Privacy Policy

1. Information We Collect

A) Information you provide directly

• Story submissions - title and content you submit for publication.
• Author name or pen name — the name you provide for publication credit.
• Email address — used for editor communication and, when applicable, prize contact. Not displayed publicly unless you choose to include it in your bio.
• Contact form messages — any messages you send us via the contact form.
• Newsletter subscription — email address if you opt in to our newsletter.

B) Automatically collected information

• Basic log data — IP address, browser type, pages visited, and timestamps, collected for security and site operation.
• Cookies and local storage — used for essential site functions and basic analytics. See Section 8 for more detail.

2. How We Use Information

• To review, edit, and publish submitted stories.
• To contact you about your submission (acceptance, revisions, or questions).
• To send our newsletter if you have subscribed (you may unsubscribe at any time).
• To administer recognition, features, or prizes when applicable.
• To operate, maintain, protect, and improve the website (security, debugging, performance).
• To enforce our Submission Guidelines and Terms of Use.

3. What We Share, and What We Don't

Public content: If your story is published, we display the story and the author name or pen name you provided. Your email address is never displayed publicly.

We do not sell your data. Ever. Your email address and personal information are not sold, rented, or traded to third parties for any purpose.

We may share information only in these limited circumstances:

• When required by law or a valid legal process.
• To protect the rights, safety, and security of our writers, readers, or the site itself.
• With trusted service providers that help us operate the site (hosting, email delivery), bound by confidentiality obligations.
• If Writing Café Journal is acquired or merged, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify users of any such change in ownership.

4. Advertising

Writing Café Journal may display advertising from vetted partners. We do not share personally identifiable information (such as your email address) with advertisers. If we use any third-party ad technology in the future, we will update this policy accordingly and ensure it complies with applicable privacy laws. Our Advertising Policy describes our standards for what ads we accept.

5. Data Retention

We retain submissions and related contact information as long as needed to operate the site, maintain publication history, enforce our policies, and comply with legal obligations. You may request removal as described in Section 6 below.

6. Your Rights and Removal Requests

You may request that your published story be removed, corrected, or updated at any time. Contact us at legal@writingcafejournal.com. We will review requests and respond as promptly as reasonably possible.

Some records may be retained for security, legal, or operational reasons even after a removal request. If you subscribed to our newsletter, you may unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send.

7. Security

We use reasonable technical and organizational safeguards to protect your information. However, no system is 100% secure. Please do not include sensitive personal information in your story text, such as home addresses, phone numbers, financial account numbers, or government ID numbers.

8. Cookies

We use cookies and similar technologies for essential site functions, security, and basic analytics (such as understanding which pages are most visited). We do not use cookies to track you across other websites.

You can control or block cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect some site features.

9. Children's Privacy

Writing Café Journal is intended for a general adult audience. If you are under the age required by your local laws to consent to online services independently, please do not submit content or personal information without a parent or guardian's knowledge and permission.

10. Third-Party Links

Writing Café Journal may link to third-party sites (social media platforms, partner publications, etc.). We are not responsible for the privacy practices of those sites. Please review their policies before using their services.

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we do, we will update the effective date at the top of this page. Your continued use of the site after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.