Do you have a story that you are already writing or are considering writing?

The Fort Family Sites are based on a custom-built Story Management System which allows authors unprecedented control over their work. Designed so that even the least computer literate can easily manage their works, our system allows you to post, edit, and format using familiar tools that are the same as or similar to what you use in your daily writing tools on your computer or tablet. In addition, you have access to statistics which show you reader access to each of your chapters over any period of time. As a bonus, you can post on just one of the Fort Family Sites, and you have the option of sharing with any other site in the Fort Family without having to manage multiple locations; you control everything from your 'home' site, and the Story Management System distributes it to the other sites that you have designated in real-time. Statistics are even gathered from the other site(s) for you!

The Fort Family has been organized since 2004, with a few of us having been around even longer. Throughout our history, we have developed the following standards that we all operate by:

• All Fort Family Sites will remain advertisement free, and we will not collect user data other than the minimum that the web server requires to operate.
• Any data collected will not be used in any form other than the internal operation of the server. Page access counts will be stripped of all data other than the fact the page was accessed.
• Neither Authors nor Readers will ever be charged to access the stories on the site, and there will never be 'Premium' content.
• Authors who publish a story will be allowed to place a link to the publisher, and we will help them to comply with the contractual obligations regarding the works posted online on our sites.
• Stories remain the sole property of the author, and the Fort Family does not claim any part of that copyright. Note that 'Story Universes' have different rules under Copyright Law, so please verify with the person in charge of the Universe as to how it affects your works!
• Authors are not required to adhere to a posting schedule. When you think the chapter is ready, that's when it should be posted.
• Stories which serve the sole purpose of sexual gratification for the reader are not allowed. Similarly, if the main content of the story is sexual in nature, it is not allowed. Scenes within a story that portray sex for the necessary progression of the character(s) in the plotline are allowed, and the site staff will work with the author to ensure that any necessary warnings are displayed if both parties agree that they are needed. We are more than happy to review the chapter before you post it to help you decide how to handle notifications and if they are needed.
• The Webmaster of each Fort Family Site has the sole right to determine what stories / authors fit within their site.  If a story does not fit their site, but it does fit another Fort Family Site, generally it will be shared with the other site in the background for consideration.
• The Fort Family Sites reserve the right to suspend or remove any author or story at any time for actions which we deem to be a danger to the continuance of the site, plagiarism, excessive violent content, legal orders, copyright infringement, or other reasons which may arise in the future. Attempts will be made to notify the author of the reason for suspension or removal if possible. Mattering on the nature of the issue, assistance may be offered to rectify the problem, but such assistance is not guaranteed.
• The Fort Family does not ever claim 'First Post' or 'Exclusive' rights to a story or author. While some Story Universes have requirements for posting on certain sites, general posting requirements are "If you wrote it, it is your decision about where and when to post it".

You still with me? Great! Now that all the legal stuff is out of the way, if you feel that the Café is right for you, follow me!

There are only a few things needed to get you approved and then set up.

1:   If your story is already posted somewhere, just email me a link to it at author.acfan@gmail.com - include a brief rundown of what the story is about so far. (Please don't send links to sites that require registration to view content!)

2:   If you have not posted the story, or it is behind a wall that requires registration, you can email up to 3 chapters of it to me at the same email address.

Once one of the above has been done, I will look it over as soon as real life gives me a chance -- usually within a couple of days. If I have any concerns, I will bring them up to you before I make a decision.

If you are approved, at that time you'll need to tell me the following: (I may ask for a couple more things if needed)

1:    The author name you wish to use on the Café

2:    The Email that you wish to have associated with your author name (From experience, GMail seems to have the least issues with blocking emails)

3:    The user name that you wish to use to log into the author tools section of the site (does not have to be the same as your author name)

4:    A temporary password will be issued that you can change once you are logged in. A link will be provided to the login portal, please save it!

5:    If your works are already hosted on another site, you can give permission for me to import them directly - that is only an option, you can decide if you want to do it or want me to. I need that in writing though, just to cover us both.

That's pretty much all there is to it! Questions are always welcome, and I look forward to adding you to the group!

ACFan