The Top Ten and Best Seller Chart Rules

Each month, the Top 5 novel openings in the Top Ten receive one free professional critique each from our literary professionals, who include editors for leading literary agents and publishers such as Bloombury, Orion and Curtis Brown. See YouWriteOn's About Us page for details of our literary professionals. The Top 5 stories, including short stories, then progress to our Best Sellers Chart, which is a showcase for all the highest rated stories on the site. Top 5 novel openings that enter the Best Sellers Chart each year are considered for our annual Book of the Year Awards which are announced in March the following year. Short stories in the Top 5 which enter the Best Sellers Chart automatically qualify for the annual YouWriteOn Short Story Anthology Collection which are part of the Book of the Year Awards. 

Top Ten Rules

1) The Final Top Ten for each month is displayed early morning on the first day of each following month e.g. April’s Top Ten is displayed on May 1^st as the complete last day of each month counts in the ratings. The free professional critiques will be awarded to the Top 5 novel openings in the Top Ten that day. If there are not 5 novel openings in the Top Ten that day, for example due to a high number of short story entrants, then the remainder of the 5 free critiques will be awarded to the novel openings that are the highest rated BestSeller Chart longevity entries for that month. BestSeller Chart longevity entries are stories which have not entered the Top 5 at the start of any given month but which have gained 25 days or more collectively in the Top Ten over 3 complete months, these are displayed in the BestSeller Chart New Entries section on the first day of each month.

2) Once a story enters the Top Ten, the author must attach one new Reading Credit to that story every seven days to continue to qualify for the Top Ten that month. The Reading Credit requirement is to help ensure all stories get a representative amount of feedback each over the month. A Reading Credit is gained by reviewing another members' opening chapters or short story.

The date by which a Top Ten author must next attach their Reading Credit will be displayed on the cover page of the author’s story. The cover page is displayed by clicking on your story title on your My Page. A Reading Credit must be attached once every 7 days and not, for example, five in advance to cover a month. 

3) Only opening chapters of novels and short stories qualify for the Top Ten. Writers will still be able to get feedback for other chapters from their books but these won't feature in Top Ten.

4) Members require 5 reviews to enter the Top Ten, this is the minimum amount of reviews required to start to assess representative ratings for a story in the Top Ten. Each night, the ratings system will also check that a reading credit has been attached by the member to the story within the previous seven days, otherwise the story will not enter the Top Ten. 

5) Stories cannot enter the Top Ten for the first time during the last 7 days of a month. This rule helps to ensure that new story achieves a similar representative amount of reviews as stories that have been receiving reviews for longer during the  month or preceding months. New storiesthat cannot enter during the last 7 days of a month will enter the charts the following month.

6) Novel chapters must be between 6,000 to 10,000 words to qualify for the book charts, and short stories must be between 2,000 to 5,000 words. Members can upload chapters under these word length requirements to get feedback, but chapters under the specified requirements will not be eligible for the Top Ten.

7) By popular member request, stories in position 11 to 30 are required to have attached a reading credit in the last 30 days to feature in these chart positions. This keeps the chart active and current. For those new to YouWriteOn, a reading credit is gained by reviewing another members opening chapters or short story, for which the reviewer receives a review back for their story in turn. Stories that haven't attached a reading credit in the past 30 days will be archived to the back of the charts. If they reattach a credit and meet the 30 day rule they will be 'credit active' active again and enter the charts again.  

8) Top Five stories can only be awarded one free professional critique. If a Best Seller Chart member who has been awarded a critique wishes to do a rewrite of their Best Seller Chapters, they should add this to their Best Seller Chart version. Author rewrites of Best Seller Chart books should not be reentered by authors for competition for the Top Ten, and will be removed if this happens.

Stories require only 4 reviews to enter chart positions 11 to 30. Once highly positioned stories in positions 11 to 30 gain five reviews, which is the qualifying amount for the Top Ten, they will see if their score merits a Top Ten place. 

The Top 5  in the Top Ten each month also enter our Best Sellers Chart, which is a showcase for the highest rated book chapters on the site. There is no reading credit requirement for stories in the Best Sellers Chart as they have already been rated there by members while meeting the rules above.

Other Ways to Qualify for the Best Sellers Chart

If a story has been in the Top Ten without qualifying for the Top 5 and a free professional critique, it can still qualify for the Best Sellers Chart. The approach that members take in providing constructive and helpful reviews for each other benefits all, as each book that enters the Best Sellers Chart will benefit from the quality of the books around it when visitors browse.

Other ways to qualify for the Best Sellers Chart are as follows: if a story gains 25 days cumulatively in the Top Ten over 3 complete months it will automatically go to the Best Sellers Chart early in the fourth month. A story which enters the Best Sellers Chart through the 25-day rule does not gain a professional critique, but will be considered for our Book of the Year Awards. A writer who enters the Best Sellers Chart through the 25-day rule may also upload a new version of their story if they wish to try to qualify again for a professional critique. Many writers have benefited and gained a professional critique through doing this, as often their new rewrites are improved from the feedback they receive, and also their new versions are not encumbered by ratings from before they revised. 

This process gives members up to three attempts each of a free professional critique in the Top Ten, while also balancing the need to give other members a chance at entering the Top Ten. Members can also upload rewrites, as revised chapters and short stories based on member reviews which collectively point to strengths and areas which might be improved tend to be much higher rated.












































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