PRIVACY POLICY
Your privacy matters.
This Privacy Policy explains how personal information is collected, used, stored and protected when you visit kayhart.co.uk, contact me, join one of my mailing lists or literary community features, request access to private creative material, book or enquire about an editorial service, or otherwise interact with the website.
I aim to handle your personal information fairly, transparently and only for purposes that are reasonably necessary.
This policy should be read alongside the Cookie Policy and Terms of Use.
Who is responsible for your personal data
Kay Hart is responsible for the personal information collected through kayhart.co.uk and acts as the data controller for the purposes of applicable UK data-protection law.
Red Pen Editorial is the name under which editorial services are provided through this website.
If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, how your information is handled, or would like to exercise one of your data-protection rights, you can contact me at:
Kay@kayhart.co.uk
Who this website is for
This website, its content, member areas, literary community features, mailing lists, events, editorial services, script-request facilities and other interactive features are intended only for people aged 18 or over.
I do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under the age of 18.
If I become aware that a person under 18 has provided personal information through the website, I may delete that information and restrict or remove access to the relevant feature, account or service.
If you believe that someone under the age of 18 has provided personal information through kayhart.co.uk, please contact me at Kay@kayhart.co.uk.
What personal information I collect
The information I collect depends on how you interact with the website.
When you provide information directly, this may include your name, email address, organisation or company, professional or creative role, account or profile information, enquiry details, manuscript or project information, genre, word count, deadlines, booking information, event-registration details, community contributions, newsletter preferences, the script you have requested and your reason for requesting it.
If you contact Red Pen Editorial, you may also choose to provide writing samples, manuscript extracts, scripts, notes, questions or other creative material.
If you become an editorial client, I may process information connected with the project, including correspondence, agreed scope, booking details, manuscript files, editorial notes, invoices, payment status and records necessary to administer and complete the service.
I may also receive technical information when you use the website, such as your IP address, browser type, device information, cookie identifiers, security information and information about how the website is accessed or used. Some of this information is collected automatically through Wix or related website technologies.
Where analytics or other non-essential technologies require consent, they will be used in accordance with the choices you make through the website's cookie controls.
Where your information comes from
Most personal information I process is provided directly by you.
For example, you may provide information when you submit a form, subscribe to a mailing list, create a member account, participate in a community feature, request a script, register for an event, send an email, book a consultation or submit an editorial enquiry.
I may also receive limited information from service providers used to operate the website and provide services, such as Wix confirming a booking, payment status or form submission.
Technical information may be generated automatically when you visit or interact with the website.
I do not routinely obtain personal information about you from data brokers or purchase marketing lists.
How I use your information
I may use personal information to respond to messages and enquiries; assess editorial enquiries; prepare quotations or proposals; administer bookings; provide editorial services; process and maintain records relating to payments; deliver consultations; review writing samples or manuscripts; assess requests for access to unpublished scripts; manage member accounts and community features; administer events or discussions; send communications you have requested; manage newsletter subscriptions; maintain records of consent and opt-outs; operate and secure the website; prevent misuse or unauthorised access; protect my creative work and business interests; and meet legal, tax, accounting or regulatory obligations.
I do not use information collected for an editorial enquiry or private-script request to add you to a marketing mailing list unless you separately choose to subscribe.
My lawful bases for using your information
UK data-protection law requires me to have a lawful basis for processing personal information. The basis used depends on what I am doing with the information.
Consent is relied upon where you actively choose to subscribe to The Paper Trail, the Bookmarked Society mailing list or another marketing communication, and where consent is required for non-essential cookies or similar technologies. Where processing relies on consent, you may withdraw that consent at any time.
Contract or steps taken at your request before entering into a contract may apply where you submit an editorial-service enquiry, request a quotation, book a consultation, purchase an editorial service, provide information needed for an agreed project or otherwise ask me to take steps towards providing a paid service.
