Privacy policy.

Dauntless Books ("we," "us") operates this website to publish D.J. Dawson's books and let readers comment on them. This policy explains what we collect, what we do with it, and what we never do.

We will never sell your personal information to third parties. There is no advertising business behind this site, no data brokerage, no marketing list rental.

What we collect

Account

• Display name — what readers and authors see on your notes.
• Email address — for sign-in, password recovery, and the notifications you opt into.
• Password — stored as a one-way hash; we cannot read or recover it.

Newsletter

If you sign up for launch news — with or without an account — we store your email address, the date you confirmed, and which page you signed up from. Signup is double opt-in: we send one email to confirm it's really you, and you're only added once you click it. Every newsletter includes a one-click unsubscribe and you can leave anytime. We never sell, rent, or share the list.

Beta activity

• Your beta-reader requests and the reason you provide, so the author can review them.

Reader notes

Notes and comments you leave, including the body, your display name, and timestamp. These may be visible to the author and other readers.

Diagnostics

• Server access logs (IP, request path, status code, browser type) for security and debugging — kept short-term, not used to build profiles.
• Google Analytics (GA4) for anonymized, aggregate traffic stats — pages viewed, rough location, device and browser type. We use it to see what's working, not to profile you individually; Google processes this data under its own policies.

What we use it for

• Operating the site — letting you sign in, read, apply to beta read, and leave notes.
• Sending the emails you've opted into — beta approvals, account essentials like password resets and email verification.
• Sending launch news and new-release deals only if you subscribed — one confirmation email, then nothing until there's real news. Unsubscribe in one click, anytime.
• Keeping the service safe — detecting abuse, blocking automated scrapers, recovering from incidents.

We do not sell your data, share it with advertisers, or use it to train third-party models.

Cookies

We use a session cookie and a CSRF token to keep you signed in, and Google Analytics sets its own cookies to measure aggregate traffic. We don't use advertising cookies or third-party cross-site ad beacons.

Your rights

You can, at any time, ask us to edit or delete your account and the data tied to it, or send you a copy of what we hold. Just leave us a note.

Children

Accounts are intended for ages 13 and up; we don't knowingly collect information from children under 13. Younger readers should use the site with a parent or guardian, who can hold the account.

Where data lives

The site is operated from the United States and data is stored on US servers. By using the service from elsewhere, you consent to your information being processed in the US.

Changes to this policy

If we change anything material, we'll update the "Last updated" date above and email registered users before the change takes effect.

Contact

Privacy questions, data requests, or anything that didn't get answered here: leave us a note.