Technical Documentation
StoriesHut Platform Architecture
Welcome to the comprehensive technical specification for StoriesHut—India's premier digital reading and publishing platform engineered to deliver feature parity with Amazon Kindle and Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) whilst maintaining strict compliance with Indian regulatory frameworks, GST mandates, and payment processing standards.
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Document Scope and Authority
This document serves as the authoritative, end-to-end developer specification for engineering teams, product managers, and technical architects responsible for building and maintaining the StoriesHut ecosystem. It encompasses the complete technical stack required to deliver a world-class digital reading experience comparable to Amazon's Kindle platform whilst addressing the unique requirements of the Indian market.
The specification explicitly covers reader experience engineering (Kindle-class rendering and offline capabilities), writer monetization systems (KDP-style page-read royalty calculations), comprehensive administrative controls, financial compliance mechanisms, fraud detection frameworks, security protocols including digital rights management (DRM), and abuse prevention systems designed to protect both content creators and the platform's revenue integrity.
Every component detailed within this documentation has been architected with scalability, security, and regulatory compliance as foundational principles, ensuring that StoriesHut can compete effectively in the global digital publishing marketplace whilst respecting local regulatory boundaries.

Coverage Areas
  • Reader experience (Kindle-equivalent)
  • Writer monetization (KDP-style)
  • Admin and finance controls
  • Security and DRM systems
  • Compliance frameworks
  • Fraud prevention mechanisms
Platform Architecture Overview
Reader Applications
Flutter-based native applications for Android and iOS platforms, delivering consistent cross-platform experiences with offline-first architecture and sophisticated rendering engines.
Web Consoles
Dedicated portals for writers (KDP equivalent) and administrative teams, enabling content management, royalty tracking, and platform oversight capabilities.
Backend Core
Supabase-powered infrastructure providing authentication, PostgreSQL databases with Row Level Security, content access APIs with signed URLs, and sophisticated analytics engines.
Payment Systems
IDFC Razorpay integration managing subscriptions, refunds, writer payouts via Route/NEFT/UPI, ensuring compliance with Indian payment regulations and tax frameworks.
Core Design Principles
The StoriesHut platform architecture borrows proven principles from Amazon Kindle's two-decade evolution whilst adapting them for Indian regulatory requirements and market conditions. These foundational principles guide every technical decision across the platform stack.
01
Offline-First Reading
All reader applications must function seamlessly without internet connectivity, with intelligent synchronization occurring transparently when network access becomes available, mirroring Kindle's renowned offline capabilities.
02
Event-Verified Royalty Accounting
Every page read generates immutable events validated against fraud detection rules before inclusion in royalty calculations, ensuring writers receive accurate compensation for legitimate readership.
03
Device-Agnostic Synchronization
Reading positions, highlights, notes, and preferences synchronize automatically across all authorized devices, implementing a "Whispersync-like" experience that maintains reading continuity regardless of device switching.
04
Zero-Trust Content Access
Content delivery employs time-limited signed URLs, device binding, and encrypted storage, ensuring that unauthorized access becomes computationally infeasible even if storage infrastructure is compromised.
05
Abuse-Resistant Monetization
Multi-layered fraud detection systems analyze reading patterns, device fingerprints, and behavioral signals to exclude fraudulent activity from royalty pools, protecting writer earnings and platform integrity.
Technology Stack Components
Frontend Technologies
  • Flutter SDK: Cross-platform mobile development framework enabling single codebase deployment to Android and iOS
  • TipTap/ProseMirror: Rich text editing engines for writer manuscript creation and chapter management
  • EPUB 3.x Rendering: Standards-compliant book rendering with dynamic reflow and precise pagination
  • Secure Rendering Surfaces: OS-level screenshot and recording prevention mechanisms
Backend Infrastructure
  • Supabase: PostgreSQL database with built-in authentication, real-time subscriptions, and Row Level Security
  • Signed URL Generation: Time-limited content access tokens preventing unauthorized distribution
  • Analytics Engine: Event processing pipeline calculating royalties and generating insights
Payment Processing
  • IDFC Razorpay Subscriptions: Automated recurring billing with grace periods and retry logic
  • Razorpay Route: Writer payout distribution system supporting NEFT and UPI transfers
  • International Payments: Cross-border payment support for writers outside India
Storage and Security
  • Encrypted Object Storage: AES-256 encrypted book files and cover images with device-bound decryption keys
  • Dynamic Watermarking: User-specific, randomized watermarks for leak traceability
  • DRM Systems: Optional Readium LCP or Adobe DRM integration for enhanced protection
Reader Application Architecture
The Flutter-based reader application represents the primary interface through which users consume content on StoriesHut. Engineering this component requires careful attention to rendering accuracy, performance optimization, offline functionality, and security implementation. The application must deliver an experience indistinguishable from Amazon's Kindle applications whilst incorporating robust telemetry for royalty calculation and fraud detection.
The rendering engine serves as the critical foundation, supporting ePub 3.x as the primary format with PDF fallback capabilities. True page-based pagination with accurate boundary detection enables precise royalty calculations, whilst dynamic reflow responds intelligently to user preference changes including font selection, sizing adjustments, theme modifications, and device orientation shifts. Every rendered page generates immutable tracking events capturing book ID, chapter ID, page index, timestamp ranges, device fingerprints, user identifiers, geographic location data, device manufacturer and model information, demographic attributes including age and gender—all essential for both royalty calculation and fraud pattern detection.
Google AdMob integration and equivalent advertising platforms must be incorporated strategically to generate supplementary revenue streams without compromising reading experience quality. Advertisement placements should respect chapter boundaries and user engagement patterns, avoiding intrusive interruptions during active reading sessions.
Reading Experience Controls
Typography Customization
Readers control font family selection from curated typeface collections optimized for extended reading sessions, with dynamic size adjustment spanning eight distinct levels, line spacing configuration, margin width preferences, and text alignment options including left-aligned and fully justified modes.
Theme Preferences
Four carefully designed reading themes accommodate diverse lighting conditions and user preferences: Light mode for daytime reading, Sepia for reduced eye strain, Dark mode for low-light environments, and AMOLED-optimized black for maximum battery conservation on modern displays.
Orientation and Device Settings
Orientation lock functionality enables users to prevent accidental rotation during reading sessions, particularly valuable during one-handed operation scenarios. All preferences persist locally with encrypted storage and synchronize across authorized devices per user account.
Preference management implements a hybrid storage strategy: local encryption ensures immediate availability and offline functionality, whilst cloud synchronization maintains consistency across the user's device ecosystem. Basic subscription tiers restrict active reading to one device simultaneously, whereas premium subscriptions enable concurrent multi-device access, balancing accessibility with abuse prevention requirements.
Library and Bookshelf Management
The cloud-based bookshelf system maintains a comprehensive record of all books a user has purchased, subscribed to, or added to their library. Visual indicators clearly distinguish between downloaded content available for offline reading and cloud-only titles requiring network connectivity for access. Users maintain full control over local storage management through manual re-download capabilities and selective content removal.
Sophisticated sorting algorithms organize libraries according to multiple criteria: recently read titles surface books where users have active reading sessions, alphabetical sorting by title or author name enables rapid location of specific works, and chronological organization by acquisition date helps users rediscover forgotten purchases. Custom collections function as user-created folders enabling thematic or project-based organization, with individual books capable of appearing in multiple collections simultaneously without duplication.
The library interface implements infinite scroll with virtualized rendering to maintain performance even with libraries containing thousands of titles, whilst integrated search capabilities enable full-text queries across titles, author names, and metadata tags.
Search and Discovery Capabilities
In-Book Search
Full-text indexing enables readers to locate specific passages, quotes, or references within the current book. Search results display contextual snippets with highlighted query terms, enabling rapid navigation to relevant sections whilst maintaining reading flow.
Global Catalog Search
Platform-wide search queries scan the entire StoriesHut catalog, matching against book titles, author names, genre classifications, publisher information, and keyword metadata. Advanced filtering options refine results by publication date, language, rating thresholds, and pricing tiers.
Intelligent Recommendations
Machine learning algorithms analyze reading history, genre preferences, completion rates, and time-spent patterns to generate personalized book recommendations. Collaborative filtering identifies books enjoyed by readers with similar tastes, whilst content-based filtering suggests titles sharing thematic or stylistic characteristics.
Highlights, Notes, and Export Systems
The annotation system replicates and extends Kindle's renowned highlighting and note-taking capabilities, enabling readers to mark significant passages, add contextual commentary, and build personal reference libraries. Multi-color highlighting supports organizational schemes where different colors represent distinct categories—readers might use yellow for important concepts, blue for beautiful prose, and pink for passages requiring further research.
Inline notes attach directly to highlighted text, creating contextual annotations visible during subsequent reading sessions. The highlight index provides book-level navigation, displaying all marked passages with their associated notes in a scrollable interface sorted chronologically or by location within the text. Cloud synchronization ensures annotations persist across device changes and operating system migrations.
Advanced export functionality generates formatted documents containing all highlights and notes from a single book or across the entire library. Export formats include PDF with preserved formatting and highlighting colors, plain text for import into note-taking applications like Notion or Obsidian, and structured data formats enabling integration with research management tools. These exports transform casual reading into productive knowledge management workflows, particularly valuable for students, researchers, and professional readers.
Dictionary, Translation, and Accessibility
Linguistic Support Features
Tap-to-define functionality integrates offline dictionary databases supporting English, Hindi, and major Indian regional languages. Long-pressing any word displays definition overlays without interrupting reading flow, with pronunciation guides and usage examples enhancing vocabulary acquisition. Phase 2 development will introduce inline translation capabilities, enabling readers to instantly translate selected passages between supported language pairs—particularly valuable for multilingual readers and language learners exploring content in non-native languages.
Etymology information and word frequency data provide additional context for advanced readers interested in linguistic nuances, whilst simplified definitions accommodate younger readers and English language learners.
Accessibility Implementation
Comprehensive accessibility support ensures StoriesHut serves readers with visual impairments and other disabilities. Screen reader integration provides full text-to-speech narration with intelligent handling of navigation elements, chapter headings, and metadata. Adjustable contrast ratios exceed WCAG 2.1 Level AAA standards, whilst dynamic font scaling extends beyond standard reader controls to accommodate severe vision impairment.
Keyboard navigation enables complete application control without touch interaction, whilst alternative input methods including voice commands and switch controls support users with motor impairments. Semantic HTML structure and ARIA labels ensure compatibility with assistive technologies across Android and iOS platforms.
Offline Access Architecture
Secure Download Initiation
When users request offline access, the backend generates time-limited signed URLs granting download authorization. These URLs embed cryptographic signatures verifying request authenticity and embed expiration timestamps typically ranging from 5-15 minutes, sufficient for download completion but minimizing exposure window if URLs are intercepted.
Client-Side Encryption
Upon successful download, the Flutter application immediately encrypts the entire book file using AES-256 encryption with keys derived from combined user credentials and device-specific hardware identifiers. This binding ensures encrypted files cannot be decrypted on unauthorized devices even if copied from device storage.
Secure Key Management
Encryption keys never persist in plain text—instead, they derive from cryptographic key derivation functions (PBKDF2 or Argon2) combining user authentication tokens with hardware-backed keystores available on modern Android and iOS devices. This architecture ensures that even full device compromise requires sophisticated attacks to extract usable encryption keys.
Invalidation Mechanisms
Multiple events trigger automatic invalidation of offline access permissions: subscription expiration dates, explicit account logout actions, administrative content takedown orders, and device authorization revocation. Upon invalidation, local decryption keys are destroyed, rendering downloaded content permanently inaccessible without re-authorization and fresh download.
Security and DRM Foundation
StoriesHut's security architecture implements defense-in-depth strategies borrowed from banking and enterprise content management systems, recognizing that digital content protection requires multiple overlapping security layers rather than reliance on any single mechanism. The platform must balance user experience convenience against robust protection of intellectual property rights for authors and publishers.
