TERMS OF USE, COPYRIGHT POLICY AND PRIVACY POLICY

This page was last Modified on Aug 9, 2022.

 

Written Word Media Website Terms of Use

  1. Acceptance of the Terms of Use.

Written Word Media, Inc. (“Company”, “we” or “us”) maintains the websites secure.writtenwordmedia.com, writtenwordmedia.com, freebooksy.com, bargainbooksy.com, redfeatherromance.com, audiothicket.com and newinbooks.com (including any content, functionality and services offered on or through such websites, “Website”).  The following terms and conditions (“Terms of Use”) govern your access to and use of the Website, whether as a guest or a registered user (as more fully described in Section 3 below)..

Please read the Terms of Use carefully before you start to use the Website.  By using the Website, or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by these Terms of Use.  If you do not want to agree to these Terms of Use, you must not access or use the Website.

 

  1. Changes to the Terms of Use.

We may revise and update these Terms of Use from time to time in our sole discretion.  Changes are effective immediately when we post them, but are not retroactive.  Your continued use of the Website following the posting of revised Terms of Use means that you accept and agree to the changes.  You must check this page frequently so that you are aware of any changes, and immediately discontinue access or use of the Website if you do not want to agree to the revised Terms of Use.

 

  1. Registered Users; Membership Plans.

The Website offers you the ability to become a registered user and subscribe to one of the membership plans we offer, each of which are described at: www.writtenwordmedia.com/compareplans (the “Membership Plan Summary”). Each membership plan entitles applicable subscribers to the discounts and other benefits specified in the Membership Plan Summary for such membership plan (the “Plan Benefits”).

 

By becoming a registered user, you will be automatically subscribed to the “free” membership plan unless you select one of the other membership plans described in the Membership Plan Summary. If you subscribe to one of the other membership plans (e.g., Gold Plan, Platinum Plan, etc.), upon payment of your applicable annual subscription fee, you will be entitled to the Plan Benefits for such membership plan for an initial one (1) year subscription term. Thereafter, your subscription to your membership plan shall automatically renew for successive one (1) year terms on each anniversary of your initial subscription, unless you provide Company with written notice of non-renewal at least [thirty (30)] days prior to your subscription anniversary date. You may cancel your applicable membership plan subscription at any time upon written notice to us, but any previously paid subscription fees will be non-refundable unless (i) you provide such notice of cancellation within the first fourteen (14) days of your applicable annual subscription and (ii) during such 14-day period you have not received any discounts or other benefits afforded by your subscription.

 

If we fail to provide any of your Plan Benefits to you during your subscription term, please provide us written notice of such failure. Upon receipt of any such notice, we will use commercially reasonable efforts to remedy such failure. If, despite our efforts, we are unable to remedy such failure within thirty (30) days after our receipt of such written notice, you shall be entitled to cancel your membership plan subscription immediately upon written notice to us. Upon such cancelation, we will refund to you a pro rata portion of your applicable subscription fee for the portion of the subscription term after the effective date of termination. YOU ACKNOWLEDGE AND AGREE THAT THE REMEDIES SPECIFIED IN THIS PARAGRAPH SHALL BE YOUR SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDIES FOR ANY FAILURE BY COMPANY TO PROVIDE YOUR PLAN BENEFITS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE APPLICABLE DESCRIPTION SET FORTH IN THE MEMBERSHIP PLAN SUMMARY

 

  1. Acceptance of Privacy Policy.

All information we collect on the Website, including information you provide to register with this Website or carry out any transactions on the Website, is subject to our Privacy Policy which is included below.  By using the Website, or by clicking to accept or agree to the Terms of Use when this option is made available to you, you accept and agree to be bound and abide by our Privacy Policy.  If you do not want to agree to our Privacy Policy, you must not provide us any personal information.

Our Website is hosted in the United States and our services are provided from the United States.  It is possible that certain information will be stored on servers in multiple other countries on the “cloud” or other similar distributed hosting platforms.   If you are a user accessing our Website or services from the European Union, Asia or any other region with laws governing personal data collection, use, and disclosure that differ from United States laws, you are expressly and knowingly consenting to the transfer of your personal information to the United States and other jurisdictions as indicated above, and to our use of your personal information in accordance with our Privacy Policy.

 

  1. Accessing the Website and Account Security.

We reserve the right to withdraw or amend this Website, and any service or material we provide on the Website, in our sole discretion without notice.  We will not be liable if for any reason all or any part of the Website is unavailable at any time or for any period.  From time to time, we may restrict access to some parts of the Website, or the entire Website, to certain users, including registered users.

You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Website.  To access the Website or some of the resources it offers, you may be asked to provide certain registration details or other information.  You must provide information that is correct, current and complete.

If you choose, or are provided with, a user name, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures, you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any other person or entity.  You also acknowledge that your account is personal to you and agree not to provide any other person with access to the Website or portions of it using your user name, password or other security information.  If you permit any other person to use your account, you will be responsible for their activities while using the Website.   You agree to notify us immediately of any unauthorized access to or use of your user name or password or any other breach of security.  You also agree to ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session.  You should use particular caution when accessing your account from a public or shared computer so that others are not able to view or record your password or other personal information. We have the right to disable any user name, password or other identifier, whether chosen by you or provided by us, at any time in our sole discretion if, in our opinion, the continued use of that user name, password or other identifier would be inappropriate.

