Help

The bar under the editor shows your current word count, updated as you type, with the chapter word goal set on the series beside it. The goal reads 0 until you set one, either when creating the series or on the Edit Series page.

The toolbar buttons format your text, and so do the markdown marks, as you type them on a keyboard:

• **bold** and *italic* or _italic_ format the word as you type the closing mark
• ~~text~~ strikes the text through, and a word in backticks becomes code
• # , ## or ### at the start of a line makes a heading, > makes a quote, and - or 1. starts a list
• Three backticks on a line of their own, then Enter, start a code block

Undo puts the marks back if you meant them literally. The shortcuts need a keyboard; a phone's word suggestions do not trigger them. Markdown pasted as plain text, such as a chapter copied from a text file, is formatted the same way as it goes in; text copied from a web page or a word processor keeps its own formatting. Your chapter is stored as markdown either way, so what you paste in or type by hand reads the same to readers.

Two switches under Editor on the Writing tab of the Settings page change how the chapter editor treats the Enter key and pasted text. Each is saved on your account, so it is the same on every browser and device.

• Poetry mode makes Enter start a new line in the same paragraph, as in Google Docs and Obsidian, so the lines of a poem sit together. Press Enter twice for a new paragraph or a new verse. In lists, code blocks and headings, Enter works as usual. Pasted text is laid out the same way: a single line break stays a line in the paragraph, and an empty line starts a new paragraph, so a poem copied from Google Docs, Word or a web page keeps its verses. With poetry mode off, Enter starts a new paragraph every time and Shift+Enter gives a new line.
• Clean paste removes extra empty lines from pasted text. With poetry mode on, the first empty line between two verses stays as the break between them and any further empty lines are removed. With poetry mode off, every empty line is removed. Clean paste is off unless you switch it on, and with it off, the editor keeps every empty line exactly as it was copied.

The Writing and Revising switch above the editor, to the left of the branch controls, chooses whether the editor marks anything while you work. Writing mode shows nothing: no spelling marks, no counts, so you can get the words down. Revising mode checks spelling as you pause, marks possible misspellings with a wavy underline, counts them in the footer and lists them in an Issues panel under the editor. The mode is saved on your account, so it is the same on every browser and device.

Preview, the third choice on the same switch, shows the chapter as readers will see it, with the editor and its toolbar out of the way. The word count and auto-save keep working, and choosing Writing or Revising brings the editor back with your text as it was. Preview is not saved on your account, so the editor always opens in Writing or Revising.

Source, the first choice on the switch, shows the chapter as the Markdown it is stored as, in a plain text box you can edit directly. Use it for formatting the editor cannot show, such as a numbered list that starts at another number or a list inside a list. What you type there is saved exactly as typed, and choosing any other mode loads it back into the editor. The spelling check, the writing tools and Find and replace work in the editor, not in Source; choosing Find and replace from the Tools menu returns to Writing first. Source is not saved on your account.

In Revising mode, English series are checked by WritersGrove's own spelling check, against the word list for the spelling variety set on the series (American, British with -ise or -ize spellings, Canadian or Australian, chosen on the Edit Series page). Right-click a marked word (press and hold it on a phone), or press Ctrl and period with the cursor in it, for suggestions, Ignore, and two ways to add the word to a dictionary:

• My dictionary applies to everything you write. Manage it on the Account Dictionary page, linked at the top of your Writing tab.
• This series applies to every chapter in the series: its characters, places and invented words. Manage it on the Series Dictionary page, linked from the series dashboard.

Each dictionary page lists its words with a search that forgives a letter or two, and every word can be edited, removed, or moved to the other level: a series word to your own dictionary, or a word of your own to one of your series. Words are kept the way you type them, so a name stays capitalised. The Issues panel lists the words in force for the chapter you are editing. A series in another language keeps the browser's own spelling check, in that language; word lists for other languages are not available yet.