Digital Rights Management (DRM) extends beyond simple encryption to encompass device binding, access control policies, watermarking technologies, and behavioral monitoring systems. Unlike physical books that naturally restrict simultaneous access, digital content faces inherent challenges around unauthorized duplication and distribution. StoriesHut's DRM implementation addresses these challenges through cryptographic access controls, behavioral fraud detection, and legal deterrence mechanisms.
The security model assumes adversarial users with technical sophistication attempting to circumvent protection measures for unauthorized content distribution. Therefore, every security control includes monitoring and alerting capabilities enabling rapid detection and response to circumvention attempts, protecting both platform revenue integrity and author intellectual property rights.
Screenshot and Recording Protection
Android Protection Layer
Android applications enable FLAG_SECURE at the window level, instructing the operating system to exclude application content from screenshots, screen recordings, and screen sharing sessions. This system-level flag prevents both built-in screenshot mechanisms and third-party screen capture applications from accessing rendered book content.
iOS Security Surface
iOS implementations utilize secure rendering surfaces that automatically blank during screenshot attempts or screen recording sessions. While iOS provides less granular FLAG_SECURE equivalent functionality, secure rendering APIs prevent screenshot content capture, generating blank images even when users successfully trigger screenshot mechanisms.
Detection Hooks
Both platforms implement OS-level hooks detecting screenshot and screen recording attempts regardless of whether content actually appears in captured media. Detection occurs via platform-specific notification APIs: userDidTakeScreenshot on iOS and ContentResolver observation on Android. Even "failed" capture attempts where resulting images are blank trigger security events.
Backend Security Event Reporting
Screenshot and screen recording protection extends beyond mere blocking—every capture attempt, successful or not, generates immutable security event records transmitted immediately to backend infrastructure. This reporting requirement is mandatory and non-negotiable for platform operation.
1
Event Payload Structure
Each security event contains comprehensive contextual information: complete user account identifier, registered email address or phone number, device ID and OS version details, book ID and chapter ID identifying protected content, precise page index within the chapter, ISO 8601 formatted timestamp, capture type classification (screenshot vs. screen recording), and capture result status (blocked, blank, or successful).
2
Blank Screenshot Handling
The platform explicitly treats blank screenshots—where FLAG_SECURE or iOS protection mechanisms successfully prevent content capture but users complete screenshot gestures—as violation signals requiring identical logging and response protocols. Users demonstrating repeated blank screenshot behavior exhibit concerning patterns suggesting persistent circumvention attempts warranting increased scrutiny.
3
Backend Processing Pipeline
Security events flow through a dedicated processing pipeline: immediate persistence into the immutable security_events table with cryptographic hash verification, real-time admin notification via dashboard alerts and email distribution to security personnel, automatic risk score increment in the user_risk_scores table, and trigger evaluation for automated response actions including reading suspension or royalty exclusion.
4
Admin Visibility Dashboard
Administrative interfaces provide comprehensive security event analytics: per-user violation histories with timeline visualizations, book-specific vulnerability analysis identifying frequently targeted content, geographic clustering analysis revealing potential organized piracy operations, and author notification workflows alerting writers when their content faces elevated security threats enabling collaboration on protection strategies.
Violation Response Framework
Repeated security violations trigger graduated response protocols designed to deter unauthorized content capture whilst avoiding false positives that might penalize legitimate users experiencing accidental screenshot triggers. First violations generate log entries and increment user risk scores but take no user-facing actions, recognizing that single incidents often represent accidental behavior.
Second and third violations trigger automated warning notifications educating users about Terms of Service provisions prohibiting screenshot capture and explaining potential account consequences. Fourth violations initiate temporary reading suspensions lasting 24-72 hours, during which users cannot access any content whilst maintaining account access for support inquiries. Fifth violations mandate admin review before account restoration, whilst seventh violations result in permanent account termination with forfeiture of subscription fees and library access.
Affected reading sessions face immediate royalty exclusion—pages read during sessions where security violations occurred do not contribute to writer earnings calculations, protecting author revenue from abuse-related artificial inflation whilst maintaining zero-tolerance enforcement.
Dynamic Watermarking Technology
Dynamic watermarking embeds user-identifiable information directly into rendered content at the pixel level, creating forensic evidence trails enabling source attribution if unauthorized screenshots or screen captures circumvent protection mechanisms and subsequently appear on piracy forums or social media platforms. Unlike static watermarks visible to readers, dynamic watermarks operate steganographically—invisible during normal reading but extractable through forensic analysis.
Each rendered page incorporates a unique watermark containing masked user identifier strings (non-reversible hashes preventing privacy violations), precise timestamp information recording rendering moment down to millisecond resolution, and randomized positioning patterns preventing watermark location prediction. Randomization occurs per-page rather than per-book, forcing hypothetical attackers to analyze every page individually rather than applying batch processing automation.

Watermark Purposes
  • Legal Traceability: Establish definitive proof of content source in copyright infringement litigation
  • Leak Deterrence: Psychological deterrent effect when users know content traceability exists
  • Piracy Investigation: Enable rapid identification of compromised accounts when unauthorized content appears online
  • User Education: Terms of Service disclosure of watermarking creates legal awareness
Access Control and Device Binding
1
Signed URL Generation
Backend infrastructure generates cryptographically signed URLs embedding HMAC-SHA256 signatures verifying request authenticity, time-to-live parameters typically set to 300-900 seconds balancing security with download completion reliability, and device fingerprint hashes ensuring URLs function exclusively on originating devices.
2
Device Registration
First-time device authorization creates device records capturing hardware identifiers (Android ID, iOS UDID), operating system versions, application build numbers, and initial authorization timestamps. Device binding ensures content decryption keys derive partially from hardware characteristics preventing cross-device key transfer.
3
Concurrent Session Limits
Basic subscription tiers enforce single concurrent active reading session limits—attempts to read on secondary devices whilst primary sessions remain active trigger session termination on older devices with notification explaining concurrent access restrictions and premium upgrade pathways. Premium subscriptions permit 3-5 concurrent devices simultaneously.
4
Session Validation
Active reading sessions heartbeat to backend servers every 60-120 seconds, verifying subscription validity, checking device authorization status, and confirming absence of security flags. Heartbeat failures trigger graceful session termination with local content access revocation after brief grace periods accommodating temporary connectivity loss.
Enterprise DRM Integration (Phase 2)
Future platform iterations will incorporate industry-standard DRM systems providing enhanced protection for premium publisher content and commercially sensitive materials requiring maximum security assurance. Two primary integration candidates offer distinct advantages suitable for different content categories and publisher relationships.
Readium LCP (Licensed Content Protection)
Readium LCP represents the open-source DRM standard developed by the Readium Foundation, offering royalty-free implementation whilst providing robust content protection comparable to proprietary alternatives. LCP architecture separates content encryption from license management, enabling flexible business models including subscription access, rental periods, and loan systems. Native EPUB 3 compatibility ensures seamless integration with StoriesHut's existing rendering engine without requiring format conversion or compatibility layers.
LCP's user-centric design philosophy aligns with StoriesHut's reader-first approach—licenses transfer between authorized devices without artificial restrictions, offline reading requires no "phone home" validation after initial license acquisition, and the absence of vendor lock-in protects platform independence. Open specifications enable in-house development and customization without dependency on external vendors or licensing negotiations.
Adobe Content Server DRM
Adobe Content Server dominates enterprise digital publishing with near-universal support across e-reader hardware, library systems, and retail platforms. Integration with Adobe's DRM infrastructure enables seamless content distribution through established publishing channels, facilitating partnerships with major publishers already utilizing Adobe's ecosystem. Publisher confidence in Adobe's proven protection mechanisms may accelerate premium content acquisition negotiations.
However, Adobe DRM implementation requires ongoing licensing fees, vendor dependency for critical security infrastructure, and potential user experience friction from Adobe Digital Editions ecosystem requirements. These tradeoffs warrant careful evaluation against specific publisher partnership requirements and premium content acquisition strategies rather than platform-wide default deployment.
Fraud and Abuse Detection Systems
Sophisticated fraud detection algorithms analyze reading behavior patterns in real-time, identifying anomalous activity indicating bot-driven page-read farming, coordinated abuse schemes artificially inflating writer royalties, or automated systems attempting to game recommendation algorithms. Detection rules employ statistical analysis, machine learning models, and heuristic pattern matching to distinguish legitimate reading behavior from fraudulent activity.
Rapid page flipping detection identifies sessions where page advancement rates exceed humanly plausible reading speeds—legitimate readers average 1-3 minutes per page depending on complexity and reading proficiency, whilst automated scripts often flip pages every few seconds to maximize apparent reading volume. Zero-time page reads where users advance immediately upon page load without plausible content consumption similarly indicate automation or fraud attempts.
Bot-like reading patterns exhibit tell-tale characteristics: perfectly consistent page timing suggesting scripted automation, absence of natural reading variation including page reversals or extended pauses, reading sessions occurring during sleep hours relative to user timezone, and geometric reading position advancement lacking organic navigation patterns including highlights, notes, or dictionary lookups that characterize human reading.
Multi-device farming schemes coordinate across numerous accounts and devices to artificially inflate individual book readership metrics or royalty generation. Detection algorithms identify shared IP addresses, device fingerprint similarities, synchronized reading patterns across supposedly independent accounts, and unusual geographic clustering suggesting coordinated operations rather than organic geographic readership concentration.
Fraud Response and Mitigation
01
Real-Time Event Filtering
Reading events flagged as potentially fraudulent face immediate exclusion from active royalty calculations whilst undergoing secondary validation. Events remain in quarantine status pending manual review or automated re-evaluation through enhanced detection algorithms with higher confidence thresholds, preventing fraudulent reads from distorting writer earnings even temporarily.
02
Account Status Flagging
User accounts exhibiting fraud indicators transition to "under review" status triggering enhanced monitoring, reduced trust scores affecting recommendation algorithm weighting, and potential temporary restrictions on new content access whilst maintaining access to previously read materials during investigation periods. False positive mitigation ensures legitimate users facing erroneous flagging can rapidly appeal through support channels with admin override capabilities.
03
Payout Hold Procedures
Writer accounts receiving unusually high page-read volumes from flagged reader accounts face temporary payout holds whilst fraud investigation teams examine traffic sources, reading pattern distributions, and potential coordination between writer and reader accounts. Legitimate writers impacted by organized fraud targeting their content receive protection through these holds preventing royalty clawbacks after payment distribution.
04
Permanent Ban Enforcement
Confirmed fraud results in permanent account termination, forfeiture of remaining subscription periods without refund, and addition to platform-wide ban lists preventing re-registration. Device fingerprints and payment method identifiers associated with banned accounts face blacklisting preventing simple re-registration with new email addresses, forcing sophisticated attackers to acquire new devices and payment methods substantially raising fraud cost thresholds.
Authentication Architecture
Primary Authentication Methods
StoriesHut implements flexible authentication supporting diverse user preferences and security requirements. Email-based authentication with one-time password (OTP) delivery provides passwordless authentication reducing credential theft risks whilst maintaining accessibility for users preferring email-based workflows. Six-digit OTPs expire after 10 minutes with rate limiting preventing brute-force enumeration attacks.
Optional password authentication accommodates users preferring traditional credential-based login, with enforcement of minimum password complexity requirements: 12-character minimum length, mandatory inclusion of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters, and prohibition of common passwords through validation against Have I Been Pwned breach databases. Password reset flows utilize the same OTP mechanism ensuring account recovery security matches initial authentication security.
Multi-factor authentication (MFA) support enables security-conscious users to require time-based one-time passwords (TOTP) via authenticator applications, SMS-based verification codes as secondary factors, or biometric authentication on supporting devices. MFA requirement remains optional for basic accounts but becomes mandatory for writer accounts upon first royalty payout eligibility, protecting revenue-generating accounts against credential compromise.
Role-Based Access Control
Reader Role
Default role assigned to all registered users, granting access to book catalog browsing, subscription management, library organization, reading functionality across all supported formats, and community participation including reviews and discussions. Readers cannot access writer portal features or administrative interfaces.
Writer Role
Granted through writer program application and approval process, enabling access to manuscript editor, publishing workflow, royalty dashboard, and book performance analytics. Writers retain full reader privileges, allowing consumption of other authors' content whilst managing their own publications. Enhanced identity verification requirements ensure payout authenticity.
