$50 for your first 2 Shorts
Paid via PayPal within 7 days of approval once both pieces are accepted.
Founding Author Program
The ground floor doesn't stay open long.
ARC is launching — and before the world finds out, we're hand-picking 100 founding authors to be the first voices on the platform.
Write 2 Shorts. Earn $50. Keep your rights. Own your page.
When the marketing hits, your name is already there.
Every author who joins before the push gets carried by the wave instead of chasing it. They become the proof. They become the discovery. By the time readers flood in, founding authors already have read counts, followers, and a profile that looks established.
Claim My Founding Author Spot →
100 spots. No follower minimum. No gatekeepers. Just your story.
Reader experience
How Shorts work
Flip. Read the hook. Tap in.
Shorts move like reels — fast, visual, frictionless. You see the title, you feel the hook, you tap to dive in. Three to ten minutes later you've lived a complete story, made a choice, and landed an ending that was yours.
No chapters. No commitment. No "I'll finish it later."
Just a story that fits in the time you actually have.
Writers need to feel the reader experience so they understand what they're writing for. When they get it, the format stops feeling like a constraint and starts feeling like a superpower.
Suspense
Someone Is Watching From Apartment 4B
Every night at exactly 11:13 PM, the lights across the courtyard flicker once.
3 minTap to read →
Flip
Feed card
Tonight, Maya sees something in the window.
She has seconds to decide: keep watching from the safety of her apartment… or cross the courtyard.
Momentum holds. No chapter breaks. No friction.
Scroll · one continuous beat
Tap
Inside the read
What does Maya do?
A: Keep watching
B: Go to Apartment 4B
Choose
The fork
Same story as Apartment 4B on our Shorts page — open it on your phone to feel the full loop.
Read more about Shorts →Why ARC exists
Every great story deserves a reader. We built ARC because the gap between a writer with something to say and an audience ready to listen has never been smaller — and yet most platforms still make it feel impossible.
ARC is short-form interactive fiction built for the way people actually read today. Fast. Mobile. Personal. Stories that fit in five minutes and stay with you all day.
We're building this library from scratch and we want the founding authors to be the ones who shape what this platform becomes. Not as content. As partners.
Here's the deal
Founding Author badge
Permanent recognition on your profile.
Your audience, your IP
You keep full rights to everything you write.
First access to revenue share
When ARC launches its reader monetization program, founding authors get in first.
What a Short looks like
- 500–1500 words
- One branching choice point mid-story
- Two endings (readers pick their path)
- Any genre: romance, thriller, mystery, drama, supernatural
- Original work, not previously published on ARC
Structure
HookMain plotChoice A / BEnding A / B
See a live example on the Shorts page: Apartment 4B.
Explore Shorts on ARC
Read how Shorts work, browse examples, and see what readers experience before you write your first piece for the Founding Author Program.
Add a new Shortis for writers who already created an ARC account in the app. You'll sign in on the web to publish from your browser.
Apply to the Founding Author Program
100 spots. First come, first reviewed. We'll respond to every application. Already on ARC? Include your username below — or add a new Short if you're ready to publish from the app account you already have.