 

  1. Intellectual Property Rights.

The Website and its entire contents, features and functionality (including but not limited to all information, software, text, displays, images, video and audio, and the design, selection and arrangement thereof) are owned by the Company, its licensors or other providers of such material and are protected by United States and international copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other intellectual property or proprietary rights laws.  These Terms of Use permit you to use the Website to place orders for promotions to be run on the Website and otherwise for your personal, non-commercial use only.

Your computer may temporarily store copies of such materials incidental to your accessing and viewing those materials, and your Web browser may store files that are automatically cached for display enhancement purposes.  You must not otherwise reproduce, distribute, modify, create derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, republish, download, store or transmit any of the material on our Website, except as follows:

  • You may print or download one copy of a reasonable number of pages of the Website for your own internal, non-commercial use and not for further reproduction, publication or distribution.
  • If we choose to provide desktop, mobile or other applications for download, you may download a single copy to your computer or mobile device solely for your own personal, non-commercial use, provided you agree to be bound by our end user license agreement for such applications.

You must not modify copies of any materials from this Website nor use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from the accompanying text.  You must never delete or alter any copyright, trademark or other proprietary rights notices from copies of materials from the Website.  You must not access or use for any commercial purposes any part of the Website or any services or materials available through the Website.  If you wish to make any use of material on the Website other than that set out in this section, please address your request to info@writtenwordmedia.com.

If you print, copy, modify, download or otherwise use or provide any other person with access to any part of the Website in breach of the Terms of Use, your right to use the Website will cease immediately and you must, at our option, return or destroy any copies of the materials you have made.  No right, title or interest in or to the Website or any content on the Website is being transferred to you, and all rights not expressly granted are reserved by the Company.  Any use of the Website not expressly permitted by these Terms of Use is a breach of these Terms of Use and may violate copyright, trademark and other laws.

 

  1. Trademarks.

The Company name, the terms Written Word Media, Freebooksy, Bargain Booksy, Red Feather Romance, NewInBooks, Audio Thicket and all related names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans are trademarks of the Company or its affiliates or licensors.  You must not use such marks without the prior written permission of the Company.  All other names, logos, product and service names, designs and slogans on this Website are the trademarks of their respective owners.

 

  1. Prohibited Uses.

You may use the Website only for lawful purposes and in accordance with these Terms of Use.  You agree not to use the Website:

  • In any way that violates any applicable federal, state, local or international law or regulation (including, without limitation, any laws regarding the export of data or software to and from the US or other countries).
  • For the purpose of exploiting, harming or attempting to exploit or harm minors in any way by exposing them to inappropriate content, asking for personally identifiable information or otherwise.
  • To send, receive, upload, download, use or re-use any material that does not comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.
  • To transmit any advertising or promotional material, including any “junk mail”, “chain letter” or “spam” or any other similar solicitation.
  • To impersonate or attempt to impersonate the Company, a Company employee, another user or any other person or entity.
  • To engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone’s use or enjoyment of the Website, or that may harm the Company or users of the Website or expose them to liability.

Additionally, you agree not to use the Website in any manner that could disable, overburden, damage, or impair the site or interfere with any other party’s use of the Website, including their ability to engage in real time activities through the Website.  Without limitation, you must not:

  • Use any robot, spider or other automatic device, process or means to access the Website for any purpose, including monitoring or copying any of the material on the Website.
  • Introduce any viruses, trojan horses, worms, logic bombs or other material that is malicious or technologically harmful or attack the Website via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
  • Attempt to gain unauthorized access to, interfere with, damage or disrupt any parts of the Website, the server on which the Website is stored, or any server, computer or database connected to the Website.

 

  1. User Contributions.

The Website may contain message boards, chat rooms, personal web pages or profiles, forums, bulletin boards, and other interactive features (collectively, “Interactive Services”) that allow users to post, submit, publish, display or transmit to other users or other persons content or materials (collectively, “User Contributions”) on or through the Website.

You must own or control all rights in and to your User Contributions, and all of your User Contributions must comply with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.  Any User Contribution you post to the Website will be considered non-confidential and non-proprietary.  By providing any User Contribution on the Website, you grant the Company and its affiliates and service providers the right to use, reproduce, modify, perform, display, distribute and otherwise disclose to third parties any such material for any purpose.

You understand and acknowledge that you are responsible for any User Contributions you submit or contribute and that you have full responsibility for such content, including its legality, reliability, accuracy and appropriateness. We are not responsible for the content or accuracy of any User Contributions posted by you or any other user of the Website.

