Questions and answers

Reading and your account

Do I need an account to read?

No. Every story, poem, review and essay on ZenPens is free to read, with or without an account.

What does an account give me?

Your library follows you from one device to the next. Without an account, your library is kept in the browser you are using, on this device only. You sign in with a link we email to you. There is no password to remember.

Where is my library kept?

If you are not signed in, in this browser on this device. Clearing your browser data removes it. If you are signed in, it is stored with your account. The first time you sign in, whatever is in this browser is added to your account, so nothing you saved is lost. Our Privacy page has the full details.

Who can see my library?

Only you. Your shelves, hearts, private notes, favourite moments and characters and bookmarks are private. What the public sees is a piece’s read count and its average rating, never your name.

What is the bell at the top of the page?

When we have something to tell you about your account, a bell appears beside your account icon, with a number for the notices you have not read yet. Open it to read them, and choose Dismiss when you are done with one. The same notices are shown at the top of your account page. They are private to you. A notice is removed when you dismiss it, or after 30 days, whichever comes first. If you have no notices there is no bell.

What happens if a piece of mine is taken down?

If we take a piece you sent us off the site, we email you at the address you sent it from and leave a notice in your account. An editor may add a short note for you. If there is no note, you can write to us and we will answer you. The note is kept for up to 30 days in your notice, and is removed sooner if you dismiss the notice. Taking a piece down does not delete your submission record, and your piece can go live again if we publish it again.

What notices will I get about my pieces?

If you sent us a piece, you may get a notice in your account when it is accepted, when it goes live (or when it comes back on ZenPens after we took it down), and when it reaches 5, 10, 25, 50 or 100 ratings, and then every 100 ratings after that (200, 300 and so on). You will find them in the Notices tab of your account page, and a number on that tab shows how many are new. A rating notice gives only the number. We never show who rated a piece, or what they gave it. These notices come as well as our emails, not instead of them. You can switch each of the three kinds off under Account settings, in Notices about your pieces. A notice that a piece was taken down always shows. A notice is removed when you dismiss it, or after 30 days, whichever comes first.

Your library

How do I save a piece?

Tap Save on a piece or a card. It goes to Want to read. When you open it and start reading, it moves to Reading and your place is kept as you go. When you reach the end after a fair time with it, it moves to Read. You can also move a piece yourself. Tap the three dots on it and choose Manage.

What does “Set aside” mean?

It is for a piece you are not ready to finish. It waits for you with your place kept, and opening it again moves it back to Reading. It does not count towards your year until you finish it.

What is “Up next”?

You can pin up to five pieces from Want to read, and they sit together at the top of your Library so you know what comes next.

What is the Continue reading bar?

It is a small bar near the bottom of the page that takes you straight back to the piece you were reading. It shows on pages other than the piece itself and your Library. If you close it with the cross, it stays away for 8 hours on that device and then comes back. If you would rather not see it at all and you are not signed in, tap Stop showing this, which appears for a few seconds after you close it. If you are signed in, switch it off under Account settings on your account page. To turn it back on, choose Show the Continue reading bar again at the bottom of your Library, or switch it on in Account settings.

How are hearts and stars different?

A heart is for a finished piece you love. Stars are your rating. They are separate, so you can love a piece and still rate it honestly. Hearts are private and gather in Favourites and on your Wall. A rating counts towards a piece’s public average, without your name, only when you are signed in and have finished the piece. An average appears once a piece has five ratings.

What are “favourite moment” and “favourite character”?

On a piece you have finished, you can write one line about a moment that stayed with you and one about a character you will remember, up to 200 characters each. They are private, and only you can see them. Tap a cover on your Wall to see them again.

How do bookmarks work?

While you read, select a passage and tap Bookmark this passage. It is kept in your Library under Bookmarks, and you can share it as a quote card that wears the cover colour and pattern of the piece, with its title and writer along the bottom, and the series or collection it belongs to when it has one. If we change the text of a piece later, a bookmark may no longer line up with the passage, but the words you saved are kept.

What is the Year?

The Year page shows what you finished, month by month, with your busiest month, your longest piece and the kinds and writers you read most. Only finished pieces count. You can pick an earlier year, and you can share a card of your year as a picture.

How does the reading goal work?

Set a number of pieces for the year and a ring on your Library shows how far you are. It is only a nudge for yourself. Nothing is sent to you about it, and you can change it or remove it at any time.

Why can I not see a collection I expected?

A collection appears on the site, and can be saved to your library, once its first piece is published. Until then it is still being put together. If you saved it already, it stays saved and shows up in your Library by itself when it opens.

What is the Wall?