Admin Role
Platform administrators access user management tools, content moderation interfaces, security event monitoring dashboards, and system configuration controls. Admins cannot directly access financial payout processing or GST compliance functions, maintaining separation of duties between operational administration and financial operations.
Finance Role
Finance team members access royalty calculation verification tools, payout approval workflows, tax compliance reporting interfaces, and financial reconciliation systems. Finance roles cannot modify content, user accounts, or security configurations, limiting potential damage from compromised finance accounts to financial data rather than operational platform infrastructure.
Super Admin Role
Highest privilege level granting unrestricted platform access including database direct access, system configuration modification, role assignment authority, and override capabilities for all automated systems. Super admin access restricted to technical infrastructure team leads with comprehensive audit logging of all actions for security accountability.
Row Level Security (RLS) enforcement occurs at the PostgreSQL database layer rather than application logic, ensuring that even direct database queries respect role-based access restrictions. RLS policies evaluate user JWT tokens on every query, preventing privilege escalation through API bypasses or SQL injection vulnerabilities. All role transitions generate immutable audit trail entries capturing actor, timestamp, justification, and approval chain for compliance documentation.
Writer Portal Architecture
The Writer Portal serves as StoriesHut's equivalent to Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform, providing comprehensive content creation, publishing, and earnings management tools. This web-based console enables writers to transform raw manuscripts into published books, monitor readership engagement, and track royalty earnings—all without requiring technical expertise or external service dependencies.
Portal architecture prioritizes writer productivity through intuitive interfaces, comprehensive documentation, and intelligent automation reducing repetitive tasks. Writers should focus creative energy on content quality rather than navigating complex publishing workflows or troubleshooting technical issues. Every interface element serves a specific writer need identified through user research and competitive analysis of existing self-publishing platforms.
Unlike traditional publishing workflows requiring intermediaries, agents, or specialized knowledge, the Writer Portal democratizes publishing by providing professional-grade tools directly to creators. A novelist in Mumbai can publish content reaching readers nationwide within hours rather than months, whilst retaining full creative control and receiving transparent, data-driven insights into reader engagement and revenue generation.
Manuscript Editor Capabilities
Rich Text Editing Engine
Built on TipTap or ProseMirror frameworks, the manuscript editor provides familiar word-processor functionality: text formatting (bold, italic, underline), paragraph styling, heading hierarchies, and list creation. Writers compose directly in browser without external tool dependencies or complex import procedures.
Chapter-Wise Organization
Manuscripts organize into discrete chapters with drag-and-drop reordering, nested sub-chapter support, and automatic table of contents generation. Writers navigate large manuscripts efficiently through chapter sidebar navigation whilst readers benefit from EPUB 3 structural metadata enabling precise chapter navigation.
Autosave and Version Control
Content saves automatically every 30 seconds without writer intervention, preventing work loss from browser crashes or accidental tab closures. Complete version history enables rollback to any previous save point, providing confidence to experiment with structural revisions knowing original versions remain recoverable.
EPUB-Ready Output
Editor generates structurally valid EPUB 3 output incorporating proper semantic HTML, navigation documents, and metadata packaging. Writers need no technical knowledge of EPUB specification—editor automation handles format compliance whilst preserving creative formatting choices like poetry line breaks or dramatic spacing.
Publishing Workflow States
Draft
Initial manuscript state where writers compose, revise, and refine content without visibility to readers or platform review queues. Drafts support unlimited revisions with no review overhead, encouraging iterative refinement before submission.
Submitted
Writers mark drafts complete and submit for administrative review, entering moderation queue. Submissions lock content preventing further edits during review—writers wanting to modify content must withdraw submission, returning books to draft status.
Under Review
Admin team evaluates content for policy compliance, quality standards, and appropriate categorization. Review criteria include: absence of prohibited content, proper metadata accuracy, cover image appropriateness, and basic formatting quality. Typical review completes within 24-48 hours.
Published
Approved books become immediately available in catalog with full reader visibility. Writers can unpublish books temporarily (removing from catalog whilst preserving data) but cannot delete books—deletion requires admin or super admin authorization maintaining audit trail integrity.
Rejected
Books failing review return to writer control with detailed rejection reasons explaining specific policy violations or quality issues requiring remediation. Writers address concerns, revise content, and resubmit—resubmissions receive priority review scheduling.
AI-Powered Cover Image Generation
Cover image generation integrates multiple AI image generation models—DALL-E 3, Midjourney API, Stable Diffusion XL—enabling writers to produce professional-quality cover artwork without graphic design expertise or external designer costs. Writers provide text excerpts from their manuscript, select artistic styles matching genre conventions, and receive generated cover options within minutes.
The generation workflow begins with writers selecting representative passages—typically 500-1000 words from opening chapters—which natural language processing algorithms analyze to extract thematic elements, mood descriptors, setting details, and character archetypes. These extracted elements combine with genre-specific prompt templates optimized for each model's strengths: DALL-E 3 excels at conceptual illustration, Midjourney produces painterly aesthetics popular in literary fiction, whilst Stable Diffusion XL offers photorealistic rendering for contemporary fiction and non-fiction.
Generated images populate a selection interface displaying 6-12 variations with ability to regenerate alternatives, adjust aspect ratios for print-on-demand compatibility, and apply text overlays with title and author name using professionally designed typography templates. Writers lacking design skills receive publication-ready covers, whilst sophisticated users can export base images for further customization in external tools.
Credit-based pricing enables flexible usage: new writers receive 10 free generation credits upon account creation, with additional credit purchases through micro-transaction bundles (50 credits for ₹99, 200 credits for ₹299). Each generation consumes 1-3 credits depending on selected model and image complexity, with transparent pricing displayed before confirmation.
KDP-Style Royalty Engine
StoriesHut's royalty system directly implements Kindle Unlimited's proven model where writers earn compensation based on pages read rather than book sales, incentivizing content quality and reader engagement over traditional units-sold metrics. This approach democratizes earning potential—an unknown debut novelist producing compelling content can earn substantially more than established authors with weak reader engagement, fundamentally rewarding writing quality.
Royalty calculations employ normalized page length definitions accounting for font sizes, formatting variations, and content density. The platform establishes a "Kindle Edition Normalized Page Count" (KENPC) equivalent where one normalized page represents approximately 187 words of standard prose at median font sizing. This normalization ensures that writers cannot artificially inflate earnings through extreme formatting—massive fonts or excessive whitespace don't increase page counts.
The global royalty pool distributes monthly subscriber revenue minus platform operational costs (typically 30-40%) proportionally among writers based on their share of total pages read. If subscribers generate ₹10,000,000 in monthly revenue with 60% allocated to royalties (₹6,000,000), and a specific book accounts for 2% of total platform pages read, that book's writer receives ₹120,000 before tax deductions. This creates direct economic alignment between platform success and writer earnings—as StoriesHut grows, individual writer income scales proportionally.
Critical fraud protection excludes illegitimate reads from calculations: pages skipped by readers, zero-time page reads indicating automation, fraudulent reads from flagged accounts, pages read during security violation-flagged sessions, and reads from accounts subsequently banned for abuse all face retroactive exclusion protecting royalty pool integrity.
Writer Dashboard Analytics
47.3K
Pages Read Today
Real-time counter updating every 15 minutes showing daily reading activity across all published books
₹18.2K
Estimated Monthly Earnings
Projected earnings based on current month's reading activity, updated daily as new reads accumulate
₹156K
Last Month Finalized
Confirmed earnings for completed settlement period, scheduled for payout after 90-day holding period
2.8K
Active Readers
Unique readers accessing content within past 30 days, indicating sustained audience engagement
Detailed analytics drill down into book-specific performance enabling strategic content decisions. Writers identify which books attract the most readers, which chapters see highest completion rates, and which promotional efforts correlate with traffic spikes. Geographic breakdowns reveal unexpected international audiences, suggesting translation opportunities or targeted marketing in specific regions.
Time-series graphs display reading trends over weeks and months, helping writers understand seasonal patterns or content lifecycle trajectories. A thriller novelist might notice increased readership during winter months suggesting optimal release timing for future works, whilst educational content sees spikes during academic terms indicating student reader demographics.
Comparative analytics benchmark individual books against genre averages and top performers, providing context for evaluating success. A writer whose fantasy novel achieves 80th percentile completion rates within the fantasy category understands they've produced above-average engaging content even if absolute numbers seem modest during early promotion phases.
Royalty Data Export Capabilities
CSV Export Functionality
Writers download comprehensive royalty data in CSV format compatible with spreadsheet applications, accounting software, and data analysis tools. Export files include daily granular data: date, book title, pages read, estimated earnings per book, cumulative monthly totals, and metadata enabling pivot table analysis or chart generation in Excel or Google Sheets.
Filtered exports enable custom date range selection—writers preparing tax documentation extract specific fiscal year data without manually parsing broader datasets. Book-specific exports isolate individual title performance for detailed analysis, whilst aggregate exports provide portfolio-level overviews across all published works.
Monthly Statement Generation
Formalized monthly statements generate automatically upon settlement period completion, providing official documentation suitable for tax filing, income verification, and financial planning purposes. Statements include: writer identification details, book inventory with ISBNs where applicable, itemized page-read counts per title, gross royalty calculation breakdowns, platform fee deductions, applicable tax withholdings, and net payout amounts.
PDF format statements include official StoriesHut letterhead and digital signatures verifying authenticity for submission to banks, tax authorities, or other institutions requiring income documentation. Writers access complete historical statement archives extending indefinitely, ensuring permanent record availability for audit compliance or financial planning.
Admin and Finance Console
Administrative infrastructure provides platform operators with comprehensive oversight, control, and response capabilities across user management, content moderation, financial operations, and security monitoring. The console architecture separates concerns through role-specific interfaces: operational admins focus on user issues and content quality, finance teams manage payment operations and compliance, whilst security personnel monitor threat detection and respond to abuse patterns.
The dashboard aggregates critical platform health metrics: active user counts, new registration velocity, subscription conversion rates, content catalog growth, reading activity levels, security event frequency, and financial transaction volumes. Real-time alerting highlights anomalies requiring immediate attention—sudden traffic spikes suggesting viral content or DDoS attacks, payment processing failures indicating gateway issues, or concentrated security violations suggesting organized fraud attempts.
Administrative actions generate comprehensive audit logs capturing actor identity, timestamp, affected resources, actions taken, and justifications provided through required comment fields. These logs satisfy regulatory requirements for financial services, provide forensic evidence for security investigations, and enable accountability when admin decisions face dispute. Logs are immutable—even super admins cannot modify or delete historical records, preventing evidence tampering.
User and Content Control Systems
Account Suspension Management
Admins temporarily or permanently restrict user accounts in response to Terms of Service violations, payment disputes, security concerns, or legal requirements. Suspension actions specify duration for temporary restrictions, affected services (reading access vs. full account), and user-visible explanation messages. Suspended users retain support channel access enabling appeal processes and dispute resolution.
Content Takedown Procedures
Copyright claims, legal notices, or policy violations trigger content removal workflows where admins hide books from catalog, revoke reader access, and notify affected writers with detailed justification. Takedown actions preserve content data enabling restoration if disputes resolve favorably, whilst immediately protecting platform from legal liability. DMCA-compliant counter-notification processes allow writers to dispute illegitimate takedown requests.
Geographic Restrictions
Territorial licensing requirements or regional legal restrictions necessitate geo-blocking capabilities where specific books become unavailable in particular countries or states. Geo-restriction rules operate at IP geolocation and billing address levels, preventing access from restricted regions whilst maintaining availability elsewhere. Writers configure restrictions during publishing workflows or subsequently modify through support requests.
Manual Override Controls
Extraordinary circumstances require admin override of automated systems: fraud detection false positives blocking legitimate users, billing system errors preventing subscription access, or technical glitches corrupting user data. Override actions require mandatory justification documentation and automatically escalate to senior admin review preventing abuse of override authority for unauthorized access or favoritism.