 

  1. Content Standards.

User Contributions must in their entirety comply with all applicable federal, state, local and international laws and regulations.  Without limiting the foregoing, User Contributions must not:

  • Contain any material that is defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory or otherwise objectionable.
  • Promote pornographic material, or promote violence or discrimination based on race, sex, religion, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or age.
  • Infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other intellectual property or other rights of any other person.
  • Violate the legal rights (including the rights of publicity and privacy) of others or contain any material that could give rise to any civil or criminal liability under applicable laws or regulations or that otherwise may be in conflict with these Terms of Use or our Privacy Policy included below.
  • Be likely to deceive any person.
  • Promote any illegal activity, or advocate, promote or assist any unlawful act.
  • Cause annoyance, inconvenience or needless anxiety or be likely to upset, embarrass, alarm or annoy any other person.
  • Impersonate any person, or misrepresent your identity or affiliation with any person or organization.
  • Involve commercial activities or sales, such as contests, sweepstakes and other sales promotions, barter or advertising (other than in connection with a publisher’s ordinary course promotion of a book or audiobook featured on the Website as permitted through the Website’s Interactive Features).
  • Give the impression that they emanate from or are endorsed by us or any other person or entity, if this is not the case.

 

  1. Monitoring and Enforcement; Termination.

We have the right to take any actions that we consider to be appropriate to ensure that the Website is operated in an appropriate manner.  We may remove or refuse to post any User Contributions for any or no reason in our sole discretion, and we may take any action with respect to any User Contribution that we deem necessary or appropriate in our sole discretion, including if we believe that such User Contribution violates the Terms of Use, including the Content Standards, infringes any intellectual property right or other right of any person or entity, threatens the personal safety of users of the Website or the public or could create liability for the Company.  We may disclose your identity or other information about you to any third party who claims that material posted by you violates their rights, including their intellectual property rights or their right to privacy.  We may terminate or suspend your access to all or part of the Website for any reason that we determine to be adequate, including any violation of these Terms of Use.

Without limiting the foregoing, we have the right to fully cooperate with any law enforcement authorities or court order requesting or directing us to disclose the identity or other information of anyone posting any materials on or through the Website.  YOU WAIVE ANY RIGHT TO ASSERT ANY CLAIMS RESULTING FROM ANY SUCH ACTION TAKEN BY THE COMPANY.

We do not undertake to review all material before it is posted on the Website, and cannot ensure prompt removal of objectionable material after it has been posted.  Accordingly, we assume no liability for any action or inaction regarding transmissions, communications or content provided by any user or third party.  We have no liability or responsibility to anyone for performance or nonperformance of the activities described in this section.

 

  1. Copyright Infringement.

If you believe that any User Contributions violate your copyright, please see our Copyright Policy included below for instructions on sending us a notice of copyright infringement.  It is the policy of the Company to terminate the user accounts of repeat infringers.

 

  1. Reliance on Information Posted.

The information presented on or through the Website is made available solely for general information purposes.  We do not warrant the accuracy, completeness or usefulness of this information, and any reliance you place on such information is strictly at your own risk.  We disclaim all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on such materials by you or any other visitor to the Website, or by anyone who may be informed of any of its contents.

The Website may include content provided by third parties, including materials provided by other users, bloggers and third-party licensors, syndicators, aggregators and/or reporting services.  All statements and/or opinions expressed in these materials, and all articles and responses to questions and other content, other than the content provided by the Company, are solely the opinions and the responsibility of the person or entity providing those materials.  These materials do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Company.  We are not responsible, or liable to you or any third party, for the content or accuracy of any materials provided by any third parties.

 

  1. Changes to the Website.

We may update the content on the Website from time to time, but its content is not necessarily complete or up-to-date.  Any of the material on the Website may be out of date at any given time, and we are under no obligation to update such material.

 

  1. Newsletter.

By providing your email address and signing up to receive communications from us via our Website, you agree to be enrolled in our newsletter distribution list and you will receive periodic updates and promotional materials from us, in each case subject to our Privacy Policy included below.  Each user’s e-mail preferences may be updated at any time by clicking the applicable links at the bottom of such email.

 

  1. Online Purchases.

The Website offers users the ability to order certain promotions on the Website, either as a guest or as a registered user.  YOU MAY NOT ORDER PROMOTIONS FROM THIS WEBSITE (A) IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS OF USE, (B) IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL, IF YOU ARE NOT THE OLDER OF (i) AT LEAST 18 YEARS OF AGE OR (ii) THE LEGAL AGE REQUIRED IN YOUR JURISDICTION TO BE ABLE TO FORM A BINDING CONTRACT WITH COMPANY, (C) IF YOU ARE AN INDIVIDUAL AGREEING TO THESE TERMS OF USE ON BEHALF OF YOUR EMPLOYER OR ANOTHER ENTITY, IF YOU DO NOT HAVE THE FULL LEGAL AUTHORITY TO BIND YOUR EMPLOYER OR SUCH ENTITY TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR (D) IF YOU ARE PROHIBITED FROM ACCESSING OR USING THIS WEBSITE OR ANY OF THIS WEBSITE’S CONTENTS OR SERVICES BY APPLICABLE LAW.  By ordering a promotion from this Website, you represent and warrant that you meet all of the foregoing eligibility requirements, and if you do not meet all of these requirements, you must not order any promotions.

