The beta, what it is, who gets in, what is free
For readers and authorsUpdated 5 min read
Booklabria is a closed beta by invitation. Readers never pay; authors have four plans (Author free, Creator $9, Pro $19, Publisher $59 a month, less on a year) but nothing is charged during the beta, and beta authors keep the founding price of Creator and Pro for twelve months from the day their trial starts, and have thirty days of unchanged access when billing opens; ARC files are delivered through protected, expiring links; apps for iOS and Android are on the way; nobody here can give a date.
The short answer
This page is the plain list of facts about the beta. It is what the help assistant answers from when someone asks what Booklabria is, how to get in, what it costs, or when something is coming. If a fact is not on this page, nobody at Booklabria has said it.
What the beta is
Booklabria is a social platform for readers and authors: book discovery, shelves and reviews, author profiles and the Author Journal, Reading Circles, and ARC campaigns with protected file delivery. It is a closed beta: the product is live for the people who have been invited, features are still being finished, and things change as we build. The Terms of service say what a beta means for you; the short version is that you keep your rights and your content, and you should keep your own copies of manuscripts.
Who gets in
The beta opens by invitation. There are three ways in:
- Request an invite. Request early access on the home page (every button on it says so while the beta is closed) leads to the form: an e-mail address, whether you mostly read or write, and one optional line. When a place opens, a code is sent to that address. There is no queue position to check and no way to speed it up; the same quiet answer is given whether or not an address was already on the list.
- An invite code you were given. A code opens the account form at /signup. Every code is for one kind of account, reader or author, and the code decides which. It works once, for one account, and it may carry an expiry.
- An author's reader invites. An author makes as many reader invites as they want (Studio › Invite readers). Each is a link that opens one reader account, once. Readers do not hold invites of their own.
Nobody outside the team can promise a place, and neither can the help assistant. Support cannot admit anybody either; only a code does.
What is free
Readers never pay. Shelves, reviews, ARC access, Reading Circles, Goals, Insights, Wraps and exporting your data are part of every reader account, for as long as it exists. There is no reader plan and there will not be one.
Writing here is free and the launch is the paid part. Books, series, the Journal and followers are never limited on any plan. Author (free) has one pen name and one small advance-copy campaign at a time (up to 25 readers, no delivery links); Creator ($9 a month or $90 a year) has one pen name and runs 3 campaigns at a time with up to 100 readers each; Pro ($19 or $190) is unlimited, with 5 pen names and 2 collaborators; Publisher ($590 a year, billed by invoice, 5 seats included, or $59 a month) is the imprint, with roles and one desk. A $12 campaign pass runs one campaign (up to 100 readers) without a plan, valid for 60 days from the day you buy it. Prices are in USD plus applicable tax; a year is ten months for twelve. During the beta nothing is charged: every author feature is unlocked, no card is collected, and there is no checkout. When billing opens, everyone who holds an author account that day keeps the founding price of Creator and Pro for twelve months from the day their trial starts and has thirty days of unchanged access; then the free plan's allowances apply, and a pen name or collaborator beyond them is set aside (hidden, kept, restorable), never deleted, while running campaigns finish with the limits they started under. The 14-day trial needs a card and starts with your first campaign or delivery link, not at signup; a failed payment has seven days of grace; a downgrade takes effect at the end of the paid period; readers are never charged. Plans, and what the beta unlocks and When the beta ends have the detail.
What ARC delivery does
An author runs an ARC campaign and uploads the advance copy to it. A reader applies; the author approves. The author chooses, per campaign, how an approved reader receives the book: read on Booklabria (the file stays on the server; the reader opens the book on the site or in the app and the author sees how the reading goes, as counts), download a protected copy through a link that expires fifteen minutes after it is issued, with up to five downloads per approval, every download logged and every EPUB watermarked, or have it sent to their own Kindle as a watermarked e-mail attachment, up to five sends per approval; with more than one way offered, each reader picks. The file is never at a public address. A reader's ARC reputation measures reliability (reading and reviewing on time), never how kindly they rate. Requesting an ARC and Reading or downloading your ARC cover the reader's side; Running an ARC campaign the author's.
Apps
Booklabria works in a phone's browser today. Apps for iOS and Android are on the way. There is no release date, and nobody can give one yet; when the apps are ready it will be said in the app and on the home page.
Dates
No date has been announced for the end of the beta, for billing opening, or for the apps. Anyone who quotes one is guessing. When something changes in a way that matters, you are told in the app before it takes effect.
Where to ask
Start with the help center: the search, the reader and author task lists, the topics, and Questions people ask. Booklabria AI is the launcher at the bottom right of the help pages, the home page, For readers, For authors, Pricing and Settings › Support, Ask Booklabria AI in the account menu, and the chip inside the search box (what you typed becomes the first question). It opens with a greeting and five questions to pick; the last option is always Talk to a person. It answers from these pages, shows the page each answer came from as a source card, and says so when it cannot answer; More questions under the box brings the list back. To reach a person directly, send it to the team, or say so in the dialog and your conversation travels with the message; every message is read by a person.
Where this lives
Related
- Creating your account and profile: Sign up with an invite code, an e-mail address and a password; the code decides whether the account is a reader or an author account; then fill in the profile readers see (name, username, photo, bio) under Settings › Profile.
- Plans, and what the beta unlocks: Readers never pay; there is no reader plan and never will be. Writing here is free forever: books, series, the Journal and followers are never limited on any plan. What the plans are for is the launch: advance-copy campaigns, the readers who come with them, and the people who help. Author (free) has one pen name and one small campaign at a time (up to 25 readers, no delivery links); Creator ($9 a month or $90 a year) runs 3 campaigns at a time with up to 100 readers each; Pro ($19 or $190) is unlimited with 5 pen names and 2 collaborators; Publisher ($59 or $590) is the imprint, billed yearly by invoice with 5 seats. A $12 campaign pass runs one campaign (up to 100 readers) without a plan, valid for 60 days from the day you buy it. The 14-day trial needs a card and starts with your first campaign or delivery link, not at signup. During the closed beta nothing is charged and every author feature is unlocked.
- When the beta ends: your thirty days, and what stays: The day billing opens, every author who joined in the beta keeps the founding price of Creator and Pro for twelve months from the day their trial starts and has thirty days of unchanged access. In those days you choose: Upgrade and keep everything, or Choose what stays on the free Author plan. Anything beyond the free allowances is set aside, hidden from readers, kept, and restorable the moment a plan fits; nothing is ever deleted. If you have not chosen by day thirty, what readers use most stays and the rest is set aside for you; you are told which, and can swap any time within the allowance.
- Requesting an early copy: When an author runs an active campaign, the book page shows Request this copy and the **Early copies** page lists it under **Free early copies** with the reasons it fits you; a request carries a short note, waits for the author's decision, and can be cancelled while pending. There is no waitlist.
- Reading or downloading your early copy, and how the file is protected: The author chooses per campaign how you receive an approved early copy, and may offer more than one way for you to pick from: you read it on Booklabria (the file stays on the server, you open it from My early copies, your progress is saved as you read), you download a protected copy through a link that expires fifteen minutes after it is issued (five downloads per approval, every one logged, every EPUB watermarked), or, if the author offers Send to Kindle, we e-mail the watermarked EPUB to your own Kindle address (five sends per approval). If a link expires, ask for a fresh one; if you reach a limit, write to the author or support.
- Reader and author accounts: An account is either a reader account or an author account. You choose at sign-up; a reader can become an author later from For authors, which keeps the library and reviews and cannot be undone.
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