Now Novel Privacy Policy

Hi there, we’re Now Novel, 144 Long Street, Cape Town, South Africa (“Now Novel”) and welcome to our privacy policy. This policy sets out how we handle your personal information if you’re a Now Novel user or visitor to our site (nownovel.com).

When we say ‘we’, ‘us’ or ‘Now Novel’ it refers to the team who run nownovel.com.

If we say ‘policy’ we’re talking about this privacy and cookies policy.

We collect personal and activity information.

We collect certain personal information about visitors and users of Now Novel.

The most common types of information we collect include things like: usernames, member names, email addresses (for membership or course subscription), IP addresses, other contact details, survey responses, blog comments, photos, payment information such as payment agent details, transactional details, support queries, content you direct us to make available on our site (such as writing you hold privately in your member account or share within our password-protected system with other members) and web analytics data.

How we collect personal information

We collect personal information directly when you provide it to us, automatically as you navigate through our website, or through other people when you use services associated with Now Novel (such as survey forms via third-party survey management or business reviewing platforms).

We collect your personal information when you provide it to us when you complete membership registration and/or buy items or services on our sites, subscribe to a newsletter, email list or course, download a guide, submit feedback, enter a contest, fill out a survey, or send us a communication.

Personal information we collect about you from others

Although we generally collect personal information directly from you, on occasion, we also collect certain categories of personal information about you from other sources. Typically:

Financial and/or transaction details from payment providers (2checkout/paypal) in order to process a transaction.
Third party service providers (like Google, Facebook) who are located in the US or UK, which may provide information about you when you link, connect, or login to your account with the third party provider and they send us information such as your registration and profile from that service, this only occurs if you register via these platforms. The information varies and is controlled by that service provider or as authorized by you via your privacy settings at that service provider; and
Other third party sources/ and or partners used to conduct our services (such as Hotjar, a tool for surveying site visitors, and Intercom, the third-party app we use to communicate with site visitors and registered members).

How we use personal information

We will use your personal information:

To fulfil a contract, or take steps linked to a contract: in particular, in facilitating and processing transactions that take place on Now Novel, such as where you purchase a coaching plan, course or DIY membership.
Where this is necessary for purposes which are in our, or third parties, legitimate interests. These interests include:
1. Operating nownovel.com
2. Providing you with services describes on this site.
3. Verifying your identity when you sign in securely to our site.
4. Responding to support requests or in-app messages.
5. Updating you with operational news and information about our Sites and services e.g. to notify you about changes to our Sites, website disruptions or security updates.
6. Carrying out technical analysis to determine how to improve the site and service we provide.
7. Monitoring activity on the site, e.g. to identify potential fraudulent activity and to ensure compliance with the user terms that apply to the site.
8. Managing our relationship with you, e.g. by responding to your comments or queries submitted to us on Now Novel or asking for your feedback or whether you want to participate in a survey.
9. Managing our legal and operational affairs (including, managing risks relating to content and fraud matters).
10. Training Now Novel staff about how to best serve our user community
11. Improving our products and services.
12. Providing general administrative and performance functions and activities.
Where you give us consent:
1. Providing you with blog newsletters, free and subscription-based courses, and marketing information about products and services which may interest you.
For purposes which are required by law.
For the purpose of responding to requests by government, a court of law, or law enforcement authorities conducting an investigation.

When we disclose your personal information

We will disclose personal information to the following recipients:

Employees of Now Novel who require this information to fulfil chosen services (for example, your email address will be shared with your writing coach if you opt to work with one, to facilitate communication).
Subcontractors and service providers who assist us in connection with the ways we use personal information (as set out above), in particular: website hosting providers, in-house technical and customer support, marketing and analytics services which are located in the US and Europe; security and fraud prevention services which are located in the US; subscription management services which are located in the US; and payment processing services which are located in the US. Noting that our subcontractors and services providers may also transfer and access such information from other countries in which they have operations.
Our professional advisers (lawyers, accountants, financial advisers etc.) which are located in South Africa.
Regulators and government authorities in connection with our compliance procedures and obligations.
purchaser or prospective purchaser of all or part of our assets or our business, and their professional advisers, in connection with the purchase.
A third party to respond to requests relating to a criminal investigation or alleged or suspected illegal activity.
A third party, in order to enforce or defend our rights, or to address financial or reputational risks.
A rights holder in relation to an allegation of intellectual property infringement or any other infringement; and
Other recipients where we are authorised or required by law to do so.

