For example,

(a) we may use third party providers to verify information provided by you in connection with any manuscript you submit to us for publication. For example, we will use third-party databases or websites to confirm your publication history; and

(b) we will receive information about you from third parties if they are referring you to us for publication. For example, if you are the co-author of a manuscript, your co-author will be required to provide us with information about you. Or if you have a literary agent making submissions on your behalf, your agent will provide us with information about you.

16. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND RECIPIENTS OF YOUR INFORMATION

16.1 We may use your information for the following purposes:

16.1.1 to enable receipt, review, editing, production and publication of your manuscript including sharing your information with our editorial and production service providers, other service providers and third-party manuscript readers (on the basis of performing our contract with you);

16.1.2 to administer your publishing contract, including payment of royalties, and sharing your information with our payment service provider (on the basis of performing our contract with you);

16.1.3 to arrange travel for you (on the basis of your consent or the performance of our contract with you);

16.1.4 to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorised, or illegal activity (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so); and /or

16.1.5 to enable us to comply with our policies and procedures and enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees  and share your information with our technical and legal advisors (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so).

17. WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

17.1 In addition to the parties listed in paragraph 5.1.1 above, the third parties with whom we work to deliver our business and with whom we might share your personal information include:

17.1.1 courier and transport services (e.g. DHL,  British Airways etc.);

17.1.2 invoice and payment service providers

17.1.3 editorial and advertisement production service providers;

17.1.4 building security services and

17.1.5 technical assistance and support service providers;

Schedule 3 –  Prospective employees and freelancers (including independent contractors)

18. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU

18.1 Information that you provide to us

18.1.1 We will collect any information that you provide to us when you:

(a) negotiate and/or enter into a contract with us for you or your company/employer for you to provide products or  services to us; and/or

(b) submit an application to a job vacancy.

18.1.2 The information you provide to us might include:

(a) your name, home and/or work address, email, telephone number;

(b) financial and/or payment details (if we are paying you for a product or service); and/or

(c) details of your  academic and work history, references and any other such similar information (if you are submitting a job application to us).

18.2 Information we receive from third parties

18.2.1 In certain circumstances, we will receive information about you from third parties. For example,

(a) we may use third party providers to verify your professional history. For example, we may conduct Google and other public searches (such as LinkedIn) to verify information about you and/or your services;  and

(b) if you are a job applicant we may conduct Google or LinkedIn searches, or contact your referees to provide information about you.

19. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND RECIPIENTS OF YOUR INFORMATION

19.1 We may use your information for the following purposes:

19.1.1 to instruct you, negotiate, or conclude contracts with you for you to provide products or services to us (either on basis of performance of a contract or our legitimate interests pursued by us as a business);

19.1.2 to process any job applications you submit to us including sharing this with our third party recruitment agency;

19.1.3 to protect, investigate, and deter against fraudulent, unauthorised, or illegal activity, (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so); and

19.1.4 to enable us to comply with our policies and procedures and enforce our legal rights, or to protect the rights, property or safety of our employees  and share your information with our technical and legal advisors (on the basis of our legitimate interests to operate a safe and lawful business or where we have a legal obligation to do so).

20. WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

20.1 In addition to the parties listed in paragraph 5.1.1 above, the third parties with whom we work to deliver our business and with whom we might share your personal information include:

(a) courier and transport providers (e.g. DHL);

(b) survey and focus group providers;

(c) invoice and payment service providers

(d) editorial and advertisement production service providers;

(e) building security service providers and

(f)  technical assistance and support service providers.

Schedule 4 – Consumer Insight participants

21. INFORMATION WE MAY COLLECT ABOUT YOU

21.1 Information that you provide to us

21.1.1 We will collect any information that you provide to us when you complete or participate in one of our surveys, focus groups, panels, promotional videos, ‘vox pops’, or consumer closeness workshops.

21.1.2 The information you provide to us might include:

(a) your name, home and/or work address, email, telephone number;

(b) financial and/or payment details (if we are paying you for your assistance);

(c) details of your preferences e.g. your favourite books, genres and  authors, (only if you have expressly chosen to provide this);

(d) details about your family e.g. the ages of any children you may have (only if you have expressly chosen to provide this); and/or

(e) your ethnicity (only if you have expressly chosen to provide this as part of one of our surveys).

22. HOW WE USE INFORMATION ABOUT YOU AND RECIPIENTS OF YOUR INFORMATION

22.1We may use your information for the following purposes:

22.1.1 to keep in contact with you about our news, events, new website features or services or new books or products that we believe may interest you, provided that we have the requisite permission to do so, and sharing your information with our marketing services provider (either on the basis of your consent where we have requested it, or our legitimate interests to provide you with marketing communications where we may lawfully do so);

22.1.2 to carry out research about general engagement with our website, products, services and the publishing industry generally (either on the basis of your consent where we have requested it, or our legitimate interest in providing the right kinds of products and services to our website users);  and

22.1.3 to share your personal information with selected third parties such as:

(a) publishing partners and authors, to enable them to contact you with information about things that may interest you (where we have your consent to do so); and

(b) social media platforms (such as Facebook) so that relevant adverts may be selected and served to you, and others who are similar to you, via those platforms (on the basis of our legitimate interests to market our products to you and others who have similar preferences to you); and

(c) survey and focus group providers to help us carry out the activities detailed at 22.1.2 above (either on the basis of your consent where we have requested it, or our legitimate interest in providing the right kinds of products and services to our website users)

23. WHO WE MIGHT SHARE YOUR INFORMATION WITH

23.1 In addition to the parties listed in paragraph 5.1.1 above, the third parties with whom we work to deliver our business and with whom we might share your personal information include:

(a) courier and transport providers (e.g. DHL);

(b) invoice and payment service providers (including, Basware);

(c) building security service providers (e.g Pearson); and

(d) technical assistance and support service providers.