When Karan and I first started ONLY POEMS back in September 2023, we had no idea it would become the beautiful behemoth that it is, and we couldn't be more grateful. We wanted to build a online magazine that blossomed into a community where poetry was read, loved, talked about, and shared every day! Not gated behind prestige or choked by the algorithmic gods or churned as part of social content. You – our most sincere and dedicated readers – have made this possible.
While we've had different membership platforms, we knew for a while that we needed to create something extra special for our current and future members. This Third Space, as we're calling it, is an effort in that direction.
The Platform
This website, your member site, is hosted on Ghost, an open-source publishing platform that also doubles as a newsletter tool. Of course, as some of you might already know, ONLY POEMS uses Mailerlite for our main newsletter and Substack for ONLY POEMS DAILY, so this platform's sole purpose is for us is to serve you, our amazing members.
Ghost also connects with Stripe, our payment processor. So when you need to change any details related to your membership, you can do that through here.
The Space
I've set up the Third Space using the Thesis template. This creates a very clean and beautiful look, in my opinion. One thing is though, that the template's focus is the Blog, as you might have noticed. Hence I chose this deliberately because I wanted to focus on the work you, our members, would feel inclined to share with the small, intimate writing community we'd like to build here. More on this below.
Perks
Your membership perks are tied to the Tiers, which are "Member", "Friend", and "Patron". You can find all the details for each tier here and confirm which tier you're on through your membership portal (once you sign in with the email you used to initially sign up).
Every member, no matter their tier, gets access to this Third Space and to our year-round free submissions portal. Outside of that, there are some extra perks like free workshops, free feedback letters and more that "Friend" and "Patron" tier members also get.
Community
We have a lot of things in the works for our members, but please bear with us as we slowly roll everything out. (Some hints: open mics, communal readings, in-person events!!)
Though we put all our hearts into this work we do, please do know that much of it truly is a labor of love from a very (very) small group of people who also have families, day jobs, and other responsibilities. We deeply appreciate your grace and patience.
For now, we hope you can explore the space here as it develops and get to know each other.
Membership
All memberships are automatically annual, and will renew exactly one year after your purchased (or were comped for) your membership. If you need to change, pause, or cancel anything, this can be done through your membership portal here.
More
If you have more questions, please take a look at the FAQ section to see if it has been addressed there. Otherwise, you can always reach out to us.