How to read a chapter submitted to your book

When someone submits a chapter to a community book or private group book you own or manage, that chapter becomes pending and is made available to you for review. Submitted chapters are no longer private drafts and are intended to be read, evaluated, and acted on.

Pending chapters appear in multiple places so they are hard to miss. They appear inside the book itself, and they also appear on your dashboard task list. In addition, your main navigation will show an active alert indicating that there is something waiting for your attention. These indicators exist only for books that involve collaboration. Personal books do not use task lists or alerts for chapter review.

To read a submitted chapter, open the book from your dashboard or select it directly from your task list. Pending chapters are clearly marked so they are easy to distinguish from approved chapters. Selecting a pending chapter opens the full chapter text for review.

As the book owner or an approved manager, you have full control over submitted chapters in community and private group books. You can approve the chapter as written, reject it outright, or return it with edits and notes. Returning a chapter allows you to make direct changes to the submitted text before sending it back to the author.

When a chapter is returned, it remains in a pending state and is reassigned to the original author. Returned chapters appear on the author’s dashboard task list and trigger their own navigation alert, just like the original submission did for the book owner. At this point, the author has access to the same tools the book owner used. They can accept the returned version, make additional edits, or reject the changes.

This back-and-forth can continue as needed. A chapter is not approved into the book until both the book owner (or manager) and the chapter author accept the final version. Once that happens, the chapter is approved and included in the book.

In community and private group books, this review process exists to protect everyone involved. Other contributors may be working on chapters that depend on approved content, and readers may eventually see the finalized version. Pending and returned states ensure that changes are deliberate and agreed upon.

Personal books behave differently. In a personal book, submitted chapters do not go through a shared review process. Submitting a chapter still runs platform checks and reports, but the chapter remains fully readable and editable by the author at all times. Task lists, alerts, and pending review workflows do not apply because no other contributors are affected.

Reading a submitted or returned chapter does not change its status. Status only changes when an explicit action is taken, such as approving the chapter or accepting a returned revision.