Welcome to Ladder Writers – an international creative writing website where by earning points you climb up the levels of the ladder to become a paid critic, contest judge and contest coach!

One of the ways to earn points is by entering and winning creative writing competitions. The current creative writing competitions include a short story competition with a cash prize of £60 (approx $100 or €66) and a poetry competition with a cash prize of €30 (or $50 or €33). The best entries will be made into audio recordings and used in an arts exhibition.

You begin here, at the bottom of the ladder.

Below are further details about the two main ways you can earn these points and make money through your writing: the creative writing competitions and the ladder.

To find out the details of the current creative writing competitions and how to apply, see creative writing contests.

Below is a summary of what you get from entering and winning.

• You receive 40 points for entering the main creative writing competition, 200 points if you win, and 80 points if you win one of the four awards, given to four stories which win categories.
• The winner gets paid £60 and the four winners of the awards get £5.
• You receive creative writing critiques for all short story entries!
• There will be a creative writing competition every month, more as the site grows.
• This month there is an extra competition, a poetry competition.
• You win €30 (or $50 or €33) and the best entries will be made into audio recordings and used in an arts exhibition.
• You receive 30 points just for entering.
• For more information, see creative writing contests.
• There will also be Bonus Rounds to get extra points so keep your eyes peeled! Look here!

The website works with a point-based system. The more points you have, the higher your level and the more chances to get paid. You get points for signing up, entering contests, winning contests, reaching the end of adventure stories, writing or illustrating interactive adventure stories, etc. For full details of what gets you what points, check out The Points.

Once you have 500 points (Level 3), you will become a critiquer, and I will send you competition entries to critique. Critiques don't have to be long, a third of a side of A4, 200-300 words. I pay 50p (approx 80¢ or 55 European cents)per critique, so that's £5 for 10 (approx $8 or €5.5).

When you reach Level 4 you'll become a competition judge and I'll ask you to shortlist competition entries as well, and pay another 50p for every story you shortlist. So if you're given 10 stories to both critique and shortlist you'll get £10 (approx $16 or €11).

Then at Level 5 you get paid £1 (approx $1.6 or €1.1) for each Level 2 member you coach with a competition entry. If they win you get £10 (approx $16 or €11) of the competition cash prize. Then at Level 6 you can run your own contests on the website, and you get 50p (approx 80¢ or 55 European cents) from the entry fee of everyone who enters! And then Level 7s get paid to proofread and edit books and stories before they're sent for publishing.

For details of how many points you need to reach each level and what you get paid at each level, check out The Ladder.

There are the basics. First step, enter the next competition and win yourself £60. You need to be a member to enter, becoming a member is free, and you'll get given 15 points to get you started, an extra 15 if you answer a couple of quick questions. So get going.