Controlled Vocabulary

We use a controlled vocabulary for tagging genre, format, ratings, and more, to ensure uniformity across our various publications and publication platforms. This is similar to the system that Archive of Our Own uses, except that it’s developed internally, and modified with input from our authors as appropriate to their individual stories. As more publishers consider approaches that include tagging systems, we thought that sharing our system might be helpful to people. This list includes all tags we’ve used for our books, our anthologies, our backer-exclusive stories, and elsewhere.

Our shop uses two different sorting systems to facilitate navigation and help prospective readers locate content they’d be interested in and avoid content they’d rather not read. The first of these sorting systems is Categories. The Categories are over-arching information about the following areas:

Format (eg, eBook)
Genre (eg, Modern with Magic)
Rating (eg, Adult Audiences)
Relationship (eg, MLM)
Tropes (eg, hurt/comfort)
Work Length (eg, novella)
Merchandise (eg bookmarks)
Erotica (coming soon!) (note that Erotica categories are not listed below; they are on a separate page)

Categories are designed for quick navigation of our shop, and reflect only the most prominent themes of a given work. Furthermore, our categories are nested, and we will reflect that in the bulleted lists below.

To provide more in-depth information about each work, we also use a Tag system. Tags provide more extension information about a work, including content warnings, sub-themes, and more. They may include or imply spoilers. While many tags could fall into multiple categories, for organizational purposes we’ve sorted them into the following tag types, and each tag is assigned to one, and only one, tag type. All categories are also tags, but not all tags are also categories. Tags are written all lowercase, always.

alpha/beta/omega dynamics (eg, mating cycles) (note that alpha/beta/omega dynamic tags are not listed below; they are on a separate page)
book format (eg, pdf ebook)
character feature (eg, bipoc character)
character profession (eg, professor)
character religion (eg, muslim character)
character romantic orientation (eg, aromantic character)
character sexual orientation (eg, pansexual character)
creature character (eg, werewolf)
era (eg, regency)
fanworks (eg, character in a “Queer Fanworks Inspired By…” story has had their gender swapped)
genderqueer character (eg, trans character)
genre (eg, welsh mythology)
kink (eg, bdsm) (note that kink tags are not listed below; they are on a separate page)
merchandise (eg sticker)
narrator point of view (eg, pov third person)
platonic relationship type (eg, characters are twins)
rating (eg, explicit)
relationship type (eg, interspecies romance)
setting (eg, academia)
special occasion (eg, wedding)
story element (eg, established relationship)
trope (eg, enemies to lovers)
warning (eg, major character death)
work format (eg, epistolary)
work length (eg, novel)

Tags are generally used to give a more specific idea of what a story is about. Usually, tags are assigned if they reflect prominent themes of the work in question, with the exception of warnings. Warnings are used for any content we feel may be potentially triggering, and will be listed for a given story even if the thing being warned for is only briefly mentioned or isn’t described in detail. This doesn’t mean everything will be tagged, but we do our best to be thorough, and we are always open to receiving feedback that our tags should be modified.

We will aim to update this list monthly.

Last updated: 6/27/22

Tags

alpha/beta/omega dynamics (this is a NSFW list, so we’ve posted it on a separate page for those who’d rather avoid such content.)

book format

epub ebook
mobi ebook
pdf ebook

character feature

anger management issues
anxiety
bilingual character
bipoc character
blind character
character is a murderer
character is a widow/widower/surviving spouse
character is clumsy
character is in the closet
character is oblivious
depression
elderly character
fat character
magic user
memory loss
mute character
piercings
precognition
ptsd
self-esteem issues
tattoos

character profession

character does drag
character is a barista
character is a farmer
character is a graduate student
character is a mercenary
character is a nurse
character is a performer
character is a private detective
character is a professor
character is a research assistant
character is a security guard
character is a soldier
character is a superhero
character is a veteran
character is a witch
character is an advice columnist
character is an engineer
character is an executive assistant
character is in a religious order
character is royalty

character religion

daoist character
jewish character
muslim character

character romantic orientation

aromantic character
biromantic character
demiromantic character

character sexual orientation

asexual character
bisexual character
homosexual character
lesbian character
pansexual character

creature character

alien
animal transformation
artificial intelligence
automaton
bear shifter
bird shifter
cat shifter
character is a god
creature character
demon
dog shifter
dragon
dragon shifter
elemental
fae and fairyfolk
fire spirit
fox shifter
ghost
half-orc
immortal
manta ray shifter
merpeople
nature spirit
octopus shifter
pixie
reaper
rusalka
satyr
vampire
water spirit
werewolf

era

regency
the 1940s
the 1950s
the 2000s
world war i
world war ii

erotica (this is a NSFW list, so we’ve posted it on a separate page for those who’d rather avoid such content.)