All sales are final and non-cancelable, and all fees once paid are non-refundable.  All payments made for promotions are handled entirely by third-party payment processors and are therefore subject to the terms, conditions and data security procedures outlined on such third-parties’ websites.  No credit card information will be retained by the Company for any purchases made on or through the Website.

It is your responsibility to ascertain and obey all applicable local, state, federal and international laws in regard to your promotion of any ebook, book or audiobook using the Website.  By placing an order for a promotion, you represent and warrant that the promotion ordered will be used only in a lawful manner, in accordance with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, including copyright law.

Through our Website, users are also able to link to certain third party websites (such as Amazon.com) where they may purchase books, audiobooks or other goods or services.  We are not responsible for or involved in the transactions that occur on such third party websites and we encourage you to review the terms and conditions applicable on such third party websites.

 

  1. User Suggestions.

From time to time users may wish to submit their suggestions, designs or ideas for new books or audiobooks or improvements to or enhancements of this Website itself.  If you provide to us or to our affiliates any such suggestions, designs or ideas (collectively, “Suggestions”), we and our affiliates will be entitled to use the Suggestions without restriction.  You hereby irrevocably assign to us all right, title and interest in and to the Suggestions and agree to provide us any assistance we require to document, perfect and maintain our rights in the Suggestions.

 

  1. Links to Other Sites.

You may create a link from another site that you own to our homepage, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.  You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part.  You may not establish a link from any website that is not owned by you and you may not link to any part of the Website other than the homepage.  Any website on which you create a link must comply in all respects with the Content Standards set out in these Terms of Use.  We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission without notice.

If the Website contains links to other sites and resources provided by third parties, these links are provided for your convenience only.  This includes links contained in advertisements, including banner advertisements and sponsored links.  We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.  If you decide to access any of the third party websites linked to the Website, you do so entirely at your own risk and subject to the terms and conditions of use for such websites.

The Website may provide certain social media features that enable you to link from your own or certain third-party websites to certain content on the Website, send e-mails or other communications with certain content, or links to certain content, on the Website, or cause limited portions of content on the Website to be displayed or appear to be displayed on your own or certain third-party websites.  You may use these features solely as they are provided by us and otherwise in accordance with any additional terms and conditions we provide with respect to such features.  In addition to the limitations on linking set forth above, you may not cause the Website or portions of it to be displayed, or appear to be displayed by framing, deep linking or in-line linking on any other site.

 

  1. Geographic Restrictions.

The owner of the Website is based in the state of North Carolina in the United States.  Access to the Website may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries.  If you access the Website from outside the United States, you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for compliance with local laws.

 

  1. Disclaimer of Warranties.

We cannot and do not guarantee or warrant that files available for downloading from the Internet or the Website will be free of viruses or other destructive code.  You are responsible for implementing sufficient procedures and checkpoints to satisfy your particular requirements for anti-virus protection and accuracy of data input and output, and for maintaining a means external to our site for any reconstruction of any lost data.  WE WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OR DAMAGE CAUSED BY A DISTRIBUTED DENIAL-OF-SERVICE ATTACK, VIRUSES OR OTHER TECHNOLOGICALLY HARMFUL MATERIAL THAT MAY INFECT YOUR COMPUTER EQUIPMENT, COMPUTER PROGRAMS, DATA OR OTHER PROPRIETARY MATERIAL DUE TO YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE OR ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE OR TO YOUR DOWNLOADING OF ANY MATERIAL POSTED ON IT, OR ON ANY WEBSITE LINKED TO IT.

THE WEBSITE, ITS CONTENT AND ANY SERVICES OR ITEMS OBTAINED THROUGH THE WEBSITE ARE PROVIDED ON AN “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE” BASIS, AND THE COMPANY HEREBY DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  NEITHER THE COMPANY NOR ANY PERSON ASSOCIATED WITH THE COMPANY MAKES ANY WARRANTY OR REPRESENTATION WITH RESPECT TO THE COMPLETENESS, SECURITY, RELIABILITY, QUALITY, ACCURACY OR AVAILABILITY OF THE WEBSITE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY WARRANTIES WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

 

  1. Limitation on Liability.

IN NO EVENT WILL THE COMPANY, ITS AFFILIATES OR THEIR LICENSORS, SERVICE PROVIDERS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, OFFICERS OR DIRECTORS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES OF ANY KIND, UNDER ANY LEGAL THEORY, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DAMAGES FOR PERSONAL INJURY, PAIN AND SUFFERING, EMOTIONAL DISTRESS, LOSS OF REVENUE, LOSS OF PROFITS, LOSS OF BUSINESS OR ANTICIPATED SAVINGS, LOSS OF USE, LOSS OF GOODWILL OR LOSS OF DATA, WHETHER CAUSED BY TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE), BREACH OF CONTRACT OR OTHERWISE, EVEN IF FORESEEABLE.

THE FOREGOING DOES NOT AFFECT ANY LIABILITY WHICH CANNOT BE EXCLUDED OR LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.

