Hachette Book Group, Inc. Privacy Policy

Effective January 1, 2020
Last Updated July 5, 2023

I. Introduction
II. Categories of Personal Information We Collect
III. Sources of Personal Information
IV. Purposes for Using Your Personal Information
V. Who We Share Your Personal Information With
VI. How We Protect Your Personal Information
VII. Personal Information Retention Periods
VIII. Additional Information About How We Collect, Use, and Share Your Personal Information
IX. Your California Privacy Rights
X. Your Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah Privacy Rights
XI. Changes to This Privacy Policy
XII. Contact Us

I. Introduction

This Hachette Book Group, Inc. Privacy Policy (this “Privacy Policy”) describes how Hachette Book Group, Inc. (“Hachette,” “we,” “our,” or “us”) collects, uses, and shares your personal information when you interact with our websites, applications, social media pages, emails, email newsletters, and advertisements (collectively, our “Services”). As used in this Privacy Policy, “personal information” means any information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with an individual, but does not include data that cannot be associated with you or for which identifying elements have been removed (“de-identified information”).

Please note that this Privacy Policy only applies to our Services and not to non-Hachette websites or applications (“Non-Hachette Services”), even if you access such Non-Hachette Services through links on our Services. To understand the privacy practices of operators of Non-Hachette Services, please visit the privacy policies of such Non-Hachette Services.

This Privacy Policy explains:

The categories of personal information that we collect from or about you when you use our Services;
The sources from where we collect your personal information;
The purposes for which we use your personal information;
Who we share your personal information with, and under what circumstances;
How we protect your personal information;
How long we retain your personal information;
Additional information about how we collect, use, and share your personal information;
Specific privacy disclosures that apply only to California residents;
How we may change this Privacy Policy; and
Who to contact if you have questions regarding this Privacy Policy.

II. Categories of Personal Information We Collect

Depending on how you interact with our Services, we may collect the following from or about you:

Personal identifiers, such as your name, username, or email address;
Contact and demographic information, such as your address, telephone number, email address, age, gender, sex, marital status, or familial status;
Payment information, such as your credit or debit card information;
Records of your commercial transactions with us, such as your subscriptions and purchases with us;
Profile information, such as photos, videos, or other information about you or your interests that you may post to any user profile that you create in connection with the Services;
Your marketing preferences;
Online identifiers and related information, including your Internet Protocol address and data collected from cookies, pixels, and other similar digital tracking technologies (collectively, “Cookies”);
Internet or other electronic network activity information, such as your browsing history, search history, or other information regarding your interaction with our Services;
Geolocation data, such as information related to your location when you use our Services;
Inferences that we may create about you based on any of the personal information described above; and/or
Any other personal information that you voluntarily provide to us.

Please note that some personal information may fall within more than one category, and not every category or example of personal information that we have identified in this Privacy Policy will apply to every user of our Services from whom we collect personal information.

III. Sources of Personal Information

We collect personal information that you provide to us directly, such as when you:

Register to use our Services;
Create a user profile on any of our Services and input any information, such as photos, videos, or other information about you or your interests, on such user profile;
Make a purchase or transaction through our Services;
Subscribe to or agree to receive our email newsletters;
Respond to a survey;
Participate in a sweepstakes, contest, giveaway, or preorder (collectively, “Promotion”) that we sponsor;
Interact with us via social media platforms;
Post content on our Services;
Make search queries on our Services;
Contact us via telephone, email, text message, or other electronic communication for any purpose; and/or
Otherwise voluntarily provide us with personal information on or through the Services.

We, and partners we work with, may also collect personal information automatically from you when you use our Services through Cookies. For more information about what personal information we and certain partners may collect from or about you through Cookies, please visit our Cookie Policy, which is subject to and part of this Privacy Policy.

We may collect personal information about you if another individual provides it to us in connection with the Services (for example, in connection with an event or an email newsletter). If you wish to provide personal information about another individual, please only do so if you have the permission of such individual. We may also collect personal information about you if you have made statements about our Services on publicly accessible Non-Hachette Services.