Report, the fourth choice on the Writing, Revising and Preview switch, lists everything the editor has found in the chapter in one place, with the editor out of the way: possible misspellings first, then each writing tool you have switched on, with its numbers and the passages it marked. The number beside the word Report is how many items there are. Choose any item to go to Revising mode with that word or sentence selected, where you can change it; choose Report again to come back to the item you left. Report is not saved on your account, so the editor always opens in Writing or Revising.

The writing tools check the chapter text of an English series, in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere. In Revising mode each one marks what it finds with a dashed underline, beside the wavy underline of the spelling check; rest the pointer on a mark to see which tool made it. The marks are never saved with the chapter.

• Sentence Length marks each sentence over 30 words, and shows how many sentences the chapter has, their average length, the longest one, and how much the lengths vary.

Switch each tool on or off under Writing Tools on the Writing tab of the Settings page. A tool that is off marks nothing and is left out of Report. Spelling is always on.

The Tools menu above the editor, to the right of the Writing, Revising and Preview switch, opens Find and replace; Ctrl and H with the cursor in the editor opens it too. Type the text to find and the text to put in its place, and choose how far it reaches: this chapter, this book, or the whole series. Match case keeps capitals apart, and Whole word skips a match joined to other letters or digits, so "cat" leaves "catalog" alone. Check Include branches to see the branches of the chapters in that scope, grouped by chapter, and check the ones to change; none are checked until you check them.

Preview lists every match with the words around it, the match struck through and the replacement in its place, grouped by chapter and branch, each checked. Uncheck any you want to keep and press Replace checked. Replace all changes every match without the list. Either way the result says how many were replaced in each text.

• The text open in the editor changes in the editor, as one step you can undo with Ctrl and Z, and is saved with the chapter the way typing is.
• Every other chapter and branch is changed on the server as soon as you accept. A published chapter changes for readers at once.
• A match that straddles formatting in another chapter, such as a word that is half bold, is listed as needing the editor and left alone; open that chapter to change it.
• If another tab saved one of those chapters between the preview and your acceptance, nothing is changed and the dialog asks you to run the preview again.

Titles, descriptions and the notes above and below a chapter are not searched.

Every series has a lore bible for the facts you need to keep straight: characters, places, factions, timelines, anything. The Lore Bible button on the series dashboard opens it in a new tab, so it can sit beside the editor while you write. The page starts empty. Add the sections you want (Characters and Places are common first ones), rename them, move them up or down, and delete a section once it has no entries left.

Each entry has its own page, written in the same editor as a chapter: the toolbar, or the Formatting as You Type shortcuts, with up to 150,000 characters of text. Link to another entry of the same series by writing its name as [[Name]], or [[Name|shown text]] to show other words. A name that has no entry yet becomes a link that opens the new entry form with the name filled in, so you can write the entry when you get to it. Under every entry, Mentioned in lists the entries that link to it. The Tools menu above the entry's editor opens Find and replace, as in the chapter editor (Ctrl and H works there too), reaching this entry or every entry of the series.

• Renaming an entry updates every [[Name]] link to it in the series. Deleting an entry leaves its links in place as links that offer to create it again.
• A name is up to 255 characters and cannot hold square brackets or a vertical bar, because those are what a link is made of.
• A [[Name]] inside code, between backticks or in a fenced block, is linked too.

Your work is automatically saved to your browser's local storage as you type (with a brief delay). This means:

• If your browser crashes or you accidentally close the tab, your work is preserved
• When you return to the editor and the local draft differs from the server version, a dialog shows the two side by side: Local Draft is what this browser saved while you typed, Server Version is what was last saved to WritersGrove. Keep Local Draft or Keep Server Version loads that one; the box "Save the other version as a new branch" keeps the other as a branch of the chapter instead of discarding it. A branch keeps the chapter text only, not the notes above and below it or its YouTube videos
• Local saves are stored on your current computer/browser only

When enabled, your chapter is automatically saved to the server every minute. This provides an additional layer of protection for your work.