 

  1. Indemnification.

You agree to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Company and its affiliates, and their licensors, service providers, employees, agents, officers and directors, from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, awards, losses, costs, expenses or fees (including reasonable attorneys’ fees) arising out of or relating to your violation of these Terms of Use.

 

  1. Governing Law and Jurisdiction.

All matters relating to the Website and these Terms of Use and any dispute or claim arising therefrom or related thereto (in each case, including non-contractual disputes or claims), shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the internal laws of the State of North Carolina without giving effect to any choice or conflict of law provision or rule (whether of the State of North Carolina or any other jurisdiction).

Any legal suit, action or proceeding arising out of or related to these Terms of Use or the Website shall be instituted exclusively in the federal courts of the United States in North Carolina, or the courts of the State of North Carolina, except that we retain the right to bring any suit, action or proceeding against you for breach of these Terms of Use in your country of residence or any other relevant country.  You waive any and all objections to the exercise of jurisdiction over you by such courts and to venue in such courts.

 

  1. Limitation on Time to File Claims.

ANY CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM YOU MAY HAVE ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OF USE OR THE WEBSITE MUST BE COMMENCED WITHIN ONE (1) YEAR AFTER THE CAUSE OF ACTION ACCRUES.  OTHERWISE, SUCH CAUSE OF ACTION OR CLAIM IS PERMANENTLY BARRED.

 

  1. Waiver and Severability.

No waiver by the Company of any term or condition set forth in these Terms of Use shall be deemed a further or continuing waiver of such term or condition or a waiver of any other term or condition, and any failure of the Company to assert a right or provision under these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision.  If any provision of these Terms of Use is held by a court or other tribunal of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable for any reason, such provision shall be eliminated or limited to the minimum extent such that the remaining provisions of the Terms of Use will continue in full force and effect.

 

  1. Entire Agreement.

The Terms of Use, our Copyright Policy and our Privacy Policy constitute the sole and entire agreement between you and the Company with respect to the Website and supersede all prior and contemporaneous understandings, agreements, representations and warranties, both written and oral, with respect to the Website.

 

  1. Your Comments and Concerns.

All feedback, comments, requests for technical support and other communications relating to the Website should be directed to: info@writtenwordmedia.com.

 

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Written Word Media Privacy Policy

Introduction

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it through our compliance with this Policy. This Policy describes the types of information we may collect from you or that you may provide when you visit one or more of our family of websites, including   secure.writtenwordmedia.com, writtenwordmedia.com, freebooksy.com, bargainbooksy.com, redfeatherromance.com, and newinbooks.com (collectively, our “Website”), and our practices for collecting, using, maintaining, protecting and disclosing that information.

This Policy applies to any information that we collect on the Website, including any information in any e-mails, posts, texts and other electronic messages between you and the Website and any information about you transferred to the Website from other websites. This Policy also applies to any related information that we collect about you offline but that will be processed by automated means using the Website. This Policy does not apply to any other information that we collect by any means.

 

Please read this Policy carefully to understand our policies and practices regarding your information and how we will treat it. If you do not agree with our policies and practices, you can choose not to use our Website. By accessing or using our Website, you agree to this Policy.  This Policy may change from time to time. Your continued use of the Website after we make changes is deemed to be acceptance of those changes, so please check the Policy periodically for updates.

 

Information We Collect About You and How We Collect It

We may collect several types of information from and about users of our Website, including information by which you may be personally identified, such as name, postal address, e-mail address, screen name, telephone number and photograph. In addition, if you purchase any goods or services on our Website, we may collect information required for the payment for goods or services, including credit card numbers, security codes and other financial information. All of this information is cumulatively referred to in this Policy as “Personal Information”.

The information we collect on or through our Website may include information that you provide by registering to use our Website, placing an order for promotions, using our services, posting material, requesting further services or reporting a problem with our Website.  We will also retain records and copies of your correspondence (including e-mail addresses) if you contact us.

 As you navigate through and interact with our Website, we may automatically collect certain traffic data and usage information to help us manage our content and improve your use of the Website.  This may include information about your equipment, your IP address, your mobile device ID, and your browsing actions and patterns when you visit our Website, including the referring and exit pages.  The technologies that we use for this automatic data collection may include cookies that are stored on your computer, small embedded electronic files known as web beacons (also referred to as clear gifs, pixel tags and single-pixel gifs) and other types of embedded code on the Website that permit us to count users and obtain other related Website statistics (for example, recording the popularity of certain Website content and verifying system and server integrity).

You also may provide information to be posted, published or displayed on public areas of the Website, or transmitted to other users of the Website or third parties, including information, feedback and comments (collectively, “User Contributions”).  Your User Contributions are posted on the Website and transmitted to others at your own risk.  We cannot control the actions of other users of the Website with whom you may choose to share your User Contributions.  Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your User Contributions will not be viewed by unauthorized persons.