Royalty and Payout Processing
Financial operations implement rigorous controls balancing timely writer compensation against fraud prevention and regulatory compliance. The royalty processing pipeline progresses through multiple validation stages before releasing funds, protecting platform finances from abuse whilst maintaining writer trust through transparent, predictable payout schedules.
1
Monthly Royalty Calculation
At month end (00:00 UTC on first day of new month), automated systems finalize previous month's royalty calculations. All page-read events from the completed month undergo final fraud validation, exclusion rules application, and normalized page count calculation. Writers receive preliminary statements within 24 hours showing finalized earnings pending payout processing.
2
90-Day Holding Period
Following Kindle's precedent, earnings enter mandatory 90-day holding periods before payout eligibility. January earnings become payable on April 1st, February earnings on May 1st, etc. This holding period accommodates payment reversals, fraud investigation completion, and dispute resolution without clawing back already-distributed funds. Writers plan finances accordingly, treating StoriesHut income as delayed rather than instantaneous.
3
Threshold and Approval
Payout eligibility requires minimum accumulated balance (typically ₹1,000) reducing transaction costs for micro-earnings. Earnings below threshold accumulate across months until reaching payout minimum. Finance team reviews all pending payouts above ₹50,000 for additional validation before approval, whilst smaller amounts process automatically. Manual review identifies potential fraud, validates writer identity documentation, and confirms tax compliance.
4
Payment Processing
Approved payouts transmit to Razorpay Route for distribution via writer-specified methods: bank account NEFT transfers (2-3 business day settlement), UPI instant payments (minutes to hours), or international wire transfers for non-Indian writers. Failed payments retry automatically with exponential backoff, whilst persistent failures trigger email notifications requesting updated payment details.
Tax and Compliance Infrastructure
GST Calculation and Filing
All subscription revenues and book purchase transactions include appropriate GST calculations at rates mandated by Indian tax law (typically 18% for digital content services). Platform automatically generates GST invoices for B2C transactions and compliance-ready data for quarterly/annual GST return filing. Integration with GST Network (GSTN) APIs enables electronic filing where applicable, reducing manual data entry and transcription errors.
Input tax credit calculations offset GST paid on business expenses (hosting costs, payment gateway fees, third-party services) against GST collected from subscribers, accurately determining net GST liability. Automated reconciliation identifies discrepancies between calculated liability and payment gateway reported amounts, flagging investigation requirements before filing deadlines.
TDS Deduction and Certificates
Tax Deducted at Source (TDS) requirements apply to writer payouts above statutory thresholds. Platform automatically calculates applicable TDS rates based on payment amounts and writer PAN availability, deducts TDS before net payout release, and remits deducted amounts to tax authorities through designated channels. Writers receive TDS certificates (Form 16A equivalents) documenting deductions for income tax return filing purposes.
Non-resident writers face different TDS rate structures requiring tax residency certificate verification and double taxation treaty applicability assessment. International payout processing includes automated FEMA compliance checks ensuring cross-border payments adhere to foreign exchange regulations and reporting requirements.
Accounting System Integration
Financial data exports in formats compatible with Zoho Books, QuickBooks, Tally, and other popular accounting platforms enable seamless integration with existing business accounting workflows. Export schemas include chart of accounts mappings, journal entry formats, and reconciliation keys enabling automated import without manual data transformation. This compatibility reduces accounting overhead for finance teams whilst ensuring audit trail continuity between StoriesHut systems and official financial records.
Payment and Subscription Infrastructure
Reader Subscriptions
IDFC Razorpay subscription management handles recurring billing with configurable cycles (monthly, quarterly, annual), automatic payment method charging on renewal dates, retry logic for failed payments with exponential backoff, and grace period provisions maintaining access during payment resolution. Subscription management APIs enable programmatic upgrades, downgrades, and cancellations with prorated refund calculations.
Refund Processing
Refund policies balance customer satisfaction against abuse prevention: 7-day full refund windows for new subscriptions, prorated refunds for mid-cycle cancellations where applicable, and discretionary refunds for technical issues preventing service access. Automated refund processing through Razorpay APIs releases funds to original payment methods within 5-7 business days, with notification emails confirming processing status.
Writer Payouts
Razorpay Route facilitates writer compensation distribution with support for multiple payout methods addressing diverse writer preferences and banking access. NEFT transfers accommodate traditional banking relationships, UPI enables instant payments to mobile-first writers, whilst international wire transfers serve non-resident writers. Payout status tracking provides real-time visibility into processing stages from initiation through settlement.
Cross-Border Payments
International writer payouts comply with FEMA regulations through proper documentation, purpose code assignment, and reporting to authorized dealer banks. Currency conversion occurs at competitive exchange rates with transparent fee disclosure, whilst alternative options like PayPal or Payoneer integration provide familiar interfaces for writers accustomed to freelance platform payment methods.
Analytics and Recommendation Engine
Comprehensive event tracking captures granular user behavior across the platform, generating data streams feeding both operational dashboards and machine learning models powering personalized recommendations. Every significant user action—app launches, book selections, page reads, time-spent measurements, downloads, highlights, notes, searches—generates structured events with standardized schemas enabling consistent analysis across diverse interaction types.
Event payloads include contextual metadata: user identifiers, session IDs, device characteristics, timestamp precision to millisecond resolution, geographic data when available, and activity-specific attributes like page numbers, chapter IDs, or search queries. These rich events enable sophisticated analysis distinguishing casual browsers from engaged readers, identifying content discovery patterns, and measuring feature adoption rates for product development prioritization.
Page-read events receive special handling given their royalty calculation criticality. Each page read records exact in/out timestamps enabling accurate duration calculation, device fingerprints for fraud detection, sequential page ordering for skip detection, and immutable storage in append-only logs preventing retroactive manipulation. Reading session events aggregate page reads into coherent reading blocks, tracking session start times, cumulative duration, interruption patterns, and completion status.
Fraud signal tracking captures security events, rapid navigation patterns, suspicious timing anomalies, and abuse indicator metrics. Security violation events from screenshot attempts integrate with the same analytics pipeline, enabling unified fraud analysis correlating multiple signal types. Device fingerprinting combines hardware identifiers, browser characteristics, network details, and behavioral biometrics creating unique device signatures enabling multi-account detection and device farm identification.
Personalization and Discovery
Collaborative Filtering
Recommendation algorithms identify readers with similar taste profiles based on shared reading history, comparable ratings, and aligned genre preferences. Books enjoyed by similar readers surface in personalized recommendation feeds, implementing the "readers who enjoyed X also enjoyed Y" pattern proven effective across e-commerce platforms. Collaborative filtering excels at discovering unexpected connections—a reader primarily consuming historical fiction might receive excellent science fiction recommendations if taste-similar readers bridge both genres.
Content-Based Filtering
Natural language processing analyzes book content extracting themes, writing styles, pacing characteristics, and subject matter profiles. Readers enjoying fast-paced thrillers with female protagonists receive recommendations for stylistically similar works regardless of exact genre classifications. Content-based methods excel during cold-start scenarios where new books lack sufficient reader interaction history for collaborative filtering effectiveness, using textual similarity as proxy for reading appeal.
Trending and Popular
Real-time popularity signals identify emerging hits before they achieve widespread recognition. Velocity-based trending algorithms detect books with accelerating read rates, distinguishing genuine viral growth from steady-state popularity. Readers interested in cultural moments discover trending books organically through prominent homepage placement and category-specific trending sections. Popularity metrics account for catalog tenure—new releases achieving strong initial reception score differently than established classics maintaining sustained readership.
Categories and Sub-Categories Taxonomy
StoriesHut implements a hierarchical category system mirroring Kindle's proven organizational structure, enabling readers to discover content through genre browsing whilst providing writers with targeting mechanisms for audience reach. The taxonomy balances breadth for content diversity against depth for precise categorization, with admin-controlled master categories preventing tag spam whilst allowing sufficient specificity for niche genre identification.
Master Category Structure
  • Romance: Contemporary Romance, Historical Romance, Romantic Suspense, Paranormal Romance
  • Fantasy: Epic Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Dark Fantasy, Magical Realism
  • Literature & Fiction: Literary Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Anthologies
  • Mystery & Thriller: Crime Fiction, Psychological Thrillers, Cozy Mysteries, Legal Thrillers
  • Science Fiction: Space Opera, Cyberpunk, Hard SF, Post-Apocalyptic
  • Young Adult: YA Fantasy, YA Contemporary, YA Romance, YA Thriller
  • Non-Fiction: Biography, Self-Help, Business, History
  • Poetry: Contemporary Poetry, Classic Poetry, Regional Poetry
Category Selection Rules
Writers select up to three sub-categories per book during publishing workflow, with mandatory designation of one primary category determining default catalog placement and recommendation algorithm weighting. Multiple category selection enables books spanning genre boundaries—a romantic thriller occupies both Romance (Romantic Suspense) and Mystery (Thriller) categories reaching broader audiences.
Category assignments face admin review during book approval workflow, correcting miscategorizations that degrade recommendation quality or frustrate reader discovery expectations. Admin override authority exists for blatant miscategorization—self-help books incorrectly filed as fiction, or adult content misrepresented as young adult—maintaining category browsing utility.
Category pages generate automatically displaying filtered book lists with configurable sort orders: trending books show velocity-ranked recent gainers, new releases sort by publication date, top-rated display highest-reviewed titles, whilst most-read ranks by cumulative page-read volume. This multi-dimensional presentation surfaces different discovery pathways acknowledging that readers value diverse quality signals—some prioritize critical acclaim (ratings), others prefer popular validation (read counts), whilst trend-followers want emerging hits.
Leaderboard Systems
Leaderboards gamify the platform experience creating competitive motivation for writers whilst providing readers with curated discovery mechanisms highlighting exceptional content and prolific creators. Automated leaderboard generation refreshes daily incorporating previous 24-hour activity, with separate weekly and monthly leaderboards providing different temporal perspectives on platform dynamics.
Book Leaderboards
Book rankings aggregate across multiple dimensions: Most Read ranks by cumulative pages read over specified time periods, Trending identifies books with highest growth velocity relative to baseline, Top Rated displays highest average star ratings among books exceeding minimum review thresholds, whilst New & Rising highlights recently published books achieving strong early traction. Each leaderboard type emphasizes different success patterns—viral hits dominate trending whilst literary masterpieces lead top-rated categories.
Author Leaderboards
Writer rankings provide portfolio-level visibility recognizing prolific creators with multiple successful books. Metrics include cumulative pages read across entire author catalog, total earnings acknowledging commercial success, and active reader counts measuring sustained audience engagement. Category-specific author leaderboards highlight genre specialists—a romance author dominating Romance rankings might not appear on global leaderboards dominated by thriller writers with broader mass appeal.
Reader Leaderboards
Gamified reader rankings encourage platform engagement through competitive reading volume tracking. Metrics include total pages read, reading streak durations (consecutive days with reading activity), and time-spent measurements. Badge systems award milestone achievements—100-book completion, million-page lifetime reading, or year-long daily reading streaks. Opt-in visibility protects privacy-concerned users whilst allowing competitive readers to share achievements socially. Virtual rewards like exclusive badges, profile flair, or early access to new releases incentivize engagement without monetary cost.
Community Discussion Forums
Reddit-style discussion threads create community spaces around individual books, enabling readers to discuss plot developments, share theories, debate character motivations, and connect with fellow fans. Threaded conversation structures with nested reply support facilitate organized discussions even in high-traffic threads, whilst voting mechanisms (upvote/downvote) surface community-endorsed comments and bury low-quality contributions.
Each book maintains a dedicated discussion space accessible through book detail pages, with comments organized by multiple sort orders: Top displays highest-voted comments, New shows chronologically recent contributions, Controversial highlights divisive comments with balanced vote counts, and Hot combines recency with engagement velocity identifying active conversation topics. Sort flexibility accommodates different reader priorities—some want community consensus (Top), others prefer fresh perspectives (New), whilst controversy-seekers find Hot debates.
