Privacy Policy

You may provide information when you choose to interact with the site, such as when you:

• Take the Faction Quiz. Depending on how you complete it, this may include a name, your responses, and an email address. These responses may be used to determine your faction placement, to personalize what we send you, and to operate related features.
• Sign up for the newsletter, apply for the ARC program, enter a giveaway, or claim a prize. This generally includes an email address, along with any other details the relevant form requests.
• Take part in reader programs and community features. If you sign up, we may keep a record of your participation, such as entries, quiz placement, rank or standing, and what you are eligible for.
• Order or pre-order the book. Checkout is handled by our commerce and payment providers, who collect the details needed to process and ship an order, such as name, email, shipping address, and payment information. We receive order and fulfillment information. We do not receive or store complete payment card numbers.
• Send proof of a purchase, such as a receipt or an order screenshot, when you claim a pre-order, a prize, or a reader perk.
• Submit a review, contact us, or reply to an email. A review you submit, and the name you submit it under, may be shown publicly.
• Provide anything else you choose to send us.

We do not ask for sensitive personal information, and we do not knowingly collect it or use it to infer characteristics about you.

When you visit the site, we and the providers described in Section 4 may collect information automatically, which may include:

• IP address, approximate location derived from it, browser and device characteristics, and similar technical details
• Pages viewed, time on page, links and elements interacted with, scrolling, referring source, and similar usage information
• Interaction and session activity captured by analytics and product-experience tools, which may include recordings or reconstructions of how pages are used
• Campaign parameters contained in links used to reach the site, so we can understand which content or message brought you here
• Other similar technical or usage information collected by the providers described in Section 4

Information may be used to operate and improve the site and our reader programs, including to:

• Provide quiz placements, newsletters, giveaways, rank and community features, and other things you sign up for
• Fulfill and support orders
• Understand how the site is used and improve it
• Promote and measure promotion of the book and related content, including through advertising platforms
• Maintain security, prevent misuse, and meet legal, tax, and record-keeping obligations
• Other purposes compatible with those described above

Where required, our processing may rely on your consent, on the performance of a contract, on legitimate interests, or on compliance with a legal obligation, depending on the activity and your location.

We use third-party providers to run this site and our reader programs. The providers we use change from time to time. By category, they generally include:

• Website hosting, forms, commerce, and payment processing
• Content and media delivery
• Database and application services used to store quiz results, entries, and program participation
• Email marketing and subscriber management, which may record whether messages are opened or links are clicked
• Analytics and product-experience tools, which may include tools that record or reconstruct how pages are used
• Advertising and measurement tools
• Fonts and open-source browser libraries
• Other similar providers used to operate, secure, and improve the site

Third parties, including Meta, Google, and Microsoft, may use pixels, cookies, and similar storage and tracking technologies to collect or receive information from this site and from other sites and apps, and may use that information to provide measurement services and targeted advertising. Each provider handles information under its own privacy policy.

We do not sell personal information in exchange for money. Some of the advertising, analytics, and measurement activity described above may nonetheless be considered “sharing,” “targeted advertising,” or a “sale” under certain state privacy laws. See Section 6.

This site uses cookies, local storage, pixels, and similar technologies. Broadly, these fall into two groups.

Essential technologies support core functionality such as cart and order handling, session continuity, security, site delivery, and similar purposes. Disabling them may prevent parts of the site from working.

Non-essential technologies support analytics, product-experience measurement, advertising, and similar purposes. These are not required for the site to function.

Most browsers allow you to block, limit, or delete cookies and similar technologies through their settings. Doing so may affect how the site works.

• Marketing emails include an unsubscribe link.
• Browser settings, tracking-prevention features, and platform-level ad settings can be used to limit analytics and advertising technologies. Google, Meta, and Microsoft each offer their own opt-out and preference controls.
• Where we are able to detect a recognized opt-out preference signal sent by your browser, such as Global Privacy Control, we treat it as a request to opt out of targeted advertising and the sharing of personal information for that browser.
• You may contact robert@exousia.world to request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information, to withdraw consent, or to opt out of targeted advertising or the sharing of personal information. Please send your request from the email address associated with your information, or otherwise provide enough detail for us to locate it.

Depending on where you live, you may have rights under laws such as the UK GDPR, the EU GDPR, or US state privacy laws, which can include rights to access, correct, delete, restrict, or port your information, to object to certain processing, to withdraw consent, and to opt out of targeted advertising or the sharing or sale of personal information. We will respond to verified requests as and to the extent required by applicable law, and we will not discriminate against you for exercising these rights. Individuals in the UK or EEA may also lodge a complaint with their supervisory authority.

If we decline a request, you may ask us to reconsider by replying to our response, and we will handle that appeal as and to the extent required by applicable law.

As an Amazon Associate, World of Exousia and Robert Biehn earn from qualifying purchases. This site also contains affiliate links to other platforms, and we may earn a commission on qualifying purchases at no additional cost to you. Retailers and affiliate networks may set their own cookies and collect their own information when you follow such links, under their own policies, which we do not control.

The First Stone is a young adult novel and this site is read by teenagers. This site is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you are a parent or guardian and believe a child under 13 has provided personal information, contact robert@exousia.world and we will take appropriate steps to remove it.

We also do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of readers under 16 for targeted advertising.

If you are under the age of majority where you live, please obtain permission from a parent or guardian before entering a giveaway, applying to a reader program, or making a purchase.

Giveaways and similar promotions are subject to their own rules, including those at exousia.world/giveaway-rules. Information provided to participate is used to administer the promotion, contact participants and winners, and deliver prizes, and is otherwise handled as described in this policy.

We retain personal information for as long as reasonably necessary for the purposes described in this policy, including to operate the programs you have signed up for, to maintain business and transaction records, to resolve disputes, and to comply with legal obligations. Retention periods applied by third-party analytics and advertising providers are governed by those providers.

We operate from the United States. If you access the site from outside the United States, your information may be transferred to, stored in, and processed in the United States and in other countries where our providers operate, which may have different data protection standards. Where required, transfers rely on recognized safeguards or transfer mechanisms.

We use established providers and reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect information. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security. Where required by law, we will provide notice of a security incident affecting personal information.

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date above will be revised when we do. Material changes may also be communicated through the newsletter.

Robert Biehn World of Exousia robert@exousia.world A postal address is available on request.