Cia

Does Gay Authors have minimum quality guidelines? Yes. Prior to submitting your story, please run it through a spelling/grammar checker and read it over for anything the checker missed. Stories with a multitude of spelling and grammar errors could be rejected until the errors have been fixed. If you need help polishing your story prior to posting we encourage you to review the many topics in our Writer’s Forums. A single space should be used between each paragraph, with a double space used to indicate scene or timeline jumps. *See below to remove extra line spaces in Word* Do I have to be a seasoned author to post at GA? No. GA allows both seasoned and first-time writers to submit their stories. We do not expect grammatical and structural perfection in every piece. We do expect as you post to apply the suggestions from readers and your editing team, should you gain one, to hone your skills as an author. Can I post poems or flash fiction stories on GA? Yes. However, all poems or flash fiction stories under 1k in length MUST be placed in collections. You cannot post them all as individual stories. You may create different collections, such as one for free form poetry and another for haikus, but please do not post more than 4-5 collections total. Making a collection is as simple as choosing a title like “Author Name Poems” and then submitting each poem/flash piece as a chapter. What are other tips so my story doesn't have any posting guidelines issues that would prevent it from being approved? Do not resize text size in the editor since this will eliminate a reader’s ability to re-size the text. Only chapter text should be in the chapter text box. There are other areas for chapter titles, chapter notes, and copyright information. Disclaimers or content warnings should be placed in the story or chapter notes. The text editor was chosen because of its compatibility with Word formatting. While it offers a lot of options, not all of them work as expected. Using ‘bold’ and ‘italics’ is okay. Much more than that and the formatting from the editor conflicts with the formatting for the site and you get unintended consequences. Bold and italics are for brief highlights and are NOT to be used in large amounts. This is an accessibility people for some people. *If you use Word, you can have hidden paragraph breaks that will cause double spaces between paragraphs in our editor. Complete these steps to remove that hidden break yet still see a space between paragraphs when you write in Word* Before posting into the story text box, select all your text in Word. Click the “find and replace” option. Insert ^p^p into the find field and ^p into the replace field. Then go to your paragraph/line spacing option. Using the pop up box that appears, scroll down to paragraph spacing. Set the ‘before’ option to 0 and the ‘after’ option to Auto. Then click save. You can now copy your text and paste it into the chapter text box on GA.

What steps must I complete PRIOR to posting a story? First you have to gain the ability to post in GA Stories by gaining Author status. You can do this by visiting the GA store and purchasing them for free. Once you have selected “Activities” from the red menu bar, locate "Store" in the drop menu. Under the “Member Groups” area, choose the Author or Poet group and follow any additional directions on the screen. Starting Dec 29, 2024, you can select your member group on sign up or from your account settings. (Member/Author/Poet/Editor) I purchased Author/Poet from the store, but my title did not change, what do I do now? Log out of GA, clear your cache, and log back in. Your title should change after this step.

What types of story content are banned from GA? Stories with characters that are not like age groups. A 15 and 18 year-old couple in high school are a like age group even if one is technically ‘overage’. A 13 and a 19 year-old couple are not like age groups. Minors and adults are NEVER like age groups. Stories sexualizing children and preteens 12 and under, or portraying them in a light to appear sexually arousing to adults. Stories solely adult in nature. All stories on GA must have a plot that exists beyond the sexual theme of the story. We recommend no more than 50% of the story be focused on sexual activities or themes. Stories with necrophilia. What types of story content will trigger a story review by the FMT on GA? Stories with rape or sexual abuse for titillation, glorifying suicide or drug use, bestiality, or cannibalism are moderated content. Any stories with these themes are subject to further moderator review and may be rejected.* *Any approved story containing content listed above MUST be properly rated Mature, have accompanying tags, and include written warnings in the story note and each chapter note that contains questionable content so readers sensitive to these subjects will not be unaware of the story's themes.

What will prevent me from becoming a Promoted Author? Things such as complete removal of stories from GA, for self-publishing or subbing to publishers, will preclude authors from being promoted to Promising or Signature. While we understand some stories are removed for personal reasons, using GA as a beta/editing service for later publication is unacceptable. Some stories may be eligible for movement to the site Premium section, but authors should check with site staff prior to making the decision to remove stories for publication. Poor site behavior, including antagonizing readers and members The best approach is for promotion is to engage members and readers in a friendly manner, avoid controversy and don't post and remove stories.