Emoji reactions provide lightweight engagement options supplementing voting: readers express agreement, surprise, laughter, or appreciation without composing replies. Reaction aggregation surfaces emotional valence—comments receiving primarily laugh reactions might be humorous observations, whilst comments with surprised reactions might reference plot twists. These reaction patterns inform content moderation highlighting potentially problematic comments generating angry or shocked reactions disproportionately.
Social Media Features: Profile Posts and Activity Feed
StoriesHut incorporates social media functionality enabling readers and writers to share thoughts, updates, reading experiences, and creative content through profile-based posts visible to followers and the broader community.
Post Creation Capabilities
1
Text Posts
  • Rich text formatting (bold, italic, quotes)
  • Maximum 5,000 characters per post
  • Hashtag support for discoverability (#ThrillerBooks, #WritingTips)
  • Mention system tagging other users (@username)
  • Link embedding with preview cards
  • Poll creation (multiple choice, up to 10 options, 7-day duration)
2
Media Posts
  • Image uploads (up to 10 images per post, max 5MB each)
  • Book cover sharing with automatic metadata
  • Reading progress screenshots (with watermark)
  • Quote cards (auto-generated from highlighted text)
  • Video uploads (up to 2 minutes, max 100MB)
  • GIF support via integration with Giphy/Tenor
3
Book-Related Posts
  • "Currently Reading" status updates with book cover
  • "Finished Reading" posts with optional rating and review
  • Reading milestone celebrations (100 books read, 1-year streak)
  • Favorite quotes sharing with attribution
  • Book recommendations with personalized commentary
  • Reading lists and collections sharing
4
Writer-Specific Posts
  • New chapter release announcements
  • Writing progress updates (word count milestones)
  • Behind-the-scenes content creation insights
  • Character artwork and world-building materials
  • Cover reveal posts with engagement mechanics
  • Book launch countdowns
  • Author Q&A sessions (scheduled posts with comment threads)
Post Visibility and Privacy
Visibility Options:
  • Public: Visible to all platform users, appears in discovery feeds
  • Followers Only: Restricted to approved followers
  • Private: Visible only to mentioned users
  • Unlisted: Accessible via direct link only, not in feeds
Post Interaction Mechanics
Engagement Actions:
  • Like/Heart button (single-click appreciation)
  • Comment threads (nested replies up to 3 levels deep)
  • Repost/Share to own profile (with optional commentary)
  • Bookmark for private saving
  • Report for policy violations
  • Share externally (Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp with Open Graph preview)
Notification System:
  • Real-time notifications for likes, comments, mentions
  • Digest mode (hourly/daily summaries for high-volume users)
  • Notification preferences per interaction type
  • Mute specific posts or users
Activity Feed Architecture
Home Feed Algorithm:
  • Chronological posts from followed users (primary)
  • Algorithmic recommendations based on interests
  • Trending posts from broader community
  • Sponsored content slots (future monetization)
  • "Catch up" summaries for inactive users
Discovery Feed:
  • Trending hashtags and topics
  • Popular posts from non-followed users
  • Category-specific feeds (Romance, Thriller, etc.)
  • Location-based content (if user enables)
  • Editor's picks and featured posts
Profile Page Layout
Profile Header:
  • Profile photo and cover image
  • Display name and @username
  • Bio (250 characters)
  • Location (optional)
  • Website link
  • Join date
  • Verification badge (for notable writers/publishers)
Profile Statistics:
  • Follower count
  • Following count
  • Total posts
  • Books published (writers only)
  • Books read (readers only)
  • Total pages read
Profile Tabs:
  • Posts: All user posts in reverse chronological order
  • Books: Published books (writers) or library (readers)
  • Reviews: All book reviews posted
  • Highlights: Shared quotes and passages
  • Lists: Curated reading lists and collections
  • Media: Photo and video gallery
Follow System:
  • One-click follow/unfollow
  • Mutual follow indicator ("Follows you" badge)
  • Follow suggestions based on interests
  • Import contacts (phone/email with permission)
  • Block and mute functionality
Post Moderation and Safety
Content Filtering:
  • Profanity filter (user-configurable)
  • Sensitive content warnings (violence, adult themes)
  • Spoiler tags (collapsible content)
  • NSFW content restrictions (18+ verification required)
Automated Moderation:
  • AI-powered hate speech detection
  • Spam and bot account identification
  • Copyright infringement detection (DMCA compliance)
  • Duplicate content flagging
User Reporting:
  • Report reasons: Spam, Harassment, Hate Speech, Copyright, Other
  • Admin review queue with priority scoring
  • Automated actions for repeat offenders
  • Appeal process for wrongful removals
Post Analytics (For Writers)
Engagement Metrics:
  • Total impressions (views)
  • Engagement rate (likes + comments / impressions)
  • Click-through rate (for book links)
  • Follower growth attribution
  • Peak engagement times
  • Demographic breakdown of engaged users
Data Model Structure
posts table:
- post_id (UUID, primary key)
- user_id (foreign key to users)
- post_type (text, image, video, book_share, poll)
- content (text, max 5000 chars)
- media_urls (JSON array)
- visibility (public, followers, private, unlisted)
- hashtags (array)
- mentioned_users (array of user_ids)
- book_id (foreign key, nullable)
- created_at, updated_at
- deleted_at (soft delete)
post_interactions table:
- interaction_id (UUID)
- post_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- interaction_type (like, comment, repost, bookmark, report)
- comment_text (nullable)
- parent_comment_id (for nested replies)
- created_at
user_follows table:
- follower_id (foreign key to users)
- following_id (foreign key to users)
- created_at
- muted (boolean)
- notifications_enabled (boolean)
Direct Messaging and Chat System
Real-Time Messaging Infrastructure
StoriesHut implements a comprehensive direct messaging system enabling private conversations between readers, writers, and community members. The chat architecture supports one-on-one conversations, group chats, and writer-reader engagement channels.
One-on-One Direct Messages
Message Composition:
  • Text messages (up to 10,000 characters)
  • Rich text formatting (bold, italic, code blocks)
  • Emoji picker with search functionality
  • GIF integration (Giphy/Tenor)
  • Image sharing (up to 10 images, max 5MB each)
  • File attachments (PDFs, documents, up to 25MB)
  • Voice messages (up to 5 minutes, audio recording)
  • Book recommendations (embedded book cards with cover and metadata)
  • Quote sharing from books (with attribution and deep link)
Message Features:
  • Read receipts (seen/delivered status)
  • Typing indicators (real-time "User is typing...")
  • Message reactions (emoji reactions on individual messages)
  • Reply to specific messages (threaded context)
  • Forward messages to other conversations
  • Delete messages (for self or for everyone within 1 hour)
  • Edit messages (within 15 minutes, shows "edited" indicator)
  • Pin important messages to top of conversation
  • Search within conversation history
Privacy and Control:
  • Message requests from non-followers (accept/decline)
  • Block users (prevents all communication)
  • Mute conversations (disable notifications)
  • Report conversations (harassment, spam, inappropriate content)
  • Message encryption (end-to-end encryption for sensitive conversations)
  • Screenshot detection (optional notification to sender)
  • Disappearing messages (auto-delete after 24 hours, optional)
Group Chats
Group Creation and Management:
  • Create groups with up to 100 members
  • Group name and description (editable by admins)
  • Group profile photo
  • Add/remove members (admin permission required)
  • Promote members to admin role
  • Leave group option for all members
Group Features:
  • @mention specific members or @everyone
  • Group announcements (admin-only posting mode)
  • Shared media gallery (all photos/videos in one view)
  • Group polls and voting
  • Event scheduling (reading club meetups, Q&A sessions)
  • Pinned messages (important information at top)
  • Group invite links (shareable, optional expiration)
Group Types:
  • Book Clubs: Organized reading groups with scheduled discussions
  • Writer Communities: Writers supporting each other with feedback
  • Fan Groups: Readers discussing specific authors or series
  • Beta Reader Groups: Private groups for manuscript feedback
Writer-Reader Engagement Channels
Writer Broadcast Channels:
  • One-to-many communication (writer posts, followers receive)
  • Chapter release notifications
  • Writing updates and behind-the-scenes content
  • Exclusive content for subscribers
  • Q&A sessions with threaded responses
  • Poll creation for story decisions (interactive storytelling)
Fan Mail System:
  • Readers send messages to writers (filtered inbox)
  • Priority inbox for verified/subscribed readers
  • Auto-responses for high-volume writers
  • Message templates for common inquiries
  • Bulk reply functionality
Chat Interface Design
Conversation List Screen:
  • Chronological list of conversations (most recent first)
  • Unread message count badges
  • Last message preview (truncated)
  • Timestamp of last activity
  • Profile photos (individual or group icon)
  • Pinned conversations at top
  • Archive conversations (hide from main list)
  • Search conversations by name or content
  • Filter: All, Unread, Groups, Archived
Message Thread Screen:
  • Message bubbles (sender on right, recipient on left)
  • Timestamp grouping (Today, Yesterday, date headers)
  • Scroll to bottom button (when scrolled up)
  • Load more messages (infinite scroll upward)
  • Message status indicators (sent, delivered, read)
  • Typing indicator at bottom
  • Quick reaction bar on long-press
  • Swipe to reply gesture
Notification System
Push Notifications:
  • New message alerts (with sender name and preview)
  • Group mentions (@username notifications)
  • Message requests from new users
  • Notification grouping (multiple messages from same sender)
  • Notification sounds (customizable per conversation)
  • Do Not Disturb mode (scheduled quiet hours)
In-App Notifications:
  • Red badge count on chat icon
  • Toast notifications for new messages while browsing
  • Notification center with message history
Real-Time Technology Stack
WebSocket Implementation:
  • Socket.io for real-time bidirectional communication
  • Automatic reconnection on network interruption
  • Message queuing for offline delivery
  • Presence system (online/offline status)
  • Last seen timestamp (privacy-configurable)
Message Delivery Architecture:
  • Message sent to server via WebSocket
  • Server validates and stores in database
  • Server pushes to recipient's active connections
  • Push notification sent if recipient offline
  • Delivery confirmation sent back to sender
  • Read receipt sent when recipient views message
Data Model Structure
conversations table:
- conversation_id (UUID, primary key)
- conversation_type (direct, group, broadcast)
- created_at, updated_at
- last_message_at (for sorting)
- group_name (nullable, for groups)
- group_description (nullable)
- group_photo_url (nullable)
conversation_participants table:
- participant_id (UUID)
- conversation_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- role (member, admin, owner)
- joined_at
- left_at (nullable)
- muted (boolean)
- archived (boolean)
- last_read_message_id (for unread count)
messages table:
- message_id (UUID, primary key)
- conversation_id (foreign key)
- sender_id (foreign key to users)
- message_type (text, image, file, voice, book_share, system)
- content (text, nullable)
- media_urls (JSON array, nullable)
- reply_to_message_id (nullable, for threaded replies)
- created_at, updated_at
- edited_at (nullable)
- deleted_at (soft delete)
- deleted_for_everyone (boolean)
message_receipts table:
- receipt_id (UUID)
- message_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- status (delivered, read)
- timestamp
message_reactions table:
- reaction_id (UUID)
- message_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- emoji (text)
- created_at
Moderation and Safety
Automated Content Filtering:
  • Profanity detection and filtering
  • Spam link detection
  • Malware/phishing URL blocking
  • Inappropriate image detection (AI-powered)
  • Automated warning messages for policy violations
User Reporting:
  • Report individual messages or entire conversations
  • Report categories: Harassment, Spam, Inappropriate Content, Impersonation
  • Screenshot evidence upload
  • Admin review queue with context (full conversation history)
  • Automated actions for repeat offenders (temporary chat ban)
Writer Protection Features:
  • Message request filtering (only followers can message)
  • Keyword filters (block messages containing specific words)
  • Auto-block aggressive or abusive users
  • Rate limiting (prevent spam from single user)
  • Verified badge requirement for messaging (optional)
Performance Optimization
Message Pagination:
  • Load 50 most recent messages initially
  • Lazy load older messages on scroll
  • Cache recent conversations locally
  • Compress media before upload
  • Progressive image loading (thumbnail first, full resolution on tap)
Offline Support:
  • Queue messages for sending when connection restored
  • Local database for message history (SQLite)
  • Sync on reconnection (fetch missed messages)
  • Conflict resolution for simultaneous edits
Analytics and Insights
User Engagement Metrics:
  • Average response time
  • Messages sent/received per day
  • Most active conversations
  • Group participation rates
Writer Analytics:
  • Fan mail volume and response rate
  • Broadcast channel engagement (open rates, replies)
  • Most engaged readers (for targeted outreach)
  • Message sentiment analysis (positive/negative feedback ratio)
Bookmark Sharing and Reading Lists
StoriesHut transforms private bookmarks into shareable social objects, enabling readers to curate and share their favorite passages, create thematic collections, and discover content through community curation.