• Auto-save is enabled by default
• You can toggle it on/off using the switch in the bar under the editor
• Your preference is saved per computer - if you disable it on one device, it stays disabled on that device but not others
• Auto-save only works for existing chapters, not new ones (you must create the chapter first)

The status bar shows the state of your local draft and of the server copy. Each one has an icon and a label that says the state in words, so you never have to rely on the icon or its colour:

• "Local saved" or "Server saved" (checkmark, green) - Successfully saved
• "Local unsaved" or "Server unsaved" (X mark, red) - Unsaved changes
• "Local saving" or "Server saving" (spinning circle, blue) - Currently saving
• "Local save failed" or "Server save failed" (X mark, red) - Save failed

If you close a new chapter form before creating it, your draft is saved locally using the book's identifier. When you open the "Add New Chapter" form for that book again, your previous draft will be restored.

A new chapter is not on WritersGrove until you press Create, so the page asks before you leave it once you have written anything. Following a link opens a Leave without creating dialog: Cancel keeps you on the page, Confirm leaves. Closing the tab, reloading or going Back shows the browser's own question instead, because the browser asks before the page closes and a page cannot show its own dialog there. Either way, what you wrote stays in this browser and is offered back the next time you start a chapter in that book. To throw away a chapter you started, press Discard beside Cancel and confirm: what you wrote is removed from this browser and is not offered back.

A branch is a second copy of a chapter's text that you can rewrite without touching the version readers see. Main is the chapter itself.

• New Branch saves what is in the editor right now as a branch, named from its text until you rename it
• The local draft dialog can also make one: tick "Save the other version as a new branch" and the version you do not keep becomes a branch
• Pick a branch from the list above the editor to edit it; Save then saves the branch, not the chapter
• Make Main swaps the branch in: its text becomes the chapter and the old chapter text stays on the branch
• Notes above and below the chapter, and its YouTube videos, belong to the chapter and are saved from Main
• Delete removes a branch for good; the chapter is not changed

Chapters can be moved from one book to another book in the same series, for example when a serial is split into books ahead of a paid or audio release. On the book's page, Move Chapters (to the left of Add Chapter) puts a checkbox beside each chapter. Tick the chapters, press Move selected, choose the book and whether they go at the start or the end of it, and press Move.

• The chapters keep their order, and each keeps its own state: a published chapter stays published, a draft stays a draft, and a scheduled chapter keeps its date. Nothing is announced to followers again.
• A published chapter moved into a draft book is hidden until that book is published. A scheduled chapter moved into a draft book still goes public on its date, and publishes the book with it, as a scheduled chapter in a draft book always does.
• The chapters left behind are renumbered from 1, and the moved ones take their place at the start or the end of the other book.
• Two chapters in one book cannot share a web address. If a chapter you are moving has the same address as one already in the other book, the move is refused and names the chapter, so you can rename one of them first.
• Early access follows the book: a moved chapter uses the other book's schedule plan from then on.
• Comments, reading progress, and branches move with the chapter. Readers' bookmarks and links to the chapter change address, since the book is part of it.

Links are part of what you write. Chapter text, the notes above and below a chapter, your biography, and series, book, tier and schedule plan descriptions all keep their links, added with the link button or pasted, and they open in a new tab for the reader. Comments are the exception: a link pasted into a comment is kept as its plain text.

An image written in Markdown, ![a description](https://...), is shown to readers when its address starts with https://; any other address shows its description instead. A picture pasted or dropped into the editor is not taken.

Two buttons on the editor toolbar mark a break in the text: Scene break, shown to readers as three spaced asterisks in the middle of the page, and Horizontal line, a thin line across it. In the Markdown they are a line of * * * and a line of ---.

Three addresses, for a physical, a digital and an audio copy, tell readers where to buy your work. Any shop works. They can be set in three places:

• Your profile, from Edit on the Profile tab. These show on your author page, and on any series, book or chapter that has no addresses of its own.
• A series, from Edit Series. These show on the series page and on its books and chapters.
• A book, from Edit Book. These show on the book page and on its chapters.

A page uses the most specific set it can find: the book's, else the series's, else your profile's. Leave a field empty on a series or a book to fall back that way.

A fan work keeps its real genre, so fan fiction is a mark on the series rather than a genre of its own. Tick Fan fiction on the New Series or Edit Series form and say what the work is based on; the series page shows a Fan fiction badge and a "Based on" line, and searching for the source work finds your series.

