FanStory

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.

Very disappointed. No critiques are provided from the contest judges. Not once did the feedback I receive from other members address technical aspects of my writing.

There seems to be a cultural expectation that all pieces are rated 5 out of 5. And yes, scoring a piece a 3 can result in one of your pieces being subjected to retaliation scoring.

Members are generally cordial. Some appreciated my feedback - they reworked their piece and asked me to provide feedback on the edits. So that was a positive experience.

Definitely not of value to writers who want meaningful critiques of their writing.

I'm closing my account.

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.

Your time is limited. As is your money. And there's one thing your hard-earned money and precious time can't buy on Fanstory--no matter how much of either you spend on this archaic site--and that's how to become a proficient writer within a practical time frame.

With a few exceptions, most of the feedback I received on FanStory for my writing were rarely helpful and tantamount to no more than a ostensible lets-stroke-his-ego pat on the back. Giving me wrong grammatical advice will not get me to where I want to be as a writer, either. I just can't take serious any writing site endowed with a plethora of supposedly knowledgeable writers and reviewers, many of whom don't know the basic rules of grammar, punctuation, or spelling, or who arrogantly rewrite stories to their satisfaction rather than constructively critique them for the sake of the author submitting them.

If you're a decent writer with interesting stories, I truly believe you'll find FanStory's not a desirable site to promote your writing. You could end up finding yourself victimized by spending more of what the site owner really wants--your money--before you even come close to being recognized for your overall writing skills and storytelling ability. Believe me, there are easier and less expensive ways to promote your writing effectively and FanStory is simply not among them.

If you really want to learn to write, to learn from other writers--many of them published--who really know the craft and the pitfalls that come with it, please consider looking elsewhere beyond FanStory. Check out well-respected well-known sites like Scribophile.com and/or your local community's writers' group.

I spent very little time or money at FanStory, but unlike some of the poor souls who have--a lot of them pensioners--I know there are much better sites to practice our craft, places on the web where our time and money spent really means something and gives back an equitable and fair return for their exchange.

I firmly believe this site preys on vulnerable fledgling writers through its unconscionable practice of openly and blatantly giving its members the option to spend additional money to be recognized and reviewed and then hopefully move their way up the site's ranking's ladder. The truth is if you're a good writer, gaining recognition shouldn't be a problem and you should NEVER have to come out of pocket to enhance what's already there. Your writing will speak for itself, but that criteria doesn't seem to fit the modus operandi on FanStory. The bottom line is you'll need deep pockets to get from FanStory what you should have been getting all along at a minimal cost, even free, like the more reputable sites such as Scribophile.com and others do.

Some may call FanStory a sham, while others may call the site the greatest ever, but I call it what I really think it is--a regretful, exploitive waste of time and money.

In my opinion, FanStory runs on a business model imbued to pull the maximum dollars from its users with little concern for their creativity or the quality of their writing. The site's alternative to getting noticed and reviewed is getting members to use their PayPal money--real dollars--to pay their way to the top, so to speak, even after paying a basic membership fee. This means the membership paid for is just short of worthless and gives you little in return for value. And their FREE TO REGISTER prompt is just as worthless. On other sites I've received something in return or at least had the opportunity to contribute just by simply registering.

On FanStory, I also had to contend with obnoxious pop-up ads, even after signing up for and paying for the basic membership fee. My inquiry with the owner as to how to eliminate those ads from my page yielded a quick but canned response from him. His return message implied it was simply part of the site's way of doing business but the subtext underneath read to me as "deal with it, live with it."

To conclude, I believe this website completely violates the creative spirit of writing and sharing through its selfish, extreme for-profit self-serving practices.

There are good writers and reviewers on the site. If, through the "fan" function, you build a community of your own with other writers who agree to seriously critique each others' work, it can be a good resource.

Other than that, the reviewing system encourages perfunctory and unhelpful reviews -- which you have to pay for. Here's why.

A decent review of an average story takes ten to twenty minutes. Each review awards, on average, a dollar in member bucks. So, a decent reviewer makes about four to five dollars an hour in member bucks.