Personal Bookmark Collections
Bookmark Types:
  • Text Highlights: Selected passages with optional color coding (yellow, blue, pink, green)
  • Page Bookmarks: Quick-access markers for specific pages
  • Chapter Bookmarks: Mark entire chapters for later reference
  • Quote Cards: Beautifully formatted quotes with book attribution
  • Annotated Bookmarks: Highlights with personal notes and commentary
Bookmark Organization:
  • Create custom collections (e.g., "Inspirational Quotes", "Plot Twists", "Character Development")
  • Tag bookmarks with keywords for easy filtering
  • Sort by: Date added, Book title, Chapter, Color, Rating
  • Search within bookmarks (full-text search)
  • Bulk operations (move, delete, export multiple bookmarks)
Shareable Reading Lists
List Creation:
  • Create public or private reading lists
  • List title and description (up to 500 characters)
  • Cover image (auto-generated from book covers or custom upload)
  • Add up to 100 books per list
  • Drag-and-drop reordering
  • Collaborative lists (multiple curators)
List Types:
  • Curated Lists: Thematic collections ("Best Thrillers of 2024", "Romantic Comedies")
  • Reading Challenges: Goal-based lists ("Read 50 Books This Year")
  • Book Club Lists: Shared reading schedules with discussion dates
  • Recommendation Lists: Personalized suggestions for followers
  • Genre Exploration: Comprehensive genre guides for new readers
List Metadata:
  • Total books in list
  • Total pages across all books
  • Average rating
  • Estimated reading time
  • Completion tracking (for followers)
  • Last updated timestamp
  • Creator attribution
Social Sharing Capabilities
Share Bookmarks:
  • Share individual highlights to profile feed
  • Share to specific conversations (DM or group chat)
  • Export as image (quote card with book cover and attribution)
  • Copy formatted text with citation
  • Share to external platforms (Twitter, Instagram Stories, WhatsApp)
  • Generate shareable link (opens in app or web)
Share Reading Lists:
  • Public URL for any list (e.g., storieshut.com/lists/abc123)
  • Embed widget for external websites
  • QR code generation for offline sharing
  • Social media preview cards (Open Graph metadata)
  • Follow list feature (get notified of updates)
  • Duplicate list to own profile (with attribution)
Discovery and Exploration
Trending Bookmarks:
  • Most-saved highlights this week
  • Viral quote cards (high share count)
  • Popular passages by genre
  • Trending books based on bookmark activity
Trending Lists:
  • Most-followed reading lists
  • Editor's picks (curated by StoriesHut team)
  • Community favorites (high engagement)
  • Seasonal lists (Summer Reads, Holiday Books)
  • New and noteworthy lists
Personalized Recommendations:
  • "Lists you might like" based on reading history
  • "Readers like you bookmarked" suggestions
  • Similar lists to ones you follow
  • Books frequently bookmarked together
Bookmark and List Interactions
Engagement Actions:
  • Like bookmarks and lists
  • Comment on shared bookmarks
  • Add books from lists to personal library
  • Follow lists for updates
  • Report inappropriate content
  • Save others' bookmarks to own collections
Notification System:
  • New bookmark from followed user
  • List updated (new books added)
  • Someone saved your bookmark
  • Your list reached milestone (100 followers)
  • Book from your list is trending
Privacy Controls
Bookmark Privacy:
  • Public: Visible to all users, appears in discovery
  • Followers Only: Restricted to approved followers
  • Private: Only visible to you
  • Selective Sharing: Share specific bookmarks while keeping others private
List Privacy:
  • Public: Anyone can view and follow
  • Unlisted: Accessible via link only
  • Private: Only you can view
  • Collaborative: Shared editing with invited users
Profile Settings:
  • Hide all bookmarks from profile
  • Disable bookmark sharing notifications
  • Opt out of bookmark-based recommendations
  • Export all bookmarks (JSON/CSV format)
Visual Design Elements
Quote Card Generator:
  • Auto-generated images from text highlights
  • Customizable templates (minimalist, colorful, elegant)
  • Book cover integration
  • Author and book attribution
  • StoriesHut watermark (removable for premium users)
  • Multiple aspect ratios (square, portrait, landscape)
  • Font selection (serif, sans-serif, handwritten)
  • Color scheme options matching book cover
List Cover Design:
  • Mosaic of book covers (2x2, 3x3 grid)
  • Featured book cover with overlay
  • Custom image upload
  • AI-generated cover based on list theme
  • Gradient backgrounds with text overlay
Integration with Reading Experience
In-Reader Bookmark Actions:
  • Long-press text to highlight and bookmark
  • Quick-share button in highlight menu
  • "Add to list" option when bookmarking
  • Bookmark counter in chapter view
  • Jump to bookmarked passages
Bookmark Sync:
  • Real-time sync across devices
  • Offline bookmark creation (syncs when online)
  • Conflict resolution for simultaneous edits
  • Backup and restore functionality
Data Model Structure
bookmarks table:
- bookmark_id (UUID, primary key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- book_id (foreign key)
- chapter_id (foreign key, nullable)
- bookmark_type (highlight, page, chapter, quote_card)
- content (text of highlighted passage)
- start_position, end_position (character offsets)
- color (yellow, blue, pink, green, nullable)
- note (user annotation, nullable)
- visibility (public, followers, private)
- created_at, updated_at
bookmark_collections table:
- collection_id (UUID, primary key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- name (text)
- description (text, nullable)
- visibility (public, private)
- created_at, updated_at
bookmark_collection_items table:
- item_id (UUID)
- collection_id (foreign key)
- bookmark_id (foreign key)
- position (integer, for ordering)
- added_at
reading_lists table:
- list_id (UUID, primary key)
- creator_id (foreign key to users)
- title (text)
- description (text, nullable)
- cover_image_url (text, nullable)
- visibility (public, unlisted, private, collaborative)
- list_type (curated, challenge, book_club, recommendation)
- created_at, updated_at
reading_list_items table:
- item_id (UUID)
- list_id (foreign key)
- book_id (foreign key)
- position (integer, for ordering)
- added_by_user_id (foreign key, for collaborative lists)
- notes (text, nullable)
- added_at
list_followers table:
- follower_id (UUID)
- list_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- followed_at
- notifications_enabled (boolean)
bookmark_interactions table:
- interaction_id (UUID)
- bookmark_id (foreign key)
- user_id (foreign key)
- interaction_type (like, save, comment, report)
- comment_text (nullable)
- created_at
Analytics and Insights
User Metrics:
  • Total bookmarks created
  • Most-bookmarked books
  • Bookmark sharing frequency
  • Collections created
  • Lists followed
Writer Insights:
  • Most-bookmarked passages in their books
  • Bookmark heatmap (which chapters get most bookmarks)
  • Quote cards created from their content
  • Lists featuring their books
  • Bookmark-driven discovery (readers finding books via bookmarks)
Platform Metrics:
  • Total bookmarks created daily
  • Most-bookmarked books platform-wide
  • Viral quote cards (high share velocity)
  • List engagement rates
  • Bookmark-to-purchase conversion
Spoiler Protection and Chapter Tagging
01
Chapter-Aware Comment Tagging
When composing comments, readers specify which chapter their discussion references, with optional spoiler flags marking content revealing plot developments. Tags display prominently alongside comments: "Chapter 12 - Spoiler" warnings alert readers to hidden content requiring explicit opt-in reveal actions. This system respects reader agency—those caught up to Chapter 12 can safely engage with tagged discussions whilst earlier readers avoid unwanted revelations.
02
Intelligent Spoiler Hiding
Comment threads automatically hide spoiler-tagged comments by default, displaying collapsed placeholders indicating hidden content availability. Readers explicitly choose to reveal spoilers through interaction with placeholder elements, acknowledging awareness of potential plot revelations. This friction reduces accidental spoiler exposure from casual scrolling whilst permitting intentional engagement when readers desire deeper discussion.
03
Quote Attribution and Context
Comments can include specific passage quotes with chapter/page attribution, enabling precise reference without requiring readers to recall exact wording from memory. Quote attribution provides context for discussion whilst enabling spoiler-sensitive readers to assess whether quoted passages precede or follow their current reading position. Rich quote formatting differentiates quoted book content from commenter commentary preventing confusion about authorship.
04
Reader Progress Integration
Discussion interfaces optionally integrate with reader progress tracking, automatically filtering comments to display only those referencing chapters the reader has completed. This personalized filtering prevents accidental spoiler exposure even when readers forget to check chapter tags before engaging. Advanced readers can disable filtering when seeking future-chapter discussions or participating in full-book retrospectives after completion.
Community Moderation and Safety
Discussion health requires proactive moderation preventing harassment, hate speech, spam, and other harmful behaviors that degrade community quality and discourage participation. Multi-layered moderation combines automated filtering, community reporting, and human review creating scalable safety systems addressing harmful content quickly whilst minimizing false positives that might silence legitimate discourse.
Automated Content Filtering
Natural language processing models scan comments for prohibited content patterns: profanity, slurs, personal attacks, spam signatures, and malicious link patterns. High-confidence detections face automatic removal with notification to commenters explaining policy violations, whilst ambiguous cases enter human review queues for contextual evaluation. Machine learning models improve continuously through feedback loops incorporating moderator decisions and user report patterns.
Rate limiting prevents spam and harassment through velocity restrictions: new accounts face stricter comment frequency limits until establishing trust scores through positive community engagement, whilst established users enjoy relaxed limits reflecting earned reputation. Sudden velocity spikes—users posting dozens of comments within minutes—trigger automatic throttling and moderator alerts suggesting potential compromise or coordinated brigading attempts.
Community Reporting Mechanisms
Report buttons accompany every comment enabling community members to flag concerning content for moderator review. Report categories include: harassment/bullying, hate speech, spam/commercial promotion, spoilers without proper tagging, and off-topic content. Report aggregation identifies problematic comments receiving multiple independent reports, prioritizing these for rapid review.
Reporter abuse prevention systems track reporting patterns identifying users who frivolously report benign content or weaponize reporting to silence disagreement. Accounts exhibiting abuse patterns face reduced report weight or reporting privilege suspension, preventing mob censorship or bad-faith reporting campaigns whilst maintaining legitimate safety reporting effectiveness.
Moderator Rights and Responsibilities
Book authors automatically receive moderation rights for their book discussion threads, enabling comment removal, user bans from specific discussions, and thread locking during particularly heated controversies. Admin moderators provide platform-wide oversight addressing cross-book patterns and adjudicating author moderation disputes. Moderation actions generate transparent mod logs visible to other moderators documenting removal reasons and maintaining accountability against arbitrary censorship or personal biases influencing moderation decisions.
Discussion Data Model
Core Tables
  • discussion_threads: Book-scoped parent containers for all discussion activity
  • comments: Individual comment records with content, metadata, and parent references
  • comment_votes: User voting records with vote direction and timestamps
  • comment_reactions: Emoji reaction associations linking users, comments, and reaction types
  • comment_reports: User-submitted reports with category classifications and resolution status
Access Rules
Row Level Security policies enforce: users can only vote once per comment, users can delete their own comments within edit windows (typically 5-15 minutes post-publication), moderators can remove any comments within their jurisdiction, and deleted comments retain data for audit purposes displaying "[deleted]" placeholders to readers whilst preserving moderator visibility for pattern analysis.