Promoted Author Criteria: Promising Authors: Demonstrate a basic level of writing ability Actively seek and accept assistance to improve their writing Participate in and contribute to the GA community Promote the GA site (ex. If posting elsewhere, link back to GA) Show initiative in promoting their work and growing their reader base, and/or are open to learning how Actively engage their readers (respond to reviews) Promising Authors must be willing to agree to post concurrently on Gay Authors any new material with the exception of personal blogs Signature Authors: Have an existing body of quality writing Established a strong reader base on GA Actively participate in the GA Community Cross-promote and link back to GA when posting stories elsewhere Encourage off-site readers to join the GA community Actively engage their readers (respond to reviews) Signature Authors must be willing to agree to post concurrently on Gay Authors any new material with the exception of personal blogs Classic Authors Signature Authors can request "Classic Author" status if they have reached the point where they will no longer be posting new stories on a regular basis. Authors that have already been established on other sites and are coming to Gay Authors to post their content, can apply to be considered for Classic Author status. How do I let the team know I want to become a promoted author? Nominations can be made via PM to any Author Promotion Team member. You can find the list of Author Promotion Team members in the Staff Directory. The Author Promotion Team is also actively watching for authors that meet the criteria. Who can nominate an author? Any member of GA can nominate an author for promotion, including the author themselves.

What does it mean to be a Signature, Classic, or Promising Author? A Promising, Classic, or Signature Author is an author who has achieved a level of performance, gained some recognition by the staff and membership at GA, and have entered into an agreement with Gay Authors concerning the hosting and promotion of their stories. What are the differences between Signature, Classic, and Promising Authors? Signature Authors are active authors who consistently produce high quality stories and represent some of Gay Authors' best writing. Classic Authors were at one point Signature Authors but either do not post regularly or have retired from writing altogether. Classic Authors can also be authors recognized for their works posted to other sites over the years. Promising Authors are Gay Authors up and coming authors and will typically be promoted to Signature within a year or so. What is the purpose of Promising Author status? The purpose of Promising Author status is to help develop writers who have already shown initiative in improving their writing and promoting themselves; to give up-and-coming writers exposure and help them build a fan base prior to being considered for Signature Author status. Promising Authors: Demonstrate a basic level of writing ability Actively seek and accept assistance to improve their writing Participate in and contribute to the GA community Promote the GA site (ex. If posting elsewhere, link back to GA) Show initiative in promoting their work and growing their reader base, and/or are open to learning how Actively engage their readers (respond to reviews) Promising Authors must be willing to agree to post concurrently on Gay Authors any new material with the exception of personal blogs Signature Authors: Have an existing body of quality writing Established a strong reader base on GA Actively participate in the GA Community Cross-promote and link back to GA when posting stories elsewhere Encourage off-site readers to join the GA community Actively engage their readers (respond to reviews) Signature Authors must be willing to agree to post concurrently on Gay Authors any new material with the exception of personal blogs

What is the Moderation Queue? Authors with a reputation of less than *250 in GA Stories* must have their stories/chapters approved by site staff before they can be viewed by the general membership. Once an author exceeds a reputation of 250 their stories receive automatic approval and will be visible within the hour. *This is the reputation on your author account which can be found when viewing your author profile in Stories, not your overall site reputation found on your general profile. What do you check in the Moderation Queue? Stories in the moderation queue are checked to make sure the author has followed the Stories guidelines for content and posting, the story falls within a basic editing standard, as well as a plagiarism check. When does the Moderation Queue get checked? Typically the moderation queue is checked once per day. If you have waited longer than 24 hours since you posted your new story or chapter, please check your personal messages (envelope in the upper right corner) to see if you have a message from site staff regarding your content. If you don't have anything there, please PM Cia.

What are the purpose of “Likes”? Each “Like”/"Reactions" helps to raise a member’s reputation, which is especially important to help Authors get out of the Moderation Queue and Peer Review. IMPORTANT: Reputation earned from Stories, Chapter, Story Comments, Reviews, Chapter comments count towards Author Reputation. This number is visible on an authors story listing page. (My Stories). How do I get more likes and raise my reputation? Anytime someone follows you as an author or follows one of your stories, it counts as a like and raises your reputation one point. Also, anytime someone “likes” one of your forum posts, blog posts or replies, stories, or chapters it raises your reputation by one point. Moderation Queue promotion counts only Story/Chapter/story review/story comment/chapter comments "likes". How do I give an unlike? Once you have given a “like”, the button will change to “unlike”. In order to give an “unlike” you have to have already given one. Simply find where you gave the “like” and take it away.