fanworks

alternate universe
canon compliant
character has a different gender than in the source material
non-fanfiction story inspired by source material

genderqueer character

agender character
gender non-conforming character
genderfluid character
genderqueer character
non-binary character
transgender character
transmasculine character

genre

british mythology
celtic mythology
character study
chinese mythology
dark comedy
erotica
fantasy
germanic mythology
greek mythology
historical with magic
historical with sci-fi
humor
modern
modern with magic
modern with superpowers
noir
norse mythology
romance
science fiction
slavic mythology
solarpunk
time travel
welsh mythology

merchandise

add magic to taste
bookmark
dux
enamel pin
key chain
magnet
merchandise
sticker

narrator point of view

pov alternating third person limited
pov first person
pov multiple third person limited
pov third person
pov third person limited
unreliable narrator

platonic relationship type

characters are twins
owner/owned character relationship
siblings

rating

adult audiences
explicit
mature audiences
young adult audiences

relationship type

age difference
employer/employee relationship
enlm
established relationship
experienced partner/inexperienced partner
f/m/m
interspecies romance
mlen
mlm
mlw
polyamory
secret relationship
twosome to threesome
wlen
wlm
wlm (past)
wlw

setting

academia
berlin
canada
coffee shop setting
college setting
connecticut
england
farmer’s market
florist shop
france
fraternity
germany
great britain
hartford
high school setting
iceland
indiana
italy
kentucky
netherlands
new england
new york
new york city
new zealand
norway
office setting
on a train
public transit
russia
seattle
sports setting
texas
the beach
the us midwest
theater setting
united states of america
western europe

special occasion

funeral
halloween
hand fasting
romantic getaway
wedding

story element

accidental baby acquisition
altered mental state
assassination
car accident
character death (discussions of)
character is mistakenly believed to be dead
character murder (discussions of)
coming out
cultivation
eating (descriptions of)
existential crisis
false accusations
flirting
food (descriptions of)
football
fostering
fraught family dynamics
getting drunk
grieving
kissing
love declarations
magical tattoos
marriage proposal
masquerade
meddling friends
miscommunication
misunderstandings
mutual pining
the nature of free will
organized crime
panic attacks
parenthood
petnames
pining
playing pranks
politics
polyamorous relationship negotiation
pranks
pregnancy
recovery
reincarnation
royalty
secret identities
taekwondo
tarot
teenage rebellion
therapy
utopia

trope

angst
angst (mild)
anti-soulmates
anything that can go wrong…
attraction at first sight
be gay do crimes
be gay solve crimes
chance meeting
curses
curses (accidental)
didn’t know they were dating
didn’t know they were queer
drunken confessions
emotional hurt/comfort
emotional hurt/comfort (minor)
enemies to lovers
everyone knows they’re in love but them
first kiss
fluff
fluff (domestic)
found family
friends to lovers
getting together
happy ending
hurt/comfort
hurt/comfort (mild)
idiots to lovers
kidfic
love at first sight
magical mishaps
masquerading as human
meet awkward
meet cute
missed connections
mistaken identity
plot what plot
reunion
second chances
sharing an umbrella
slice of life
smut and feels
soulmates
star-crossed lovers
the grumpy one is soft for the sunshine one
whump
witches have familiars

warning

ableism (mentions of)
abuse (past)
alcohol use
alcohol use (casual)
alcoholism
aphobia (internalized)
bad parenting
biphobia (mentions of)
body horror
bullying
character death (minor)
character death (past)
character death (temporary)
classism
classism (mentions of)
consent issues
consent issues (minor)
deadnaming
death of a child (mentions of)
death of a child (off-screen)
death of a grandparent (off-screen)
death of a parent
death of a parent (mentions of)
death of a parent (off-screen)
death of a sibling (off-screen)
death of a spouse (mentions of)
break-up (past)
drowning (mentions of)
dubious consent
dubious consent (mild)
emotional abuse
emotional abuse (mentions of)
gender dysphoria
harm to animals
homophobia (internalized)
homophobic violence (mentions of)
infidelity
jealousy
micro-aggressions (racist)
misogyny (internalized)
past abuse
past abusive relationship
past character death
period-typical homophobia
period-typical homophobia (mentions of)
period-typical understandings of gender and sexuality
permanent character injury
possessive behavior
racism
rape/non-con
rape/non-con (off-screen)
robbery (mentions of)
self-harm (mentions of)
sexual content (mentions of)
sexual content (non-graphic descriptions)
sexual harassment (mild)
speciesism
speciesism (mentions of)
suicide (mentions of)
temporary character death
torture (graphic descriptions)
transphobia (mentions of)
verbal abuse
violence (graphic descriptions)
violence (non-graphic descriptions)
vomiting (mild)

work format

epistolary
past tense
present tense
prose

work length

novel
novelette
short story

Categories

Tags

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