Where we transfer and/or store your personal information

We are based in South Africa so your data will be processed in South Africa and the US. Some of the recipients we have described in section 10 above, and to whom we disclose your personal information, are based outside South Africa in places like the US, Europe and the UK. We do this on the basis of your consent to this policy. In order to protect your information, we take care where possible to work with subcontractors and service providers who we believe maintain an acceptable standard of data security compliance.

How we keep your personal information secure

We store personal information on secure servers that are managed by us and our service providers. Personal information that we store or transmit is protected by security and access controls, including username and password authentication, two-factor authentication, and data encryption where appropriate.

How you can access your personal information

You can access some of the personal information that we collect about you by logging in to your account. You also have the right to make a request to access other personal information we hold about you and to request corrections of any errors in that data. You can also close the account you have on Now Novel at any time. To make an access or correction request, contact our privacy champion using the contact details at the end of this policy.

Marketing Choices regarding your personal information

Where we have your consent to do so (e.g. if you have subscribed to one of our e-mail lists, registered a member account, or have indicated that you are interested in receiving offers or information from us), we send you marketing communications by email about products and services that we feel may be of interest to you. You can ‘opt-out’ of such communications if you would prefer not to receive them in the future by using the “unsubscribe” facility provided in the communication itself or by opting out within your user profile on Now Novel.

You also have choices about cookies, as described below. By modifying your browser preferences, you have the choice to accept all cookies, to be notified when a cookie is set, or to reject all cookies. If you choose to reject cookies some parts of our Sites may not work properly in your case. Cookies and Web Analytics Policy

For more information about what ‘cookies’ are and how they work, see http://www.allaboutcookies.org.

How Now Novel Uses Cookies

When you visit us, there’s certain information that’s recorded which is generally anonymous information and does not reveal your identity. When you use and access the site, we may place a number of cookies files in your web browser. If you’re logged into your Now Novel account some of this information could be associated with your account. To the extent that cookies data constitutes personally identifiable information, we process such data on the basis of your consent.

We’re talking about the following kinds of details:

Your IP address or proxy server IP address;
The domain name you requested;
The name of your internet service provider is sometimes captured depending on the configuration of your ISP connection;
The date and time of your visit to the website;
The length of your session;
The pages which you have accessed;
The number of times you access our site within any month;
The file URL you look at and information relating to it;
The website which referred you to our sites; and
The operating system which your computer uses.
Occasionally, we will use third party advertising companies to serve ads based on prior visits to our Sites. For example, if you visit our Sites, you may later see an add for our products and services when you visit a different site.

What types of Cookies Does Now Novel Use?

We use both session and persistent cookies on the site and we use different types of cookies to run the site:

Essential cookies. Necessary for the operation of the Site. We may use essential cookies to authenticate users, prevent fraudulent use of user accounts, or offer Site features.
Analytical/performance cookies. Allow us to recognize and count the number of visitors and see how visitors move around the site when using it. This helps us improve the way the site works.
Functionality cookies. Used to recognise you when you return to the site. This enables us to personalise our content for you, greet you by name in Intercom (in-app messaging), and remember your preferences (for example, your access details if you have autocomplete turned on in your internet browser).
Targeting cookies. Record your visit to the site, the pages you have visited, and the links you have followed. We will use this information to make the Site and the more relevant to your interests. We may also share this information with third parties for this purpose.

