Privacy policy

Your Personal Data:

Cornerstones Partners Ltd are committed to protecting and respecting your privacy.

This policy sets out the basis on which any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to us, will be processed by us. Please read the following carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data and how we will treat it.

What we need

Cornerstones Partners Ltd will be what’s known as the ‘Controller’ of the personal data you provide to us. We only collect basic personal data about you and do not hold any special personal data. The data does however include name, address, email, email correspondence, phone number, submission documents and editorial reports.

Please be assured that we are a confidential service and will never share your details with third parties outside of Cornerstones Partners Ltd. Cornerstones Partners Ltd is registered in England No. 11267897. London Office, 167-169 Great Portland Street, 5th Floor, London.

Why we need it

We need to know your basic personal data in order to for us to chart your journey as an author and advise you accordingly in line with our service. We will not collect any personal data from you we do not need in order to provide and oversee this service to you.

We like to keep you informed of grants, prizes, competitions, industry tips, any relevant Cornerstones alumni and community news, alongside other helpful industry news via our newsletters. These newsletters are sent sporadically via email. This information is not shared with third parties and you can unsubscribe at any time via phone, email, our website, or the newsletter itself.

Any use of your information for these purposes will be both in our legitimate interests and yours. You have a right to object at any time to this use of your information by contacting our Data Protection Officer, Kate Padiachy – kate@cornerstones.co.uk.

What we do with it

All personal data we collect, from both Cornerstones UK and Cornerstones US, is processed by our core team members and is only accessible by this team through a password-protected GDPR-compliant data management system (https://www.reallysimplesystems.com/blog/eu-gdpr-compliance/). No 3rd parties have access to your personal data unless the law allows them to do so.

Our site may, from time to time, contain links to and from the websites of our partner networks, and affiliates (e.g. PWA on the ‘Course’ page). If you follow a link to any of these websites, please note that these websites have their own privacy policies and that we do not accept any responsibility or liability for these policies. Please check these policies before you submit any personal data to these websites.

We have a Data Protection regime in place to oversee the effective and secure processing of your personal data.

How long we keep it

We will retain your data only for as long as is necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy policy; however different retention periods apply to different types of data. We will only retain your information in accordance with law and regulation.

Disclosure Of Your Information

We may share your personal information internally with any member of our group, which means our editors both in the UK and USA. As they are all part of Cornerstones Partners Ltd, the contents of this policy will equally apply to each member. Our editors may flag your manuscript for consideration to our scouting programme in which case we may also share your details with literary agents, with your consent. If your information is processed by editors and agents operating outside the EEA who work for us, all Cornerstones staff will take appropriate measures to ensure that, wherever it is located, your personal information is treated securely and in accordance with this privacy policy. By submitting your personal information to Cornerstones, you agree to this transfer with your consent. 

Your Rights

You have the right at any time to access, rectify, modify or delete any information held about you. You have the right to object to us processing your personal information if we are not entitled to use it any more or have its processing restricted in certain circumstances. Please contact our Data Protection Officer, Kate Padiachy, if you wish to exercise these rights.

You can request a copy of the personal information we hold about you at any time. If you wish to do so, please contact Kate Padiachy, who will be happy to assist. Please be advised that we will not charge you for this service, but our security procedures mean that we will have to request proof of identity before we disclose information to you.

If you wish to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data, you can contact our Data Protection Officer who will investigate the matter.

If you are not satisfied with our response or believe we are processing your personal data not in accordance with the law you can complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Changes To Our Privacy Policy

This policy was last updated in April 2024. Any changes we may make to our privacy policy in the future will be posted on this page and, where appropriate, notified to you by e-mail. Please check back frequently to see any updates or changes to our privacy policy.

Contact

Questions, comments and requests regarding this privacy policy are welcomed and should be addressed to kate@cornerstones.co.uk.