Privacy Policy

It is William Gayheart’s policy to respect your privacy regarding any information we may collect from you or which you may provide to us, in the circumstances set out below. This privacy policy explains what we collect, why, and what choices you have. The short version: this site collects very little, sets no cookies of its own, and never sells your data.

We will only collect and use your Personal Data where:

• we have lawful grounds to do so, including to comply with our legal obligations;
• we are performing a contract with you for our services; and
• we have legitimate interests in using your Personal Data and your interests and fundamental rights do not override those interests.

For the purposes of the EU General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (“GDPR”), Jeff Adams is the “data controller” for this site. If you have any questions about this policy or about how we use your Personal Data, please contact us via the details at the end of this policy.

This policy is effective as of May 30, 2026. We review our privacy practices on an ongoing basis, and may update this policy from time to time. Please check this page if you want to be sure you are familiar with its current content.

1. Personal Data we collect

This policy covers WilliamGayheart.com (the “Website”).

Information you provide to us

We only collect Personal Data when you choose to give it to us, which happens in a few specific ways:

• Newsletter and free-content sign-up. When you sign up to receive the newsletter or free content such as ebooks, we collect your email address. The sign-up form is optional and may also let you provide your first and last name. These forms are operated by our email provider, MailerLite, and the information you submit is stored in our MailerLite account.
• Giveaways. If you enter a giveaway, we collect the email address and name you provide as part of your entry, and use that information only to run the giveaway and contact winners.
• Contacting us. If you email us, we receive your email address and whatever you choose to put in your message.

Information collected automatically

When you visit the Website, our hosting provider and analytics may automatically record standard technical information such as your browser type, operating system, and the general region your visit comes from. We use this only to keep the site running and to understand how it is used, in aggregate.

Analytics. We use Google Analytics (GA4) to measure site traffic in aggregate—which pages are read and roughly how many people visit. Google Analytics sets cookies to do this; it does not store your full IP address, and we do not use it to identify you personally. You can opt out at any time with the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on or by blocking cookies in your browser.

Fonts. The Website displays text using the Open Sans typeface, which is loaded from Google Fonts. When your browser downloads the font, Google receives your IP address and basic technical information about your browser. Google states that it does not use this information for advertising and that the font requests do not set cookies. We use Google Fonts only to render the site’s text.

Spam protection. Our sign-up forms are protected by Google reCAPTCHA, which helps us block automated spam submissions. To do this, reCAPTCHA collects hardware and software information and data about how you interact with the form, and sends it to Google for analysis. This is subject to Google’s privacy policy and terms of service.

For more about the cookies involved, see our cookies policy.

2. How we use your Personal Data

We will only use your Personal Data when the law allows us to. Most commonly, we use it to:

• respond to your questions and requests;
• where you have opted in, send you newsletters and information about new books and free content;
• run giveaways you choose to enter; and
• understand how the Website is used so we can improve it.

3. Sharing of your Personal Data

We do not sell your Personal Data, and we do not share it with advertisers or use it to build advertising audiences.

We share Personal Data only with the service providers that help us operate the Website and our mailing list, and only to the extent each one needs it to provide its service. These currently include MailerLite (newsletter and email delivery), Google Analytics (aggregate site measurement), Google reCAPTCHA (spam protection on our forms), and Google Fonts (typeface delivery), along with our website hosting provider. We may also disclose information where required by law.

4. Keeping your Personal Data secure

We maintain reasonable physical, electronic, and procedural safeguards designed to protect the Personal Data we hold from accidental loss, misuse, and unauthorized access, use, or disclosure, consistent with applicable law including the GDPR.

5. How long we keep your Personal Data

We keep your Personal Data only for as long as necessary for the purposes described in this policy. If you unsubscribe from the newsletter or ask us to delete your data, we remove it from our active records, except where we are required to keep it by law.

6. Children

The Website and our services are aimed at adults. We do not knowingly collect Personal Data from children under the age of 16. If you are under 16, please do not send us any Personal Data, including your email address.

7. Your rights and choices

You have legal rights in relation to your Personal Data, and you can exercise any of them by contacting us using the details below. In particular, you can:

• ask what Personal Data we hold about you, why we hold it, and who it may be shared with;
• ask us to correct your Personal Data;
• ask us to delete your Personal Data;
• object to or ask us to restrict how we process your Personal Data;
• withdraw any consent you have given us; and
• unsubscribe from our emails at any time using the link in every message.

8. Changes to this policy

We will only use your Personal Data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for a compatible reason. If we need to use it for an unrelated purpose, we will let you know and explain the legal basis for doing so.

9. Contact us

Please contact the web administrator:

Jeff Adams
Email for privacy questions: jeff@jeffadamswrites.com
Postal address: PO Box 29, Roseville, CA 95678 USA