Free Trial
Do you have a free trial?
Yes! Novelcrafter offers a 21-day free trial of our top-tier plan (specialist). During this time period, you have access to all features we offer.
You do not need to put in any payment details in order to access the free trial. The trial phase starts immediately after sign-up.
If you don't decide to subscribe to Novelcrafter at the end of your trial, no further action is needed. Your data won't be deleted after the trial runs out, so you can come back any time.
How does the free trial work?
When you sign up, you will immediately have access to all the features of Novelcrafter for 21 days, regardless of plan. If you decide to continue with a subscription, you will be charged the monthly or yearly price of that plan, depending on your choice.
You do not need to provide any payment methods when signing up, so you will not be automatically charged upon the completion of your trial.
I am on the free trial and can't access the payment portal to sign up!
Firstly, thank you so much for wanting to subscribe earlier than you need to - we really appreciate that!
To ensure you get the most out of your free trial, we don't unlock the payment options until you are in the last few days of your trial. So have fun, write, and enjoy access to all features for as long as you can!
If you do want to subscribe early, don't hesitate to contact us and we'll prepare a link.
Managing your Subscription
Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?
Yes, you can upgrade or downgrade your plan at any time. If you upgrade, you will be charged the prorated amount for the rest of the month.
If you upgrade from a plan: The difference between the current plan and the new plan will be billed, taking the remaining billing period into account. If you are half-way through a month, you only pay half of the upgrade.
If you downgrade from a plan: The difference to the new plan will be added as credit to your account and be applied to your next payment/invoice.
For more information, see here.
Note for people subscribed using PayPal via LemonSqueezy:
Currently, this specific payment provider does not allow switching payment plans when subscribed using PayPal as your payment option.
Can I change my billing frequency?
Yes, you can change your billing frequency at any time. If you change your billing frequency, you will be charged the prorated amount for the rest of the month. This works similarly to the upgrading/downgrading of a plan (see above).
Can I pause my subscription?
Yes! Simply go to your Profile Menu -> Manage subscription and open the billing portal to pause your subscription.
Important Note: Our payment provider is currently experiencing a bug, where when you pause mid- subscription term, you are charged again upon renewal. We recommend setting your date to pause from the end of your current month for now.
For example, if you have three weeks left when you pause, when you restart your subscription you will still have three weeks until you are next charged.
What happens to my novels if I pause or cancel my subscription?
If you pause or cancel your subscription, your work is still available to you in a read-only format. There is currently no time limit for how long you can access your novels in this fashion. Your novels won't be deleted if you pause or cancel your membership.
You can also export the codex and manuscript while the novel is in read-only mode, and delete your novels.
Why is there another company on my billing when I check my bank account?
We handle our payments through a Merchant of Record (MoR) which is a fancy term for "they collect the money, and handle taxes and compliance, too". Instead of dealing with us as a business directly, customers go to this intermediary who then handles all compliance and tax stuff for us. At the end of the month we get the payout, hassle-free. Since we operate on a global scale, staying compliant with country-specific regulations and taxation rules is hard without such a system in place. This also allows us to offer payments in various currencies which we don't have to handle the conversion for.
As such, payments can never be deducted from us as "Novelcrafter" directly, and will always have to be listed with our MoR's name instead. However, there are differences to this depending on your payment method:
1. When paying with a credit card, the transaction should contain a hint to our name, in addition to the MoR's
2. When paying via PayPal the transaction will neither list our name, nor the product's, but if you look into the payment details in the PayPal dashboard, it will show up in there (just not on your bank statement)
If you signed up for Novelcrafter pre-April, your payment is colleted through LemonSqueezy.
In April we changed out payment processor. With Paddle (our new MoR) they list how the payment will appear at the end of the invoice (e.g. for Credit Card payments we will appear as "NOVELCRFTR", for PayPal payments there won't be anything).
Can I cancel my subscription?
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time. If you cancel, you will be able to use your plan until the end of your billing cycle, and you will not be charged again.
If you simply want to take a break, there's no need to cancel your subscription; you can pause it instead! That way you don't have to enter your billing details when you come back.
How do I delete my account?
To delete your account, go into account/security from your user icon. The option is at the bottom of the interface (see image below).
In the account settings, locate the Danger Zone:
Deleting your account will not automatically cancel your subscription. Please make sure to cancel your account beforehand. If you cancel your plan you might want to wait until your time runs out before deleting your account.
What is your refund policy?
Refund requests should be made to Novelcrafter’s customer support. Refunds may be granted at the sole discretion of Novelcrafter within a specified period after the transaction (e.g., within 14 days of the charge). After this period, no refunds will be processed. Users dissatisfied with the service are encouraged to contact our support team for assistance or resolution.
External Services
I have a subscription to Claude/ChatGPT/Poe... can I use these with Novelcrafter?
Flat rate services like Poe, ChatGPT Plus or Claude Pro cannot be used by any other service. They're exclusive to their platform and thus using them inside of Novelcrafter is not possible.
We instead recommend linking to OpenRouter or OpenAI directly.
I have a Claude API key - can I use this in Novelcrafter?
Currently (May 2024) we do not support using a Claude API directly with Novelcrafter, because of limitations placed by Anthropic.
Specialist Plan
If I'm on the Specialist plan, does the person I invite have to also have a Novelcrafter account?
In order to invite someone to your novel or series, they already need to have an account. Depending on the role you want to invite them as:
Editor: Your collaborators will need to have a paid plan (even scribe) if they want to add or edit data. In the invited novel, they will have the same privileges as those with an artisan plan.
Viewer: If they only need to view data, a free account is sufficient.