When I first wrote ninety-nine pages of this, I was wary of continuing with it, because I thought it would be unpublishable. I liked it—I was just afraid continuing on with it would ultimately be a waste of time. Plus, I have this rule: Write one hundred pages and you have to finish the book. So, I showed it to Alvina, as a friend, just asking her if it was at all worth continuing on. I think my exact words were “this is probably a terrible idea.” But, to my surprise, she liked it, and told me to officially submit it, and when I did, she fought for it at Little, Brown, and has been fighting for it ever since—to make it the best it could be, and to let it be a loud, authentic voice that a lot of people don’t want young adult readers to hear. So, none of this would have happened without her. This book would still be ninety-nine pages tucked away within a series of folders in my computer, probably never to be seen again.

I am always forever grateful to my agent, Joy. I genuinely cannot thank her enough for pretty much everything ever. She knew this book was crazy, but said we should go for it anyway and never asked me to tone it down or told me not to do it because it could ruin my career. She’s championed me at every opportunity.

The whole team of readers at LBYR who went over this book were invaluable, and I’m very grateful to them for their perspectives and advice: Kheryn, who was especially wonderful not just in their reading, but in their answering of all my inane questions, and Nikki and Michael, whose thoughts helped me shape the story into its best possible version.

Endless thanks to Victoria, Holy Be Her Name, Our Lady of the Tentacles, not just for being wonderful, having some of the most perfect taste ever, and being a great friend, but for all the work she’s done on this book with libraries and schools. And of course many thanks to her excellent team, Michelle and Christie.

So many thanks to Kristina for all her hard work getting this book into the right hands, not to mention managing me.

Karina put up with a lot of my thoughts on the cover and the interior design of the book, like maybe more thoughts than I should have had—and definitely more than I should have shared—and turned out an astounding, beyond-expectations cover and design, for which I am very grateful. She’s just so fucking good. And of course, she couldn’t have done it without our Jack, Angel, and our photographer, Howard, not to mention Stephania, Riley, and Patricia. Also thanks to Michelle for swooping in and helping to pull together the interior design and Sasha for helping Karina at the shoot and being so welcoming to me. Karina also chose an amazing artist to create the notes and origami within the book—he actually created the origami and unfolded it so the notes had the right wrinkles on them. So thank you for that, Neil—it’s amazing.

I am grateful to Eva, my Sluttiness Authenticity Reader, not just for her excellent critique and insight, but also for her encouragement, especially when I was feeling anxious about the subject matter.

And to sex-pert Allison, who talked out Jack’s columns with me over milkshakes, making sure the sex advice wasn’t terrible and awful.

I am also grateful to Teri for her incisive read and encouragement, and Molly, who may not actually be a human, but a critique robot, considering how quickly she was able to read the book and how accurate and helpful her comments were.

I had many friends who helped me come up with the letters written to the Jack of Hearts column: Ray, Emily, Miriam, Melanie, and Patricia. I didn’t use all of your letters, but they all helped me think about what sorts of topics I should approach—and a lot of them were on standby in case we decided some were too risqué. And special thanks to Ray for giving me some genuine teen perspective.

I had an amazing, supportive sculpture teacher in high school, and though Nance isn’t based on her, she is in honor of her, so I owe a lot of thanks to Nancy Fried, not just for the inspiration, but for everything else she did for me.

And thanks to my various queer male compatriots for the encouragement: Richard, Matt, Jack, James, Andy, and all the others who I feel I don’t know well enough to actually name without it feeling creepy, like I think we’re closer than we are. Don’t worry, I don’t, but you’re all still special and just by being you, you helped me with this book. Except that one guy. You know who you are.

And of course, I’m supremely grateful to my parents, who aren’t as mortified by this as I thought they would be (or are hiding it very well). Without their support in everything I’ve done, I don’t think I ever would have had the nerve to write this book. And special thanks to Mom, because she gave me feedback on it. I told her she didn’t have to, but she said she wanted to. So, I’m thankful not just for her critique, but for her willingness to walk into that particular fire for me. And all the other fires, too.

And Chris, for being Chris.