FAQ
Switch-Lit is a creative writing platform designed for turn-based collaborative fiction, poetry, and prose. Each work becomes an imaginative conversation between any two creative writers: one starts, the other responds in kind, and the narrative world comes alive via alternating chapters. The final results are multi-perspective stories and genre-bending experiments that can read like collective dreams.
Launched publicly in 2024, Switch-Lit has been recognized as a 2025 SXSW Innovation Award Finalist (“Connection and Communication” category), a featured panelist at Harvard University’s inaugural “Social Media Solutions for the Public Interest” workshop, and the Brooklyn Public Library’s Community Incubator Grant program.
The Switch-Lit platform serves individual writers, fellow publishers, and writing educators as a free digital tool for writing and self-publishing turn-based collaborative works, and also as an “arthouse Internet” distributor of finished co-authored works curated by the Switch-Lit editorial team.
Writing is often a solitary act, made more difficult by the cognitive challenges of the digital era. We provide a safe online space for writers of all cultural backgrounds, creative disciplines, and experience levels seeking artistic experimentation and/or social connection.
To preview the full experience and platform in action, watch the “Switch-Lit Product Tour” video with the following key steps:
- Sign up for a free account (and claim your writer color 🎨)
- Start a story with customizable creative settings (word limit, number of chapters, days per turn, and writer order)
- Send your story proposal to someone in your personal network. (Need a writing partner? Join Subrosa 🌹 to get paired with another Switch-Lit writer)
- Take turns writing, reading, and editing the next chapters of your story via the custom designed Switch-Lit text editor for collaborative storytelling.
- Unlock the chat feature during the editing process to connect in real-time with your partner.
- Title your story and reveal its original cover art.
- Submit your story to us for publishing in the Switch-Lit Library 📚.
No problem. If you are an individual writer looking for a Switch-Lit writing partner, you can join any of our active “Subrosa” rounds and get paired with another writer from the Switch-Lit community.
For an overview of the Subrosa writing process and experience, check out our “Writing a Subrosa Story” page.
As a “cognitively responsible” online platform, Switch-Lit is designed to foster active listening and social trust between writers. By limiting active stories to three (3) per writer, we encourage writers to honor their existing partnerships with a level of presence and accountability that allows each story to reach its fullest potential.
Technical Integrity: We expect writers to proofread and edit their stories through Switch-Lit’s built-in editing process, which also includes a chat feature to communicate in real-time with your partner during the editing process.
Word Count: We are open to any length of submissions with respect to the story settings chosen by writers at the start of a Switch-Lit story (i.e. “word limit per chapter”, “number of chapters per writer”, “time limit per turn”).
Final Approval: If selected, Switch-Lit will perform a technical copy and/or line edit for syntax and clarity without changing any creative content. Writers will have final approval on any changes before publishing online.
Writer Byline & Bio: Writers’ byline will include a name (their real or chosen pen name), and their writer color found in their “Profile Settings” page. We encourage writers to fill out their “Writer Demographics” for the purpose of potentially highlighting any cross-cultural value behind the collaboration.
After a story has been edited and titled via the Switch-Lit platform, writers can find their finished story in their personal library (“My Library” page), where writers can click the “Submit to us” button located next to each of their finished works:
We only review works submitted directly through the Switch-Lit platform. If you have already written a turn-based collaborative work with another person, consider starting a Switch-Lit story with your existing partner and story content via the “Start a Story” page.
Any individual writer can freely use the Switch-Lit platform to create and self-publish their own collaborative works, but we also offer a formal path to monthly publication in our official Switch-Lit Library.
The Switch-Lit editorial team reviews submissions on a monthly basis, looking for works that embody the connective power and creative possibilities of turn-based collaborative storytelling in the digital age. If selected, your story undergoes a professional copy-editing process before being featured to our global community.
For a full breakdown of our publishing process (i.e. monthly prompts, writer pairings, submission review, etc.), please visit our Publishing & Editorial Process page.
Both writers share joint and equal ownership of whatever they co-create. By using the Switch-Lit platform, writers are simply giving Studio Esmé (creators of Switch-Lit) permission to host, display, and archive your work so it has a permanent digital home.
If your story is selected for publishing in the Switch-Lit Library, we become an active champion for its future. This means that while you and your partner still own the work, Switch-Lit gets a “first look” opportunity to bring the work to life via multimedia adaptation (film, print, audio, video game, etc.) We see this as a partnership in the spirit of our mission to manifest the collective imagination of diverse writing communities through the connective power of collaborative storytelling.
For the nitty-gritty details, check out our Terms and Conditions.
Switch-Lit provides a specialized digital environment to scout for new voices and foster innovative collaborations among your existing contributors. Editors can use our tools to foster provocative pairings of writers within their community to generate fresh content, or curate special collaborative issues and anthologies born from our turn-based process. Additionally, hosting private Subrosa rounds allows you to keep your remote community creatively connected and engaged between publishing cycles.
Switch-Lit is a proven creative activation for festivals and cultural campaigns, serving as a perfect “pre-script” or “post-script” to any live or digital event. Programmers can use the platform to engage remote audiences through themed writing challenges or foster provocative pairings that transcend geographic boundaries. By hosting public Subrosa rounds, you can archive the “collective imagination” of your festival while maintaining a vibrant, creatively connected community year-round.
Switch-Lit is a practical tool for building social trust, information literacy, and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). Educators and librarians can use the platform to manage classroom cohorts through provocative pairings that reward active listening, or curate student anthologies that celebrate diverse perspectives. We are currently developing Switch-Lit for educators —a moderated portal designed to foster these collaborative habits in a “cognitively responsible” environment. [Join our EDU Waitlist] for early access.
Yes, you can check out our Press & Media Kit to learn more about Switch-Lit and download various brand assets (logos, illustrations, video teasers, etc.)
Feel free to send us an email anytime with questions, support, or requests: editors@switch-lit.com.
You can also join our Substack newsletter for the latest updates from the Switch-Lit community.
