FanStoryReviews 139

I have been a member of FanStory for twelve years and have found it to be a rich resource of expertise, knowledge and camaraderie. For a nominal fee, members are able to interact with a dynamic international community of writers endorsing a common goal: to share their writing, skills, and life experience.

The membership is diverse and comprised of many demographics some of which include students between school years, to seniors, to people learning English as a second or third language; all bringing their unique background and culture to the group.

Many activities are offered including class instruction, daily prompts, in addition to member-sponsored, and site contests. There is also a Lock and Key feature where like-minded members can work in a private room on group projects. There is a Quality Seal committee that offers their professional expertise if a member is seeking to publish, and monthly awards are made available for outstanding efforts.

The site is responsive to member requests and continuously makes improvements to ensure that features are user friendly and accessible on any device. In this time of massive competition to capture the attention of readers and writers around the world, FanStory is definitely a top contender in the arena.

Fanstory was recommended to me by a friend who has been a longtime member. Candidly, I always thought my family and friends would only give careful, filtered criticism of my written work, and I needed an objective perspective. With the combination of my friend's endorsement and reasonable pricing, I decided to give Fanstory a try.

I am more than happy with my investment, as there are many facets of Fanstory that I particularly appreciate. The wide array of contests challenge me to write about new things, in new formats (and be incentivized to do so!) The community has not only been welcoming and kind, but insightful and helpful with their feedback. I also love the free register copyright feature; the idea that if, one day, I'm ready to seek publication, I can make my account private and limit its access. The website is designed thoughtfully in this regard.

That is all to say, although I am a relatively new member, I have no regrets in trying the website out and do wish I started sooner. I'm looking forward to seeing how I can continue to improve.

I have been a member of Fanstory for about 8 months now and it's been a nice experience. I usually find myself only writing casually; mostly to kill time as a hobby. I stumbled upon this website by chance and I have to say, my hobby has turned into a passion. I started off by joining cash prize contests just for the heck of it, and although I didn't win any to begin with, the feedback I received from other members really improved the overall quality of my work going forward. Beyond that, it was the praise I had received from said members that encouraged me to put more time and effort into writing. For all amateur writers out there, or even those with experience, Fanstory is a reasonably priced platform to help you not only improve your skills but also connect to fellow creative minds. Highly recommend

A friend told me about Fanstory because I began creative writing as a form of stress relief over the past year. It's given me a space to do that and ideas for things to write about with all the contests. I don't really care if I win them, but it gives my writing more of a purpose. No complaints overall so far.

I have been a member for about a year now and I'm so glad I discovered it. Fanstory is a great community to be a part of and the contests are a lot of fun. If you're looking for a creative outlet/place to express yourself through your writing and get good feedback, I highly recommend.

So there are word count limits on various submissions that are not properly labeled as limits rather they say "recommended". There will be an non-descriptive error, that will require you to contact support. The site itself is a technical nightmare, the banner reads "Since 2000" which is roughly the last time the site appears to have been updated. It wont let you try to submit until AFTER you have paid a significant subscription fee.

The site is unintuitive, technically faulty, and intentionally obstructive. I lost $100USD, DO NOT USE THIS SITE.

I took a somewhat circuitous route to becoming an author.
I have been writing small poems since the late 1950's.
I wanted to be a songwriter like my idol Smokey Robinson.
Living in Detroit, I was well aware of his route to fame.
However, I never learned how to play an instrument so I opted instead to convert my lyrics into poems.
I never received any formal training in poetry writing so, although I received praise, my efforts were pretty much amateurish.
Then I discovered FanStory. The reviews, the suggestions, the examples I was able to avail myself of, turned me into an author.
I still have much to learn, but I am no longer embarrassed by the quality of my output or lack thereof.
My thanks go out to the site administrators of FanStory and all of its talented pool of author/members.
I have published several books of poetry since becoming a member of FanStory.

I have been a member of FanStory for six months. The contests are fun. The community is very supportive. I share my poetry almost daily now. I enjoy the comments that other writers write about it. Subscriptions are with PayPal so it's easy to cancel a subscription. But not planning on doing that anytime soon. It's a fun site whether you are new to writing or a long time writer.

Please note: Fan Story does not provide a receipt for your purchase so I can't show one.
I accidentally subscribed to this when I was joining "Winning Writers," a free contest consortium. And even though I paid a full subscription that was supposed to cover all contest entry fees, they immediately ask for a small amount for "judges' fees" if you want to submit an entry. And they reveal that they don't actually cover all subscription fees. It's a scam. Beware. Very limited customer service.

The site itself is fine. However, my issues with Fanstory are how challenging (or more accurately, impossible) they make cancelling a subscription. I signed up directly with a credit card, not PayPal. While on PayPal, there are ways to individually cancel, there is no such option on credit card. The site does NOT have a mange subscription option or anything of the sortd. Naturally, I sent multiple emails over the months to try and get my money back; they have literally replied to none of them. I first contacted them about cancelling 5 months ago in September, and have frustratingly watched $10USD drain out of my account each month for a site I do not use. Unless you intend to sign up for life, I wouldn't recommend this website.

Poorly maintained site designed over 20 years ago. Lots of favoritism and bullying, vote manipulation, selective interpretation of site rules, outright censorship. Back in its heyday Fanstory was perhaps the place to be at. It has a good system to help writers become prolific, and it provides plenty of tyranny to give the better writers something to fight back against. This could be a great place to get started. Use a good nom de plume and see how much trouble you can cause. Not a good place to stay and grow long-term. If I said more, it would likely give away my identity to those on the site likely perusing these reviews.