Legitimate interests may apply where it is reasonably necessary to respond to general enquiries, assess requests for access to unpublished creative work, administer member or community features, operate and secure the website, prevent misuse or unauthorised access, maintain appropriate business records, protect my intellectual property and business, and understand or improve the operation of the website.
Where I rely on legitimate interests, I consider whether those interests are reasonably necessary and whether your interests, rights or freedoms outweigh them.
Legal obligation may apply where information must be processed or retained to comply with tax, accounting, legal, regulatory or other obligations imposed by law.
I will not use personal information for a materially different purpose without considering whether that new use is lawful and, where required, providing further information or obtaining consent.
Contact and general enquiries
When you contact me through the Contact page, email or another general enquiry form, I use the information you provide to understand and respond to your message and manage any resulting correspondence.
Information submitted through a general enquiry is not automatically added to a marketing list.
Red Pen Editorial enquiries
When you submit a Red Pen Editorial enquiry, I may ask for information about your manuscript or project, such as its type, genre, word count, stage of development, the support you are looking for and any relevant deadlines.
I use this information to understand your project, decide whether I may be able to help, recommend an appropriate service where relevant, prepare a quotation or proposal and manage any resulting correspondence.
Submitting an enquiry does not require you to become a client.
Manuscripts, scripts and writing samples
You may choose to send a manuscript, script, writing sample, extract, notes or other creative material when making an editorial enquiry or receiving an editorial service.
This material is used only as reasonably necessary to assess the enquiry, prepare for or provide the agreed service, communicate with you about the work and maintain appropriate project records.
Editorial material is not added to marketing databases, published on the website or used for unrelated promotional purposes without permission.
Please avoid including unnecessary personal or sensitive information about identifiable living individuals in material you submit.
Where material contains personal information relating to somebody other than you, you are responsible for ensuring you have an appropriate right or authority to provide that information.
Bookings, payments and editorial services
If you book an Editorial Consultation or another paid service, I may process information necessary to administer the booking and provide the service.
This may include your name, email address, booking details, project information, correspondence, invoice information, payment status and details relating to the service you have requested.
Bookings, invoices and payments may be administered through Wix and associated payment-processing services.
I do not receive or store your full payment-card details.
Payment providers may process information necessary to complete, authenticate and administer a transaction in accordance with their own privacy terms.
Information relating to invoices, transactions and completed services may be retained for longer where necessary to meet legal, tax, accounting or contractual requirements.
Editorial Consultations and video meetings
Editorial Consultations and other meetings may take place through Zoom, Google Meet or another mutually agreed platform.
When a third-party meeting platform is used, that provider may process information necessary to provide the meeting, such as your name, email address, device information or connection information, in accordance with its own privacy terms.
I do not record Editorial Consultations unless you are informed in advance and any consent required has been obtained.
Private scripts and manuscript requests
Some scripts, screenplays, stage plays, manuscripts or other creative work are available only by request.
When you request access, I may ask for information such as your name, email address, professional or creative role, organisation and reason for requesting the work.
I use this information to assess the request, communicate with you and decide whether access to the unpublished material should be provided.
Information submitted through a script request is not added to a marketing mailing list unless you separately choose to subscribe.
The Literary Community and member accounts
Parts of kayhart.co.uk may include member or community features, including The Literary Community, the Scribblers' Parlour and the Bookmarked Society.
Where you create a Wix member account or participate in a community feature, I may process information necessary to administer your account, enable access, operate the community, moderate content and communicate with you about the relevant feature.
Depending on the feature and your account settings, certain profile information or content you choose to post may be visible to other authorised members.
You should not post private, confidential or sensitive personal information that you do not want other members to see.
Community information is not automatically used for marketing unless you separately opt in to receive marketing communications.
The Paper Trail and Bookmarked Society mailing lists
Mailing lists associated with The Paper Trail and The Bookmarked Society are managed using Mailchimp.
You will receive marketing or newsletter communications from a list only where you have subscribed or another lawful basis permits the communication.
You can withdraw consent at any time by using the unsubscribe link included in the relevant email.
