Privacy Policy

Last updated: 13/08/2026

‍This Privacy Policy explains how Maximillian Phillips ("I", "me", "my"), trading as a ghostwriting and narrative strategy business at maxphillipsghostwriter.com (the "Site"), collects, uses, and protects your personal data when you visit the Site, get in touch, subscribe to my newsletter, or engage my services.

‍I'm based in London, United Kingdom, and I process personal data in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

‍ If you have any questions about this policy or how your data is handled, you can contact me at max@du-phillips.org

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1. Who I Am

‍ I am a sole trader operating under the name Maximillian Phillips, providing ghostwriting, editing, and narrative strategy services. For the purposes of data protection law, I am the "data controller" of the personal data described in this policy.

Contact details: Maximillian Phillips. Email: max@du-phillips.org

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2. What Personal Data I Collect

‍ Depending on how you interact with the Site, I may collect:

  • Contact details — name and email address, when you submit a contact form, book a call, or enquire about a service.

  • Newsletter subscription data — your email address, when you subscribe to The Ghostwriter's Desk via Substack.

  • Lead magnet download data — your email address, when you download a free guide or resource from the Site.

  • Client project data — for anyone who becomes a client, this may include personal stories, interview recordings and transcripts, manuscripts, and other material you share with me as part of a ghostwriting, editing, or strategy engagement. This is covered separately under Section 6.

  • Payment information — if you pay for a service or product through the Site, payment is processed by a third-party provider (see Section 4). I do not store your full card details myself.

  • Technical data — standard website analytics collected automatically, such as IP address, browser type, pages visited, and time spent on the Site, via Squarespace's built-in analytics and cookies.

I do not knowingly collect any special category data (such as health information, racial or ethnic origin, or religious beliefs) through the Site itself, outside of what a client may voluntarily choose to share with me as part of their own life story during a ghostwriting project.

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3. How I Use Your Data

I use personal data for the following purposes:

Responding to enquiries and contact form submissions. Legal basis: Legitimate interest (running my business)

Sending you the newsletter (The Ghostwriter's Desk) or a lead magnet you've requested. Legal basis: Consent

Delivering a paid service you've booked (e.g. Story Audit, strategy session, ghostwriting). Legal basis: Contract

Processing payments. Legal basis: Contract / legal obligation

Understanding how the Site is used to improve it. Legal basis: Legitimate interest

Complying with legal or tax obligations. Legal basis: Legal obligation

You can withdraw your consent to marketing emails (including the newsletter or promotional messages) at any time by clicking "unsubscribe" in any email or by contacting me directly.

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4. Third Parties I Share Data With

I use a small number of trusted third-party services to run this business. Each processes data under its own privacy policy:

I don't sell your personal data to anyone, and I don't share it with third parties for their own marketing purposes.

Some of these providers are based outside the UK (for example, in the United States). Where that's the case, they provide appropriate safeguards for international data transfers, such as Standard Contractual Clauses, in line with UK GDPR requirements.

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5. Cookies

The Site uses cookies, primarily through Squarespace, to help it function properly and to understand how visitors use the Site. This may include:

  • Essential cookies, needed for the Site to work.

  • Analytics cookies, which help me understand visitor behaviour anonymously.

You can control or disable cookies through your browser settings. Disabling essential cookies may affect how parts of the Site function.

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6. Data From Ghostwriting and Editing Clients

If you engage me for ghostwriting, editing, or narrative strategy services, you may share significant personal information, sometimes sensitive, as part of that work, including personal stories, interview recordings, transcripts, and draft manuscripts.

This material is:

  • Used solely for the purpose of the project you've engaged me for.

  • Treated as strictly confidential and covered by a separate confidentiality agreement or NDA where one is in place.

  • Never shared, published, or discussed with any third party without your explicit permission.

  • Retained only for as long as necessary to complete the project and to meet any reasonable business or legal record-keeping needs, after which it's securely deleted on request.

If you're a client, the specific terms covering your material will also be set out in our working agreement. This Privacy Policy sits alongside that, not instead of it.

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7. How Long I Keep Your Data

  • Newsletter and lead magnet subscribers: for as long as you remain subscribed, and deleted within a reasonable period after you unsubscribe.

  • Contact form enquiries that don't become a project: typically retained for up to 12 months, then deleted.

  • Client project data: retained for the duration of the project, plus a reasonable period afterwards for reference or legal purposes, unless you request earlier deletion (subject to any legal obligations to retain financial records).

  • Payment records: retained as required by UK tax law (currently up to 6 years).

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8. Your Rights

Under UK GDPR, you have the right to:

  • Access the personal data I hold about you.

  • Ask me to correct inaccurate data.

  • Ask me to delete your data ("right to be forgotten"), subject to certain exceptions.

  • Object to or restrict how I process your data.

  • Withdraw consent at any time, where processing is based on consent.

  • Request a copy of your data in a portable format.

  • Complain to the UK's data protection regulator, the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), if you believe your data hasn't been handled properly.

To exercise any of these rights, contact me at max@du-phillips.org. I'll respond within one month.

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9. Children's Data

This Site and my services are intended for adults. I don't knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18.

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10. Changes to This Policy

I may update this policy from time to time, for example, as my services or the tools I use change. The "last updated" date at the top will reflect the most recent version. If changes are significant, I'll aim to make that clear on the Site.

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11. Contact

If you have any questions, concerns, or requests relating to this Privacy Policy or your personal data, please contact:

Maximillian Phillips Email: max@du-phillips.org Website: maxphillipsghostwriter.com

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