This site is run by me, Maren Blackthorn — one author, not a company. I collect as little as I can get away with, I don't sell anything about you to anyone, and everything below is a plain description of what actually happens when you visit.
Last updated: 29 July 2026
If you subscribe, I collect your email address and nothing else. No name, no location, no phone number. I use it to send occasional emails about new releases, early chapters, and the odd extra from the archives.
The list is managed by MailerLite, who store the address on my behalf and record ordinary email statistics such as whether a message was opened. I don't pass your address to anyone else, and I never sell it.
Every email has an unsubscribe link at the bottom. Using it removes you immediately, and you don't need to tell me why. You can also email me and I'll do it for you.
Episode Zero is delivered by BookFunnel, who handle getting the file onto your device. No signup is required to download it, and downloading it does not add you to my mailing list. BookFunnel processes the download under their own privacy policy.
I use Google Analytics to understand roughly how many people visit, which books they look at, and which links they follow. It sets cookies and records a shortened version of your IP address. I use it to answer questions like "did anyone click this ad" — not to identify individuals, and I have no way to work out who you are from it.
You can opt out entirely with Google's browser add-on, and most ad and tracker blockers already block it. Blocking it doesn't break anything on this site — the book pages still work exactly the same.
If you arrive from an ad, the link may carry tags (utm_source and similar)
telling me which platform and which ad you came from. That's about the ad, not about you.
My book pages forward you to Amazon. So that a reader in Berlin doesn't land on the American store, the page works out which country you're likely in — first from your device's timezone setting, and if that's inconclusive by asking country.is, which reads the country from your IP address. Neither step tells me who you are, and I don't keep a record of it.
The answer is saved in your own browser's local storage under mb_country for
up to 30 days, purely so the lookup doesn't have to happen again. It never leaves your device
and clearing your browser data removes it.
Once you follow a link to Amazon you're on Amazon's site, under their privacy notice, not mine. I don't receive any information about what you browse or buy there beyond the sales figures Amazon reports to me as a publisher, which are aggregate numbers with no personal details attached.
Wherever you live, you can ask me what I hold about you, ask for it corrected, or ask me to delete it. In practice the only thing I hold is an email address, so "delete it" means unsubscribing you and removing the record.
If you're in the UK or EU, the GDPR gives you those rights formally, along with the right to object to processing and to complain to your national data protection authority. My legal basis for the mailing list is your consent, which you gave by subscribing and can withdraw at any time. If you're in California, the CCPA gives you comparable rights — and note that I don't sell personal information, so there's nothing to opt out of on that front.
Just email me and I'll sort it out. No forms.
My books are written for adults and this site isn't directed at children. I don't knowingly collect information from anyone under 16. If you believe a child has subscribed, email me and I'll remove the address.
If I change how any of this works, I'll update this page and change the date at the top. If the change is significant and affects subscribers, I'll say so in an email rather than quietly editing the page.
Questions, requests, or corrections: books@marenblackthorn.com.