Immutability Guarantees
Comments become immutable after edit window expiration preventing post-publication content modification that might misrepresent replied-to content or enable manipulation. Edit history tracking records all modifications during edit windows maintaining transparency about comment evolution. Deletion operations soft-delete records updating status flags rather than removing rows, ensuring complete audit trails persist indefinitely for legal compliance and abuse investigation.
Testing, Security, and Compliance
Comprehensive quality assurance processes validate platform functionality, security, and regulatory compliance before production deployment. Multi-layered testing strategies combine automated unit testing, integration testing, end-to-end scenario validation, penetration testing, and compliance auditing ensuring robust software quality meeting professional standards and user expectations.
Unit and Integration Testing
Automated test suites execute on every code commit validating individual function correctness and component integration behavior. Unit tests verify business logic correctness in isolation—royalty calculation functions receive mock input data and assert expected output accuracy. Integration tests validate API contracts, database schema compatibility, and external service integration functionality ensuring system components interoperate correctly. Code coverage targets exceed 80% for critical paths including authentication, payment processing, and royalty calculation.
Penetration Testing
Security professionals conduct adversarial testing attempting to compromise platform security through SQL injection, cross-site scripting, authentication bypass, privilege escalation, and other attack vectors. Quarterly penetration tests identify vulnerabilities before malicious actors discover them, with immediate remediation of critical findings preceding next release. Third-party security firms provide independent validation ensuring internal security reviews don't suffer from blind spots or conflicts of interest.
OWASP Coverage
Security architecture explicitly addresses OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities: injection protection through parameterized queries and input validation, broken authentication mitigation through secure session management and MFA support, sensitive data exposure prevention through encryption and access controls, XML external entity attack prevention, broken access control protection through RLS enforcement, security misconfiguration auditing, cross-site scripting prevention through content security policies and output encoding, insecure deserialization protection, component vulnerability monitoring, and insufficient logging/monitoring remediation through comprehensive audit systems.
Store Compliance
Mobile applications comply with Google Play Store and Apple App Store content policies, privacy requirements, and technical guidelines. Compliance reviews address: content rating accuracy for mature themes, privacy policy completeness and data handling transparency, payment processing guideline adherence, and prohibited functionality avoidance. Pre-submission compliance validation reduces rejection risks accelerating release velocity.
Penetration Testing Requirements
Comprehensive penetration testing validates platform security posture before production launch and periodically thereafter. Testing scope encompasses all attack surfaces including mobile applications, web portals, APIs, and backend infrastructure.
Pre-Launch Penetration Testing
Mobile Application Security Testing:
  • Static Application Security Testing (SAST) analyzing Flutter codebase for vulnerabilities
  • Dynamic Application Security Testing (DAST) examining runtime behavior
  • Reverse engineering resistance validation
  • Root/jailbreak detection bypass attempts
  • Screenshot protection circumvention testing
  • Screen recording detection evasion attempts
  • Certificate pinning validation
  • Local storage encryption verification
  • Memory dump analysis for sensitive data exposure
  • Inter-process communication security
  • Deep link vulnerability assessment
  • Intent hijacking prevention validation
Web Application Penetration Testing:
  • OWASP Top 10 vulnerability assessment
  • SQL injection testing across all input fields
  • Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) vulnerability scanning
  • Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) protection validation
  • Authentication bypass attempts
  • Session management security testing
  • Authorization and access control verification
  • File upload vulnerability assessment
  • Server-Side Request Forgery (SSRF) testing
  • XML External Entity (XXE) injection attempts
  • Insecure deserialization testing
  • Security misconfiguration identification
API Security Assessment:
  • REST API endpoint enumeration
  • Authentication token manipulation
  • Rate limiting bypass attempts
  • Mass assignment vulnerability testing
  • API versioning security gaps
  • GraphQL injection testing (if applicable)
  • Excessive data exposure validation
  • Lack of resources and rate limiting
  • Broken function level authorization
  • Security misconfiguration in API gateway
Infrastructure Penetration Testing:
  • Network perimeter security assessment
  • Cloud infrastructure configuration review (AWS/GCP)
  • Database security hardening validation
  • Redis/cache layer security testing
  • CDN configuration security review
  • DNS security assessment
  • SSL/TLS configuration validation
  • Server hardening verification
  • Container security assessment (Docker/Kubernetes)
  • Secrets management validation
  • Backup security and encryption verification
DRM and Content Protection Testing:
  • Encrypted content extraction attempts
  • Watermark removal feasibility assessment
  • Device binding bypass attempts
  • Signed URL manipulation testing
  • Time-limited access token exploitation
  • Content decryption key extraction attempts
  • Man-in-the-middle attack simulation
  • Proxy/VPN detection bypass validation
Payment Security Testing:
  • PCI DSS compliance validation
  • Payment gateway integration security
  • Subscription manipulation attempts
  • Refund process vulnerability assessment
  • Pricing manipulation testing
  • Coupon/discount code exploitation
  • Payment callback tampering
  • Webhook signature validation
Ongoing Security Testing Schedule:
  • Quarterly penetration testing for critical systems
  • Annual comprehensive security audit
  • Post-major-release security assessment
  • Continuous automated vulnerability scanning
  • Bug bounty program for responsible disclosure
  • Third-party security audit by certified firms (ISO 27001, SOC 2)
Quality Assurance and Testing Strategy
Comprehensive Testing Framework
Multi-layered testing strategy ensures platform reliability, performance, and user experience quality across all components. Testing pyramid balances automated unit tests, integration tests, and manual exploratory testing.
Unit Testing Requirements
Backend Unit Tests:
  • Minimum 80% code coverage for business logic
  • Jest/Mocha test framework for Node.js services
  • Pytest for Python-based services
  • Test database fixtures and mocking
  • Royalty calculation logic validation
  • Security event processing verification
  • Payment webhook handling tests
  • User authentication flow testing
  • Authorization and permission checks
  • Data validation and sanitization tests
Frontend Unit Tests:
  • Flutter widget testing for mobile components
  • React component testing for web portals
  • State management testing (Redux/Provider)
  • Form validation logic verification
  • Utility function testing
  • API client mocking and testing
  • Local storage operations validation
Integration Testing
API Integration Tests:
  • End-to-end API workflow testing
  • Authentication and authorization flows
  • CRUD operations across all entities
  • Payment gateway integration validation
  • Email/SMS notification delivery
  • Third-party service integration (AWS S3, CDN)
  • Database transaction integrity
  • Cache invalidation correctness
  • Rate limiting enforcement
  • Error handling and recovery
Mobile App Integration Tests:
  • Screen navigation flows
  • Data synchronization between local and remote
  • Offline mode functionality
  • Background sync operations
  • Push notification handling
  • Deep linking behavior
  • In-app purchase flows (if applicable)
  • Reading progress tracking accuracy
  • Bookmark and highlight synchronization
Performance Testing
Load Testing:
  • Concurrent user simulation (1K, 10K, 100K users)
  • API endpoint throughput measurement
  • Database query performance under load
  • CDN performance validation
  • Reading session concurrency testing
  • Payment processing under peak load
  • Search and recommendation engine performance
  • Real-time analytics ingestion capacity
Stress Testing:
  • System behavior at 150% expected capacity
  • Graceful degradation validation
  • Auto-scaling trigger verification
  • Database connection pool exhaustion
  • Memory leak detection
  • CPU spike handling
  • Network latency simulation
Endurance Testing:
  • 24-hour continuous load testing
  • Memory usage stability over time
  • Database connection leak detection
  • Cache effectiveness over extended periods
  • Log rotation and storage management
User Acceptance Testing (UAT)
Reader Experience Testing:
  • Onboarding flow usability
  • Book discovery and search effectiveness
  • Reading experience comfort and customization
  • Offline reading reliability
  • Highlight and note-taking functionality
  • Discussion forum usability
  • Payment and subscription flows
  • Cross-device synchronization
Writer Portal Testing:
  • Manuscript upload and editing workflows
  • Cover design and generation tools
  • Publishing workflow clarity
  • Analytics dashboard comprehension
  • Royalty reporting accuracy
  • Payout request processing
Admin Console Testing:
  • User management operations
  • Content moderation workflows
  • Security event investigation
  • Financial operations and reporting
  • System health monitoring
Compatibility Testing
Mobile Device Testing:
  • Android versions: 8.0 (Oreo) through latest
  • iOS versions: 13.0 through latest
  • Screen sizes: 4.7" to 6.7" smartphones, 7" to 12.9" tablets
  • Device manufacturers: Samsung, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Realme, Oppo, Vivo, Apple
  • RAM configurations: 2GB to 16GB
  • Storage scenarios: low storage warnings, full storage handling
Browser Compatibility:
  • Chrome (latest 2 versions)
  • Firefox (latest 2 versions)
  • Safari (latest 2 versions)
  • Edge (latest 2 versions)
  • Mobile browsers (Chrome Mobile, Safari Mobile)
Network Condition Testing:
  • 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, WiFi performance
  • Intermittent connectivity handling
  • Offline mode transitions
  • Bandwidth throttling scenarios
  • High latency simulation (200ms, 500ms, 1000ms)
Accessibility Testing
WCAG 2.1 Compliance:
  • Screen reader compatibility (TalkBack, VoiceOver)
  • Keyboard navigation support
  • Color contrast validation (AA standard minimum)
  • Text scaling support (up to 200%)
  • Focus indicator visibility
  • Alternative text for images
  • Semantic HTML structure
  • ARIA labels and roles
Localization Testing
Multi-Language Support:
  • UI text translation accuracy
  • Right-to-left (RTL) layout support (if applicable)
  • Date and time format localization
  • Currency formatting
  • Number formatting
  • Character encoding support (Unicode)
  • Text expansion handling (German, Hindi)
Security Testing (Non-Penetration)
Automated Security Scanning:
  • Dependency vulnerability scanning (npm audit, Snyk)
  • SAST (Static Application Security Testing) tools
  • Secret detection in codebase (GitGuardian)
  • Container image vulnerability scanning
  • Infrastructure as Code security scanning
Regression Testing
Automated Regression Suite:
  • Critical user journey automation (Selenium, Appium)
  • Payment flow regression tests
  • Authentication and authorization regression
  • Data migration validation after schema changes
  • API backward compatibility verification
Test Environment Strategy
Environment Tiers:
  • Development: Individual developer environments
  • Testing/QA: Dedicated QA environment with production-like data
  • Staging: Production mirror for final validation
  • Production: Live environment with monitoring
Test Data Management:
  • Synthetic test data generation
  • Production data anonymization for testing
  • Test user accounts with various permission levels
  • Sample book content for testing
  • Payment gateway sandbox credentials
DevOps and Release Engineering
CI/CD Pipeline
Continuous integration and deployment automation streamlines release processes: Git commits trigger automated builds, test suite execution blocks merge on failures, staging environment deployments enable QA validation, and production deployments execute through controlled promotion workflows with rollback capabilities. Deployment automation reduces human error whilst accelerating release cycles from weeks to days or hours.
Feature Flags
Feature flag systems enable deploying code to production with inactive features, separating deployment from release decisions. Complex features develop behind flags enabling incremental production testing without exposing incomplete functionality to users. Flags enable gradual rollouts—activating features for 1% of users initially, monitoring metrics, and expanding percentages progressively. Emergency kill switches disable problematic features instantly without requiring code deployments.
Staged Rollout
Mobile application releases employ staged rollout—Google Play's release channels distribute new versions to progressively larger user cohorts (5% → 25% → 50% → 100%) over several days. Early adopter feedback identifies critical bugs before mass exposure, whilst rollback capabilities revert problematic releases instantly. Web application deployments follow similar patterns using load balancer traffic shifting.
Crash Analytics
Automated crash reporting tools capture application failures across diverse devices and conditions. Crash reports include stack traces, device characteristics, OS versions, and reproduction steps when available. Analytics dashboards aggregate crashes identifying common patterns requiring prioritization, whilst alerting notifies engineering teams when crash rates exceed thresholds suggesting critical regressions.
Future Enhancement Roadmap
StoriesHut's architectural foundation supports extensive future enhancements expanding platform capabilities, revenue streams, and user value propositions. The following initiatives represent strategic priorities informed by user research, competitive analysis, and market opportunity assessment. While not committing to specific delivery timelines, these enhancements guide architectural decisions ensuring current systems remain extensible without requiring fundamental redesigns.