IV. Purposes for Using Your Personal Information

We may use the personal information that we collect from or about you:

To provide you with our products and services, which may include:
- Providing you with any Services that you have requested;
- Fulfilling your purchase orders and any transactions that you have requested, processing your payments, and providing you receipts or other updates related to your purchase orders, transactions, and payments;
- Personalizing your experience with our Services; and/or
- Delivering content to you that may be relevant to your interests;
To communicate with you, which may include:
- Contacting you about the Services;
- Responding to your questions, comments, or requests in connection with the Services;
- Providing customer service in connection with the Services; and/or
- Sending you email newsletters if you have subscribed to or agreed to receive such email newsletters;
To market, advertise, and promote our Services, which may include:
- Sending promotional messages through the Services, social media platforms, and Non-Hachette Services through which we advertise our Services;
- Targeting content and advertising to you;
- Administering Promotions; and/or
- Tracking clicks on affiliated links;
To improve and grow our business, which may include:
- Tracking the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising;
- Researching how to improve our products and services and developing new products and services;
- Understanding how the Services are used;
- Understanding our customer base and purchasing trends; and/or
To protect and secure our Services, prevent fraud, and comply with legal obligations, which may include:
- Ensuring the safety and security of our Services, assets, networks, and business operations;
- Detecting, investigating, and preventing activities that may violate our policies or be fraudulent or illegal, and prosecuting those responsible for such activities;
- Complying with our legal or regulatory obligations;Responding to law enforcement requests and court orders; and/or
- Acting in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding or sale, merger, or change of control of our business or any division of our business responsible for the Services with which your personal information is associated;
To operate and maintain the integrity of our business, which may include:
- Sending communications and updates about the Services;
- Conducting general business operations, such as audits, accounting, and recordkeeping; and/or
- Invoicing and collecting amounts owed to us; and/or
For any additional purpose that you specifically consent to.

We may share the personal information that we collect from or about you with:

Service providers, who may use your information to provide us services related to billing, payment processing, and collections; auditing and accounting; consulting; analytics; security; website hosting; conducting surveys and Promotions; customer service; email newsletter delivery services; anti-fraud monitoring; and information technology;
Social media platforms, who may collect personal information about you through Cookies when you choose to interact with us through these programs;
Advertising partners, who assist us in advertising about our Services and may use Cookies to collect or receive your personal information through the Services and elsewhere on the Internet to provide targeting and advertising services;
Government entities and law enforcement, who we will share personal information with when we believe, in good faith, that we are lawfully authorized or required to do so or where necessary to protect our property or rights or the safety of any individuals;
Other businesses in the context of a commercial transaction, where we may change our ownership or corporate organization while providing the Services; and/or
To any other third party where you have provided your consent or pursuant to your direction.

Please note that any “service providers” as described above have access to your personal information solely as needed to perform the business purposes for which we have engaged them and are prohibited from using your personal information for any other purposes (including, for the avoidance of doubt, their own business purposes).

To better understand the data collection practices of the social media platforms and advertising partners we work with, as well as the controls they make available to you, please visit our Cookie Policy, as well as the privacy policies of such social media platforms and advertising partners.

If we are acquired by another party or merged into another entity, we cannot promise that such acquiring party or merged entity will treat your personal information in the same ways described in this Privacy Policy.

VI. How We Protect Your Personal Information

We use a combination of reasonable physical, technical, and administrative safeguards to protect personal information we collect through the Services. While we use these precautions to safeguard your personal information, we cannot guarantee the security of the networks, systems, servers, devices, and databases that we operate or are operated on our behalf.

VII. Personal Information Retention Periods

Your personal information will be stored in accordance with applicable laws and kept for as long as we have an ongoing legitimate business need to carry out the purposes described in this Privacy Policy or to the extent required by applicable law.

VIII. Additional Information About How We Collect, Use, and Share Your Personal Information

Rights and Opt-Outs

If you have made a user profile in connection with the Services, you may change or delete the personal information you have submitted to us in connection with such profile, or delete such user profile, at any time.
You may opt-out of receiving email newsletters from us by following the unsubscribe instructions contained in such email newsletters or emailing us at privacy@hbgusa.com.
If you would like to change how Cookies are used on the device you use to interact with the Services, please visit our Cookie Policy for more information.

