Knowledge Base

Credits are the currency that you use to submit stories. You earn credits by critiquing stories from other people.

You usually pay 3 credits for submitting a story, and usually receive 1 credit for giving a critique. Therefore, you will need to submit 3 crits for each story that you submit.

You can see how many credits you have by clicking on user username in the top right corner of the screen. You can also see it on your dashboard which you can access by clicking the Critique Circle logo on the top left.

Gaining credits by critiquing stories

The credits you get paid for completing a critique are a function of the critique length in words.

A crit of 300 words or more is called a full crit. A full crit between 300 and 600 words give you 1 credit. Each 300 words after that will give you ½ credit more up to a maximum of 2 total credits for a 900+ word crit.

If the crit is under 300 words you always receive ½ credits. Crits below 150 words yield no credits.

2 credits is the maximum number that you can receive for a critique unless the story author decides to donate an extra credit from his or her own credit pool.

Credits per crit length

In some cases the author has elected to give all their critters an extra credit. In those cases you will receive 1 credit from the author in addition to your normal payout.

Spending credits to submit stories

It costs 3 credits to submit a story into the public queues regardless of story length. You can have more than one story in the system at a time, but the more stories you have, the more expensive they become.

Your second concurrent story (with the first one being either in review or upcoming) will cost 7 credits, your third one 11 credits, etc. This is necessary so the queue doesn't become unduly long. For premium members this cost is reduced by 1 credit per existing submission and for premium gold members this cost is reduced by 2 credits per existing submissions.

As soon as you have nothing in the queue (upcoming or up for review), it will cost again just 3 credits to submit a story. New reviewing cycle starts every Wednesday at 00:01 UTC and lasts for 7 days.

Below is more information about how many credits it costs in the public queues to submit a story when you have 1 or more stories already upcoming or in review. Paying members get a discount on this extra cost.

This cost is capped at 3 existing submissions so a basic member will never pay more than 15 credits and a gold member will never pay more than 9 credits.

Credit cost when submitting more than 1 story in the public queues at the same time (upcoming or in review).

Please note this is only applies to public queues. In private queues, it always costs 3 credits to submit a story in a private credit queue and in a creditless private queue, it costs no credits.

You typically need 3 credits.

If you already have a story in review or upcoming then the cost is higher.

For more details on credits view this article.

If your story has received no critiques you'll always get the credits refunded.

If your story is up for review, you'll need to first 'move to older' before you can delete the story, but your credits will be refunded if it has received no crits.

No.

Yes, but only 1/2 credit for a full crit.

Each story has its fifteen minutes of fame — the current week it is up for review.

After that, you receive fewer credits for reviewing them — but there is good karma instead. This is one method to ensure that all stories receive some attention.

You receive half a credit for a full critique of a finished story, no credit for a short critique (less than 300 words).

If you're a day or two late with your critique then you can just contact the admins and we'll give you full credit for it.

Please note that critiques found to be padded with unrelated content will be rejected, and the credits removed.

No. You cannot share credits between accounts.

Credits are not transferable directly but premium members can give out some of their own credits as a special bonus for their critters. You'll see a menu item on crits you've received giving you the option to "Give extra credit".

The basic idea is that those with a lot of credits can give those less fortunate a little something extra for great crits. Please note you can only donate 1 extra credit from your account per crit.

The credit system is the main backbone of the site. It was developed after extensive research, and has been tested and refined on our Big Sister site in Iceland. The balance between credits received and the cost to submit is designed to assure members a maximum number of critiques per submission.

Please note that there are no plans to alter the credit system in any way. We believe the system works as it is.

There are 2 ways of giving extra credits for a crit. In both cases the extra credits are deducted from your personal credit pool and transferred to the person who gave you a crit.

When you submit your story you can choose to give one extra credit to everyone who writes a full (300+ words) crit on the story. This can be a great way to incentivize people to crit longer pieces.

In addition you can also give 1 extra credit for a crit after you have received it. There is a button you can click on after receiving the critique.