In order to get your work reviewed, you have to pay at minimum $60 in member bucks, and often much more. So, back of the envelope, you need to do 60 reviews for a dollar each; you can do five of them an hour; so that's 60/5 = 12 hours of reviewing you need to do to pay for your own story to be reviewed.

That's clearly not practical.

So site members have a choice: Either churn out dozens of perfunctory and unhelpful reviews, or pay cash money, and lots of it, to get your own work (shoddily) reviewed. Doesn't sound like such a good deal now, does it?

I get that FanStory is a for-profit business, but in the balance between making money and serving writers, it clearly skews toward making money.

This is a really difficult one! I have met really quality people who are competent and talented writers. On the other hand the only way you get your work seen is by paying for it. The more you pay - the more reviewing your work is worth to a reviewer. That is not to say that a reviewer shouldn't be rewarded - or that a writer shouldn't pay something - but there has to be a more equitable way to do it. I have seen stuff on the featured page which is akin to vomiting all over a page - but it gets all the attention because someone paid a comparatively exorbitant amount to get it on the front/featured list.

I came here placed some of my work, and to find that the only way to move up your work is to pay for it with Member dollars or CASH, this poet will not pay to have his poetry read.

I've removed my work and I'm done here. Waste of my time and membership fee! I should have read more of the Negative reviews about this site before I dropped my dollars here, but lesson learned. I couldn't believe that one has to build up member dollars, which can take ages and to read lots of poorly written poetry. Now of course they are hoping that you will be bored with that so you can pay REAL CASH dollars to buy what they call member dollars to pump your views up on their ladder, I wonder how much REAL CASH had to be paid to be in the top 10 on their list. After reading much of their top ten poets? I found much of the poetry substandard to say the least. I've asked for a refund and would caution everyone to read about them first, they say FREE, yes FREE TO REGISTER only then you have to pay their monthly membership fee. Very misleading indeed. Stay away REAL WRITERS.

This is an example of the kind of writing that gets all time best rating:
http://www.fanstory.com/displaystory.jsp?id=*******

It is from an author defending himself about not copying a joke that he called an original piece.

In a "ten word story" he used 6 of the following words: Panda Bear Eats shoots and leaves
If you Google those 6 words you will find thousands of jokes using those words.
Well, that top-ranked Fanstory writer tried to pull off that joke as his own original work.
This joker had a "story" that has the same setting, same character, same conflict and actions, same theme. Yet dares to call it original. I would more likely question if it is downright plagiarism.
The site owner made a big deal about it not being a violation of a copyright. That's true because jokes are public domain. However, what about a violation of ethics, integrity, originality? Those things don't seem to matter to the site owner. If a person went on FanStory and posted a jokes every day, they could become a top ranked author in a hurry. There are a few reviewers with integrity that would question that practice, but unfortunately not enough. Then guess what, if you start to question it, the site owner will punish you.
If you think the FanStory is honest competition, think again. That almost incoherent essay above earned an award as one of the sites All Time Best. What's worse is that author is the one of the site's highest authors.
The way to "earn" your way to the top is to give everything you read 5 stars, so everyone else you read gives you 5 stars. It has nothing to quality of writing (as the above example shows) it has more to do with quantity of reviewing and writing that you do. More 5 stars given, the more 5 stars received because you will be able to buy your way to the top of the ratings.
Reviewers are peer pressured into to giving 5 stars to everything. There are very few honest reviewers on the site.
Also, a review is not like a movie review where you can tell that you didn't like the movie because it was boring. Say that and you will get punished because honesty will not be tolerated by the site owner. No, a review must always be a sugar coated pat on the back, or else the site members or even the site owner will attack you.
If you like a tribe of average writers that will give you a pat on the back then it might be the place for you. It is a very difficult place to rise above being average. It is not a good place for above average writers, which is too bad because it has the potential to be. However, an above average writer will get discouraged to see their piece get all 5 stars, but it will be along side the tale with a punctuation error every paragraph and tells (not even shows) a boring story also getting 5 stars.