Sharing of Aggregated Data

We may share aggregated personal information at our discretion, including with marketing agencies, media agencies, and analytics providers, but these companies will not be able to use such personal information to identify any individual.

Combination of Personal Information

We may combine personal information from the Services with other information that we obtain from our business records or other sources, but if we combine any non-personal information with personal information, we will treat this combined information as personal information.

Cross-border Transfer of Data

We are based in the United States. If you use our Services, you understand that we may (i) collect, process, and store your personal information in the United States and other countries and (ii) share your personal information with third parties that may be located in other countries to provide you with certain Services, including, but not limited to, transaction processing and fraud prevention. By using the Services, you consent to the collection, processing, storage, and transfer of your personal information in the United States and/or other countries. We will protect any of your personal information that we may transfer to other countries in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

Our Practices Regarding Information Belonging to Children

The Services are intended for users aged 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect, nor do we wish to collect, personal information from children under the age of 13. If we discover that we have inadvertently collected personal information from anyone younger than the age of 13, we will delete that personal information.

IX. Your California Privacy Rights

This section of this Privacy Policy (the “California Privacy Policy”) only applies if you are a resident of the State of California. In the event of a conflict between this California Privacy Policy and the rest of the Privacy Policy, the California Privacy Policy will control. Capitalized terms used in this California Privacy Policy and not defined herein will have the same meanings given to them elsewhere in the Privacy Policy.

Persons with disabilities may obtain this notice in alternative format upon request by contacting us at privacy@hbgusa.com or calling 1-800-890-0625.

California Shine the Light

California residents have the right to request information from us regarding other companies to whom we have disclosed certain categories of information for those companies’ direct marketing purposes during the preceding year. If you are a California resident and would like to make such a request, please email privacy@hbgusa.com or write to us at 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104, Attention: Legal.

CCPA

The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act of 2020 (collectively, “CCPA”) provides California residents with specific rights regarding their personal information. For purposes of this California Privacy Policy, “personal information” means information that identifies, relates to, describes, is reasonably capable of being associated with, or could reasonably be linked, directly or indirectly, with a particular consumer or household, but does not include (i) information that is lawfully made available from federal, state, or local government records or (ii) personal information about consumers that has been aggregated or de-identified. This section of the California Privacy Policy describes the rights that California residents have under the CCPA and explains how they can exercise those rights.

To the extent that we collect personal information that is subject to the CCPA, we are required to provide you with a list of the categories of personal information that we have collected about or from consumers in the last 12 months. The table below sets forth such categories, as well as examples of the types of personal information that may fall within such categories:

Category	Examples
Identifiers	Name, username, address, unique personal identifier, online identifier, Internet Protocol address, email address, other similar identifiers
Customer records information	Name, signature, address, telephone number
Characteristics of protected classification under California or federal law	Age
Commercial information	Records of products or services purchased, obtained, or considered, other purchasing or consuming histories or tendencies
Internet or other electronic network activity information	Browsing history, search history, information regarding consumer interaction with our Services
Geolocation data	Location tracking information, Internet Protocol address
Audio, electronic, visual, thermal, olfactory, or similar information	Pictures of a consumer that such consumer may choose to upload to any user profile created in connection with the Services, recordings of consumer telephone calls placed to our customer service department
Inferences drawn from any of the above categories to create a profile reflecting a consumer’s preferences or characteristics	A consumer’s author, title, or genre interests, other similar information such consumer may provide in connection with the Services

The personal information described in the table above is collected from the sources listed in Sources of Personal Information for the purposes listed in Purposes for Using Your Personal Information. We may disclose your personal information to the parties set forth in Who We Share Your Personal Information With.