 

Legal Basis for Processing

We have the legal right to use your Personal Information in the ways described in this Privacy Policy based on your consent, or on the need to use the Personal Information to provide you with goods or services that you request, or for the legitimate purposes of furthering our existing relationship with you or preventing fraud.  Accordingly, you have a contractual rather than a statutory obligation to provide such information.  If you do not provide such information, you may be unable to use our Platform and we may be unable to provide any goods or services that you request.

 

How We Use Your Information

We use information that we collect about you or that you provide to us, including any Personal Information,

  • to present our Website and its contents to you,
  • to permit you to place orders for promotions via our Website and to process such transactions,
  • to send you informational and promotional e-mails or correspondence regarding our own products and services,
  • to provide you with information, products or services that you request from us and to fulfill any other purpose for which you provide the information.

If you purchase any products or services offered through our Website, we may transmit your Personal Information to third-party payment processors.  We may also use your Personal Information to notify you about changes to our Website or any products or services we offer or provide through it and to carry out our obligations and enforce our rights arising from any contracts entered into between you and us, including for billing and collection. We may also use the information that you provide in any other way that we describe when you provide the information and for any other purpose with your consent. Finally, we may use your Personal Information for any permitted marketing purposes described below.

We retain your Personal Information while you are using the Platform to improve your use of the Platform.  Once you are no longer using our Platform, we will store your Personal Information for so long as we may need it to answer questions about the products or services that we provided, or to comply with the record keeping requirements of applicable law.

 

Disclosure of Your Information

We may disclose your Personal Information for any permitted marketing purposes described below.  We may transmit your Personal Information to third-party payment processors in connection with processing your purchase of any products or services offered through our Website.  We may also disclose your Personal Information for any other purpose disclosed when the information is provided, and for any other purpose with your consent.

We may convert or combine some Personal Information of users into de-identified or aggregated data that does not disclose any of the Personal Information of any individual user.  We may disclose any such de-identified or aggregated data without restriction.

Some of the information that we collect from cookies, web beacons or other embedded code relates to your personal use of the Website and allows us to store information about your preferences, speed up your searches and recognize you when you return to our Website.   Other information that we collect from cookies, web beacons or other embedded code is not tied to your Personal Information and enables us to estimate our audience size and usage patterns.  This traffic data may be shared with third parties without restriction.

We may disclose Personal Information to our subsidiaries and affiliates and to any contractors, service providers and other third parties who need to know such information to provide services that we request to support our permitted uses of Personal Information.  For example, we may use third-party tools such as AWS and Google Analytics to store, process and/or analyze your information, including Personal Information.  We may disclose Personal Information to a buyer or other successor to our business in the event of a sale of equity or assets, reorganization, merger or a similar corporate transaction and any due diligence review with respect to any such proposed transaction. 

We may also disclose your Personal Information to comply with any court order, law or legal process, including to meet national security and law enforcement requirements and to respond to any government or regulatory request or audit and to enforce or apply our Terms of Use, including for billing and collection purposes, or if we believe disclosure is necessary or appropriate to protect the rights, property, or safety of our customers or others.  This includes exchanging information with other companies and organizations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction.

 

Social Media Sites and Widgets

You may be able to use social media widgets such as the Facebook Like button on the Website.  These widgets will collect your IP address and identify which page you are visiting on the Website, and make your preference information available to third parties. The information collected by such widgets is controlled by third party privacy policies.

 

Use of Personal Information for Marketing Purposes

We may use your Personal Information to provide you with promotional information about our own products and services.  Currently, we do not provide any of your Personal Information to third parties to use for advertising, marketing or tracking purposes.

 

Tracking

Tracking involves the use of cookies, web beacons or other embedded code or tracking technologies to collect, analyze and store information on a user’s behavior over time and/or across multiple websites, including information on the sites visited, products viewed, products purchased and other online interactions.  Tracking information can be used to enable companies to make interest-based (behavioral) advertising available to users on sites that they visit.

 We may collect Personal Information about your activities over time on our own Website (but not across third party sites) for tracking purposes when you use our Website or use our services.  We use this information to offer you targeted advertisements and promotional materials about books, audiobooks or other products and services that may be of interest to you (e.g., suggestions for books in a genre where you have shown an interest in the past).  However, we do not currently permit other parties, such as third-party advertisers, ad networks or ad servers, to conduct tracking or interest-based advertising on our Website.

Finally, Internet providers and mobile device providers may use cookies, web beacons or other embedded code or tracking technologies to collect Personal Information about your on-line activities over time and across third party sites when you use our Website or our services.  We do not control these third parties’ tracking technologies or how they may be used.  If you have any questions about an advertisement, you should contact the responsible advertiser directly.

Our Website does not currently respond to any “DO NOT TRACK” signals sent by your browser or otherwise.

 

Choices About How We Use and Disclose Your Information

You have certain choices regarding the Personal Information you provide to us.  You can set your browser to refuse all or some browser cookies. If you disable or refuse cookies, some parts of the Website may then be inaccessible or not function properly.

