Privacy notice

Last updated: 3 September 2026

Who is responsible for your information?

Ambessa Publishing is responsible for the personal information described in this notice. If you have a privacy question or want to use one of your rights, email us at contact@ambessapublishing.com.

What information do we collect?

We collect information when you choose to:

• send an enquiry: your name, email address, organisation (if supplied), reason for contacting us, message, newsletter choice, enquiry reference and relevant dates;
• join the newsletter: your email address, first name (if supplied), the wording you agreed to, where you signed up and the dates of your request and confirmation; or
• contact us by email: your email address and anything you include in your message.

Our website host, analytics and spam-protection services also process limited technical information needed to operate, measure and protect the website. This can include information about the page visited, referring website, browser and device type, approximate location, date and time, IP address and security signals. We do not add your IP address to the contact or newsletter record in our database.

Why do we use it?

• To receive, answer and keep a record of enquiries. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to communicate with readers, authors, booksellers, media contacts and other people who approach us. Where an enquiry concerns a possible agreement, we may also need the information to take steps at your request.
• To send the Ambessa Publishing newsletter—with occasional news about new books, authors, events and behind-the-scenes stories—but only after you have actively asked for it and confirmed your email address. We rely on your consent.
• To understand, in aggregate, how people find and use our website, which pages and books attract interest and whether our publicity and campaigns are effective. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to understand and improve our website and publishing activity.
• To prevent spam, protect the website and investigate faults. We do this because it is in our legitimate interests to keep the service secure and reliable.
• To meet a legal obligation or establish, exercise or defend a legal claim where this is necessary.

Contact forms and email copies

When you send an enquiry, it is stored in Ambessa Publishing's database. We email a complete copy to Ambessa Publishing and another complete copy to the address you supplied. This lets you see exactly what you sent. Please do not include sensitive personal information in the form.

Newsletter choices

Newsletter consent is optional and separate from an enquiry. We send a confirmation link before activating a subscription. The link expires after 48 hours. You can withdraw your consent at any time on our unsubscribe page or by emailing us. Every newsletter we send will include a simple way to unsubscribe. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did lawfully before you withdrew it.

Who helps us run the website?

We use carefully selected service providers:

• Render hosts the website and its PostgreSQL database;
• Resend delivers contact receipts and newsletter messages;
• Cloudflare provides privacy-focused website analytics through Cloudflare Web Analytics and checks contact and newsletter forms for automated spam through Cloudflare Turnstile; and
• Google Workspacereceives and stores Ambessa Publishing's email copy of contact enquiries.

These providers process information only to provide their services to us and under their own security and privacy commitments. We may also disclose information where the law requires it. We do not sell or rent personal information.

Where is information processed?

Some of our providers operate internationally, so information may be processed outside the United Kingdom. Where data-protection law requires it, we rely on recognised safeguards intended to give the information an appropriate level of protection.

How long do we keep it?

• Contact enquiries are normally kept for up to 12 months after the enquiry is closed. We may keep a record longer where it is needed for an ongoing relationship, legal obligation or legal claim.
• A confirmed newsletter record is kept while you remain subscribed. If you unsubscribe, we may keep the minimum information needed on a suppression list so that we respect your choice.
• Unconfirmed newsletter requests are not used for marketing. Their confirmation links expire after 48 hours and the records are removed during routine housekeeping.
• Technical logs and aggregate analytics are retained only as long as reasonably needed for security, fault-finding, website operation and understanding website performance.

Analytics, cookies and spam protection

We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to understand aggregate website traffic, such as page views, referring websites, broad geographic information and the types of browsers and devices used to visit the site. We may also measure interactions that help us understand the effectiveness of the website, such as visits to book pages, retailer links and newsletter sign-ups. We use this information to improve the website and assess our publishing and promotional activity.

Our analytics are not used for advertising, cross-site tracking or building profiles of individual visitors. Cloudflare Web Analytics is designed to provide website statistics without using analytics cookies or persistent identifiers to track visitors across websites.

Cloudflare Turnstile runs on our forms and uses browser and device signals to decide whether a submission is likely to be genuine. It may use strictly necessary browser storage or cookies as part of that security check. Its verification token is checked by our website and is not saved in your enquiry or newsletter record.

Links to other websites

Our book pages contain links to retailers such as Amazon. We may record that a retailer link was selected so that we can understand which books and retailers attract interest. We do not receive your retailer account, purchase or payment details. Once you follow a retailer link, the other website handles information under its own privacy notice.

Your rights

Depending on the circumstances, you may ask us for a copy of your personal information, ask us to correct or delete it, limit how we use it, object to its use, or ask us to transfer information you supplied. You can always withdraw newsletter consent. Some rights have legal limits, but we will explain those if they apply.

To make a request, email contact@ambessapublishing.com. We may need to check your identity before giving out or changing personal information.

If you are unhappy

Please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the matter. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO). You can find its current contact and complaint details at ico.org.uk.

Changes to this notice

We will update this page when the website or our use of personal information changes. The date at the top shows when it was last revised. For information about using the site with assistive technology, see our accessibility page.