Because The Paper Trail and the Bookmarked Society have separate subscription lists, unsubscribing from one does not necessarily unsubscribe you from another list you have separately chosen to join.
After you unsubscribe, limited information may be retained on a suppression or unsubscribe record where necessary to ensure that your preference continues to be respected.
Events, workshops and community activities
If you register for an event, workshop, discussion or other literary-community activity, I may use the information you provide to administer your registration, communicate relevant arrangements, provide joining information or pre-event material, manage participation and operate the event.
Information collected for an event is not automatically added to a general marketing list unless you separately choose to subscribe.
Wix
Kayhart.co.uk is built and hosted using Wix.
Wix provides technology used for functions that may include website hosting, forms, contacts, CRM, member accounts, community features, events, bookings, payments, invoices, workflows, automations, security and transactional communications.
Wix and its authorised service providers may process personal and technical information where necessary to provide these functions.
Mailchimp
I use Mailchimp to manage and deliver mailing lists including The Paper Trail and the Bookmarked Society mailing list.
When you subscribe to one of these lists, information such as your name, email address, subscription status and engagement information may be processed through Mailchimp for list administration, delivery, unsubscribe management and related mailing-list functions.
Mailchimp operates its own systems and privacy arrangements.
Other service providers
I may use third-party providers where reasonably necessary to operate the website or provide a requested service.
These may include website and hosting providers, email providers, CRM and automation services, booking and payment providers, video-conferencing platforms, cloud or file-storage providers and professional advisers where appropriate.
I only share information to the extent reasonably necessary for the relevant purpose.
Who I share your information with
I do not sell your personal information.
Personal information may be shared with service providers such as Wix, Mailchimp, payment-processing providers, Zoom, Google Meet and other technology providers where necessary to operate the website or provide a service you have requested.
Information may also be disclosed to professional advisers, regulators, public authorities, law-enforcement bodies or other parties where this is reasonably necessary to establish, exercise or defend legal rights, comply with a legal obligation, prevent fraud or misuse, or protect the rights and safety of the website, its users or others.
I do not disclose manuscripts or unpublished creative material to third parties for unrelated marketing or commercial use.
International transfers
Some third-party providers used to operate kayhart.co.uk or provide its services may process or store personal information outside the United Kingdom.
Where a transfer of personal information outside the UK is subject to UK data-transfer restrictions, I rely on the relevant provider to use an appropriate lawful transfer mechanism, which may include UK adequacy regulations or recognised contractual safeguards such as the UK's International Data Transfer Agreement or an applicable UK Addendum.
You may contact me at Kay@kayhart.co.uk if you would like further information about the safeguards relevant to a particular service provider.
How long I keep your information
I do not keep personal information indefinitely simply because it has been collected.
Unless a longer period is required for legal, contractual, tax, accounting, dispute-resolution or security purposes, I use the following general retention approach:
General contact enquiries and correspondence are normally retained for up to 12 months after the last meaningful correspondence where no ongoing relationship or legal reason requires them to be kept longer.
Unsuccessful or declined editorial enquiries and associated writing samples are normally retained for up to 12 months after the enquiry is closed, after which files that are no longer required are deleted.
Client project files, manuscripts and editorial working material are normally retained for up to 12 months following completion of the project, unless a different period has been agreed or continued retention is reasonably necessary.
Script requests and related correspondence are normally retained for up to 24 months so that I can maintain an appropriate record of access to unpublished material and manage subsequent correspondence.
Member-account and community information may be retained while an account remains active and for a reasonable period following closure or deletion where necessary for administration, moderation, security, dispute resolution or legal purposes.
Newsletter subscriber information is retained while you remain subscribed. If you unsubscribe, limited information may remain on an unsubscribe or suppression list so that your preference can continue to be honoured.
Booking, invoice, transaction, contractual and accounting records may be retained for up to six years, or for another period required by applicable tax, accounting or legal obligations.
Technical and security information is retained only for as long as reasonably necessary for website operation, security, troubleshooting, fraud prevention and related purposes.
