Publish short stories.Get read. Get paid.
StorySloth is a home for independent short fiction. Write in our editor, get reviewed by a human editor, and earn a share of subscriber revenue when people read your work.
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Why authors choose StorySloth
Everything on StorySloth is built to get your stories in front of readers — and to pay you when they read.
Earn from every read
Subscriber fees are shared with the authors each subscriber reads. The more you're read, the more you earn.
A real, paying audience
Readers come here specifically for short fiction, and their subscriptions pay the authors they read.
Human review, not a slush pile
Every submission is read by a real editor, with feedback where it helps and a clear decision either way.
You keep your rights
The licence is non-exclusive. Publish elsewhere, adapt, anthologise, or take your story down whenever you like.
Tools that respect the craft
A distraction-free editor with autosave, word counts, audio narration, and analytics that show how your stories are read.
A community that reads
Comments, reviews, awards, and reading groups — readers here engage with the work.
How it works
From first draft to first reader in four steps.
01
Join StorySloth
Create a free account. Start as a reader and switch to author whenever you're ready.
02
Write your story
Use the distraction-free editor, with autosave, word counts, and formatting built in.
03
Submit for review
A human editor reads every submission and responds within a few days with a decision or notes.
04
Get published & paid
Approved stories go live in every locale, and you earn whenever a subscriber reads them.
How earnings work
No ads, no tracking. Subscribers pay a small monthly fee, and that money goes to the authors they read.
Direct revenue share
Each subscriber's monthly fee is split between the authors they read that month. No middlemen, no opaque royalty pools.
Awards from your readers
Subscribers can give awards to stories they love, and awards become cash in your monthly payout.
Verified payouts
Before your first payout we ask you to verify your identity and add your bank details. It takes a few minutes once your first story is accepted.
Transparent dashboard
See what each story has earned, who's reading it, and when your next payout lands.
The earnings model, in plain English
Here's how a month plays out once your work is live.
1. Reader subscriptions feed the author pool
Readers subscribe through our Adopt-a-Sloth plans. At the end of each month, total subscription revenue minus payment-processing fees becomes the author pool. No advertising is mixed in and nothing is held back.
2. Earnings follow engagement, not vanity metrics
Each subscriber's slice of the pool is split across the stories they engaged with that month — weighted by how much they read, whether they finished, and whether they liked, commented, or gave an award. Awards weigh most because they cost the reader real money; a one-minute skim counts least.
3. A share of revenue funds the platform
StorySloth keeps 40% of each author's share to fund editorial review, hosting, translation into fifteen languages, support, and payment processing. Authors who also subscribe keep more — only 20% comes off their share.
4. Payouts run monthly through Stripe
Payouts go out monthly via Stripe Connect. The first time, Stripe verifies your identity and bank details; after that it runs automatically. There's a £1 minimum, and smaller balances roll over to the next month.
What this looks like in practice
A subscriber pays £4.99 a month — roughly £4.65 after processing fees. Say they finished your story, liked it, and gave it an award, and also read three other authors that month. Their £4.65 is split across all four of you, weighted by engagement — and the award means you take the largest share. The platform's 40% (or 20% if you subscribe) then comes off your portion.
Multiply that across hundreds of subscribers and being someone's favourite author matters far more than appearing in a feed.
Your dashboard shows the same breakdown for every story, with a daily total and a full ledger.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. No fee to join, submit, or publish, and nothing is taken from your earnings beyond standard payment-processing charges. We make money from reader subscriptions.
A real editor reads your submission and accepts it, returns it with notes, or declines with a short explanation — usually within 3–5 working days.
Yes. You grant us a non-exclusive licence to host, display, and translate your story while it's on StorySloth. You can publish it elsewhere, sell adaptation rights, or take it down at any time.
No. AI can be a useful research and editing tool, but we only publish prose written by humans. The author terms cover this in detail.
Once your first story is accepted, you verify your identity and add bank details through Stripe. Earnings then accrue daily and pay out monthly once you pass a small minimum.
40%, which funds editorial review, hosting, translation into fifteen languages, support, and payment processing. Authors who also subscribe keep more: only 20% comes off. The only other deduction is Stripe's standard processing charge.
Monthly. Early each month we calculate the previous month's earnings and pay out via Stripe. Balances under £1 roll over. Your dashboard always shows your balance and next payout date.
It depends on how many subscribers read your work and how deeply they engage. Stories that get finished and awarded earn meaningfully more than ones that get skimmed. Most authors here are building a readership month by month, and the dashboard shows exactly what each story earns.
Any of our 15 supported languages. Your story stays in the language you wrote it, and you can add your own translations later from your dashboard.
No credit card. No upfront fees. Cancel anytime.