Contributor Privacy, Personal Information & Retention Policy

 

PENNY AUTHORS / MAPUBLISHER

Contributor Privacy, Personal Information & Retention Policy

Policy owner: MAPublisher
Publishing imprint: Penny Authors
Responsible proprietor: Mayar Akash
Contact for privacy enquiries: [Insert PA/MAPublisher contact email]
Last reviewed: November 2026

1. Purpose of collecting contributor information

Penny Authors is a funded, community-based publishing opportunity with defined participation requirements.

MAPublisher invests its own financial and publishing resources in supporting contributors and bringing their work into print.

PA maintains contributor information to:

• Administer membership and publishing arrangements.

• Maintain accurate contributor records.

• Understand the age, gender and ethnic composition of its contributor community.

• Monitor diversity and representation.

• Support organisational reporting and the development of PA.

• Maintain appropriate records of published contributions.

2. Information collected

Depending on the contributor arrangements, PA/MAPublisher may collect:

• Full name and contact details.

• Date of birth.

• Gender.

• Ethnic background.

• Personal photograph.

• Short biography.

• Poetry submissions and accepted works.

• Publication and page-reference details.

• Reviews, Favourite Five selections and other contributor material.

• Audio and video recordings supplied for PA activities.

Information is collected directly from contributors. PA does not attempt to determine a person's ethnicity or gender from their appearance.

3. Use of demographic information

Date of birth, gender and ethnicity information help PA understand its contributor community and monitor representation.

Ethnicity and gender information are intended for internal organisational and statistical reporting.

Such information is not included in public poet profiles, printed anthologies or public demographic records. Where statistical information is used outside PA/MAPublisher, it should be aggregated or anonymised so that individual contributors cannot be identified.

4. Confidentiality and access

Contributor information is held for PA/MAPublisher's internal publishing and administrative purposes.

• Information is not sold.

• Personal information is not made publicly available.

• Access is restricted to authorised persons who need the information for PA/MAPublisher activities.

• Information is not provided to third parties for their independent commercial use.

• Where a service provider processes information on behalf of PA/MAPublisher, appropriate data-processing arrangements will be put in place.

5. Photographs and biographies

A personal photograph and short biography are required under PA's contributor participation arrangements.

Photographs and biographies may be used for individual poet profiles, anthology recognition and PA/MAPublisher publicity connected with the publishing project.

Photographs are personal data. PA does not use visual appearance to assign or assume a contributor's ethnicity.

The permitted uses of photographs, biographies and promotional material are explained separately in the contributor participation and publicity terms.

6. Digital storage and security

Contributor information is maintained digitally alongside relevant publishing and administration records.

PA/MAPublisher will take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect information against unauthorised access, loss, alteration, disclosure or destruction.

Access to personal and demographic information is restricted. Where information is no longer required, it will be securely deleted or anonymised in accordance with the retention arrangements below.

7. Retention and destruction of personal information

PA/MAPublisher distinguishes between identifiable contributor information and the preservation of published works.

Identifiable administrative and demographic information will be reviewed periodically and retained only for as long as it is necessary for its stated purposes and any applicable legal obligations.

The proprietor's intention is that identifiable contributor information held in PA/MAPublisher's administrative records will be securely destroyed during his lifetime and before his death.

Appropriate arrangements will be made to ensure that this process can be carried out, including where necessary by an authorised successor or administrator.

Where demographic information is required for historical or statistical reporting, it should be anonymised so that individual contributors cannot reasonably be identified.

The destruction of personal information does not mean that a published anthology, an author's work or the necessary publication and copyright records must also be destroyed.

8. Publication archive

Book production files, published editions and appropriate publication records may be retained separately from identifiable contributor administration records.

The archive may contain the published work, the author's credited name, publication details, ISBN information and other records necessary to establish and manage the publication.

Copyright remains with the individual author unless a separate written agreement states otherwise.

9. Business sale, transfer or succession

Should MAPublisher, Penny Authors or the relevant publishing activities be sold, transferred or taken over by another publishing company, relevant publication files and business records may be transferred to the successor.

Any transfer of personal information will be considered separately and will only take place where permitted by applicable data protection law.

A successor organisation must establish its own lawful basis for any continued processing, provide any required privacy information and respect applicable contributor rights.

PA/MAPublisher does not promise that a business sale automatically transfers unrestricted permission to use contributor personal information.

10. Contributor rights

Contributors may contact PA/MAPublisher to:

• Request access to their personal information.

• Ask for inaccurate information to be corrected.

• Raise concerns about how their information is used.

• Request deletion or restriction where the law provides that right.

• Object to processing where the applicable legal basis provides that right.

• Raise a data protection complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office.

11. Legal compliance

PA/MAPublisher will identify and document an appropriate lawful basis under Article 6 of UK GDPR for each relevant processing purpose.

Where special-category information such as ethnicity is processed, PA/MAPublisher will also identify and document an applicable Article 9 condition and any additional requirements under the Data Protection Act 2018.

This policy will be reviewed when necessary to reflect changes in the law, PA's operations or its information-handling arrangements.

Penny Authors – Championing the spirit within.