Readers choose whether they see fan works. The Fan fiction choice on the search and browse pages shows all, hides them or shows only them for that search, and Hide fan fiction on the Content tab of the Settings page makes hiding the default. A link straight to a fan work still opens it.

A chapter can carry up to two YouTube videos, for a reading of the chapter or anything else that goes with it. Tick a YouTube Video box above the editor on New Chapter or Edit Chapter and paste the video's address as YouTube shows it (a watch address, a youtu.be address, a Shorts, embed or live address all work). The videos show above the chapter text, one under the other, to signed-in readers only, the same readers who see the whole chapter.

• Untick the box and save to remove a video.
• An address that is not a YouTube video is refused when the chapter is saved, with the reason under the field, and nothing else in the chapter is lost.
• The player, its captions and its other settings are YouTube's, set there and not here.
• Like the notes, the videos belong to the chapter and are saved from Main, not from a branch.

Each month can hold a writing contest, listed on the Contests page under Write. Sign up there first: give the PayPal address the prize goes to (the same one the Referrals page uses) and agree to the Contest Terms and Conditions. Without that, the dashboard button sends you to the Contests page. While the month runs you can then enter one published series from its dashboard, and withdraw it again the same way. At the end of the month each entry is scored on how readers responded during the month: how many signed-in readers opened chapters published that month, how many of them followed the series, and how readers who read it rated its books. The winner is picked on the first of the next month. The standings appear on the contest's page once the month is scored, the winner and the top ten are marked on their series pages, and an author can win once. The prizes:

• 1st: US $100 by PayPal and 12 months of Premium
• 2nd and 3rd: 6 months of Premium
• 4th and 5th: 3 months of Premium
• 6th to 10th: 30 days of Premium

Premium time is added to your account as free Premium time after the standings are published. If you pay for Premium, your subscription is not charged for that many months instead of losing anything.

A notification is a short message for everyone who follows you or one of your series: a delay, a cover reveal, a date to watch. Write it on the Notifications tab of the Write row. It holds up to 300 visible characters, and you may post one a day. A link is written as [the words](https://the.address): only the words count towards the 300, the address does not. Everything else is plain text; a tag typed as HTML is left out.

A notification posted now is emailed to your followers within a minute, in HTML with a plain-text copy, and shows at the top of your author page until the next one replaces it. It also appears on each follower's Notifications tab in the Read row, where a red count on the tab tells them something is new. Give it a day and a time to schedule it instead; it stays private until then, and the day counts as that day's one notification.

Edit changes the text and, until it has been emailed, the day. An edit never sends a second email: the author page and the Notifications tab show the new text, the email already sent keeps the old. Delete removes it everywhere, and a scheduled one deleted before its day sends nothing.

Your author page carries a calendar of every scheduled chapter, for everyone who visits, signed in or not. A chapter appears once for each of your tiers whose plan opens it early, on the day it opens for that tier, and once more on the day it opens to everyone. Each entry shows the chapter title and whose turn it is: the tier, or everyone. A tier whose plan reaches a number of chapters ahead has no day of its own, so it has no entry. A chapter scheduled inside a draft book or series shows too, because the book and series are published with it when its day comes; the chapter is linked once it is out.

A chapter or a comment is refused if its text contains one of these, because each is a known way of attacking web servers:

• A lookup command of the form ${jndi:...}, used in the Log4J attacks
• The markers of a serialised Java object, such as rO0AB or java.io.Serializable in program-like text
• The markers of a React server component payload

Prose that mentions these things in passing is fine. It is the exact pattern that trips the filter, so rewording it is enough.

A web address, a search or a title is refused if it looks like a script (for example an HTML tag with script or an event such as onload=), like a file path on a server (../ or /etc/passwd), like a link to another server hidden in the address, like an attempt to read the server's own settings, or if it ends the way a program or system file name ends, such as .exe or .php.

A web address, a search or the data your browser stores for this site is refused when it is far longer than anything the site would normally send. This almost never happens in ordinary use.

