Writing on OpenStand

Welcome

OpenStand is a platform for independent writers who want to publish work that stands on its own. Readers unlock individual pieces using their balance — no subscriptions, no algorithms, no ongoing billing. Each piece you publish is its own thing, valued on its own merits.

This guide covers how the platform works, what gets rewarded here, and the standards we hold our discovery surfaces to.

How it works

You write and publish. Every piece you publish gets its own URL immediately. You can share that link with anyone — your audience, your newsletter, social media. Anyone with the link can open it and read its opening, with or without an account. Reading the whole piece takes a free OpenStand account, plus an unlock if the piece isn't free.

You set the price. Choose from free, $0.25, $0.50, $0.75, $1.00, or $2.00. Readers unlock pieces using their balance. Lower prices reduce friction for readers who don't know you yet. Free pieces are the best way to build trust before asking for it.

Publishing is open. Review comes after it. Your work can appear on the home page, in collections, and in reader recommendations from the moment you publish — we don't hold it back waiting for approval. We're notified when a new creator publishes, and we read that work, but we read it after it's already live. Where a piece doesn't meet the standards below, we may take it off those surfaces; it stays live at its own URL and anyone with the link can still find it. There is no per-piece approval process.

You keep 80%. For every unlock, 80% of the price goes to you — a rate that's firm through our first year of open enrollment. 20% goes to the platform. Earnings accumulate in your balance and are paid out monthly.

Founding writers keep more. Our founding cohort is a small invited group on better terms than the ones above. If you were invited as a founding writer, your rate and the terms around it come from your founding offer and your agreement, not from this guide — those documents govern where they differ.

What works well here

OpenStand is a good fit for writing that is self-contained and complete — an essay, an argument, a reported piece, a personal story. Work that gives the reader something real when they reach the end.

"Why this piece?" is your most powerful field. Before deciding to unlock, readers see your title, subtitle, cover image, and a short explanation of why this piece matters. The "Why this piece?" field is your voice in that moment — make it honest and specific. It's not a marketing blurb. It's you, briefly, explaining what a reader will take away.

Cover photos matter. Your work is presented individually on the home page and in recommendations. The cover is part of the first impression — it signals the tone and seriousness of the piece. Pick something that fits the content, not just something generic.

Cross-posting is fine. If your work already lives on your blog, on Substack, or elsewhere, that's no problem. We ask that you be transparent about it — a note in the subtitle or at the top of the piece. Readers who unlock a piece and later find it freely available elsewhere experience a trust erosion even if the writing is great.

Before you publish

A few things can't be changed once a piece is out, so they're worth settling first.

Your title sets the address. A piece's web address is made from its title the moment you first publish, and it doesn't change after that. Settle the title before you publish. For a series, keep a steady pattern, such as "Title #1", "Title #2".

Your opening is the preview. Anyone who hasn't unlocked a piece sees its first part: about 180 words, always ending at the end of a paragraph. Lead with the writing itself, and keep notes, credits and disclaimers lower down.

Proofread before you publish. When you publish an update to a piece that's already out, it becomes a new version. Readers who already unlocked the piece keep the version they unlocked; your changes reach readers who unlock after the update.

Title, subtitle and cover change for everyone. They aren't part of a version, so a change shows to every reader at once, including past ones.

There's no scheduling. A piece goes live when you press Publish. You can prepare drafts ahead and publish each one when you want it out.

Adding images

You can add images anywhere in your piece. Start a new line and click the image button beside it. You can also drag an image from your computer onto the page, or paste one you've copied, such as a screenshot.

• File types: JPEG, PNG, WebP, and GIF, up to 10 MB per image, one at a time. iPhone photos saved as HEIC need to be converted to JPEG first.
• Captions and alt text: Add a caption beneath an image if it needs context. Select the image to add alt text, a short description that helps readers using screen readers understand it.
• The preview: For paid pieces, readers see about the first 180 words before unlocking. Images placed in that stretch are visible without an unlock, too.
• Image rights: Only upload images you have the right to use. Giving credit alone doesn't grant permission. Images must also follow our Content Policy.

Helping readers find you

Pin a piece to your profile. Your profile shows the pinned piece first, then your newest. For a series, pin the first installment so new readers start at the beginning.

Followers hear about new pieces. Readers who follow you get an email when you publish something new.

Tag the links you share. Add ?from= and a short label to a link to one of your pieces, such as ?from=newsletter or ?from=instagram. It helps us see which places bring readers to your work. It works on links to a piece, not to your profile.

What we look for

When we read your work, here's what we're looking for:

Original thought. The piece should contain your own ideas, analysis, perspective, or experience. Writing that couldn't have been written by anyone else — not because it's perfect, but because it's distinctly yours.

Human authorship. Your work should be substantially written by you. We don't prohibit AI assistance for editing or brainstorming, but the ideas, structure, and voice should be recognizably human.

Substantive content. The piece should offer genuine value — an argument, a story, a framework, an investigation, an insight. We're not looking for a specific length, but we are looking for depth.

Honest representation. The title, subtitle, and preview should accurately represent what a reader will find after unlocking. Because readers commit part of their balance before seeing the full piece, misleading framing is a particular concern.

Craft. The piece should be readable — coherent structure, reasonable grammar, clear expression. We're not expecting literary perfection. We value diverse voices and styles. But the work should demonstrate effort and care.

If we take a piece off our discovery surfaces, we'll tell you specifically what to improve, and the piece stays live at its own URL in the meantime. You're welcome to revise, or publish something new. The full criteria are in the Content Policy.

How you get paid

Every time a reader unlocks your work, you earn 80% of the price. That includes unlocks made with a free pass: new readers get two, and OpenStand pays your share on them. Card fees come out of our share, never yours. Earnings accumulate in your balance.

Payouts run monthly. Each cycle is a calendar month — the 1st through the last day. We close the books in the first few days of the following month and send payouts on the 5th. You'll need a connected payout account to receive one.

There's a $10 minimum per payout. Below it, your earnings roll forward to the next cycle. They are never forfeited and never held from you. The minimum exists because every payout carries a fixed processing cost, and batching small amounts keeps that cost from eating into what writers earn. If you close your account, we pay everything you've earned, with no minimum.

Prices and earnings are always displayed in dollars — you never need to think about how they're stored internally.

Content guidelines

OpenStand has a three-layer content policy. The short version:

Layer 1 (platform rules) are hard lines — harmful content, hate, harassment, plagiarism, fraud, spam, illegal content, sexually explicit material. Violating these can result in content removal or account suspension.

Layer 2 (discovery standards) are the bar we hold our discovery surfaces to. Not meeting these doesn't remove your content — it means we may take it off those surfaces, where it stays live at its own URL. We'll tell you what to improve.

Layer 3 (reader trust commitments) are our promises to readers about what they'll find here — that we read what's published and act on what doesn't belong, that previews represent the full piece, and that unlocks are permanent.

Read the full Content Policy for the complete picture.

Questions or feedback

We're a small team and genuinely want to hear from creators. If you have questions about the platform, feedback on a review decision, or ideas for improving the creator experience, email us at support@openstand.co.

We reply to every email.