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The Read section is where Dust Warriors share their writing and discover each other’s stories. Publish any project for the community to read, then dive into a library of novels, journals, poetry, and more from fellow writers.

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Publishing Your Project

Where to find it: Left sidebar → Writing → Projects → click a project’s ⋯ (options) button → Publish Settings Open in 4TW ↗
Publishing takes three steps. Move between them with Back and Continue, then click Save Settings on the last step.

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Step 1: Visibility Status

Choose who can find and read your project: Once your project is Unlisted or Public, a Project URL appears with a copy button. Share it with the readers you choose.
To set your project to Public, it needs at least 100 words. If it’s shorter, it saves as Unlisted instead.

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Step 2: Basic Information

  1. Choose a Category. Pick the genre that best fits your project, like fantasy, poetry, or non-fiction. This is how readers find it when browsing.
  2. Set a Copyright. Choose how your project is licensed. This tells readers how they can share or reference your work.

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Step 3: Access & Phase

Choose what readers can do:
  • Allow ratings. Readers can rate your project.
  • Display file names. Show chapter and file names to readers.
  • Allow comments. Readers can leave comments on your project.
Then highlight your project’s phase with badges: Pick one phase badge at a time: Idea, WIP, or Draft. Click Save Settings to publish. Your settings take effect right away.
Not ready to go public? Use Unlisted to share with a small group of beta readers, writing partners, or a class, without appearing on the Read page. Copy the Project URL and send it to them.
When you open Publish Settings on a project that’s already Unlisted or Public, you’ll see a summary of your settings. Click Change to edit them.

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Your cover

Set your cover from the project’s ⋯ menu: choose Change Cover to upload your own image or pick one from the Gallery. See Projects.

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After you publish

  • Notifications. You’ll hear about it when a reader leaves a New comment, when your project is rated, and when it reaches read milestones.
  • Your readers. The Your readers card on Writing Home shows your reads, comments, followers, and rating at a glance.
  • Your comments section. As the author, you can delete any comment on your book.

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Browsing the Read Section

Where to find it: Left sidebar → Community → Reading tab Open in 4TW ↗
The Reading page is your front door to every published work:
  • Featured book. This week’s featured book, right at the top. Click Read now to open it, or Add to collection to save it for later.
  • Most recent works. The latest books from the community.
  • Popular in a category. Rows of reader favorites from popular genres.
  • Search. Type in Search for a book to find a title or author.
  • Categories. Open the Categories drawer on the left to browse a genre, or to jump to My Reading List.
Each book card shows its category, phase, rating, word count, reads, and when it was last updated.

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Browsing a category

Pick a category to see everything published in it. Use the sort menu to show Most recent, Oldest first, Most words, Fewest words, Top rated, or Lowest rated, and search within the category by title or author.

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A Book’s Page

Where to find it: Click any book card
A book’s page shows its cover, title, author, category, description, and stats for Words, Reads, Rating, and Sections. From here you can:
  1. Start Reading. Opens the book at the very beginning.
  2. Add to collection. Saves the book to your Reading List. Click Remove from collection to take it off.
  3. Rate this book. Tap one to five shields, then click Save rating. Changed your mind? Click Remove rating.
  4. Comment. Type in the comment box and click Post Comment. Comments hold up to 1,000 characters, and you can react to other readers’ comments.
  5. Report book. Open the menu next to the title and choose Report book to flag it for our team.
Ratings and comments only appear when the author allows them. Finished every section? Click Read again to clear your progress and start fresh. Your bookmarks and rating stay put.
Adding a book to your collection doesn’t mean you have to rate it. Save it now and come back to rate it when you’re done.

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Inside the Reader

Where to find it: Click Start Reading on any book’s page, or pick a section from its contents
The reader shows one page at a time, so long chapters stay easy to follow. A thin bar at the top fills up as you read.
  • Previous and Next. Cards above and below the text show where each one takes you. Click them to move through the book page by page.
  • Contents. Click Open contents to see every section and file in the book. Expand a file to jump to one of its pages.
  • Bookmark. Click the bookmark icon to save your place in a section. You’ll find it in your Reading List under Bookmarks.
  • Reading preferences. Click the gear to change the Font size and Line spacing. Click Reset to go back to the defaults.
  • Section read. Reach the end of a section and it’s marked as read automatically. A green Section read badge appears, and the section gets a check in the contents.
  • Leave a comment. When the author allows comments, share your thoughts right under the text.
Reading preferences are saved on the device you set them on, and they apply to every book you read there.

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My Reading List

Where to find it: Left sidebar → Community → Reading → Categories drawer → My Reading List Open in 4TW ↗
Your Reading List keeps everything you’re reading in one place:
  • Continue reading. Books you’ve started, with how far along you are and when you last read. Click the play button to pick up right where you stopped.
  • Bookmarks. Every place you’ve bookmarked, grouped by book. Click one to jump back to that section, or click the trash icon to remove it.
  • Collection. Every book you’ve saved. Search your collection, and sort it by Recently added, Title A–Z, word count, or rating.
Long books can take days to finish. Continue reading always knows where you stopped, so you never have to hunt for your page.

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Frequently Asked Questions

At least 100 words. If you choose Public but your project is shorter, it saves as Unlisted instead.
Yes, anytime. Open Publish Settings, click Change, pick Private, and click Save Settings. Your project leaves community browsing right away.
Unlisted means only people with your Project URL can open it. Public means anyone on 4thewords can discover your project through browsing, categories, and search.
Public projects appear on the Reading page under their category, and in the most recent works. They also appear on your author profile.
No. Publishing only changes who can read your project. Your word counts, streak, and battle stats stay exactly the same.
Check two things. Your project needs at least 100 words, or it saves as Unlisted. And pick a Category in Basic Information, because projects without one don’t appear when readers browse.
It’s on the third step, Access & Phase. Click Continue to move through all three steps, then save.
Turn on Allow comments. Go to your project → ⋯ → Publish Settings → Change → Access & Phase, switch on Allow comments, and click Save Settings.
Open My Reading List and click the play button on the book in Continue reading. Start Reading on a book’s page always starts from the beginning.
Yes. In the reader, click the gear for Reading preferences and raise the Font size. You can change the Line spacing there too.
Once you’ve read every section, click Read again on the book’s page. It clears your read marks and progress. Your bookmarks and rating stay.
Reading isn’t available on your account right now. If you’re not sure why, contact support and we’ll help.
Organize your writing and join the conversation

Projects

Group files into a book with sections, a cover, and one word goal.

Community & Forum

Forum discussions, Lookbook voting, News, and the Community Pool.