BookCircle — Author's Manual

Welcome to BookCircle

BookCircle is a community book marketplace where readers buy books by the chapter and own them forever — no subscriptions, no expiry, no lock-in. For authors, that's a simple, high-trust way to turn readers (and your existing followers) into buyers, one low-priced chapter at a time.

This manual walks you through everything: getting approved, uploading your book, pricing it, promoting it, and getting paid.

Why publish on BookCircle

Already publishing for free? Start earning. If your readers currently read your work for nothing on other platforms, BookCircle turns that same audience and that same writing into income — the same chapters you'd post for free can earn instead. Going from $0 to paid is the whole point.
Keep 85% of every sale. BookCircle pays authors an 85% share — a permanent founding-author rate locked in for the first 25 authors, versus an industry average of roughly 35–70%.
Readers own what they buy. Every chapter or book a reader buys is theirs permanently. No subscription pool your work disappears into.
Sell by the chapter. Readers try the first chapter free, then buy a single chapter for a little or the whole book — whatever suits them. Low friction means more people say yes.
Bring your following. If you already have an audience, BookCircle lets them support you directly: they'd be happy knowing a few cents per chapter contributed to your success.

1Getting started

Apply to become an author

From the BookCircle homepage, go to Sell / Publish (the author application page).
Submit your application with your pen name and details.
Once approved, you'll get access to the Author Portal.

Open the Author Portal

Overview — Dashboard
Earnings — This Week · Payment History · Invoices
My Work — My Books · Import · Sales · Promo Codes
Promotion — Social Planner · My Events · Cliffhanger Clips
Account — Notifications · Payment Details · Profile

Author Dashboard — earnings snapshot and recent sales — **Your home base** — earnings snapshot, your books, and recent sales at a glance.

2Adding your book

Open My Work → My Books to create and manage your titles. For each book you'll set:

Title, cover image, genre, and description
Reading languages — you provide your own translations and upload them from My Books → "Edit / Upload Translations" (the language toggles, e.g. EN · FR · ES · PT, appear on each book). Readers can then switch language in the reader.
Chapters — each with its own title, content, and price

My Books — manage chapters, pricing, and translations — **My Books** — open a book to manage chapters, set prices, mark free previews, and upload translations.

3Bulk-importing chapters

If your book already exists as a document, you don't have to add chapters one by one. Open My Work → Import to paste your manuscript and split it into chapters in bulk — ideal if you're migrating from Wattpad, Royal Road, or elsewhere. (You copy in your own text — there's no scraping.)

Pick the book, set the Start at chapter #, and a default price per chapter.
Paste your chapters. Separate each with a line containing only ---, and make the chapter's title the first line of each section.
Hit Preview to check the split, then import.

Import — bulk-paste chapters split by a --- line — **Import** — paste your text with `---` between chapters; Preview shows the split before you import.

4Pricing & the free preview

BookCircle's model is built around low-priced chapters and a free taste:

Free preview. Mark your opening chapter(s) as free preview so any visitor can read them without buying — this is your hook. The homepage even features a "Read Chapter 1 Free" button.
Per-chapter price. Price individual chapters so buying is an easy yes.
Whole-book price. Readers can also buy the entire book at once.
Minimum price. A full book must be priced at least $5.00, and your chapters must add up to at least $5.00 across the whole book. Individual chapters can still be low — they just need to total $5 or more together.
Sequential unlock. Readers buy paid chapters in order — they can't jump ahead. This keeps people reading straight through.

TipA strong free Chapter 1 that ends on a cliffhanger does more for sales than any discount.

5Promotion tools

Cliffhanger Clips

Attach a short YouTube "hook" video to any chapter to tease what happens next. Upload the clip to YouTube first (free hosting — no storage cost to you), then paste the link against the chapter; readers see a "Watch the hook" clip on that chapter.

Social Planner

Plan promotion for your books: capture an idea, draft the post, pick your channels, schedule it, and log how it did — on a board or calendar. Copy-and-post by hand, or connect an account to auto-publish at the scheduled time (Bluesky today; Instagram / Facebook where available) — no third-party scheduling subscription required.

More promotion options

My Events — host or list events (readings, Q&As) tied to your work.
Promo Codes — create discount codes to share with your community.
Homepage Spotlight — the large featured book on the BookCircle homepage. It runs in Auto mode (rotating featured / newest books) or Pinned (a specific book), both set by BookCircle admin. Authors can't set this themselves, so email us to request a spotlight or to be marked "featured."

6Getting paid

Track and receive your earnings from the Earnings section: This Week (current-period earnings), Payment History (past payouts), and Invoices (downloadable records). Watch sales in real time under My Work → Sales.

Sales — every sale with your 85% share, method, and date — **Sales** — every sale with its price, your 85% share, payout method, and date.

Payout terms. You're paid weekly. Each sales week closes Sunday at midnight, and payments are processed every Monday for the previous week's sales, sent to your PayPal account. Set your PayPal under Account → Payment Details. Your 85% share is calculated after payment-processing fees — the card fee on each sale comes out of your side, not BookCircle's.

Pricing & fees — read thisCard processing adds a small flat fee (~$0.30) plus a small percentage to every transaction. On a very cheap single chapter that flat fee eats most of the sale, so: don't price single chapters too low, and remember that whole-book and multi-chapter purchases are the most fee-efficient — one fee spread across more value usually earns you more per reader than many tiny single-chapter buys.

7Your account

Profile — your public author profile and pen name.
Payment Details — where your payouts go.
Notifications — comments and replies on your work (an unread count shows in the sidebar).

8Tips for selling more

Make Chapter 1 free and irresistible. It's your storefront.
Price sensibly. Low enough to feel easy, high enough that the per-sale fee doesn't swallow your earnings.
End chapters on a hook — and add a Cliffhanger Clip where it fits.
Bring your followers. Tell your audience they can support you directly, a chapter at a time.
Use promo codes for launches and community shout-outs.

FAQ

How much does it cost to publish?

Publishing is free — no upfront or listing fees. BookCircle keeps a 15% commission on sales (you keep 85%).

Do readers keep my book forever?

Yes — every chapter or book a reader buys is theirs permanently, with no subscription.

Can I sell single chapters and the whole book?

Yes. Readers choose: one chapter at a time (in order) or the full book at once.

Can I offer my book in other languages?

Yes. You translate the book yourself and upload it from My Books → Edit / Upload Translations; readers can then switch languages in the reader.

How and when do I get paid?

Weekly, every Monday, to the PayPal you set under Account → Payment Details.

Need help?

Email us at contact@book-circle.net — we're happy to help with onboarding, uploads, pricing, payouts, or anything else.

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