Privacy

We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting it. This page explains how we may collect personal information and how we may use and protect it in line with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

Who are we?

Lightbox Originals is an online magazine that shares inspiration for living a fulfilling writing life, advice for honing the craft, encouragement and opportunities for writers.

The magazine was founded by and is managed by Loretta Milan. It is funded by Milan Creative Ltd, Company No: 9319343, Registered office: The Grange, Grange Road, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR14 3HA.

What personal data do we collect about you and from where?

• If you subscribe to our newsletter on our website, we collect the minimum information necessary to manage this: your email address. You can sign up with this information using any of the subscription boxes located throughout our website. We have always used a ‘double opt-in’ function for this which requires you to click on a link in an email to confirm you intended to subscribe.
• If you sign up to make a comment, again, we collect only the minimum amount of information needed to facilitate this. This information will only be used to enable you to sign into our site and comment. You will not be subscribed to any of our content. To do this, click here.
• If you join our writing community on Facebook , you will be subscribed to our newsletter as stated in the joining instructions using the name and email address you provide when signing up.
• If you apply to be featured on Lightbox Originals, or contact us regarding something else, information is usually sent to us through the submissions centre or contact form on this website. The information collected varies but is laid out on the relevant forms. Sometimes we are also sent information by email or social media.
• If you enter one of our competitions, we collect the minimum about of information required to judge your entry. This is usually your name, email, country and your entry content.

How and why do we use your personal data?

• With your consent, we use your personal data in order to send you our newsletter and to respond to you if you have contacted us.
• We also use data to process submissions and competition entries.
• If you have signed up to comment only, we hold the information you provide to enable you to sign in and do this but do not do anything else with your data and do not subscribe you to any of our content.

How long do we keep your personal data?

• Once you subscribe, we keep a record of your details unless you ask for it to be removed. If you unsubscribe, you will not receive any more emails from us but we keep a record to ensure your privacy.
• Once you sign up to comment, we keep your data to enable you to sign up and comment whenever you wish, until you delete your account.
• Any other information we collect, for example submissions and competition data, is held on file unless you ask for it to be removed.

Do we share your personal data with anyone?

• We do not share any data collected with any other organisations.
• However, if you apply to be featured on Lightbox Originals and a freelance writer will be interviewing you/writing the piece, with your consent, we will pass on the minimum possible information to facilitate this.
• Also, if you are being featured, you may decide to include some personal information in the feature, for example your real name, country of residence and contact information for readers. This is always your decision and you will always have to approve this.
• If you enter one of our competitions, your entry will be judged anonymously. Only your entry text is passed onto an external judge.
• We never sell personal information.

What happens if you do not provide us with the information we request or ask that we stop processing your information?

• You can view any of the content on our website without being subscribed or providing any information.
• If you do not wish to share your name and email address in order to subscribe to our newsletter, you will not be able to sign up. If you’d like hear our news and keep up with the latest articles without subscribing, you could follow us on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
• You can unsubscribe to our newsletter at any time by clicking on the link at the bottom of any of the emails we send you. If this doesn’t work, you can also contact us here and request to be unsubscribed. We will then remove you from the list manually.
• You would not be able to enter any of our competitions or make a submission without providing the minimum information.
• If you have provided us with data for other purposes, please contact us here if you would like us to stop processing or delete it.

Do we make automated decisions concerning you?

No, we do not do this.

Do we use cookies to collect personal data about you?

We use cookies to ensure we provide visitors with the best experience of using our site as aggregated, anonymous statistics help us make editorial decisions. For example, statistics showed us that our lists of writing opportunities were really popular so we decided to publish more of them.

What rights do you have in relation to the data we hold about you?

By law, you have a number of rights when it comes to your personal data. Further information and advice about your rights can be obtained from the data protection regulator in your country.

• The right to be informed: You have the right to be provided with clear, transparent and easily understandable information about how we use your information and your rights. This is why we’re providing you with the information in this policy.
• The right of access: You have the right to obtain access to your information (if we’re processing it), and certain other information (similar to that provided in this privacy policy). This is so you’re aware and can check that we’re using your information in accordance with data protection law.
• The right to rectification: You are entitled to have your information corrected if it’s inaccurate or incomplete.
• The right to erasure: This is also known as ‘the right to be forgotten’ and, in simple terms, enables you to request the deletion or removal of your information where there’s no compelling reason for us to keep using it. This is not a general right to erasure; there are exceptions.
• The right to restrict processing: You have rights to ‘block’ or suppress further use of your information. When processing is restricted, we can still store your information, but may not use it further. We keep a record of people who have asked for further use of their information to be ‘blocked’ to make sure the restriction is respected in future.
• The right to data portability: You have rights to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services.
• The right to object to processing: You have the right to object to certain types of processing, including processing for direct marketing.
• The right to lodge a complaint: You have the right to lodge a complaint about the way we handle or process your personal data with your national data protection regulator.
• The right to withdraw consent: If you have given your consent to any actions regarding your personal data, you have the right to withdraw your consent at any time (although if you do so, it does not mean that anything we have done with your personal data with your consent up to that point is unlawful). This includes your right to withdraw consent to us using your personal data for marketing purposes. We usually act on requests and provide information free of charge, but may charge a reasonable fee to cover the administrative costs of providing the information for baseless or excessive/repeated requests or further copies of the same information. Alternatively, we may be entitled to refuse to act on the request. Please consider your request responsibly before submitting it. We will respond as soon as we can, generally within 14 days of receiving your request.

How will we contact you?

• If you have subscribed to Lightbox Originals, you will be sent our newsletter to the email address you provided when you signed up.
• If you have applied to be featured or have contacted us regarding something else, we will get in touch with you using the contact details you provide. This will usually be email.
• Any interviews we carry out in order to write articles will generally be carried out by Skype, Zoom, phone or email. We will agree the most convenient way for you to be interviewed in advance.

How can you contact us?

If you have any questions about how we handle data or have concerns about how we’ve handled your information, please contact us here.