Privacy Policy

bb-flow’s mission is to help build connections between authors and publishers/agents and make the publishing world more transparent and inclusive. Our offering is built on trust. You are entrusting us with your creative property and your contact details, and we wish to be clear about how we use your information.

bb-flow acts as data processor on behalf of the data owner (the publishing company or literary agency which the author submits to via the company’s landing page). bb-flow charges no fee or commission from the Author to enable them to submit to the Company. bb-flow has no vested interest in incoming manuscripts through the publisher’s website. The decision on whether to take a manuscript on lies entirely with the Company until the manuscript is declined. After this point, the data controlling rights move back to the Author. bb-flow reserve the right to become data processor on behalf of the Author, if the Author decides to keep their account with bb-flow after their manuscript has been declined.

This Privacy Policy describes how bb-flow and its affiliates (“we,” “us,” or “bb-flow”) process personal information in accordance with EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in connection with your use of the bb-flow Platform.

1. Definitions

Undefined terms in this Privacy Policy have the same definition as in our Terms and Conditions (“Terms”).

2. Personal information we collect

We collect personal information about you when you use the bb-flow Platform. Without it, we may not be able to provide all services requested. This information includes:

• Contact, Account, and Profile Information. Such as your first name, last name, phone number, email address, and country of residence.
• If the title of your manuscript or the manuscript itself contains autobiographical material, this would also constitute personal data. In connection with upload of your manuscript, we will naturally host any possible personal data that you have included, such as your name, gender, sexual or political orientation etc. We suggest that you avoid uploading sensitive information about yourself in the attached manuscript or in the manuscript title.

3. How we use the information we collect

3.1.  Improve and develop the bb-flow platform. We may process this information to:

• Enable you to access the bb-flow platform
• Enable you to receive communication from editors/agents
• Send you messages, updates, security alerts, and account notifications

4. Your rights

You can exercise any of the rights described below:

4.1. Managing your information.

You can access and update your personal information through your Account settings. You are responsible for keeping your personal information up to date.

4.2. Data erasure.

You can request that your personal information be deleted. Please note that if you request deletion of your personal information, or if your account is suspended, terminated or voluntarily closed:

• You will no longer be able to access your manuscript presentation and all correspondence related to it.
• Publishers /agents will only have on record the title of your manuscript in order to enable them to identify your submission in case of a future query from you. Your manuscript presentation, attached files and any correspondence with you that may have taken place in the past will no longer be available.

5. Security

bb-flow is designed, built and maintained on principles such as ’privacy by design’ and we have a strong focus on protection of personal data. Data processing procedures are integrated into the platform and you are able to revoke access to your manuscript presentation and personal data at any point during or after the submission process via your account with bb-flow.

Whilst the bb-flow platform takes steps to secure user data, 100% security is not guaranteed. You understand that there are inherent risks associated with using online services that are beyond the bb-flow platform’s control and you agree to use the platform at your own risk.

We partner with DigitalOcean to securely store and manage your personal data. Data is stored in data centres that are region-specific to comply with the applicable data protection laws. For instance, data of users located in Europe is stored within the European Economic Area (EEA) at a data centre in Frankfurt, Germany. DigitalOcean complies with relevant security standards to protect your data from unauthorized access or breaches.

If you would like more information on our data storage practices or to access DigitalOcean’s security policies, please refer to DigitalOcean’s Data Privacy and Security Resources.

6. Cookies

Cookies are files with small amount of data that is commonly used an anonymous unique identifier. These are sent to your browser from the website that you visit and are stored on your computer’s hard drive.

Our website uses these "cookies" to collection information and to improve our Service. You have the option to either accept or refuse these cookies, and know when a cookie is being sent to your computer. If you choose to refuse our cookies, you may not be able to use some portions of our Service.

For more general information on cookies, please read "What Are Cookies".

7. Log data

We want to inform you that whenever you visit our platform, we collect information that your browser sends to us called Log Data. This Log Data may include information such as your computer’s Internet Protocol ("IP") address, browser version, pages of our Service that you visit, the time and date of your visit, the time spent on those pages, and other statistics.

8. Service Providers

We may employ third-party companies and individuals due to the following reasons:

• To facilitate our Service;
• To provide the Service on our behalf;
• To perform Service-related services; or
• To assist us in analysing how our Service is used.

In order to be able to perform the tasks assigned to them on our behalf, these third parties have access to your Personal Information. However, they are bound by a Dataprocessor Agreement not to disclose or use the information for any other purpose.

9. Changes to this Privacy Policy

bb-flow reserves the right to amend this Privacy Policy at any time in accordance with applicable law. In case of material changes, Authors will be notified of significant changes through the Platform or via email. Continued use of the Platform following changes indicates acceptance of the revised Privacy Policy.

10.  Contact information and responsible bb-flow entities

For questions or complaints about this Privacy Policy or bb-flow’s handling of personal information, please email us on [email protected]