Every text field has a limit on how much it holds. Long text such as a chapter, a branch, a lore entry or a biography holds up to 150,000 characters, about 25,000 words. A description holds up to 5,000 characters, a chapter note or a comment up to 10,000, and a title, a name, a link or an address up to 255. A notification holds up to 300 visible characters.

The editor shows a counter under each field and warns when the text reaches 90% of its limit. A save over the limit is refused with a message naming the limit, and your text stays in your browser so nothing is lost. A request larger than 2 MB is refused as a whole.

Requests are refused when they come from an internet address on Amazon's lists of addresses known for attacks or for scanning sites, when the browser does not say what it is or names itself as attack software, or when one address sends far more requests in a few minutes than a person reading would. If you are refused for too many requests, wait a few minutes and try again.

The message names the reason. Rewording the part it points at will normally work. If you were typing something ordinary and keep being refused, please write to support@writersgrove.net and say what you typed, so the filter can be corrected.

Chapter pages answer these keys when nothing on the page has keyboard focus (for example after you click on the text or press Escape to leave a box):

• Left arrow and Right arrow - previous and next chapter
• Space - play or pause text-to-speech
• Escape - stop text-to-speech
• Alt with Up arrow and Alt with Down arrow - move text-to-speech back or forward a sentence

On a phone or tablet, swipe left on the chapter text for the next chapter and swipe right for the previous one, like turning a page.

The keys are ignored while you are typing in a search box, a comment, a review or the chapter editor. The editor has keys of its own, listed under Keyboard Shortcuts in the Editor on the Writing tab. If they still clash with your screen reader or your own keyboard commands, switch them off on the Account tab of the Settings page under Keyboard Shortcuts. The switch applies wherever you are signed in.

The line under the byline on a series, book or chapter page says when it was published: for a chapter, the day it went public; for a book or series, the day its first chapter did. When an author changes a chapter's title or text after it went public, the line also says when it was last edited; for a book or series that is the newest such change in any of its chapters. Reordering chapters or changing a public date does not count as an edit. Authors can hide the last edited date on the Writing tab of the Settings page; published dates always show. The book page's chapter list shows the date each chapter was published.

You can rate a book once you have opened a chapter of its series while signed in. The stars are on the book page, and you can change your rating at any time.

A series, book or chapter that is marked as using AI for its writing, images, audio or editing, or as mature (18+), or that carries a content warning, opens with a box at the top listing what it holds. The box says where each thing comes from: the series itself, one of its books, or some of its chapters, so a warning on a single chapter is still shown on the series page.

The first page you open that holds mature content or a content warning asks you to say you are 18 or older. We ask once. Signed in, the answer is kept on your account and holds on every device; signed out, it is kept in your browser for an hour and moves onto your account when you sign in.

The Content tab of the Settings page is where you choose what you would rather not meet. Hiding stories that used AI for the writing, the images, the audio or the editing (each on its own), mature content or a particular warning takes those stories out of the home page, browse and search. A link straight to one still opens it, with the box at the top saying what it holds. You can also turn the box off there. Hide fan fiction on the same tab keeps fan works out of the home page, browse and search unless you choose otherwise with the Fan fiction filter on a search or browse page.

Signed in, every series, book and chapter page has a Report link under the share buttons, and every comment has a Report button. Choose the reason that fits best and add a note if it helps. The reasons are the ones the Terms of Service act on: harassment, hate speech and spam in comments; illegal content, harm to a child, mature content not marked 18+, AI use not disclosed, and a graphic cover or title on a story. A copyright complaint can be reported here too, but a formal notice goes to dmca@writersgrove.net as the Terms describe.

A person reads every report. Reports are not public, the author is not told who sent one, and one account can report one thing once. Depending on what is found, nothing may change, the story may be returned to draft or given the mark it was missing, a comment may be removed, or the account may be disabled; the author hears from the site when something on their work changes.

Every setting is on one Settings page, reached from Settings at the end of the reader row (it opens on the Reading tab), Settings in the author row (the Writing tab) or Account in the menu under your name (the Account tab). Every choice is saved the moment you make it and kept on your account, so it follows you to any device you sign in on. There is no Save button.

