Privacy policy

Use of email addresses

If you email me, I won't add you to my mailing list unless you agree first and I would be grateful if you would extend me the same courtesy. If you join my newsletter list, I will use your email address only for the purposes of sending the newsletter. It won't be disclosed to third parties except as necessary to send the newsletter. If I discontinue a newsletter or suspend a newsletter, I will retain your details to notify you of relevant news in future. You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the unsubscribe link in the newsletter.

Copyright and ideas

There is a possibility that I am working on ideas similar to something you might send me or am planning to work on something similar. For that reason, I have to insist that it is a condition of you contacting me that I can use your submission (or something similar to it) in any way I want without payment or credit to you. This is the only way I can make it possible for people to contact me.

While I try to offer advice by email where I can, it's more effective for me if I can reproduce my advice on this site or in books for others to benefit from too. For that reason, I also require a licence to use your expression of your ideas (which might be your emailed question), so that I can post it with my answer. I will respect your right to anonymity where requested.

I exclusively own the copyright in any emails I send to you. If you need to publish or redistribute my replies, please provide full details at the time you email me.

Any information you provide is deemed not to be confidential unless we agree otherwise in advance of you sending it.

In all cases, I retain the right to freely use information or ideas I already have even if you send me similar ideas or information. By emailing me, you are deemed to have accepted these terms.

Advertising and sales

This website features adverts which make an important contribution towards the costs of maintaining the website. The advertisers may be able to track your surfing across different websites, but will not be able to identify you unless you've told them who you are.

Many adverts on this website are for Amazon and its various international companies. Click here for Amazon's privacy policy. If you buy something from Amazon after following a link from this website (thankyou!) I can see what you've bought but cannot find out who bought it. I also receive totals for the number of clicks the links to Amazon receive, for the purpose of optimising the advertising.

Adverts are also provided by Google. Google only tells me the total of the number of adverts clicked per day and the revenue generated for me as a result. If you have provided Google with personal information, Google might be able to link this to your surfing behaviour. See Google's privacy policy for more information.

Nearly all sales through this site are referred to third parties: the only thing I sell directly online is my ebook 'Journalism Careers - Your questions answered'. Anything else you buy is provided in partnership with other websites and your transaction falls outside of this privacy policy - your data will be processed by the company you trade with after following links from this site. None of these third-party companies passes your personal information on to me.

Web logs

I use software to analyse my server logs. This tells me the most popular pages on the website and where visitors are coming from. It also tells me the most popular search keywords used and the countries people are coming from. It does not reveal any information on individual visitors and information cannot be traced to any visitors.

I also use Google Analytics. Again, I can't identify you personally, but Google might be able to. See Google's privacy policy.

If you have any questions relating to your privacy and this website, please email me.

Cookies policy

Please see my separate cookies policy.