Community and feedback
The balance rule
Every kind of feedback on Inkbreaker is free. Give a read to get a read is what keeps it that way.
Every kind of feedback on Inkbreaker is free, on every plan: peer feedback, chapter critiques, sensitivity reads, and beta reads. None of it sits behind Pro.
What holds it together is that all four run on volunteers. A read is somebody’s evening. So instead of charging for requests, we balance them: give a read to get a read.
The rule
Your first request is free. Nobody has to earn their way in.
After that, every request that gets fulfilled has to be paid back with a read you deliver before you can ask again. In plain terms: as long as the reads you have given are at least as many as the reads you have received, you can ask for another.
Reads you give are pooled across every lane. A chapter critique pays for a beta request. A beta read pays for a spot in the feedback queue. A sensitivity read pays for either. We do not care which kind you gave, only that you gave one.
Only reads that actually happened count, in both directions. A request that expired, found no match, or that you withdrew never cost anyone their evening, so it never counts against you. A read you started but did not deliver does not count for you.
Where you see it
Your balance shows up the moment it matters: on the request form, on the beta reader board, and in your feedback history. If you owe the pool a read, we say so, and say how many.
How to give a read
There is always something to pick up:
- Beta requests. Browse the open board at /beta-readers and offer on anything in your genres.
- Chapter critiques. If your Chapter has a critique window open, claim a piece from the swap board.
- The feedback queue. Turn on Available to review in Preferences under Notifications, and pieces matched to your skills will come to you.
- Sensitivity reads. Volunteer for the areas you can speak to in Preferences, under Content.
- A direct ask. A mutual follower can send you a read personally, outside the queue.
The exceptions
Direct requests to a mutual follower are exempt. If someone follows you and you follow them back, you can send each other reads without touching the balance. That reader chose you personally, and the shared pool is untouched.
Beta requests have one extra condition. You have to be listed in the beta reader directory to post a beta request, even for your first one. Beta reading is a weeks-long commitment, and the directory is where readers find each other. Being in it costs nothing: pick your genres and switch availability on.
The word limit
The feedback queue takes pieces up to 1,500 words, which is flash-fiction length and about six minutes of reading.
That number is doing real work. Because every read in the queue is roughly the same size, one read pays for one read, and nobody who volunteered for a 900-word flash piece ends up handed a novella. It also keeps turnaround short enough that feedback arrives while you still care about the draft.
Longer than that and you want a beta reader, who signs up for the whole manuscript on a timeline instead of a drop-in pass. If you only want notes on one scene of something longer, pull that scene into its own piece and request a read on it.
Why not just charge for it
We could have put beta requests and sensitivity reads behind Pro, and for a while we did. The problem is that money does not produce readers. A paid request still needs a volunteer on the other end, and paying for a spot in line does not make the line move.
Trade does produce readers. The writer who read for you last week is the reason someone is available to read for you today.
Related
Still stuck? Head back to Support to report a bug or reach the team.