• Appearance, on the Reading tab of the Settings page: the site font, a serif, a monospace, OpenDyslexic, Atkinson Hyperlegible, or one of your own uploaded fonts, with the text size, paragraph spacing and line height, and your own text and background colours. All of it applies to the whole site. Cards, borders and the fainter text take a slightly lighter or darker shade of your two colours. A text colour too close to your background to read is moved to the nearest shade that reads, and the page tells you when it was. Reset to theme defaults puts both colours back to the theme's own.
• Content preferences, on the Content tab: the content warning box and what is hidden from the home page, browse and search, as described under Content Warnings.
• Theme, at the top of the Reading tab: dark, light, or match my device, which follows your browser's own setting. The sun and moon button in the header, left of your username, switches between dark and light too, and signed out it remembers the choice in this browser.

At the top of every chapter a full-screen button shows the chapter title, the text and the previous and next chapter links alone. It stays on as you move between chapters; press it again or Escape to leave.

OpenDyslexic is by Abbie Gonzalez (opendyslexic.org (opens in a new tab)) and Atkinson Hyperlegible is by the Braille Institute (brailleinstitute.org (opens in a new tab)). Both are offered here under the SIL Open Font License, Version 1.1, with the licence text beside the font files.

Under Appearance on the Reading tab of the Settings page, Add a font takes up to five fonts of your own, in WOFF2, WOFF, TTF or OTF, each up to 4 MB; each one is listed under the built-in fonts with a button to choose it; the ? button beside Upload repeats these rules. A font you upload is served only to your own signed-in account, never to anyone else, and after the first use your browser keeps its own copy, so it is not fetched again until you clear the browser's site data or sign in on another device.

You are responsible for holding a licence that allows the font to be used this way. Many fonts sold for print or desktop use do not allow web embedding; check the licence that came with the font before uploading it. Deleting a font removes the file from your account at once, and if it was your chosen font the site font takes over.

The Notifications tab in the Read row lists the short messages posted by the authors you follow and the authors of the series you follow, newest first. A red count on the tab says how many arrived since you last opened it; opening the tab clears the count and marks everything read. Each one names its author, with a link to their page, where the newest message also sits above their calendar.

Following an author or a series brings emails: a notification from the author, a new series by them, and a new book or a new chapter in a series. The Email tab of the Settings page has an Emails from authors section listing every author you follow, directly or through one of their series, with a switch for their notifications and one for their new series, and under each author the series you can hear from, each with a switch for new books and one for new chapters. Following an author lists all of their published series; following a series alone lists that series. A switch saves the moment it changes. Every email ends with a link to this section, so an email you do not want is two clicks from gone, and nothing you switch off is hidden on the site: the author's page and your Notifications tab still show everything.

Subscribing to an author's tier follows them, so a subscriber hears from the author the same way and uses the same switches.

A passkey signs you in with no email and no code. It is kept on your phone, your computer, your password manager, or a security key that holds passkeys. Add one for each device you use.

To add one, open the Security tab of the Settings page, press Add a passkey, give it a name you will recognise, such as the device it is on, and follow your browser's prompt.

To sign in with it, press Log In, choose Sign in with a passkey and pick your account. Your device asks for your fingerprint, face, PIN or screen lock.

To stop using one, press Remove beside it on the Security tab. The email sign-in link always works, with or without a passkey.

Press Log In or Sign Up and choose Continue with Google, then pick your Google account. Writer's Grove gets only that account's email address and the id Google gives it, never your Google password.

If you already have an account here with the same email, Google signs you in to it. If not, a new account is made, and you agree to the terms and claim a username as with the email link.

The Security tab of the Settings page shows a linked Google account. Press Remove there to unlink it. To link one from Settings, whatever its email address, press Add Google account on the same tab; like adding a passkey, it asks you to confirm it's you first, and a Google account already linked to another Writer's Grove account is refused. The email sign-in link always works, with or without Google.

