Content policy

We believe that the publishing industry has responsibilities toward its readers. Many people read fiction as an escape; thus, it’s our firm policy to give our readers the tools they need in order to select our books for their reading material at any given moment by providing content warnings.

These warnings aren’t spoilers for content within, but tools to enable readers to evaluate whether our books match their needs at any given point in time.

Our hope is that doing so will both make our books a safe place for our readers, as well as starting a dialogue regarding the responsibilities the publishing industry should be acknowledging toward its customers.

Aurichalcum Publishing’s content warnings can be found on the copyright page of all novels published under our imprint. We have consulted a psychologist in the process of developing our system of content warnings.

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A safe place

Aurichalcum Publishing’s content warnings come in three sections: trigger warnings, squick warnings and kinks. The basic difference between triggers and squicks is that a trigger will ruin someone’s day, while a squick may cause some temporary emotional discomfort. Squicks can be triggers for some people, but for most will not be.

Many people conflate triggers and squicks, but we feel distinguishing between these elements is an important aspect of providing warnings, for two reasons.

Firstly, triggers are a symptom of psychological trauma. Conflating triggers with every-day squick warnings has the effect of diluting the word’s meaning and undermining the ability of those who need it to properly articulate their needs. For the purposes of our warnings, the trigger warning list is comprised of those experiences which are inherently traumatic — that is, they would be traumatic to whoever experienced it, regardless of demographic traits.

Trigger warnings will include depictions such as rape, assault, graphic depictions of war, all kinds of abuse, and graphic depictions of hate speech.

Secondly, conflating triggers with squicks sends the message that people can’t decide they’re not okay with any given material unless there is psychological trauma involved. We feel it’s important to enable readers to choose their reading material based on any degree of discomfort, not only ones which imply active trauma. This conflation also has the effect of reducing nuance in decisions made based on content warnings at any given time. For instance, someone might be having a bad day and feel unable to handle a story which involves injury to dogs, but may feel up to handling such depictions the day after. A squick warning gives our readers the ability to determine whether a book will be the right choice for them in any given mood.

Squick warnings will include depictions which are generally considered gross or unpalatable; may cause discomfort and/or sympathetic physiological reactions; may be triggers for some people; or are phobias. Depictions involving spiders, for example, or injuries to hands or eyes, or instances of body horror or coercion.

Finally, the kinks list enables us to provide nuance to triggering or squicky material which may nevertheless be considered erotic or titillating.

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