The CCPA requires us to inform you of the categories of personal information that, in the last 12 months, we have disclosed for a business purpose. Under the CCPA, a “business purpose” is an operational purpose within the following categories: auditing interactions with consumers; ensuring security; debugging; certain short-term uses (including certain forms of non-personalized advertising); performing certain services, such as maintaining or servicing accounts, providing customer service, processing or fulfilling orders or transactions, verifying customer information, or processing payments; providing advertising and marketing services (except for cross-context behavioral advertising); undertaking internal research for technological development; or undertaking activities for quality and safety maintenance and verification. In the last 12 months, we have disclosed each category of personal information set forth in the table above for a business purpose.

The CCPA also requires us to inform you of the categories of personal information that, in the last 12 months, we have sold or shared. Under the CCPA, a “sale” occurs when we transfer a consumer’s personal information to a third party for monetary or other valuable consideration, and a “share” occurs when we transfer a consumer’s personal information to a third party for cross-context behavioral advertising. In the last 12 months, we have sold or shared the following categories of personal information: identifiers; Internet or other electronic network activity information. For information on how to opt out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, please see Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing of Personal Information to Third Parties below.

CCPA Rights

As a California resident, the CCPA provides you with the following rights:

Right to Know. You have the right to request that we disclose certain information to you about our collection, use, disclosure, sale, or sharing of your personal information over the last 12 months. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, and subject to certain limitations that we describe below, we will disclose such information. For information on how to submit a verifiable consumer request, please see How to Submit a Verifiable Consumer Request below. You have the right to request any or all of the following:
- The categories of personal information that we have collected about you;
- The categories of sources from which the personal information has been collected;
- Our business or commercial purposes for collecting or selling such personal information;
- The categories of third parties with whom we have shared such personal information; and
- The specific pieces of personal information that we have collected from or about you.
Right to Delete. You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal information that we collected from or about you and retained, subject to certain exceptions. Once we receive and confirm your verifiable consumer request, we will delete (and direct our service providers to delete) your personal information from our records, unless an exception under the CCPA applies. For information on how to submit a verifiable consumer request, please see How to Submit a Verifiable Consumer Request below. We may deny your deletion request if retaining the personal information is necessary for us or our service providers to perform certain functions set forth under the CCPA, such as compliance with legal obligations or completing the transaction for which your personal information was collected.
Right to Correct Inaccurate Personal Information. You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal information that we may have about you.
Right to Know What Personal Information is Sold or Shared and to Whom. You have the right to request that we disclose to you the categories of personal information that we have collected about you, the categories of personal information that we sold or shared about you, the categories of third parties to whom such personal information was shared, the categories of personal information that we disclosed about you for a business purpose, and the categories of persons to whom it was disclosed for a business purpose.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing of Personal Information to Third Parties. You have the right to opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information by us to third parties and may do so by visiting our Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information website or calling us at 1-800-890-0625. Please note that when you opt-out of the sale or sharing of your personal information, this does not and will not affect:
- Our ability to share your personal information with “service providers,” which are companies that we engage for business purposes to conduct activities on our behalf and are prohibited from using your personal information for any purpose outside of our engagement with them (including, for the avoidance of doubt, their own business purposes); and
- Our ability to share your personal information when required by law or to protect Hachette or other persons.

For more information about the service providers that we engage in connection with the Services, please see Who We Share Your Personal Information With.

You may change your mind and opt back into the sale or sharing of your personal information at any time by contacting us at privacy@hbgusa.com.

Right to Non-Retaliation. You have the right to not be discriminated against by us for exercising any of your rights under the CCPA.

How to Submit a Verifiable Consumer Request

You may submit a verifiable consumer request to exercise your rights to know or delete your personal information by filling out a Consumer Data Request form available here or calling us at 1-800-890-0625. To verify your request, we will ask you to provide personal identifiers that we can match against information that we have collected from you previously and confirm your request using the telephone number or email address stated in the request. When providing us any information pursuant to a verifiable consumer request, you represent that all such information that you provide to us is true and accurate.

You may authorize another individual or a business registered with the California Secretary of State (known as an “authorized agent”) to make a verifiable consumer request on your behalf. We require that both you and the authorized agent complete affidavits to verify the identity of the authorized agent and confirm that you have authorized them to act on your behalf. A parent of a minor child may submit their child’s birth certificate in lieu of an affidavit to make a verifiable consumer request on their child’s behalf. Please contact us at privacy@hbgusa.com or call us at 1-800-890-0625 for our form of affidavit.