The Contact page is where you write to the people who run Writer's Grove: a question, a problem, anything this page does not settle. Give the message a subject and send it; the site is told by email. A reply is emailed to your account address and shown in the same conversation under Messages, in the menu under your name at the top of the page, where a red count says a reply is waiting. You can reply in the conversation until it is closed; a new message starts a new one from the Contact page. The site may also start a conversation with you, for example about something on your work.

Download Archive is in the Backups box on the Writing tab of the Settings page. Pressing it builds a zip of your account data as spreadsheets and every chapter as Markdown, arranged by series and book, with your covers, profile picture and banner, and starts the download when the build is done, a minute or two for a large account; an email says it is ready too. You can build one archive a day. The line under the button says when the last one was built, and for the rest of that day pressing the button downloads that one again. An account with no writing, pictures or reader activity has nothing to archive, and the button says so.

When your account is scheduled for deletion, whoever started it, the same button is on the page you see after signing in, for the whole 30 days. Deleting your own account builds an archive straight away when there is anything to put in one, and the ready email follows.

The Backups section is at the top of the Writing tab of the Settings page. Press Connect Google Drive and allow Writer's Grove to see the files it creates in your Drive; it cannot see anything else there. Within a minute your writing goes up to a Writer's Grove folder: a folder for each series with its details and cover, a folder for each book with its details and cover, and every chapter as a Markdown file named by its number and slug, with its branches beside it.

The copy is brought up to date within a minute of a save, and whenever you press Back up now; once an hour the site checks anyway. Each time, only what changed is sent. A chapter you rename keeps its file, renamed; one you move to another book or delete has its old file removed. A book or series you rename has its folder renamed in Drive with everything in it, so notes you keep in the folder stay with it. A file you edit or delete in Drive is put back on the next backup, so edit on the site, not in Drive. Drive keeps earlier versions of each file on its side.

Disconnect forgets the connection and leaves the files where they are. If Google stops accepting the connection, the section says so, you get an email, and Connect Google Drive again picks up where it left off.

Your writing stays exactly where it is. Series, books and chapters are never removed when a subscription ends, and readers can keep reading everything you have published. Authors can publish on Writer's Grove for free, so your account simply goes back to the free plan.

If you cancel, premium stays on until the end of the billing period you have already paid for, and ends on that day. When premium ends:

• Your author subdomain is switched off. Your page stays available at its regular Writer's Grove address
• Your paid subscription tiers are hidden, so new readers cannot sign up to them
• Readers who already subscribe to one of your tiers keep their subscription and their access. They pay you directly through your own Stripe account, and they can cancel from their Subscriptions page at any time
• You can no longer set up early access for paid readers on new series or books, or change existing release schedules. Any series or book you already set up keeps its schedule, and that includes new chapters you add to it
• Analytics, ad code and the larger cover upload limit stop until premium is active again

If you subscribe again later, your tiers become visible again on their own. Your subdomain can be switched back on from the author dashboard.

Yes. If a renewal payment fails, nothing changes straight away. Premium stays on for a 15 day grace period while Stripe retries the payment.

• Stripe retries the card several times over those 15 days and emails you after each failed attempt with a link to update your payment details
• You can also update your card at any time from Manage Billing on the author dashboard
• If a retry succeeds, your subscription carries on as normal and the grace period is cleared
• If no payment succeeds within the 15 days, the subscription is canceled and premium ends as described above

The date your premium access ends is shown on the author dashboard as soon as a payment fails.

Premium and reader subscriptions are paid through Stripe today. Stripe does not accept some kinds of content, including adult fiction. We plan to integrate custom payment solutions so authors who need a different payment processor can still be paid by their readers.

If this applies to you, email support@writersgrove.net and tell us which processor you use, so we know what to build first.

With premium you can give your pages a look of your own from the Premium tab: a banner across the top of your author page and your series pages, and an accent colour for the links and buttons on all of your pages. The accent is one of eight named colours, each with a dark and a light version so it reads on both themes. The banner is a wide picture, about three times as wide as it is tall; it is cropped to fit and shrunk to about 1 MB.

The look pauses while premium is off and comes back as soon as it is renewed; nothing has to be set again.