Author's notes

TamLin01 said:

If it's a long series then the only note you need is one telling the reader to start at the beginning.

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A series of standalones, as opposed to a chaptered story, I assume. I agree that pointing to other related stories is helpful.

sr71plt said:

I really, really don't like seeing that "everyone is over 18" disclaimer. My observation is that in most cases I see it, it's there because the text itself leaves that ambiguous (maybe on purpose--in actuality purposely trying to play the underage card and still get published). It's just another one of those "leading with the chin" disclaimer notes I frequently see. Make it clear in the text that everyone is over 18 and, as Lynn posts, if what you want to do is to clearly get it through the submissions process, put that in the Notes box for the editor instead. It's the disclaimer I expect from someone who is just trying to sneak it in under the wire.

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Every time I see the age disclaimer I figure the author was forced to put it there by the site admin. It doesn't have any bearing on the story and frankly is more a wink and nod that the characters possibly aren't quite 18 but we're pretending they are for the sake of getting the story posted. How the heck else are people supposed to do stories involving high school students, after all.

I have a porn novel, printed in paperback, where the ages of several characters were literally altered to be eighteen by cutting and pasting that word in. Seriously, "eighteen" appears in a different typeface and frequently not aligned well with the other text. It's so astoundingly obvious that you can't help but know exactly what the original author's intention was.

TamLin01 said:

If it's a long series then the only note you need is one telling the reader to start at the beginning.

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If it is a long series set in a fantasy world, after the first few parts you can post the parameters of that world as an appendix, instead of introducing it at the start e.g. my Shelacta series.