Managing Series

Group related stories and publications into series — an author's connected story sequence or a publisher's anthology line — with flexible decimal ordering.

What Series Are

A series groups related work in your workspace. Each series has a name, a type badge (Anthology or Story), a description, metadata, and a cover image. A series can contain stories, publications, or both — regardless of its type. Members carry an Order value that supports decimals, so you can slot a novella at 1.5 between books 1 and 2.

Feature Availability

Series is enabled by default. If you don't see Series in your sidebar, check the Series Management toggle in your workspace settings.

Viewing Your Series

Click Series in the sidebar. You'll see a paginated table with columns:

• Favorite (star) — click to toggle
• Series Name — cover thumbnail and a link to the series detail page; sortable, ascending by default
• Type — an Anthology or Story badge
• Publications — count of publications in the series

Above the table:

• Search Series: matches series name or description
• Series Type: All Types, Anthology, or Story
• Favorites Only: narrow to starred series
• Add Series: opens the create page

A Table / Gallery view toggle switches between the table and a visual card view; your choice is remembered per browser. The card view is covered in Series Visual Gallery.

Creating a Series

1. Click Add Series at the top of the Series page
2. Fill in the Series Details section:
   • Series Name (required)
   • Type: Anthology (collection of different stories by various authors) or Story (sequential story series with connected narrative)
   • Description: rich text
3. Add Metadata if you want to categorize the series:
   • Themes: thematic elements (e.g., grief, memory, redemption)
   • Settings: location or place (e.g., ocean, urban, dystopian)
   • Tones: style or mood (e.g., atmospheric, gothic, literary)
4. Optionally select a Series Cover Image — the recommended size is 600×400px. The image uploads automatically right after the series is created.
5. Click Create Series

The Type field is descriptive — it sets the badge you see on the list and works as a filter, but it doesn't restrict what the series can contain. Any series can hold both stories and publications.

Quick-Create from a Publication

You can also create a series without leaving the publication form: click + New next to the Series dropdown. The quick-create dialog takes just a name, type, and description — add a cover and metadata later by editing the series.

The Series Detail Page

Click a series name to open its detail page. The header shows the series name with a content count ("N stories • N publications"), plus Edit and Delete actions.

Below the header:

• Stats cards: Stories, Publications, Authors (distinct authors across the series' publications), and First Published (earliest publication year)
• Description: the series description, if set
• Content: if the series contains both stories and publications, they appear in Stories and Publications tabs; if it contains only one kind, you'll see a single table. An empty series shows Start Building Your Series with Add Stories and Add Publications buttons.

Adding Stories and Publications

1. Click Add Stories or Add Publications on the detail page
2. Search for the work you want — stories by title, subtitle, or author; publications by title, subtitle, or publisher
3. Click Add to Series on the matching row

New members are added at the end of the order. A story can belong to many series, but a publication belongs to at most one series.

You can also link work from the other direction: the story form has a Series section with a per-series Order input, and the publication form has a Series dropdown. Remove a member from the series with the remove action on its row — this unlinks it from the series without deleting it.

Ordering Series Members

Each member's Order value is a number that supports decimals. To insert a work between 1 and 2, give it order 1.5; between 1 and 1.5, use 1.25. Whole numbers display cleanly ("2", not "2.0"), and members without an order show "Not set". Members sort by Order, then title.

There are two ways to reorder, both on the series detail page:

• Numeric input: click the pencil icon in the Order column, type a value, and press Enter to save (or Escape to cancel)
• Drag-and-drop: grab the drag handle and drop the row where you want it — Inkwren computes a fractional order between the neighbors automatically

Publications have a separate Volume Number field on the publication form (available once a series is selected). Volume Number is a whole-number label distinct from the series Order value — setting one doesn't change the other.

Editing a Series

1. Open the series and click Edit on the detail page (or use the edit action on the list)
2. Update the details, metadata, or cover image
3. Click Save Changes

On the detail page, the Series Cover Image section only appears once a cover exists — to add the first cover, use the Edit dialog.

Deleting a Series

1. Click Delete on the series detail page (or the delete action on a list row)
2. Confirm the deletion

Deleting a series never deletes its stories or publications — they're unlinked and remain in your workspace. The deletion itself can't be undone, but your work is safe.

To delete several series at once, select them with the checkboxes on the list and click Delete Selected. Any that fail report individual errors.

Tips

• Use decimals to make room: You never need to renumber a series to insert a new entry — a prequel novella between books 1 and 2 is just order 1.5
• Type is a label, not a rule: Pick Anthology or Story for how you think of the series; either way it can hold both stories and publications
• Quick-create, then polish: When entering a publication, use + New to create its series on the spot, and come back later to add the cover and metadata
• Add a cover for the gallery: Series covers make the gallery view far easier to scan
• Drag when rough, type when exact: Drag-and-drop is fastest for shuffling a few members; the numeric input is better when you're matching a known volume order