Terms of Service

StoryNest is a global online platform where writers publish original fiction and readers discover and read it. These terms apply to everyone who visits the site, creates an account, reads, writes or submits content. If you do not agree, please do not use StoryNest.

You need an account to save favourites, track reading progress, report stories or publish. You must give accurate information, keep your password private and are responsible for activity on your account. You must be old enough to agree to these terms under the law where you live, or have permission from a parent or guardian.

Accounts are readers or writers. Administrator access is granted only by StoryNest.

Writers create stories as drafts and add chapters in the Writer Studio. A story only becomes public after it is submitted for review and approved by StoryNest's editors.

Editors may approve a story, reject it with a note explaining why, or later unpublish a story that breaks these terms. Submitting a story does not guarantee it will be accepted or published. We do not guarantee any review time.

You may only submit work you wrote yourself, or that you have clear legal rights to publish. Do not submit plagiarised, copied or infringing material. You keep the copyright to your stories. StoryNest does not claim ownership of your work.

If you believe content on StoryNest infringes your copyright, contact us with details of the work and the story concerned so we can review it.

By publishing on StoryNest, you give StoryNest a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free licence to store, display, format and make your story available to readers on the platform, and to show its title, cover and description to promote it on StoryNest. This licence ends when your story is removed from the platform, except for copies kept briefly in backups or as needed to handle reports or legal obligations.

Publishing on StoryNest does not by itself create a publishing contract, exclusivity or any payment obligation. Any formal or exclusive publishing arrangement, including paid publishing, will only exist under a separate written agreement signed by both the writer and StoryNest. If such an agreement conflicts with these terms, the signed agreement applies for that story.

Do not publish content that: sexualises minors in any way; promotes hatred or violence against people or groups; harasses, threatens or reveals private information about real people; is spam, a scam or malware; infringes others' rights; or breaks the law. Mature themes in fiction may be allowed if clearly described, but must not cross these lines. See our Writer Guidelines.

Readers must not copy, republish or distribute stories outside StoryNest without the writer's permission, misuse the report feature, attempt to access other users' accounts or data, or interfere with how the platform works.

Signed-in users can report stories. StoryNest's editors review reports and may remove, unpublish or restrict content that breaks these terms or the Writer Guidelines. We may act without prior notice where content is clearly harmful or illegal.

We may limit, suspend or close accounts, or remove writer access, if you seriously or repeatedly break these terms. You may stop using StoryNest at any time and may contact us to ask for your account to be closed.

Reading, writing and story submission are free during the StoryNest beta. Purchases, royalty payments and withdrawals are disabled.

StoryNest does not currently charge readers, sell chapters, collect revenue or send money to writers. All published chapters are free to read during beta, and Writer Studio earnings are labelled inactive, not as an earned balance. Paid features will remain disabled until a payment provider is approved and payment verification, transaction records, chapter-access authorization, earnings accounting and payout safeguards are verified, and updated terms are published.

We do not promise any income, earnings level, payout schedule or launch date for these features.

StoryNest's proposed model is a 70% share to the writer and 30% to the platform of net revenue from paid chapters of that writer's work. This is a proposal only. It becomes binding only under the applicable signed publishing agreement between the writer and StoryNest, which will set out the exact calculation, deductions and conditions.

When payouts are enabled, they will be subject to conditions set out in the signed publishing agreement and updated terms, which may include identity verification, a minimum balance, accepted payment methods, tax information and holds for refunds or suspected fraud. No payout dates are promised.

Because no payments are taken today, there is nothing to refund. When paid chapters are enabled, refund rules will be published before purchases are possible. Revenue reversed through refunds or chargebacks will not count toward a writer's earnings, and may be deducted from future earnings where the signed agreement allows.

If you have a complaint about content, moderation or your account, please send it through our contact page with as much detail as possible. We will review it and respond to the email you provide.

We encourage you to contact us first so we can try to resolve any dispute informally. If a dispute cannot be resolved this way, it will be handled under the laws and in the courts that apply to StoryNest's operator, without removing any rights you have under the consumer laws of the country where you live.

StoryNest is provided "as is". Stories are written by users and do not represent StoryNest's views. We try to keep the service available and accurate but cannot guarantee it will always be uninterrupted or error-free. To the extent the law allows, StoryNest is not liable for indirect losses arising from use of the platform.

We may update these terms as StoryNest grows. We will change the "last updated" date above, and for significant changes we will give notice on the site. Continuing to use StoryNest after an update means you accept the new terms.

Questions about these terms? Use our contact page.