MindGrid Books is a small independent publisher. This site sells nothing directly — it describes our books and links to Amazon. The short version: we collect as little as we can, we ask before setting any analytics cookie wherever the law requires it, and we have never sold anyone's data.
Analytics
We use Google Analytics 4 to see which pages people find useful and which links they follow to Amazon. We also use Amazon Attribution links to measure purchases after visitors follow those links. Both follow the same regional consent and opt-out choices described here.
In the European Union, the wider EEA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway), the United Kingdom and Switzerland, analytics runs only after you accept the cookie notice. Reject it and no analytics script loads and no analytics cookie is set — the site works exactly the same. If we cannot tell where you are, we treat you the same way and ask first.
Everywhere else, including the United States, analytics
runs without a notice. You can still switch it off at any time with
?analytics=off, described below.
To tell the two apart, our host (Vercel) works out your country from
your connection, as it does for every request, and the site stores only
the result in a short-lived cookie, privacy_geo (for example
DE.required or US.exempt). It holds no identifier,
is never sent to Google, and is deleted when you close your browser. We
do not look up or keep your IP address for this.
We do not show ads or use this measurement for remarketing or personalisation. Google processes our website analytics. Amazon processes the attribution information sent when you follow a tagged Amazon link and reports aggregate results to us.
Your choice is remembered in your own browser's local storage under the
key mgb-consent, with the date you made it. After six months
it lapses and you will be asked again; clearing your browser data resets
it sooner.
You can also switch analytics off completely in one browser, whatever
you chose in the notice, by visiting any page with ?analytics=off
on the end of its address (for example
mindgridbooks.com/?analytics=off). That is remembered under
mgb-analytics-optout in the same local storage: the analytics
script is never loaded in that browser, wherever you are, and the cookie
notice stops appearing. Visit a page with ?analytics=on to undo it. It
applies only to that browser on that device, and clearing your browser data
removes it.
When analytics is on, a click on an Amazon link records which book and which page it came from, where on the page the link was, and whether the destination used an Amazon Attribution tag. Opening a book's own page records which book it is and, if you came from another page on this site, which page that was. A successful free-bonus signup records only that a signup happened and on which page. On a free-bonus page, pressing the signup button, a failed signup (with only a fixed reason such as "network" or "rate limit") and a click on the free download are recorded the same way: which page and which list, nothing else. The Chess Trainer waitlist page works the same way: opening it, pressing its join button, a failed attempt (fixed reason only) and a confirmed join are recorded, as is a click from one of our articles to that page. We do not include your name or email address in any of those events or tags.
If you arrive from an advertisement in ChatGPT, the
address you land on carries tags that name the campaign
(utm_source=chatgpt) and an opaque click reference from OpenAI
(oppref). Where analytics is allowed, this website keeps only
the campaign name, the ad variant and the time of that visit in your
browser's local storage (mgb-paid-touch) for 14 days, so that
the Amazon link you follow later can be matched to the ad. We do not
store OpenAI's click reference ourselves, and we never send it to
Google Analytics or to Amazon.
For these visits only, and again only where analytics is allowed, we also
load OpenAI's measurement pixel. The pixel reads the click reference from
the address you landed on and manages it itself: on its own documentation it
keeps it in a first-party cookie on this site (__oppref, up to 30
days) together with a random browser reference (__obref, up to
365 days). When you follow a link to Amazon it tells OpenAI, so the ad can be
measured. Visitors who did not come from an ad never load the pixel. No name
or email address is involved. OpenAI's own privacy notice applies to what it
does with that data.
Some of our books come with a free downloadable activity pack. If you ask for one, we collect your email address in order to send it, and to email you occasionally about new books. The separate Chess Trainer beta waitlist is described below. Every signup form says what you are signing up for. By submitting a book-bonus form you agree to receive that pack and a few short emails from MindGrid Books about the book it belongs to and our other puzzle books.
We also invite interested adults to join a separate waitlist for the upcoming MindGrid Chess Trainer Android app. That form asks only for an email address and an explicit consent tick to receive beta availability and related product updates. Joining the chess waitlist does not join a book-bonus readers group; no chess username or game data is collected by that form.
Email is handled by MailerLite, who store the address on our behalf. Every email we send has a one-click unsubscribe link, and unsubscribing removes you for good: we never add an unsubscribed address back to any list automatically. We never sell, rent or share the list.
Hosting
The site is hosted by Vercel, who process standard server request logs (IP address, user agent, requested URL) as part of serving and protecting the site. We do not use those logs for analytics.
Amazon links
Links to buy our books go to Amazon. When measurement is allowed, links include an Amazon Attribution tag identifying our website campaign, or, if you arrived from a ChatGPT advertisement, that advertisement's own campaign, and the book link you followed. Amazon uses it to report aggregate clicks, product views, purchases, units sold and sales value, and eligible Kindle reading and estimated royalties. These reports do not identify individual customers to us.
If you reject measurement, have not yet accepted where consent is required, or switch analytics off, we keep ordinary Amazon links without our attribution tags. You can still buy the books. Once you visit Amazon, its privacy notice and cookie practices apply.
Children
Many of our books are written for children, but this website is intended for the adults who buy them. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children, and the signup forms ask only for an email address.
Your rights
You can unsubscribe from any email using the link in it, and you can ask us to delete anything we hold about you. If you are in the UK or EU, you also have the right to request a copy of that data or to object to how it is used. Ask and we will do it — there is no process to go through.
Contact
Email george@mindgridbooks.com for anything on this page, including deletion requests.
Last updated 25 October 2026.