In addition to our own cookies, we may also use various third-party cookies to report usage statistics of Now Novel and refine our marketing efforts.

Tracking cookies. Follow on-site behavior and tie it to other metrics allowing better understanding of usage habits.
Optimization cookies. Allow tracking user conversion from different marketing channels to evaluate their effectiveness.
Partner cookies. Provide marketing conversion metrics to our partners so they can optimize their paid marketing efforts.

What are your options regarding Cookies?

If you'd like to delete cookies or instruct your web browser to delete or refuse cookies, please visit the help pages of your web browser. Please note, however, that if you delete cookies or refuse to accept them, you might not be able to use some or all of the features we offer. You may not be able to log in, store your preferences, and some of our pages might not display properly.

Information about children

Now Novel is not suitable for children under the age of 16 years, so if you are under 16 we ask that you do not use Now Novel or give us your personal information. If you are from 16 to 18 years, you can browse Now Novel but you’ll need the supervision of a parent or guardian to become a registered user. It’s the responsibility of parents or guardians to monitor their children’s use of Now Novel. Now Novel will not be held liable for members reading other members’ critique submissions where they include adult themes.

Information you make public or give to others

If you make your personal information available to other people, we can’t control or accept responsibility for the way they will use or manage that data. There are lots of ways that you can find yourself providing information to other people, like when you post a message for other members in ‘Groups’ chat, share information via social media, or share writing for critique with other members of our community. You may unpublish any writing shared for critique at any time to revoke other members’ ability to read it.

How long we keep your personal information

We retain your personal information for as long as is necessary to provide the services to you and others, and to comply with our legal obligations. If you no longer want us to use your personal information or to provide you with Now Novel’s services, you can delete your Now Novel account from your personal profile settings page. You can also request deletion via help at now novel dot com in any instance where self-deletion is not working for any reason.

Please note that if you request the erasure of your personal information we may retain limited information from deleted accounts as necessary for our legitimate business interests, to comply with the law, prevent fraud, collect fees, resolve disputes, troubleshoot problems, assist with investigations, enforce the terms of service and take other actions permitted by law. The information we retain will be handled in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

When we need to update this policy

We will need to change this policy from time to time in order to make sure it stays up to date with the latest legal requirements and any changes to our privacy management practices.

When we do change the policy, we’ll make sure to notify you about such changes, where required. A copy of the latest version of this policy will always be available on this page.

How you can contact us

If you have any questions about our privacy practices or the way in which we have been managing your personal information, please contact us at help at nownovel dot com.

We’re glad you read to the end of the privacy policy, because knowing the above is the best way to understand how your personal information is used and how to best take charge of it.

If you’re a user or visitor in the European Economic Area these rights also apply to you:

For the purposes of applicable EU data protection law (including the General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 (the “GDPR”), we are a ‘data controller’ of your personal information.
You are also entitled to ask us to port your personal information (i.e. to transfer in a structured, commonly used and machine-readable format, to you), to erase it, or restrict its processing. You also have rights to object to some processing that is based on our legitimate interests, such as profiling that we perform for the purposes of direct marketing, and, where we have asked for your consent to process your data, to withdraw this consent as more fully described below.
These rights are limited in some situations – for example, we can demonstrate that we have a legal requirement to process your personal information. In some instances, this means that we may retain some data even if you withdraw your consent.
Where we require your personal information to comply with legal or contractual obligations, then provision of such data is mandatory: if such data is not provided, then we will not be able to manage our contractual relationship with you, or to meet obligations placed on us. In all other cases, provision of requested personal information is optional.
If you have unresolved concerns you also have the right to complain to data protection authorities. The relevant data protection authority will be the data protection authority of the country: (i) of your habitual residence; (ii) of your place of work; or (iii) in which you consider the alleged infringement has occurred.

Both personal information and personal data have the same meaning in the context of this Privacy Policy.

Now Novel Privacy Policy V2, effective date 25 May 2018

Welcome to Now Novel’s Privacy and Cookies Policy