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.
There are no charges outside of the membership fee. If you write reviews you can earn member dollars. Those member dollars (earned not purchased) can be used to promote your own writing so you get more feedback. But you'll get feedback just by posting your writing. All posted work gets at least two reviews. But with a promoted piece it is not uncommon to get 50+ reviews. And, again, no charges.