Getting started
What is NeatRead, in one line?
Your own publication: a fast, clean site, a mailing list and membership plans, all in one place. Paid sign-up is coming soon.
Link to this answerHow do I start my own publication?
Sign up at Start a publication with your email and a name. You can set it up and write straight away. It goes live once we approve it, usually within a day, and we email you.
Link to this answerI write on someone else’s team. What can I do?
Write and edit your own posts, send them to an admin, make gift links for your published posts and edit your profile. You see only your own posts, not other writers’ work or the publication’s numbers. Answers on this page that say “an owner or admin” are theirs to do.
Link to this answerDo I own what I write?
Yes. Your posts stay yours. NeatRead only gets permission to host and deliver them, and that ends when a post is deleted. An owner or admin deletes posts.
Link to this answerCan readers support me directly?
Yes. Add a support link to your profile: your page on Ko-fi, Buy Me a Coffee, PayPal.me, Patreon, GitHub Sponsors, Liberapay, Open Collective, a Stripe payment link, Portaly, ECPay or OPay. Once your profile is public, a Support button appears under each of your posts and on your author page. Readers pay you there directly, NeatRead takes nothing, and your studio Overview shows how many readers pressed it in the last 30 days.
Link to this answerI already write on Substack, Medium, WordPress or Ghost. Can I move?
Yes. An owner or admin uploads your export and NeatRead brings in your posts and your subscriber list. Plain HTML and Markdown files work too.
Link to this answerCan I use my own domain?
Yes, with a hand from us. Email support@neatread.net with the domain, such as yourname.com. We connect it and tell you which DNS record to add. Once it works, the owner adds it in the publication’s settings.
Can I run it with a team?
Yes. Invite admins and writers, each with their own sign-in. Admins publish and manage the team; only the owner changes the publication’s settings. Writers write and send their drafts to an admin, and see only their own posts.
Link to this answerWriting and publishing
What is writing like?
A clean editor with headings, images, tables, code and text sizes. Tag posts by topic so readers find more of your work.
Link to this answerHow does my draft get published?
Press “Send to an admin”. An admin sees it on their Posts page and publishes it from there. Keep editing if you like: they read the saved version.
Link to this answerCan I schedule a post?
Yes. An owner or admin picks a date and time and NeatRead publishes it. Tick the email box and your members get it too.
Link to this answerWhat if I change my mind after publishing?
The last 50 versions of each post are kept. Open the history and bring back any of them.
Link to this answerWhy can’t I change the cover, topics or who can read on a live post?
A live post’s settings reach readers straight away, so only an owner or admin can change them. You can keep editing the text: your changes save as a draft and go live when an owner or admin publishes them. To change a setting, ask one of them.
Link to this answerCan I keep part of a post for members?
Yes. Choose where the free preview ends. Everyone reads the opening; members read the rest. You can also make a post sign-in only, so readers join free to read it.
Link to this answerWill my posts reach readers in another language?
Yes. NeatRead translates posts between English and Traditional Chinese. Readers see a clear “translated” note and a link to your original. A translation can take a while when many posts are waiting. An owner or admin can edit the translation, or turn it off for any post. Changes you publish later are not translated again on their own: readers keep the earlier translation, and the editor suggests updating it.
Link to this answerCan readers listen instead of read?
Yes. An owner or admin can give a post an audio version, so readers can listen on the go.
Link to this answerWhy is the audio or translation missing?
Both run on a daily allowance. When a day’s is used up, the work waits or fails. Try again the next day, and write to us if it keeps happening.
Link to this answerCan I turn my posts into a book?
Yes. An owner or admin groups chapters into a book and NeatRead builds an EPUB your readers can download. A book can be free, or kept for members of a plan.
Link to this answerCan I run a regular column?
Yes. Group posts into a series. NeatRead shows readers the next issue and highlights what is popular.
Link to this answerCan I run a poll?
Yes. Choose Poll as the post’s type in the editor and add the options. Readers who can read the post vote on it.
Link to this answerCan I send drafts from other tools?
Yes. An owner or admin makes an API key on the Automations page. A key can create and list drafts only, so a person still publishes every post.
Link to this answerGrowing your audience
Does every post go to my readers’ inbox?
Yes, if you want. An owner or admin sends a post as an email to your members when it goes live.
Link to this answerWhat keeps readers coming back each week?
An owner or admin turns on the weekly digest on the Sharing page, and your new posts go out once a week, on the day and at the time they set there. New members also get the weekly recap, a designed email with your most-read posts.
Link to this answerCan my readers bring their friends?
Yes. Each reader gets an invite link, and owners and admins see who brought in new readers.
Link to this answerWill search engines find me?
Yes. NeatRead tells Bing and other IndexNow search engines about new posts right away, and Google finds them through your sitemap. Each translation gets its own address so it can be found in both languages.
Link to this answerCan I give one post away for free?
Yes. Make a gift link and share it. Anyone with the link can read that post. You can limit how many times or for how many days it works.
Link to this answerEarning and insights
Can readers pay me yet?
Not yet. You can set up plans and prices now and choose what each plan unlocks. Until payments are connected, readers see them as not yet on sale.
Link to this answerCan I offer more than one plan?
Yes. Create tiers, such as Supporter and Insider, and decide which posts each tier reads.
Link to this answerWhat stops people sharing paid posts?
An account can be signed in on up to 3 devices at once. Paid text also carries an invisible mark that can trace a leaked copy back to the account it came from.
Link to this answerHow do I know what’s working?
Owners and admins get a dashboard of reads, new members, top posts, where readers came from, their country and device, and how your emails perform. Download any of it as CSV.
Link to this answerIs my subscriber list mine?
Yes. Owners and admins can download your subscribers as CSV whenever they like. You use your list to run your publication, and NeatRead never sells it.
Link to this answer
Can readers talk back?
Yes. Readers can comment, star posts and vote in polls. Owners and admins moderate the comments.
Link to this answer