Privacy Policy

Information collected

Depending on what you do here, the following may be collected:

• Your name
• Your email address
• Billing and payment-related information
• Order information, including what you bought, when, and for how much
• A shipping address, but only if you order the signed manuscript, which is mailed
• Your IP address
• Device and browser information
• Website usage and analytics data
• Cookie data, described below
• Anything you choose to send in an email or type into a form

You are not required to create an account to buy the book. If you use other parts of this site that do have accounts, more information may be collected there.

How that information is used

Information is used to:

• Process your order and take payment
• Deliver what you bought, by email and, for the signed manuscript, by mail
• Answer your questions and handle support and refunds
• Send transactional email about your order — receipts, delivery, and changes to the delivery date
• Understand how the site is used and improve it
• Send marketing email, only where you have agreed to receive it
• Prevent fraud and keep the site secure
• Meet legal and tax obligations

Marketing email is separate from transactional email. You can stop marketing email at any time. Transactional email about an order you placed will still be sent, because that is how you receive what you paid for.

Payment information

Payments are processed by Stripe. When you check out, you are on Stripe's own checkout page, and your card details go to Stripe rather than to this website.

Full card numbers are not stored on this site. What comes back from Stripe is limited order information — that a payment succeeded, the amount, and the email address you gave at checkout. Stripe handles the card data under its own privacy policy and its own security obligations.

Cookies and tracking

This site does not run Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, the Meta Pixel, the TikTok Pixel, Hotjar, Microsoft Clarity, or any advertising or behavioral tracking script. There are no third-party advertising cookies here.

What does exist:

• A first-party cookie used by the What's Next guide to keep your place while you move through it. It is not used for advertising and is not shared.
• First-party usage events written to my own database, recording an anonymous identifier and which step of a flow was reached. No answers, names, or email addresses are attached to them.
• Cookies your browser needs for the site to function and for payment to work securely.

Because there is no third-party or advertising tracking, there is no consent banner asking you to accept it. If advertising or third-party analytics is ever added, this policy will be updated and consent will be requested where the law requires it.

Service providers

Running this site means using a small number of outside companies. Each one only receives what it needs to do its job:

• Stripe — payment processing, transaction records, and fraud prevention
• Supabase — database, authentication, and storage
• Resend — sending transactional email
• Netlify — website hosting and delivery
• Anthropic — used by the What's Next guide to generate results from what a user submits there; it is not involved in buying the book

Your information may also be disclosed where the law requires it, to investigate fraud or abuse, to enforce agreements, or in connection with a sale or transfer of the business.

Your personal information is not sold.

Data retention

Order and payment records are kept as long as needed to deliver what you bought, handle refunds and disputes, and meet tax and accounting obligations. In practice that means several years.

Email addresses on a marketing list are kept until you unsubscribe or ask for removal. Anonymous usage data is kept in aggregate and is not tied back to you.

Data security

The site runs over HTTPS. Payment card data never reaches this site's servers. Database and email infrastructure are provided by established vendors with their own security programs, and access is limited to what is needed to operate the site.

No website can promise perfect security, and this one does not. If a breach affecting your personal information occurs, you will be notified where the law requires it.

Your privacy rights

Depending on where you live, you may have the right to ask for a copy of the personal information held about you, to have it corrected, to have it deleted, to object to or restrict certain uses, or to opt out of marketing. Residents of California, the EEA, and the UK have specific rights under their own laws.

To exercise any of these, email contact@whereismas.com. You will not be treated differently for asking. Some information may need to be kept where the law requires it — tax records for a completed sale, for example — and if a request is refused you will be told why.

Email communications

If you buy the book, you will receive email about that purchase: a receipt, the preface and first chapter, the finished book, and any change to the delivery date. That email is part of what you paid for.

Marketing email is sent only where you have agreed to receive it, and every marketing email has an unsubscribe link.

Children's privacy

This site is meant for adults and is not directed at children under 13. Information is not knowingly collected from children under 13. If you believe a child has provided information here, email me and it will be deleted.

Changes to this policy

This policy may be updated. The effective date at the top will change when it is. If a change materially affects how your information is handled, reasonable steps will be taken to tell you.

Contact

Questions about this policy, or about your information, go to contact@whereismas.com. Contact is by email only.