I may securely delete information earlier where there is no longer a reason to keep it.
If you publish these periods, they should become the retention schedule you actually follow.
Cookies and similar technologies
Kayhart.co.uk uses cookies and similar technologies.
Some technologies are necessary for the website to function, maintain security, remember essential settings or provide features you request.
Other technologies, such as analytics or non-essential functionality, may require your consent.
Where consent is legally required, non-essential cookies or similar technologies are used in accordance with the choices you make through the website's cookie controls.
You can find more information about the technologies used and how to change your choices in the Cookie Policy.
Whether you have to provide your information
You are not generally under a legal obligation to provide personal information simply to browse the website.
However, certain information may be necessary if you choose to use a particular feature or service.
For example, I may need an email address to reply to an enquiry or deliver a requested communication, booking information to arrange a consultation, appropriate project details to assess an editorial enquiry, or payment information to complete a purchase through the relevant payment provider.
If you do not provide information that is reasonably necessary for a requested service, I may be unable to provide that service or complete the request.
Automated messages and decision-making
Wix, Mailchimp and other systems may use automated processes to carry out administrative functions, such as sending booking confirmations, transactional messages, newsletter emails, form acknowledgements or other communications triggered by an action you take.
However, I do not use solely automated decision-making or profiling to make decisions about you that produce legal or similarly significant effects.
In particular, decisions about whether to accept an editorial project or provide access to private creative material are not made solely by an automated system.
Security
I take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect personal information against unauthorised access, loss, misuse, alteration or disclosure.
I also use established third-party platforms to provide website hosting, communication, mailing-list, booking and payment functions.
No online service, email system or method of electronic storage can be guaranteed to be completely secure. You should therefore take reasonable care when deciding what information to send electronically and avoid sending unnecessary sensitive information.
Where a personal-data breach occurs, I will assess it and take any notification or remedial steps required by applicable data-protection law.
Your data-protection rights
Under UK data-protection law, your rights will depend partly on the circumstances and the lawful basis being used.
You may have the right to request access to personal information I hold about you; ask for inaccurate or incomplete information to be corrected; request erasure in certain circumstances; request restriction of processing in certain circumstances; object to certain processing; request portability of certain information where that right applies; and withdraw consent at any time where processing relies on consent.
You also have the right to ask me to explain how your personal information is being used.
There is normally no charge for exercising your data-protection rights, although the law permits limited exceptions.
To exercise a right or ask a privacy question, contact:
Kay@kayhart.co.uk
I may need to request sufficient information to confirm your identity before responding to certain requests.
Your right to object
You have the right to object at any time to the use of your personal information for direct marketing.
You may also have the right to object to processing based on legitimate interests in certain circumstances.
If you no longer wish to receive a newsletter or marketing email, you can also use the unsubscribe link included in that communication.
Your right to complain
If you have concerns about how I have handled your personal information, you are welcome to contact me first at Kay@kayhart.co.uk so that I can try to resolve the issue.
You also have the right to make a complaint to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's independent data-protection regulator.
You do not have to contact me before exercising your right to complain to the ICO.
External websites
Kayhart.co.uk may contain links to other websites, social-media services, booksellers, publishers or third-party platforms that I do not control.
When you follow an external link, the third party may process information under its own privacy policy and terms.
This Privacy Policy applies to personal information processed in connection with kayhart.co.uk and my own services. It does not control the independent data-handling practices of external organisations.
Changes to this Privacy Policy
I may update this Privacy Policy from time to time where the website, services, technology, legal requirements or the way I process personal information changes.
The date at the top of this page shows when the policy was most recently updated.
Where a change materially affects how existing personal information is used, I will take reasonable steps to bring that change to the attention of affected individuals where required.
Contact
If you have a question about this Privacy Policy, would like to exercise a data-protection right or have a concern about the use of your personal information, please contact:
Kay Hart
Email: Kay@kayhart.co.uk
Last updated: 8 September 2026