Privacy Policy

Enquiry forms. When you send a form on this site (a consultation request, a contact message or the short book-details form we may email you after an enquiry), we keep what you type: your name, email address, phone number, your message and which service you asked about. We also record the page the form was sent from and the approximate location the request came from (country, state or region, and city), worked out from your connection by our hosting provider. We do not store the IP address itself.

Campaign links. If you arrive from one of our ads or campaign links, a first-party cookie remembers which campaign it was for 30 days, so that an enquiry can say how you found us. It holds only the campaign tags, the referring site and the first page you visited, never anything that identifies you.

The client portal. Clients sign in to a private portal to share files with their team and follow their project. There we hold your login email, a scrambled (hashed) form of your password, the files you upload and we share with you, your messages and comments, your reviews and approvals, and a record of when you signed in. We never store your password in readable form.

Payments. Card payments are processed by Stripe, a regulated payment provider. Your card number and security code go straight from your browser to Stripe; they never touch our servers and we never store them. We keep the invoice details Stripe reports back to us: the amount, the date, the status, the card brand and its last four digits.

Email. When you enquire, we send you one welcome email and, if you have not answered, one reminder. If you become a client, we send emails about your account and your project (a link to set your password, a note when something is waiting for you in your portal). Marketing-style emails carry an unsubscribe link; account emails, such as a password reset, do not, because they are about something you asked for.

Phone and messages. If you call or text us, we keep the number you contacted us from and notes of what was discussed, so that the person who speaks to you next knows where things stand.

Live chat. If a chat window is shown on the site, the conversation is handled by a chat provider on our behalf and holds whatever you choose to type into it.

Website measurement and advertising, only when switched on. We may use Google Tag Manager to load measurement tags such as Google Analytics, and the Meta Pixel, Meta (Facebook)'s advertising tool. These are only loaded when we have turned them on. When the Meta Pixel is on, it tells Meta when someone visits this site and when a form is sent, so that we can measure and improve our Facebook and Instagram ads; your email address and phone number are then passed to Meta in scrambled (hashed) form for this purpose only, so that the same enquiry is not counted twice.

• To answer your enquiry and talk with you about your book.
• To deliver the service you bought: run your project, share files and drafts with you, and collect your feedback and approvals.
• To invoice you and record your payments.
• To send the emails described above.
• To keep our records straight: who we spoke to, what was agreed and what was delivered.
• To understand how people find and use the site, so we can improve it and our advertising (only when measurement tags are on).
• To meet our legal obligations, such as tax and accounting records, and to resolve disputes.

We do not sell your personal information, and we do not share it with anyone for their own marketing.

Cookies are small files a website stores in your browser. This site uses:

• Sign-in cookies for the client portal (and for our own staff area). They keep you signed in and are deleted when you sign out or when they expire.
• The campaign cookie described above, which lasts 30 days and holds only campaign tags.
• Cookies set by Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics and the Meta Pixel, only when those tools are switched on. They belong to Google and Meta and are covered by their own policies.

You can block or delete cookies in your browser's settings. The portal needs its sign-in cookie to work; everything else on the site works without cookies.

We use a small number of companies to run this site and our business. They process your information on our behalf, under contract, and only for the purpose we give them:

• Our website host and our database host, which store the site and the records described above.
• Our email provider, which delivers the emails we send you.
• Stripe, which processes card payments.
• Our customer relationship (CRM) system, where enquiries, clients, projects and invoices are tracked by our team.
• Our file storage provider, which holds the files shared through the client portal.
• Our live chat provider, when the chat window is on.
• Google and Meta, when their measurement and advertising tools are on, as described above.

We may also disclose information when the law requires it, to enforce our terms, or to protect our rights, property or safety or those of others. Some of the companies above operate outside the United States; where they do, they are bound by contract to protect your information.

Enquiries are kept while we are in touch with you and for a reasonable time afterwards, so that we can pick the conversation back up if you return. Client records, project files and messages are kept for the life of the project and afterwards for as long as we may need them to support you or deal with a dispute. Invoices and payment records are kept for as long as tax and accounting law requires. When information is no longer needed, we delete it.

Everything between your browser and this site travels over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Portal passwords are stored only in hashed form. Files in the portal are kept in private storage and reachable only through short-lived links issued to the people on your project. Only the members of our team who need your information to do their work can see it. No system is perfectly secure, so if you believe your account has been accessed without your permission, tell us at once.

You can ask us at any time to tell you what information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it. You can stop our emails with the unsubscribe link in any marketing-style email, or by writing to us. You can decline cookies in your browser. Where the law where you live gives you further rights over your personal information, we will honor them.

To make any of these requests, email info@chicagobookclinic.com from the address we have for you, or call +1 888 389 5182. We may ask you to confirm who you are before acting. We will not treat you differently for exercising your rights.

If you give us your mobile number and agree to receive text messages, we may text you about your enquiry or your project. Message and data rates may apply; message frequency varies. Reply STOP at any time to opt out, or HELP for help. Your mobile number and your consent to receive texts are never shared with third parties or affiliates for their marketing.

This site may link to other websites. They have their own privacy policies, and we are not responsible for what they do with your information.

We may update this policy as the site and our services change. The current version is always the one on this page. If a change materially affects how we use information we already hold about you, we will tell you by email or by a notice on the site.

Chicago Book Clinic, Chicago, Illinois. Email info@chicagobookclinic.com or call +1 888 389 5182, Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm Central Time.