bookzek

In order to encourage community participation, new users must earn the ability to post their own work. Until you have earned full user status, you will not be able to:

• Create blog entries.
• Create forum topics.
• Create book pages.
• Use the "ignore" feature.
• Create groups.

If it sounds like the site will be essentially unusable to you--you're partially correct. The main features you retain as a limited user are:

Under the Bookzek point system, what you can do on Bookzek depends on how many points you've earned. The only way for new members to earn points is by offering critiques. With this in mind, here are some critique guidelines. By default, you will receive one point for each comment you make on a book page. This amount may be adjusted upward or downward based on the quality of your critique (or lack thereof.)

We plan to have some examples here in the future. For now, the guidelines:

You do. I want that to be perfectly clear. Everything you post here, you own. It's yours. I have no interest in taking it from you.

First, it helps to understand what people mean by this question. It is actually twofold:

1. Can people steal my work if I post it on Bookzek?
2. Does posting my work on Bookzek affect my chances for being published?

Unfortunately, there is currently no way to make money with Bookzek. We used to have TipJoy integration, but TipJoy folded in 2009. We are willing to entertain other sources of revenue--perhaps by using ads and distributing the profits from them. We are always open to new ideas. Feel free to post your suggestions in the forums!

You've probably noticed by now that, when you do certain things, you are told you have "earned [some number of] points" and are given a total. This is an important part of Bookzek's functionality and, in fact, it controls your access to various site features.

While not fully implemented at this time, the ability to post your own work and participate in the forums will eventually be based on your point total. There are many ways to earn points:

Bookzek is all about writing. You sign up, post your work, get feedback on it, participate in the forums, improve your craft, and maybe make a little money, too. Granted, that's a very general list of what's possible, so let me give you a more detailed breakdown:

If you've come here from another writing site, you may be expecting to find writing categorized by genre. "Science Fiction," "Romance," "Thriller," and so forth. You will find no such things here.

"But why?" you might ask.

Simple: on Bookzek, we use tags. Tags offer more flexibility and are totally user-driven.

Before we get started, you need to know that you must have accrued at least 75 points in order to start posting book pages. To learn about our point system, please see this FAQ article. This system's purpose is twofold: to prevent spammers from posting book pages, and to encourage new members to become active participants in the community.