If you’re looking for a writing community, this Scribophile review is for you. You may want to learn how to write a novel or even a book about your life, but doing so alone is where the going gets tough.
We’ve taught over 8,000 authors how to write, publish, and market their books over the last 10 years, creating countless self-publishing success stories.
Do you know that one of the distinctions between successful authorship and simply dreaming of becoming an author is a writing community?
Writers thrive from joining healthy writing communities with authors who can act as beta readers and encouragers throughout the writing process. That’s why we created this Scribophile review for you. Let’s dive in!
Scribophile review: what you learn
What is Scribophile?
Scribophile is self-proclaimed as one of the largest and most award-winning online writing communities. Having helped writers both write and achieve publication for nearly two decades, they certainly have some expertise.
However, their self-proclaimed expertise is not unfounded. They won Writer’s Digest top 101 Best Websites for Writers in 2014, 2015, 2020, 2021, and 2022. In addition, Reedsy recommended it as the Top Critique Circle in 2020.
A writing community and critique circle, this Scribophile review will discuss how it works as well as some of its pros and cons.
How does Scribophile work?
Scribophile focuses on the feedback you give and receive from their writing community. Let’s break down how this is done as well as the cost associated.
Cost
Scribophile offers a Basic and Premium Membership. The Basic Plan is free and provides pretty restricted access to the Scribophile community, including the ability to post.
The Premium Membership has a host of features (discussed below) which you can access for a $15/month fee. If you pay annually, you receive two months free.
Earn points
In regards to how this platform actually works… Based largely around critiquing others’ writing and receiving critiques on your own, Scribophile uses a system based on points, where writers earn points for giving feedback.
While it may be easy to assume that receiving feedback is the fastest path to growth, providing constructive criticism teaches writers how to assess writing. This in turn helps them assess their own.
When writers provide feedback on others’ writing they earn points. But why do you need points when you really want to publish your book?
Get feedback
Once you earn points (called karma points) from sharing feedback, you can then use these points to share your own writing and receive critique.
This critique may be on how to better use show don’t tell writing, the different literary conflicts in your story, or something else entirely.
What’s important to learn through this Scribophile review is that the core of this platform is the points system.
How many karma points to post on Scribophile?
You need five points to post your work for a Scribophile review. Scribophile states that, “Each work should be no longer than about 4,000 words; longer work can be posted in parts and linked together during the posting process.”
Spotlighted work
To earn the most karma points quickly, they share works that are spotlighted for Scribophile critiques. This means that if you review a spotlighted work in the Main Spotlight section (works with a yellow circle next to them), you receive more points.
Once you write your Scribophile critique, you will see a green check and the yellow circle will gray out. This means points are coming your way!
Find beta readers
Mentioned above, beta readers are also an important part of Scribophile.
Beta readers not only help you with the practicalities of how to write storylines and craft compelling characters, but they can see plot holes and inconsistencies you may miss simply from being so close to the material.
The more you engage in providing Scribophile reviews for writers, the more points you earn, and therefore, the more Scribophile reviews you can receive on your own work as well.
Pros and cons
As we dive into the pros and cons part of this Scribophile review, remember that they offer free (basic) and paid (premium) membership levels.
Features
To set you up for a clear understanding of the pros and cons, it’s important to understand what both memberships include.
The Basic Membership includes:
- The ability to earn points by giving feedback
- The ability to spend points to post up to 2 chapters and shorts
- A creative community
The Premium membership includes:
- The ability to earn points by giving feedback
- The ability to spend points to post unlimited writing
- A creative community
- No extra cost to enter contests
- Unlimited message inbox
- Detailed reader statistics
- Advanced privacy controls
- Ability to use the Publication Showcase
- Ability to save critique drafts to finish later
- Advanced formatting for writing
- No ads
Access the full list here.
Scribophile cons
Let’s take a brief look at cons.
Limited access
One of the cons in this Scribophile review is the limited access for non-paying users. It may feel difficult to gain an accurate representation of this type of author website when posting is so restrictive.
After all, building a writing community and benefiting from their feedback takes time. It’s often a slow process as you upload writing, wait for comments to come in, and learn which community members provide you with the most helpful critiques.
Maximum word count
Additionally, their maximum suggested post length is 4,000 words. While they state that going over a word or so is permissible, if you want feedback on a larger chunk of writing, you have to split up your work.
This is not uncommon in writing communities I’ve been part of, but it can slow the critique process by creating a disjointed reading experience and by making it difficult for one reader to critique more than 4,000 words.
Number of critiques
Scribophile states that if you want more than three critiques, you must put your work back in line for a spotlight. You do this by using your points.
“If you see a work in a spotlight with 10 or even 20 critiques, it’s because the author has spent a lot of karma points repeatedly unlocking the work.”
Scribophile pros
Next up, pros!
Paise from the industry
This Scribophile review shows that the platform has garnered praise from established organizations in the industry, such as Writer’s Digest and Reedsy. This lends social proof to their work.
Book deals for users
While no user is guaranteed success, their reviews go to show that users believe Scribophile to have played an important role in their publishing success.
Writing contests
While feedback from other writers can be transformative, Scribophile also recognizes the importance of writing contests and their ability to provide credibility for writers’ work. You can take part in writing contests which Scribophile shares on their site.
Large community
Scribophile boasts a community of nearly 7 thousand beta readers. Do you write in an obscure genre or are you looking for a specific type of feedback?
With nearly 7 thousand writers to choose from, you’re bound to have success in finding exactly what you need!
Newsletter
Scribophile also offers a newsletter with information regarding writing contests and the writing market itself. Rather than search the Internet for the information you need, you can simply sign up for the newsletter.
Scribophile reviews
Many happy customers have shared Scribophile reviews noting what they enjoyed about working with the company.
Below are a few highlights:
- “I learnt a huge amount from critiquing other people’s work, as well as from reading critiques of mine. I now have a wonderful agent and have signed a three-book deal in the UK, a two-book deal in Germany, and a TV option.” —Roz Watkins
- Giving and receiving critiques on Scribophile made a big difference to the quality of my writing. I learned how to write a query letter here and that led to an agent and a book deal. —Ruth Lauren
- My years on Scribophile have given me a master’s level education in writing. The critiques are great, but I’ve learned as much from reading and analyzing other writers on Scribophile. I don’t think I could have polished my novel to a publishable level without this site. I’m an addict. —Laura Creedle
Of course, like all writing communities, those who succeed must put in the work, the time editing, and the effort of querying agents and shopping their work to publishers.
However, for some on Scribophile, their efforts seem to have paid off in tremendous ways! Whether you hope to traditionally publish or become your own self-publishing success story, Scribophile could play a role in helping you reach your dreams.
Finally, as we come to the end of this Scribophile review, should you make use of the platform? The answer is one only you can decide.
You may want to consider trying the Basic Membership, and if you like it, pay for one month to test the Premium Membership. It all depends on you and your writing goals!
Scribophile review: take your next step
You now know that critiques and beta readers are a large part of a great writing community. These are aspects to look for as you seek out the best writing community for your writing goals.
With this in mind, take your next step by taking our free, 2-minute Publishing Path Assessment and choose the best step for you!
