What is the GDPR and What Does It Mean for Authors?

by Cyle  Young @CyleYoung

On May 25^th, 2018 the European Union’s new data privacy law goes into effect. The GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation applies to any person or business operating or storing information of EU citizens, and not only to EU-based companies and organizations.

Any author with an international following, fan base, or email subscriber list needs to take notice. The GDPR will change the way that you do business as an author. Most companies who service emails on the behalf of authors—think companies like MailChimp and ConvertKit—have taken steps over the last few months that will enable compliance to the GDPR.

But what exactly is the GDPR?

The GDPR regulates how companies acquire and store personal information of EU citizens. The law denotes personal information and data as any piece of data that could be used to identify a person—including emails. If you store or collect emails from EU citizens, you have to obey the new GDPR legislation.

The GDPR is all about obtaining consent from a person to have and store their information. Most companies who have time-stamped opt in’s are already in compliance with the GDPR. Many of the email services are now encouraging double opt in policies to ensure proper handling of personal data.

The new legislation also emphasizes that a person must be informed of how their data is used, how it is stored, and they should be able to easily request that their data be deleted. In addition, if a person signs up for a free book download, it must be explicitly clear what they are signing up for. If you are going to add them to an email newsletter list, it must be communicated up front and in detail.

What does the GDPR mean for you?

Well, there are three camps out there right now.

Camp #1: I don’t live in the EU so they can’t do anything to me.

This is probably true to some extent. But if you ever want to set foot in the EU at any point over the course of the rest of your life, you don’t want to be in this camp. The EU can fine you even if you live in the US. They may have difficulty collecting, but you will not be able to enter the EU without risk of arrest. Remember Wesley Snipes and his tax evasion. He couldn’t reenter the US for years without the risk of being arrested upon entry.

Camp #2: I’m a small fry, no one will care about little ol’ me.

The EU is hoping to make examples quickly. The fines are in the millions of dollars and they have said that they will go after ANYONE who breaks the rules to force fast adoption of this new policy. Little ol’ you should be very nervous.

Camp #3: I need to be compliant before May 25^th.

This is the wisest way forward. You may not have a large EU fan base, but it only takes a little bit of work to reconfigure your email capture processes. If you get compliant you will be safe from any fines or prosecution.

The GDPR may be a big scary enforcement gorilla, but it should be taken seriously. Most authors won’t have too much to worry about, but if you take your writing career serious, you should take the GDPR legislation serious too.

Have you changed your email processes for the GDPR yet?

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Cyle Young is an author and literary agent, husband & father of 3. As a self-proclaimed “Binge Writer”, Cyle writes over 30,000 words in a weekend. Get his free Binge Writing video class at www.cyleyoung.com