If you do not wish to have your Personal Information used by us to promote our own products or services, you can opt-out by sending us an e-mail stating your request to privacy@writtenwordmedia.com.  If you send such a request, please allow us time to update our records accordingly. If we have sent you a promotional e-mail, you may opt out of future promotional e-mails by clicking the “UNSUBSCRIBE” or similar link within the e-mail and follow the prompts that appear. This opt out does not apply to information provided as a result of a purchase or other transactions nor to disclosure to a third party that is acting on our behalf and under our instructions in support of our permitted uses of your Personal Information. 

 

Users Outside of the United States

Our Platform is hosted in the United States and our services are provided from the United States.  It is possible that certain information will be stored on servers in multiple other countries on the “cloud” or other similar distributed hosting platforms.  If you are a resident of any country other than the United States, please note that by providing your Personal Information to us, you are consenting to the transfer of your Personal Information to the United States and other jurisdictions as indicated above, and to our use and disclosure of your Personal Information in accordance with this Policy.

If you are a resident of the European Union, you will have the following additional rights with respect to EU Personal Information:

  • If we intend to disclose your EU Personal Information to any third party that will have the right to process your EU Personal Information, we will enter into a contract with that third party that provides that your EU Personal Information may be processed only for limited and specified purposes consistent with the consent that you have provided to us, and that the third party must provide the same level of protection for your EU Personal Information that we are obligated to provide under this Policy while it is processing your EU Personal Information. In addition, we will notify you if that third party will have the right to determine the purposes for which it will process your EU Personal Information and the means it will use to process your EU Personal Information (rather than just providing requested assistance to us in support of our permitted uses of your EU Personal Information).
  • If your EU Personal Information is being processed by automated means, you have the right to obtain a copy of your provided EU Personal Information, together with certain additional Personal Information that we have generated as a result of your use of our services, in a structured and commonly used and machine-readable format, and to transfer such Personal Information to another service provider. Upon your request, we will transfer that Personal Information directly to another service provider if it is feasible for us to do so.
  • If we are processing your EU Personal Information based on your consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
  • You may restrict our use of your EU Personal Information, by sending us an email stating your request to privacy@writtenwordmedia.com, if you have contested the accuracy of that information, or if the processing is unlawful or you need the information to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim. We will then store your EU Personal Information and process it only with your consent, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim or to protect the rights of others.  The restriction with respect to information claimed to be inaccurate would end if we verify the accuracy of that contested information.
  • Some of the EU Personal Information that you provide to us may be sensitive information related to your racial or ethnic identity, political opinions, religious or philosophical beliefs, trade union membership, health (including genetic and biometric data), sex life, sexual orientation or other information that you identify as being sensitive at the time that you disclose it to us (“EU Sensitive Information”). We will not otherwise use or disclose any of your EU Sensitive Information without your express consent, subject to certain limited exceptions.  Should we wish to make any such use or disclosure, we will notify you by email and request that you authorize such use or disclosure by responding to the email with your express consent.
  • We may create profiles to analyze or predict your performance at work, economic situation, health, personal preferences, interests, reliability, behavior, location or movements. However, we do not make any decision about you that would have legal consequences or similarly significant affects for you based solely on automated decision-making, including the use of profiles.
  • Upon our receipt of your request by email at privacy@writtenwordmedia.com and our verification of your identity, we will advise you whether or not we are processing EU Personal Information concerning you and, if so, will provide you with a copy of your EU Personal Information being processed and certain information about the nature and purposes of the processing. If your EU Personal Information is used for automated decision-making, we will provide you with information on the logic being used and the types of decisions being made.  You may correct any such EU Personal Information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Upon your request, we will erase any of your EU Personal Information that is no longer needed for the purpose for which it was collected, or that is being used for direct marketing purposes, or if our use is based on your consent and you withdraw that consent.
  • Our Platform may be used by children in the European Union between the ages of 13 and 16 only with parental consent. If we learn we have collected or received Personal Information from a child in the European Union under the age of 16 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information.  In addition, if we have collected Personal Information from any child in the European Union to provide goods or services to that child for a fee, we will erase the Personal Information of that child upon request.
  • If we are using your EU Personal Information on the basis of your consent, and we change our Policy to permit any use or disclosure of your EU Personal Information that is materially different than the uses for which it was originally collected or subsequently authorized by you, we will obtain your consent before we make such further uses of your EU Personal Information.

If you have a complaint about our compliance with this Policy, you may contact us at privacy@writtenwordmedia.com.  If you are an EU resident and you still are not satisfied, you may have the right to lodge a complaint with the Supervisory authority in your country of residence in the EU.

 

Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, you may obtain certain information regarding our disclosure of your Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.  To make such a request, please send an e-mail to privacy@writtenwordmedia.com.  Please note, however, that we do not currently disclose your Personal Information to third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

 

Accessing and Correcting Your Information

You can review and change certain of your Personal Information by logging into the Website and visiting your account profile page.

You may also send us an e-mail at privacy@writtenwordmedia.com to request access to any Personal Information that you have provided to us, or to correct or delete that Personal Information. Unless you have provided EU Personal Information, which is covered by Users Outside of the United States , we will evaluate such requests on a case-by-case basis.  We cannot delete certain of your Personal Information except by also deleting your user account. We may not accommodate a request to change information if we believe the change would violate any law or legal requirement or cause the information to be incorrect.