Incentives

We may, at times, offer our customers rewards, exclusive offers, and certain prizes in connection with Promotions (collectively, the “Incentives“). When you sign up for one of these Incentives, we typically ask you to provide us with certain personal information (such as your name, address, and/or email address). You may withdraw from participating in an Incentive at any time by contacting us using the designated method set forth in the applicable terms and conditions for such Incentive. You may also withdraw from any Incentive by contacting us at the email address provided in the terms and conditions for such Incentive. If none is provided, you may contact us as at privacy@hbgusa.com. Please read the terms and conditions of each Incentive to view full details regarding the Incentive.

X. Your Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah Privacy Rights

This section of this Privacy Policy (the “State Privacy Policy”) only applies if you are a resident of the State of Colorado, the State of Connecticut, the Commonwealth of Virginia, or the State of Utah. In the event of a conflict between this State Privacy Policy and the rest of the Privacy Policy, the State Privacy Policy will control. Capitalized terms used in this State Privacy Policy and not defined herein will have the same meanings given to them elsewhere in the Privacy Policy.

The Colorado Privacy Act, the Connecticut Data Privacy Act, the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, and the Utah Consumer Privacy Act (collectively, “State Privacy Laws”) each provide residents of Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah, respectively, with specific rights regarding their personal data. For purposes of this State Privacy Policy, “personal data” means information that is linked or reasonably linkable to an identified or identifiable individual and does not include de-identified data or publicly available information. This State Privacy Policy describes the rights that Colorado, Connecticut, Virginia, and Utah residents may have under the State Privacy Laws and explains how they can exercise those rights.

The categories of personal data that we process are the same as the categories set forth in Categories of Personal Information We Collect. The purposes for processing your personal data are the same as the purposes set forth in Purposes for Using Your Personal Information. The categories of personal data that we share with third parties are the same as the categories set forth in Categories of Personal Information We Collect. The categories of third parties with whom we share your personal data are the same as the categories set forth in Who We Share Your Personal Information With.

Under the State Privacy Law that is applicable to you, you may have the following rights:

Right to Access. You have the right to request access to the personal data that we have collected from or about you.
Right to Delete. You have the right to request that we delete any of your personal data that we collected from or about you and retained, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Correct Inaccurate Personal Data. You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate personal data that we may have about you (taking into account the nature of such personal data and our purposes for processing it).
Right to Data Portability. You have the right to request and receive a copy of the personal data that you previously provided to us in a portable and, to the extent technically feasible, readily usable format that allows you to transmit such personal data to another business without hindrance, where the processing is carried out by automated means, subject to certain exceptions.
Right to Opt-Out of Sale or Sharing of Personal Information to Third Parties. You have the right to opt-out of us processing your personal data for purposes of targeted advertising, selling such personal data, or profiling in furtherance of decisions that produce legal or similarly significant effects concerning you. If you would like to exercise this right, please visit our Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information website or call us at 1-800-890-0625.
Right to Non-Retaliation. You have the right to not be discriminated against by us for exercising any of your rights under the State Privacy Law applicable to you.

To exercise any of your rights under State Privacy Laws, please fill out a Consumer Data Request form available here or call us at 1-800-890-0625. To verify your request, we will ask you to provide personal identifiers that we can match against information that we have collected from you previously. When providing us any information pursuant to your request regarding any of your rights under State Privacy Laws, you represent that all such information that you provide to us is true and accurate.

If we decline to act regarding a request that you make pursuant to this State Privacy Policy, we will inform you of our reason for declining your request and provide you with instructions for how to appeal our decision.

XI. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may make changes to this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will post any changes here, and such changes will become effective when they are posted. Your continued use of our Services following the posting of any changes means that you accept such changes.

XII. Contact Us

If you have any questions, comments, or requests regarding this Privacy Policy, please contact us at:

Hachette Book Group, Inc.
1290 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10104
Attention: Legal
Email: privacy@hbgusa.com

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