What this site collects.
I write about an industry that hides what it does behind language nobody reads. It would be strange to do that here.
The short version: this site counts visits without knowing who you are. It sets no cookies, so there is nothing to accept, decline, or manage.
Measurement
Every page is counted by Plausible. It sets no cookies, assigns no identifier, and follows nobody between sites. What it records is the page, where the visit came from, and a rough country and device type. None of that identifies you, and none of it is combined with anything else.
Two specific actions are also counted, both on purpose: copying a biography or photograph from the bio page, so I know the press kit is being used, and downloading an advance copy of the book from a link sent directly to a reviewer.
That is the whole of it. No Google Analytics, no advertising network, no social pixel, and no consent banner, because there is nothing to consent to. Google Analytics ran here for two days in September 2026 and came back out: it wanted a cookie and a permissions dialog on every page, in exchange for a number I was never going to act on.
If you allowed it during those two days, your browser may still hold a_ga cookie from them. Nothing reads it now and it expires on its own. Clearing this site's cookies removes it immediately.
Everything else
The mailing list
If you sign up for book news, the form asks for an email address and nothing else. It is handled by Kit, which sends the mail. You confirm the address before anything is sent, every message has an unsubscribe link, and the list is used for the book and nothing else. It is not sold, rented, or shared.
Writing to me leaves your message in my mailbox, which is where you would expect it to be. I keep correspondence, I do not add people to any list because they wrote to me, and I do not pass it on.
Hosting
The site is static and hosted by Render. Like every web server, theirs records requests, including IP addresses, in operational logs. I do not analyze those logs or tie them to anything else.
Advance copies of the book
Reviewers receive an individual link. Each copy is watermarked with the name of the person it was sent to, on every page, and every recipient is told so on the page they download from. That is the point of it: a copy that leaks can be traced to whoever it was entrusted to.
What does not happen
No advertising. No data sold or brokered. No profiles built. No social network tracking pixels: links to my accounts are plain links, and clicking one tells that network you arrived, which is the same as typing the address yourself.
Asking
If you are in the UK or the EU you have rights over personal data about you, to see it, correct it, take it elsewhere, or have it deleted, and you can exercise them regardless of where you live, because I am not going to run a two-tier policy.
In practice there is very little to ask about: the analytics hold nothing that identifies you, so the only personal data here is an email address you gave me deliberately. Write toinfo@richardbird.com and say what you want done, and I will do it.
The site is run by Bird & Bird Media LLC. Last updated 21 September 2026. If this changes materially I will change the date, not quietly rewrite the page.