The Wall is the covers of everything you have finished. You can show only your favourites, only your five stars, one year or one kind of writing, and share the wall as one picture. The picture is made on your own device and shows only covers and titles.

Series

What is a series?

A series is one longer story told in parts, like a novel. It has two to five parts and is read in order. You will find series in the Series band on the home page and on the Open Page page. Only the first part is listed with the other pieces, so you never meet a later part before you have started.

How do I see only series?

Choose Series in the row of kinds on the home page or on the Stories page. You get one card for each series. Search, sort, collection and country work as usual. A series counts by its reading time in all, so it appears under “Over 20 min” when its parts add up to more than that, and “Quickest read” orders it by that total too.

How do I read one?

Open the series and tap Start Part 1. At the end of each part, Continue takes you straight to the next one. The list of parts at the end of every part shows where you are. When you come back, the button on the series page says Continue with the part you are on.

How does a series look in my library?

As one item, with its own cover and how far you are, for example “2 of 4 parts read”. Saving a series saves it from Part 1. When you finish a part, the next part is added to Want to read and pinned to Up next if there is room. Removing a series takes all of its parts out of your library.

When does a series reach my Wall?

When you have finished every part, or as soon as you tap the heart on it, whichever comes first. It appears as one cover. If you have not finished it yet, the cover says how far you are, for example “2 of 5 read”. Its stars are the average of the parts you rated.

How is a series rated?

A series shows one rating, the average of every rating given to any of its parts, once it has five ratings in all. You still rate each part on its own, at the end of that part. The reads shown on a series are the number of people who started it.

How does a heart work on a series?

Tap the heart on any part you have finished and the whole series is hearted. A part you finish later joins the heart by itself, and tapping the heart again takes it off every part. Each part keeps its own favourite moment and favourite character, which you add at the end of that part.

Can I write a series?

Yes, in Open Page. A series has two to five parts, each at least 1,000 words, and the whole series can be up to twice the length limit for its kind. Fiction, essays and book reviews can be a series. Poetry cannot. Send it as one Word document with each part under its own heading, and the form will split it for you. If we accept it, all the parts go live together. You may add one cover picture for the whole series, and we can change it later.

Poems sent together

What happens when a poet sends several poems together?

A poet can send up to 10 poems in one go. Each poem gets its own page, its own card and its own place in your library, and you rate, heart and finish it on its own, because poems are read one at a time. We read the poems one by one too, so we may accept some of a set and not others.

What does “Poem 2 of a set of 3” mean?

It is a quiet note that this poem was sent together with others. At the end of the poem there is an Also in this set strip that links the other poems, and on the Stories page, when it is sorted newest first, and on the poet’s page, the poems of a set sit side by side. The numbers count only the poems that are live, so when only one poem of a set is live you will see no line and no strip.

Covers

Do I have to send a cover?

No. If you send nothing, we design one for you, and every cover shows your title and your name. That is the easiest way and it asks nothing of you.

Can I choose the colour and the pattern myself?

Yes. On the Submit page, in the Extras step, choose Choose a colour and a pattern. You pick one of nine colours and one of fifteen patterns and watch your cover change as you go, in about three taps. If we accept your piece, we use your choice, and an editor can change it if it does not work.

Can I use my own picture?

Yes, choose Use my own image. A photo you took or made yourself needs nothing more. For a picture by an artist, paste the link to the artist’s profile page, for example their Instagram or Unsplash page, and we credit them in a small line at the end of your piece, like “Photo Credit: @name, Instagram”. When the link shows no account name, we show the name of the site. Please do not use pictures made with AI.

Who made the patterns?

The fifteen patterns were drawn for ZenPens, by hand. Eight are inspired by traditions of pattern making in Africa, among them Igbo wall painting and Awka carving, Ndebele painting, Shona headrests, the stone walls of Great Zimbabwe, Frafra walls, Kuba weaving and Southern African basketry, and seven are plain geometric shapes. They are drawn in the spirit of those traditions and never copied from them, and we do not say that a pattern means anything.

Pieces by more than one writer

Can a piece have more than one author?

Yes. One writer sends the piece and adds the others by name and email on the Submit page, under This piece was written with other authors. A piece can have up to five authors in all, the writer who sends it and four more. The other authors do not need an account.

What do the other authors have to do?

Nothing at first. We write to them only if an editor accepts the piece. Each of them then gets one email with a link. The link opens a page that asks them to confirm that the piece was written together, that it has not been published anywhere before, and that they agree to our Guidelines and Terms. Opening the page confirms nothing. They confirm only when they press the button.

When does the piece go live?

Only when every author has confirmed. Until then it stays unpublished, even if an editor is ready. If you sent the piece, your account page tells you who we are still waiting for.