If you delete your User Contributions from the Website, copies of your User Contributions may remain viewable in cached and archived pages, or might have been copied or stored by other Website users.

 

Children Under the Age of 13

Our Website is not intended for children under 13 years of age, and no one under age 13 may provide any information to the Website. We do not knowingly collect Personal Information from children under 13.  If you are under 13, do not use or provide any information on this Website, make any purchases through this Website, use any of the interactive or public comment features of this Website or provide any information about yourself to us, including your name, address, telephone number, e-mail address or any screen name or user name you may use.  If we learn we have collected or received Personal Information from a child under 13 without verification of parental consent, we will delete that information. If you believe we might have any information from or about a child under 13, please contact us at privacy@writtenwordmedia.com.

 

Data Security

We have implemented measures designed to secure your Personal Information from accidental loss and from unauthorized access, use, alteration and disclosure.  All information that you provide to us is stored on our servers behind firewalls and certain Personal Information will be encrypted using secure socket layer (SSL) technology.

The safety and security of your information also depends on you. When we have given you (or when you have chosen) a password for access to certain parts of our Website, you are responsible for keeping that password confidential. We ask you not to share your password with anyone. We urge you to be careful about giving out information in public areas of the Website such as message boards. The information you share in public areas may be viewed by any user of the Website.

Unfortunately, the transmission of information over the Internet is not completely secure.  Although we have implemented security measures that we think are adequate, we cannot guarantee the security of your Personal Information transmitted to our Website. Any transmission of Personal Information is at your own risk. We are not responsible for circumvention of any privacy settings or security measures contained on the Website.

 

Changes to Our Privacy Policy

We post any changes we make to our Policy on this page.  If we make material changes to how we treat our users’ Personal Information, we will notify you through a notice on the Website home page. The date the Policy was last revised is identified at the top of the page. You are responsible for periodically visiting our Website and this Policy to check for any changes.

 

Contact Information

To ask questions or comment about this privacy Policy and our privacy practices, contact us at privacy@writtenwordmedia.com.

 

 

Written Word Media Copyright Policy

Reporting Claims of Copyright Infringement

We take claims of copyright infringement seriously.  We will respond to notices of alleged copyright infringement that comply with applicable law.  If you believe any materials accessible on or from secure.writtenwordmedia.com, writtenwordmedia.com, freebooksy.com, bargainbooksy.com, redfeatherromance.com, or newinbooks.com (collectively, the “Website”) infringe your copyright, you may request removal of those materials (or access to them) from the Website by submitting written notification to our Copyright Agent (designated below).  In accordance with the Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (17 U.S.C. § 512) (“DMCA”), the written notice (the “DMCA Notice”) must include substantially the following:

  • Your physical or electronic signature.
  • Identification of the copyrighted work you believe to have been infringed or, if the claim involves multiple works on the Website, a representative list of such works.
  • Identification of the material you believe to be infringing in a sufficiently precise manner to allow us to locate that material.
  • Adequate information by which we can contact you (including your name, postal address, telephone number and, if available, e-mail address).
  • A statement that you have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted material is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law.
  • A statement that the information in the written notice is accurate.
  • A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the copyright owner.

Our designated Copyright Agent to receive DMCA Notices is:

Legal Department

201 West Main Street

Durham, NC 27701

info@writtenwordmedia.com

If you fail to comply with all of the requirements of Section 512(c)(3) of the DMCA, your DMCA Notice may not be effective.

Please be aware that if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity on the Website is infringing your copyright, you may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.

 

Counter-Notification Procedures

If you believe that material you posted on the Website was removed or access to it was disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may file a counter-notification with us (a “Counter-Notice”) by submitting written notification to our copyright agent (identified below).  Pursuant to the DMCA, the Counter-Notice must include substantially the following:

  • Your physical or electronic signature.
  • An identification of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access disabled.
  • Adequate information by which we can contact you (including your name, postal address, telephone number and, if available, e-mail address).
  • A statement, under penalty of perjury, that you have a good faith belief that the material identified above was removed or disabled as a result of a mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled.
  • A statement that you will consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or if you reside outside the United States for any judicial district in which the Website may be found) and that you will accept service from the person (or an agent of that person) who provided the Website with the complaint at issue.

Counter-Notices should be sent to the Copyright Agent identified above.

The DMCA allows us to restore the removed content if the party filing the original DMCA Notice does not file a court action against you within ten business days of receiving the copy of your Counter-Notice.

Please be aware that if you knowingly materially misrepresent that material or activity on the Website was removed or disabled by mistake or misidentification, you may be held liable for damages (including costs and attorneys’ fees) under Section 512(f) of the DMCA.

 

Repeat Infringers

It is our policy in appropriate circumstances to disable and/or terminate the accounts of users who are repeat infringers.  We generally will treat a user as a repeat infringer if the user has been notified of infringing activity more than twice and/or has had a user submission removed from the Website more than twice.