Last updated: 26.10.2026
1. Who we are
This website, loralightofdarkness.com, is the home of the book Lora and the Light of Darkness. It is owned and run by two private individuals, the creators of the book: Eva H. Nova (author) and Simona Ruscheva (illustrator). In this policy, “we” means the two of us.
For any question about your personal data, write to Simona Ruscheva at info@simonaruscheva.com.
2. What this site collects
Very little. The site has no user accounts, no comments and no shop. It does not use Google Analytics or any other visitor-statistics tool of its own. Our sign-up forms are run by Mailchimp, whose script also measures how the sign-up pop-up is used (section 3).
The only personal data you can give us through the site is what you choose to type in: your name and email address if you join our sign-up list (section 3), and your details and message if you use the contact form (section 6). If you write to us by email, you send us your data yourself (section 6).
3. The sign-up list (Mailchimp)
Our sign-up list is kept with Mailchimp, an email service run by The Rocket Science Group LLC, part of Intuit Inc., in the United States. When you sign up, in the sign-up section or in the pop-up window, your first name, last name and email address go straight to Mailchimp. Mailchimp also records when and from which IP address you signed up.
- Why: to tell you when our Kickstarter campaign launches and to send you occasional news about the book.
- Legal basis: your consent (Article 6(1)(a) GDPR).
- Our emails: Mailchimp sends them for us. It can tell us whether an email was opened and which links were clicked, so we can see what readers find useful.
- How long: until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you, or until we stop sending news about the book, whichever comes first.
- Changing your mind: every email has an unsubscribe link, or write to info@simonaruscheva.com and we will remove you.
Mailchimp’s script on this site. To show the sign-up pop-up, every page loads a script from Mailchimp. It stores small pieces of information in your browser’s storage (for example whether you have already seen or closed the pop-up) and sends Mailchimp and Intuit technical details about your visit, such as your IP address, the page you are on and how you interact with the pop-up.
Mailchimp handles this data on our behalf and under its own privacy notice (intuit.com/privacy). Intuit is certified under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, which covers data sent to the United States.
If you signed up before we moved to Mailchimp, your address was kept in this website’s own database, under the same terms.
4. Server logs
Like every website, ours runs on a hosting provider’s servers, and those servers keep standard technical logs: the address of the device making a request (IP address), the time of the request, the page requested and the browser used. The logs are used to keep the site running and to protect it against abuse (our legitimate interest, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). We do not use them to build profiles of visitors.
5. Cookies and services from other companies
- Cookies and browser storage. The site does not use advertising cookies. Apart from Mailchimp’s script (section 3), it stores only your choice in the cookie notice, so that you are not asked again. People who log in to manage the site receive login cookies; ordinary visitors do not.
- Fonts. The typefaces are served from this website itself; no font service from another company is used.
- The trailer. The video is hosted by a video platform (YouTube or Vimeo). Nothing is loaded from that platform until you press play. When you do, the platform receives your IP address and may set its own cookies, under its own privacy policy.
- Links. Links to Kickstarter and to social networks take you to those sites, which have their own privacy policies. They do not send us any data about you through this website.
Mailchimp (Intuit), YouTube and Vimeo are based in the United States and may process data there.
6. If you use the contact form or email us
If you send us a message through the contact form, we receive your name, your email address, the subject, your phone number if you choose to give it, and your message. The form sends the message to our email inbox and keeps a copy in this website’s own database, so that no message is lost. If you write to us by email, we receive your message and your contact details.
We use these details only to reply to you and to carry on the conversation (our legitimate interest in answering you, Article 6(1)(f) GDPR). We keep messages for as long as the conversation needs and for a reasonable time afterwards, and then delete them.
To protect the form from abuse, the website keeps a scrambled (hashed) form of your IP address for one hour, only to limit how many messages can be sent in a short time.
7. Who else sees your data
Our hosting provider, our email provider and Mailchimp (for the sign-up list, section 3) handle data for us as part of running the website, our mailboxes and our emails. We do not sell your data. We would pass it to anyone else only if the law required us to.
8. Your rights
Under the GDPR you can ask us for a copy of your data, ask us to correct or delete it, ask us to restrict how we use it or object to that use, and ask to receive it in a portable form. Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time. Write to info@simonaruscheva.com and we will reply within one month.
You also have the right to complain to a data protection authority: the Bulgarian Commission for Personal Data Protection (Комисия за защита на личните данни, www.cpdp.bg), or the authority in the country where you live.
9. Children
This site is about a children’s book, but it is written for grown-ups. The sign-up list is meant for adults, and we do not knowingly collect personal data from children. If you believe a child has signed up, write to us and we will delete the address.
10. Changes to this policy
If we add anything that collects more data (for example a shop or visitor statistics), we will update this policy first and ask for your consent where the law requires it. The date at the top shows when the policy was last changed.