First, there actually is no "we." There's "I," Moira Allen. I'm the only person who works with this site. There's no big company or corporation. The goal of this site is to give information, not get it. Still, we get some data whether we want it or not, so let's look at...

1. Visitor Statistics

This site does not use cookies. However, visitor statistics are tracked by a variety of programs, such as Awstats, and those do use cookies. Those programs are incorporated into the host server, and I have no control over them.

From Awstats, I can determine how many unique visitors come to the site every month and how many pages are visited. Awstats also gives quite a bit of other info, such as statistics on visitors from different countries, pages visited, keywords used in searching for the site, etc., but again, no personal information is gathered on individuals. (And, frankly, I don't have time to pay any attention to that info - all I ever check on Awstats is how many visitors came by each month.)

This information enables me to provide statistics on visitor rates to potential advertisers, which, in turn, helps support this site and keeps this information available to you.

2. Information Provided to Advertisers

A variety of companies advertise products and services on this site. The only information I provide to advertisers is aggregate data on visitor rates - i.e., how many visitors the site receives per month. No personal data about visitors, such as personal e-mails, will ever be provided to our advertisers. Ever.

3. E-mails

If you send me a personal e-mail (such as a thank-you or a request for advice), obviously I will receive whatever personal information you have chosen to send. I treat e-mail correspondence in the same manner as letters sent by mail. Personal e-mails are archived offline in perpetuity. I do not collect or maintain a list of e-mail addresses from personal e-mails. No personal information from voluntary e-mails is ever shared, sold, made public, etc.

I reserve the following uses for personal e-mails:

• A. The right to use the content of a request for advice on writing-related topics in future articles or columns. If such information is used, no personal information about the sender will be included or made public.

• B. The right to contact correspondents in the unlikely event that I launch a newsletter or blog relating to the topic of this site. In such an event, correspondents will have the right to opt out of any future contacts or mailings.

If you send me a personal e-mail, rest assured that I will never use it to market to you or spam you.

4. Downloads

We have one download available: Our time-tracking resource for writers, The Writer's Year. This is a free download and no personal information is gathered. (We don't even keep track of how often this title is downloaded.)

Information for Advertisers

If you are an advertiser or potential advertiser on Writing-World.com, you have voluntarily entered into a business agreement with me. For the protection of my visitors and my business, I require complete contact information from advertisers, including name, company name (if different), address, e-mail, and URL. This information is gathered for business purposes only and is never sold, shared or made public.

Advertising on Writing-World.com takes the form of banners that link to the advertisers' own websites. These are designed by you, the advertiser, and contain only that information which you wish to make public.

Advertising agreements are archived offline in perpetuity, as part of my business and tax records.

Advertising is generally paid through PayPal. We do not receive any personal financial information from you. If you choose to pay by check, we do not keep copies of checks or record any personal financial information from such transactions.

As indicated above, we will never share with you, our advertisers, any personal information about our visitors. The only information we will share is aggregate visitor statistics. We will never provide any contact information such as visitor e-mails. (In other words, if you're thinking you'd like to do an "e-mail blast," fuhgeddaboudit.)