About The Pollionian

A public library for new writing

After his triumph in 39 BC, the Roman statesman Gaius Asinius Pollio built Rome's first public library with the spoils of war. Pliny the Elder wrote that by founding it, Pollio was the first to make the talents of men public property.

Pliny, Natural History 35.10

Connecting readers with writers

Pollio's library stood in the Hall of Liberty, near the Forum, and anyone could walk in. Its rooms held portraits of the great authors, and one living one, the scholar Varro. We take both ideas from him: the doors are open to everyone, and writers are honored while they are still writing.

We believe the best way to find good writing is to read it, and the best way to support a writer is to pay them for what you read. Everything here follows from that. A read counts when you reach the last line. A vote counts under rules anyone can check. A membership dollar, after card fees and a small operating share, goes to the writers you read.

Short fiction is where many writers begin and some choose to stay. It can be read in one sitting and remembered for years. We give it a home where a first story can find its first readers, where readers can follow a writer from one piece to the next, and where the conversation between them is the whole point.

What we believe

Seven principles, in priority order. When two conflict, the higher one wins, and we settle it in public.

The author controls the work. You choose your name or a pen name, who can read it, whether it takes feedback, and what AI may do with it. You can withdraw it at any time, and you can publish it anywhere else.
Humans write here; AI is labeled and kept apart. AI-generated stories are welcome only behind a label and a filter that readers choose. They never compete with writers in rankings, contests or money, and AI touches your work only with your consent.
Readers decide what rises, under public rules. Ranking is open source and explainable. We moderate for law and abuse, never for taste.
Money follows readers to writers. After card fees and a 10% operating share, every membership dollar goes to authors, directed by the awards readers give and the stories they read.
The record belongs to the author. Every work gets a dated record of authorship the moment it is posted. You decide whether that record is public.
The door is open. Anyone may submit, in English, with no fees, credentials, or reading periods.
Independent and accountable. We're an independent, non-commercial project with open code, and we never sell readers' attention.

How it works

Write: Post a sketch, a draft, or a finished story. It is dated and yours from the first minute.
Read: Reading is free. A read counts when you reach the last line.
Rank: Readers vote finished stories up or down, one vote per account per story. The rules are on the ledger.
Award: Pin an award to a story you finished, like a ribbon at the county fair. Every reader has a set of free ones.
Collect: Each month's stories become an issue in the archive when the month ends.
Play: Every month we pick a public-domain classic and set an exercise based on it. You have three weeks to write. In the fourth, readers read every entry blind and vote, and the best-ranked entry wins. This month's contest.

What we will never do

Run ads or sell data.
Charge you to submit.
Train AI on your work, or let a partner do it.
Remove a story because we dislike it.
Change the ranking rules without announcing it first.

Who runs it

The Pollionian is an independent, non-commercial project, run by Joseph Michael Mercurio III. The ranking rules are published on the ledger, and every change is announced before it takes effect. The code is open for anyone to check.