I think the majority of the five star reviews given to FanStory on this site were written by the guy who owns it. Either that, or by people who have not yet figured out what a scam it is, and are thrilled by the "fluff" reviews other members provide as a means of earning themselves points they can use to promote their own work. Please carefully read the post of those who rated FanStory three stars or less, because they tell the true story. In any case, don't waste any money joining this site or paying to have your work promoted. See how well the site works for you if you aren't pumping money into it, and make your own decision after figuring out how it really works.

Love all the writing contests. You can write for both poetry and prose contests. And everything you write including the contest entries gets feedback. Loving it!

I found that some pieces needed serious editing rather than a few words of review, but the site is not set up for editing, so editing was painstakingly laborious. Sometimes I was thanked for my work and a few times told "to each his own," even though the writing read like sixth grade. I joined for a year hoping to get my money back at least, and I never won anything. I also found the emphasis on poetry a bit tiresome. Word of caution: Once you've submitted a story or poem to FanStory it is considered published, and most pubs don't accept already published material or, if they do, don't pay much if anything.

This is a unique and fun platform for new to experienced writers. I enjoy the experience of sharing my writing with others for detailed feedback. Really nice people comment on my writing. The contests are fun and can be challenging. Support is good to answer questions as I was a little confused when I first joined. Overall highly recommend it.

I joined for the contests. There are many contests to enter. But I
Stayed for the friendships that I made. When I first joined I was
Nervous about the feedback I'd receive from other writers. But I was
Pleasantly surprised. Everyone was welcoming and encouraged me. I
Expected mean reviews for some reason, but that wasn't the case. The
Writing contests encourage you to try new forms of writing especially
For poetry. They can be a challenge. The site offers a supportive
Place for you to share your writing. I recommend it to everyone.

It's a terrific place to share your writing. You get feedback for everything you write. I've been a member for three years and still enjoy it. I share your poems. I enter the contests. And most of all I've met a lot of friends. Terrific place for writers or those just getting started with writing.

I just joined Fanstory in mid July because I wrote a meaningful poem about the Pandemic and people encouraged me to publish it somewhere... I just happen to notice This Fanstory site on my iPad... Now, in September,. I'm still having difficulty figuring out how the site operates. However, after reading these critical reviews, I'm getting more clarity. The way that you have to promote your poem by paying money is a real turn off.
It also seemed that my poems were only visible to read for a matter of minutes in the contests... then disappeared and I still can't understand how that works. Also I noticed that mostly professional poem writers were winning the contests. There were other winners of contests that frankly wrote sub par poetry.
I joined for a year, but will now look into other poetry sites that don't have all the gimmicks that Fanstory
Does. Wish I had done more research before submitting my poems.

I was excited to try out FanStory, especially for their competitions, quick feedback, and "great people"--as noted in several reviews on this forum. Long story short: the website is... not good. The writing on the website is... not good. I hate to say that any writing is bad, but the site encourages bland, dentist-office-poster poetry. I've attached some examples below of what poetry looks like on the site. (There are also short stories, novelettes, novellas, and novels). I do not mean to bash any writer--I just think it is important for potential clients to see what kind of community they're joining.

I might also note that there are lots of highly insensitive poems about current events. I have read several haikus about George Floyd's murder, and other's about Breonna Taylor's. They are badly done and highly insensitive. If this matters to you, the site also pumps out Christian content. Lots of poems about prayer, repentance, faith.

And more so, as many of these reviews have mentioned, the site is a total scam. I recommend reading Mike P.'s review, "The more you spend, the higher you rank as a 'writer'?". You have to pay at least fifty or sixty dollars to even be noticed, and the reviews you receive will be bland, overly general, and not at all critical. I have NEVER seen someone give less than five stars. I think, also, for a price as steep as sixty dollars, one might expect at least a semblance of a nice website. It seems like it hasn't been updated since 2010--links lead to blank pages, fonts never match, and the site in general functions badly.

As a young writer, FanStory has been discouraging. The site encourages writers to tuck away their individuality and pay for attention. It's a breeding ground for stupendously mediocre work, churned out over and over again. I recommend finding another site to publish your work: perhaps HelloPoetry, AllPoetry, Medium, or Scribophile.

Paid for a month to check out the site's features, and it was a sad experience. From what I gathered, the more you spend there, the more coverage your own writing pieces receive, thus the more reviews and rank, awards, etc come your way in return.

Plus strange activities go on that did not seem ethical or honest to me. For example, within minutes of a contest voting booth going live, you can see top"writers" pieces be chosen in seconds - note the reviewers supposedly read ALL the entries in that amount of time, which is literally not possible. Newbies who did not pay to promote their entries, of course, were not at the top in this type voting scheme.(For more on the points/ $$ and member $$, read other feedback//reviews all over the web on FanStory).

Often feedback is weird, too. Example: you need to write a minimum of 150 characters on poems of maybe 2 lines in order for it to"count" towards rank and earn you points, member $, etc. Not much to say, so you have to get creative and write more than the writer did, at times. See more in other reviews.

Not a serious site for writers at all, in my humble opinion. It's not fair that the more $$ you have to spend there, the "better" writer you are? Not.

I recommend this: if you seek $ and credits, write to publish, sending your work to publishers, both online and off.
A magazine, blog or other credit would be much more valuable, and wouldn't cost anything except your time writing, which you'd do anyway at FanStory.

You can join writers' groups for real critique, too, and not get the "fluff" here.