Privacy policy

Anomaly Mellow is a small studio publishing short books, operated from the United Kingdom. We collect as little personal data as we can get away with. This page explains what we do collect, why, and what we do with it.

What we collect, and when

If you buy a book, we collect your email address (so we can send you the book), the order details (which book, how much, when), the IP address and user-agent of the device you bought from (for fraud prevention and the GDPR consent log), and the consent flag confirming you waived your 14-day cancellation right under the UK Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013.

PayPal handles the payment. We never see your card or PayPal login details. PayPal does send us a confirmation containing your name and the payer email on your PayPal account, which we store against your order. PayPal's own privacy policy applies to what they collect from you on their site.

If you previously subscribed to our newsletter (from a now- retired version of this site), your email address is in our database and at Brevo, our email provider. We will email you only when there is something meaningful to say, which is rare. You can unsubscribe with one click in any such email.

One essential cookie. If you are signed in as an admin (almost nobody is), we set a session cookie. No analytics cookies. No tracking. No third-party advertising scripts. See the cookie policy for the full list.

Why we're allowed to hold it

Under UK GDPR Article 6(1)(b), we process your order data on the lawful basis of performance of a contract: we need it to deliver the book you bought. Under Article 6(1)(c), we keep order records for seven years for tax and accounting purposes (HMRC requires this). Under Article 6(1)(a) consent, we hold newsletter subscriber emails until you unsubscribe.

Who we share it with

• PayPal, for processing your payment.
• Brevo, for delivering your book email and any rare future emails.
• HMRC, if they ever ask for tax records.
• Nobody else. We do not sell your data. We do not have advertising or analytics partners.

How long we keep it

• Order records: 7 years from purchase (HMRC requirement).
• Newsletter emails: until you unsubscribe.
• Server logs (IPs, user-agents): 30 days.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR you can ask us to show you everything we hold on you, correct anything wrong, or delete what is not legally required for tax records. Reply to your receipt or write to hello@anomalymellow.com. We will respond within 30 days, usually within one working day.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ico.org.uk).

Children

We do not knowingly sell to children under 16 and our site is not intended for them.

Changes

If we change this policy meaningfully, we will update the date at the top. We will not make sneaky changes.