Whose name does the email use, and who sees the addresses?

The email names the writer who sent the piece by her public name, so a pen name stays a pen name. The addresses of the other authors are never published and are only seen by our editors. If a piece is declined, they are deleted with the rest of the submission.

How are the names shown on the piece?

Every author’s name is shown under the title, in order of surname, and each name links to that author’s page. An author who has not written for ZenPens before gets a page when the piece goes live.

What if one author wants the piece taken down?

Then it comes down, because it belongs to all of them. Any one author can write to us and ask.

Noir books

What is a Noir book?

ZenPens National Noir is one book of new fiction about a whole country. ZenPens State Noir is one book about one state, and the cities of that state are its chapters. Each is its own book with its own cover and page, and you will find them on the Collections page. A later volume of the same country or state is a separate book beside the first. When we have more than one Noir book for the same country, each book’s page has a From the same country card that links to the others.

How do I send a story to a Noir book?

A Noir book takes stories for a limited time and has a last day. While it is open, you will find it by its name in the Submitting for choice on the Submit page, and when the last day has passed it leaves the list. It takes fiction only, up to 6,000 words, new and not published anywhere else. One story goes to one book only. For a State book you are asked which city your story is set in, and you can choose Another city if yours is not listed. For a National book there is one optional line, Where in the country is your story set?, that only our editors see.

Who edits a Noir book?

Our editors run every Noir book. A book may name a guest editor, and then its page says Edited with and the name.

Does my story have to be in a chapter?

In a State book, yes. Each story sits in the chapter of the city it is set in, and the chapters follow the order of the book’s city list. A city with no story yet has no chapter. Your story’s own page shows its city and its book under the title.

Will my story be printed as a book?

A story in a Noir book is on the same terms as everything else on ZenPens. You keep the copyright and the story stays on the site. A print or ebook edition would need a separate written agreement with each writer at that time, and nothing on the Submit page promises one.

ZenPens on your phone

Can I put ZenPens on my phone’s home screen?

Yes. ZenPens can be saved to your home screen and then opens like an app, with no browser bars. It costs nothing and needs no app store. On an Android phone, a small invitation with an Install button appears when you reach the end of a piece, and your browser’s menu has the same choice. On an iPhone, open ZenPens in Safari, tap the Share button, then choose Add to Home Screen. We show the invitation once, and if you choose Not now we ask again only after a month.

What is Focus mode?

On a story or a poem, the Focus mode button is the last of the small buttons at the top. It hides the top bar, the bottom bar and the Continue reading bar, so only the piece is left, with a thin line at the very top that shows how far you have read. Where your browser allows it, the page also goes full screen. One small button in the corner keeps the text size, light or dark, and Leave Focus mode. Pressing Escape leaves it too.

Can I read with no connection?

Pieces you have already opened can usually be opened again with no connection, with their look and their covers. A piece you have not opened yet needs a connection, and so do your Library, your account and your notices. ZenPens does not keep copies of those pages on your phone.

Keeping a copy, and starting again

How do I back up my library, and restore it?

Open your Library and look for Back up and restore at the bottom of the Shelf. Download my library saves a small file to your device. Restore from a file reads it back in, here or in another browser. Restoring only adds. Nothing in your library is taken away, and where a piece is already there, the copy that changed last is kept. Restoring can take a few seconds, so keep the page open until it says it is done.

If you are signed in, your library is already kept in your account, so a file is simply a copy of your own for keeping somewhere safe. Your account page also has a spreadsheet copy you can open in Excel or Google Sheets. It is for reading, not for restoring.

Can I see the tour of the Library again?

Yes. Open your Library and choose Take the tour again at the bottom of the page.

How do I delete my data?

If you are not signed in, choose Clear my library on this device at the bottom of the Shelf. If you have an account, open your account page, go to Account settings and choose Delete my account. Your library, ratings, private notes and reading record are removed for good. How long we keep other things is on the Privacy page.

Open calls for submissions

Where do I find the calls that are open?

On the Submission calls page. Each call lists its theme, the days it opens and closes, and who can send. Open Page is always open, so you can send a piece at any time.

Why can I not see the issue or book a call is for?

We open a call before the collection is published, so the collection is not on the site yet. Choose the call on the submission form and send your work there.

Something else?

What happens to a message I send through the Contact page?

Your name, email address, topic and message are emailed to the editors and are not stored on the website. We use them only to read your message and reply, and we keep them in our mailbox for up to 12 months after we last wrote to you, as the Privacy page says. To stop spam, the site counts how many messages one connection sends in an hour, using a short code that is not your address, and forgets it after an hour. The form never asks you to solve a puzzle.