Privacy Statement

You have the right to protect your privacy and safeguarding your right to that is important to us. We discourage you from sharing any information on publicly accessible web pages that you would not normally share with the general public. Our publisher, Westward Connections Inc., has created this privacy statement to demonstrate our firm commitment to honoring your rights to privacy. The following discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for the About The Author blog site: AboutTheAuthor.com.

Information Automatically Logged
We use your IP address to help diagnose problems with our server and to administer our Web site operations. Your IP address is also used to gather broad demographic information and to help identify you when registering for access to restricted areas, placing an order, participating in a survey, entering a contest, or shopping in any online store we currently publish or may publish in the future.

Cookies
Our site may use cookies to insure that you do not repeatedly see certain information, including but not limited to advertising or promotional messages. While we currently do not offer a shopping cart at this site, we will most likely be using cookies for any we build in the future so that we can track your transaction to its successful completion. We may also use cookies to deliver content specific to your interests, and to save your password so you don’t have to re-enter it each time you visit our site. Cookies are primarily created for your convenience and you control which cookies you wish to keep on your computer after you leave our site.

Advertisers
From time to time we may use an outside ad management service to display third-party ads on our site. These ads may contain cookies. While we use cookies in other parts of our Web site, cookies received with banner ads are collected by the ad management company, and we do not have access to this information.

Registration Forms
Our site visitor and restricted access area registration forms require users to give us contact information (i.e. your name and addresses for e-mail and postal delivery), unique identifiers (other than your social security number), and demographic information (i.e. zip code, age, or income level). Contact information from the registration forms is used to get in touch with the registrant as necessary.

Any registrant may opt-out of receiving future mailings at any time. See Your Choice: Opt-Out section below for further information.

Unique identifiers (other than social security numbers) are collected from Web site visitors to verify the user’s identity and for use as account numbers in our record system.

Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. We use this data to tailor our visitor’s experience at our site showing them content that we think they might be interested in, and displaying the content according to their preferences.

Order Forms
Our site uses an order form for customers to request information, products, and services. We collect contact information (like their email address), financial information (like their account or credit card numbers), unique identifiers (other than your social security number), and demographic information (like your zip code, age, or income level).
Contact information from the order forms is used to ship purchases, information about our company. The customer’s contact information is also used to get in touch with the visitor when necessary.

Any financial information collected is used to bill for products and services. Unique identifiers are collected from Web site visitors to verify identity, and for use in setting up accounts with us.

Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. While we may supplement the information that you provide with information that is received from third parties, we share information in aggregate numbers only. We may also use this data to tailor our web site visitor’s experience, serving content we think our visitors might be interested in, according to what they have requested previously.

Users may opt-out of receiving future mailings; see the choice/opt-out section below.

Surveys
Our online surveys may ask visitors for contact information (i.e. email address), unique identifiers (other than social security numbers), and demographic information (i.e. zip code, age, or income level). Contact information from the surveys is used to get in touch with the visitor when necessary.

Unique identifiers are collected from Web site visitors to verify the user’s identity.

Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. We share this information with advertisers on an aggregate basis only. We also use this data to tailor our visitor’s experience at our site, showing them content that we think they might be interested in, according to their preferences.

Contests
We may run contests on our site in which we ask visitors for unique identifiers and demographic information (i.e. zip code, age, or income level). Unique identifiers are collected from Web site visitors to verify the user’s identity and for use as account numbers in our record system.

Demographic and profile data is also collected at our site. This information may be shared with advertisers or other third-parties on an aggregate basis. We use this data to tailor our visitor’s experience at our site showing them content that we think they might be interested in, and displaying the content according to their preferences. We never disclosure any personal contact information you shared with us in confidence without your permission.

External Links
This site contains links to other sites. Westward Connections is not responsible for the privacy practices or the content of such web sites.

Public Forums
This site may offer chat rooms, message boards, live streaming video casts or other forums to its users. Please remember that any information that is disclosed in these areas is available to the general public, whether or not they may be accessing our web site. You should exercise caution before disclosing any personal information in a public forum.

Security
This site has security measures in place to protect the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. We use secure server services to encrypt certain transactions and confidential information you share with us.

Your Choice: Opt-Out and Modifying Information
You have the opportunity to opt-out of receiving promotional/marketing information sent from our site, whether it has been sent on behalf of our partners or ourselves. You can also modify any information you have already given us. To opt-out or change any information you have provided at any time, you can:
1. Visit the following URL: http://www.westward.com/feedback.htm
2. Send mail to the following postal address:
P.O. Box 23428, Albuquerque, NM 87192
3. Call the following telephone numbers:
800-260-3094 (USA; outside Albuquerque, NM)
or 505-292-3094 (in Albuquerque)

Contacting Us Online
If you have any questions about this privacy statement, our practices or your experience with this site, please use our corporate contact form.