Community Guidelines

Be Constructive

As an Inkitt community member, it's important to always engage with others with the aim to help them improve.

You should aim to provide actionable advice that the recipient can take to better themselves. As community members, let's be sure to provide the tools to do so. For example, useful feedback could mean:

• Advice on how to overcome writer's block
• Feedback on how to improve story structure
• Overall character development
• Focusing on a specific chapter, paragraph, or even sentence

The bottom line is, make sure the recipient can improve based on your feedback.

Be Professional

As readers or writers, the best way to participate in the community is to approach others professionally.

That means you leave your emotions at the door, and be objective when engaging with other community members, despite the emotional nature of storytelling. If you're on the receiving end, don't take offense if someone doesn't like your work. Being professional also means you, as a community member, are motivated to improve, whether you are a writer hoping to master your craft or a reader looking for great entertainment.

The idea is to acquire knowledge through social interactions.

Be Respectful

We insist that while you are on Inkitt, you respect everyone you engage with.

The internet is a place where people can freely voice their judgement, but it also gives community members the means to disrespect or insult others from their computer screen. You are free to disagree, but we absolutely insist you shouldn't be overly critical, or disrespectful.

Remember to always treat others the way you would want to be treated.

Report Something

Submitting reports on content that is against Inkitt’s guidelines allows everyone on our platform to feel safe.

Whether it be through books, comments, community groups, reviews, wall posts, or anywhere else. If you see anything that is questionable, please use the Report button or let us know at [email protected].

Inkitt does not allow:

• Spam posts
• Content offering fraudulent goods, services, schemes, or promotions
• Bullying and harassment
• Hate speech, based on race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, sex, gender, gender identity and serious disease or disability
• Promotion of violence towards others (including terrorist activity)
• Self-harm or content glorifying suicide
• Pornographic or nude images
• Content glorifying any form of abuse or violence against animals or people, including but not limited to, non-consensual sex ie. rape, incest, bestiality
• Intellectual property violations and plagiarism by other Inkitt users
• Impersonating other people or organizations
• Stories that describe sexual or adult oriented themes with minors (under the age of 16)

If you see anything listed above, you can report it, along with anything else that may appear concerning. When you report something on the platform please give us additional information, to help our team resolve issues as swiftly as possible. For example, if you are reporting a book, include the book name and the reasons for your report.

The Inkitt support team works hard to review and resolve all claims reported. Each report is investigated inline with Inkitt’s guidelines and can result in the removal of specific content or entire user accounts if deemed necessary by our team. Please note, all reports come to us at Inkitt directly, not the user in question. We also give people control over their own experience by allowing them to block other users.

With your help, we can make sure all our authors and readers have an enjoyable experience

Formatting

We want all of the books published on Inkitt to be the best possible version of themselves for readers to enjoy.

You should consider the following when writing:

• Are your paragraphs properly aligned? This means no spaces or indents at the start of paragraphs or sentences. Please refrain from using indentations or spaces as this only increases the time it takes Inkitt’s quality assurance assessors to edit and approve a piece.
  
• Is the spacing between your paragraphs even? No more than one space between paragraphs please.
  
• Are you using Inkitt's line tool? Asterisks, zeros, and dashes are a thing of the past, keep your story nice and tidy.
• Is your story free of author notes, out-of-character comments, or other text not related to your story? You should not have: a table of contents, external links, dedications/acknowledgments, glossary of terms, copyright information, a personal bio, or any other extra information in the chapter list.
• For copyright notes, please be assured that a story published under an author's name is copyrighted to that author. Should you wish to link other content, please do so on your profile page. We want to read the plot and get lost in the text, so let’s not break that up by adding a running commentary.
• Is each chapter of your story less than 10,000 words? In order to make sure your story shows up smoothly for readers on the mobile app, please double check your word count per chapter and adjust accordingly by creating new chapters. We advise chapter sizes between 1500-4000 words.

In general, consider the reader’s experience when reading your book. You want them to have the best possible time when immersed in your writing.

Grammar & Punctuation

Always consider the following grammatical and punctuation tips when publishing your story on Inkitt.

• Make sure your writing follows the rules of English grammar
• Check that your grammar and punctuation are appropriate. Experimenting with grammar and punctuation can have a great effect on a story, but it can also go seriously wrong.
  We suggest having a Beta Reader to ensure that everything is where it should be.
• Check your spelling. You may use British or American spelling but be sure that if you pick one that you stick with it!
• Is your dialogue formatted properly? ("Words," she said. "Words!" he replied.)

We understand that you can use grammar, punctuation, and spelling to enhance a story and that sometimes utilizing an incorrect method can benefit a plot. However, grammar, punctuation, and spelling are all present to enhance communication. In doing so it enhances your story and makes it more likable for readers. If you aren't sure about your grammar, punctuation, and spelling then grab a friend, family member, or BETA reader to check it out.

Story Settings, Content and Technical Information

Technical details to consider when publishing your book on Inkitt.

• Your book cover image needs to be at least 500x800 pixels in size. If it appears even a little bit stretched or pixelated, please change it. We check cover images for suitability and having the perfect cover means we won't need to postpone the approval of your story. We want you to have a crisp, eye-catching book cover that draws in maximum readers!
• Keep your title just a title. Your author name, story genre, and other details do not need to be in the title. We want to know what the story is called in the title bar and other information in the relevant place.
• Make sure the age range is correct. Rate your story according to the ratings we have here on Inkitt: 13+ (Everyone), 16+ (Young Adult), or 18+ (Mature).
• Let readers know if your story is completed, ongoing, or an excerpt.
• Does your story have a primary, and if necessary, secondary genre? You can choose up to two of the following genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Horror, Humor, Mystery, Thriller, Romance, Poetry, SciFi, Children, Drama, Erotica, Other.
• Let us know if your book is part of a series, and enter the series name and book number, if appropriate.
• Does your story have a summary? The summary is the description of what your story is about and should be no more than 1400 characters.
• Content should not be submitted if it violates any copyright, right of publicity or privacy, or is contrary to any applicable law.

The following content is not permitted and will be removed from Inkitt;

• Plagiarised content,
• Content that promotes the sale of any services,
• Illegal content such as child pornography,
• Content that promotes or incites illegal crimes, violent acts, or terrorism.

We assess each submission on its own and may choose to not approve and/or remove content at any time if it is deemed inappropriate for our community.

Thank you, authors! With your help we can make the approval process on Inkitt quick and efficient. We ask that you stick to our formatting and technical guidelines so that we can help you get your story up and running as soon as possible. We look forward to seeing your posts and can't wait to have them published!