Advanced Synchronization
Enhanced cross-device sync improves upon basic Whispersync-like functionality introducing real-time position synchronization enabling seamless device switching mid-paragraph, synchronized highlight and note editing across devices with conflict resolution for simultaneous edits, and reading position sharing enabling social reading experiences where friends read together asynchronously whilst seeing each other's progress and annotations.
Multi-device reading modes allow reading different books simultaneously across devices—novel on tablet whilst reading reference book on phone—with intelligent context switching recognizing which book to surface based on device type and usage patterns. Family account sharing extends device limits enabling household members to share single subscription whilst maintaining separate reading histories and recommendations.
Machine Learning Recommendations
Advanced ML models incorporating deep learning architectures, transformer-based natural language understanding, and hybrid collaborative-content filtering provide substantially improved recommendation accuracy. Models analyze reading velocity patterns identifying when readers accelerate through exciting passages or slow during complex sections, using these signals to recommend pacing-appropriate content.
Sentiment analysis of highlights and notes reveals reader emotional responses—repeatedly highlighting inspirational quotes suggests preference for uplifting content, whilst notes expressing confusion indicate complexity tolerance. These implicit signals supplement explicit ratings providing richer taste profiling than ratings alone. Graph neural networks model complex relationships between books, authors, themes, and stylistic elements discovering non-obvious similarity patterns invisible to simpler algorithms.
Audiobook Integration Strategy
Text-to-Speech Foundation
Initial audiobook capabilities leverage advanced neural text-to-speech (TTS) synthesis generating high-quality narration from written content. Modern TTS engines produce natural-sounding speech with proper prosody, emotion, and pronunciation accuracy suitable for long-form content consumption. Writer-opt-in programs allow authors to enable automatic TTS audiobook generation for their catalog, expanding accessibility whilst generating supplementary revenue from audio-preferring readers.
Professional Narration Platform
Premium audiobook tier connects writers with professional narrators through marketplace-style matching. Writers post narration projects with compensation offers, narrators audition with sample recordings, and writers select preferred narrators. Platform facilitates contract management, payment escrow, recording workflow coordination, and final production quality assurance creating end-to-end audiobook production pipeline without external service dependencies.
Immersion Reading
Whispersync-style immersion reading synchronizes audiobook playback with text highlighting enabling simultaneous audio listening and text following. This multimodal experience benefits language learners, readers with visual impairments, and anyone preferring hybrid reading modes. Position synchronization ensures seamless switching between pure text reading, pure audio listening, and immersion mode based on context—commuting via audio, reading text during focused sessions.
Enhanced Audio Features
Variable playback speeds accommodate different consumption preferences—some listeners prefer accelerated 1.5x or 2x speeds whilst others want slower speeds for complex content. Chapter navigation, bookmarking, and sleep timers provide audiobook-specific controls missing from pure text interfaces. Offline download with encrypted storage mirrors e-book offline functionality ensuring audiobook access during connectivity absence.
Publisher Partnership Programs
Enterprise publisher partnerships expand catalog beyond self-published content incorporating traditional publishing house backlists and frontlist titles. Partnership programs address publisher concerns around revenue models, content protection, distribution control, and market analytics whilst providing StoriesHut with premium content attracting broader readership and validating platform legitimacy.
Revenue sharing models accommodate publisher preferences: wholesale pricing where StoriesHut purchases books at discount retaining retail margin flexibility, agency pricing where publishers set retail prices and StoriesHut receives commission, or hybrid page-read royalty models mirroring Kindle Unlimited where publishers participate in global fund distribution based on read activity. Flexibility demonstrates willingness to adapt business models attracting risk-averse publishers hesitant about non-traditional digital models.
Enhanced DRM integration through Readium LCP or Adobe Content Server addresses publisher security requirements for premium content. Geographic rights management respects territorial licensing agreements preventing books from appearing in markets where publishers lack distribution rights. Analytics sharing provides publishers with aggregated reader engagement data—completion rates, reading velocity, popular sections—enabling data-driven editorial decisions and marketing optimization whilst protecting individual reader privacy.
Security Events Table Structure
The security_events table serves as the immutable audit log for all security-sensitive client actions, providing forensic evidence for investigations, supporting automated fraud detection, and enabling compliance reporting for regulatory requirements. Table design prioritizes append-only immutability preventing tampering whilst optimizing query performance for admin dashboard analytics and real-time alerting systems.
CREATE TABLE security_events (
    id UUID PRIMARY KEY DEFAULT gen_random_uuid(),
    user_id UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES users(id),
    username TEXT NOT NULL, -- denormalized for audit
    device_id TEXT NOT NULL,
    os_type TEXT NOT NULL CHECK (os_type IN ('android', 'ios', 'web')),
    book_id UUID NOT NULL REFERENCES books(id),
    chapter_id UUID REFERENCES chapters(id),
    page_index INTEGER NOT NULL,
    event_type TEXT NOT NULL CHECK (event_type IN 
        ('screenshot', 'screen_record', 'drm_violation')),
    capture_result TEXT CHECK (capture_result IN 
        ('blocked', 'blank', 'successful')),
    timestamp TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW(),
    ip_address INET,
    user_agent TEXT,
    created_at TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL DEFAULT NOW()
);

-- Indexes for query performance
CREATE INDEX idx_security_events_user_id ON security_events(user_id);
CREATE INDEX idx_security_events_timestamp ON security_events(timestamp DESC);
CREATE INDEX idx_security_events_book_id ON security_events(book_id);
CREATE INDEX idx_security_events_event_type ON security_events(event_type);

-- RLS policies (insert-only for application role)
ALTER TABLE security_events ENABLE ROW LEVEL SECURITY;
CREATE POLICY security_events_insert ON security_events 
    FOR INSERT WITH CHECK (auth.role() = 'service_role');
CREATE POLICY security_events_select ON security_events 
    FOR SELECT USING (auth.role() IN ('admin', 'super_admin'));
Retention policies mandate minimum 5-year data retention meeting legal discovery requirements and enabling long-term fraud pattern analysis. Archive strategies migrate aged records to cold storage reducing active database size whilst maintaining query access through federated query capabilities when historical analysis requires deep time-range investigation.
User Risk Scoring System
10%
Low Risk (Green)
Users with 0-2 security events and no other fraud indicators maintain low risk classification receiving no reading restrictions or increased monitoring
35%
Moderate Risk (Yellow)
Users with 3-4 events or suspicious reading patterns face enhanced monitoring and potential temporary reading restrictions pending investigation
75%
High Risk (Orange)
Users with 5-6 events and confirmed fraud indicators receive mandatory admin review before account restoration and permanent monitoring flags
100%
Critical Risk (Red)
Users with 7+ events or severe violations face permanent suspension with potential legal action for intellectual property theft or ToS violations
Risk scores aggregate security events, fraud detection signals, payment dispute history, community moderation violations, and support ticket sentiment creating holistic user trustworthiness assessments. Scores increment automatically on new violations but decrease slowly over time rewarding sustained compliant behavior—users demonstrating 6 months of clean activity after moderate violations see risk scores gradually reset enabling redemption pathways.
The user_risk_scores table maintains current risk assessment with efficient update patterns supporting real-time admin dashboard queries whilst avoiding expensive full-table scans during security event processing.
Real-Time Admin Alerting
Immediate Alert Triggers
Security events generate immediate alerts delivered through multiple channels ensuring admin awareness regardless of current workflow context. Dashboard notifications appear prominently in admin console interfaces with unread counts and priority classifications, email notifications deliver to designated security team distribution lists with event details and direct links to investigation interfaces, whilst SMS notifications escalate critical events to on-call personnel ensuring 24/7 incident response capability.
Alert aggregation prevents notification fatigue—rapid bursts of events from single users trigger consolidated notifications rather than individual alerts for each event, whilst pattern detection surfaces coordinated attacks spanning multiple accounts differently from isolated incidents. Alert prioritization ranks events by severity: first-time violations generate low-priority informational notifications, whilst repeat violations from high-risk users escalate to critical priority demanding immediate response.
Escalation SLA Definitions
Service level agreements define mandatory response timeframes ensuring consistent incident handling: first violations require acknowledgment within 24 hours but no immediate action, second-third violations need review within 12 hours with risk score updates, fourth violations mandate 4-hour response and temporary suspension execution, whilst fifth+ violations demand immediate (<1 hour) senior admin review and permanent action decisions.
Missed SLA tracking identifies resource capacity issues when admin teams cannot meet response requirements consistently, triggering hiring needs or workflow optimization to maintain service quality. SLA reporting provides executive visibility into security operations efficiency whilst automated escalation ensures critical incidents never languish unaddressed when primary responders are unavailable.
Royalty Invalidation Logic
Protecting royalty pool integrity requires stringent exclusion rules preventing fraudulent or abusive reading activity from inflating writer earnings at expense of legitimate traffic. Invalidation logic executes during monthly settlement calculations reviewing all page-read events against multiple fraud detection criteria before including reads in royalty distributions.
Security Violation Exclusions
Reading sessions where screenshot attempts occurred face complete exclusion—all pages read during violation-flagged sessions become non-billable regardless of whether specific violated pages differ from broader session content. This strict policy disincentivizes circumvention attempts by eliminating any earnings potential from violation-containing sessions.
Zero-Duration Page Reads
Page reads with less than 3-second durations indicate automated page flipping rather than genuine content consumption. These events exclude from royalty calculations whilst generating fraud signals for account risk scoring. Legitimate readers occasionally advance pages quickly when scanning content, but sustained patterns of rapid page flipping conclusively indicate automation.
Fraudulent Account Reads
All page reads from accounts flagged for fraud and subsequently banned face retroactive exclusion from royalty calculations even if reads occurred before ban enforcement. This retroactive exclusion prevents fraudsters from "banking" earnings through brief legitimate-appearing activity before ban execution, protecting writer earnings from deliberate gaming.
Concurrent Multi-Device Violations
Basic subscription tiers restricting single-device concurrent access invalidate reads when users violate limits through simultaneous multi-device reading. While premium subscribers legitimately read across multiple devices, basic tier violations suggest account sharing abuse requiring royalty exclusion to enforce subscription tier value propositions.
Legal Consent and Terms Enforcement
Legal defensibility of security measures requires explicit user consent to monitoring, enforcement actions, and data collection practices. Terms of Service documentation and consent flows must clearly communicate platform security policies, user obligations, and consequence frameworks ensuring users cannot claim ignorance when facing enforcement actions resulting from ToS violations.
Consent Flow Requirements
First-time login triggers mandatory Terms of Service acceptance requiring affirmative opt-in through checkbox confirmation and "I Agree" button activation—passive acceptance through continued usage provides insufficient legal standing for enforcement defense. Consent screens present key terms in plain language avoiding legalistic jargon that might obscure actual user obligations, particularly around screenshot restrictions, security monitoring, and violation consequences.
Major platform updates modifying security policies or adding new enforcement mechanisms trigger re-consent requirements where users must acknowledge updated terms before regaining platform access. Re-consent prevents situations where users accepted terms years ago but face enforcement under substantially modified policies they never explicitly agreed to. Consent records persist indefinitely recording acceptance timestamps, software versions, and specific terms versions users accepted providing audit trail for legal proceedings.

Mandatory ToS Clauses
  • Screenshot and screen recording restrictions with technical enforcement acknowledgment
  • Security event logging and monitoring disclosure
  • Blank screenshot capture attempt treatment as violations
  • Risk scoring and escalated consequence framework
  • Reading session invalidation authority
  • Account suspension and termination conditions
  • No-refund policy for ToS violation enforcement
Terms of Service Legal Language
The following represents legally defensible Terms of Service language addressing security enforcement mechanisms. Legal counsel should review and adapt to specific jurisdictional requirements and risk tolerance preferences.
Section 7: Content Protection and Security Monitoring
7.1 Screenshot and Recording Restrictions: You explicitly agree that all content accessed through StoriesHut applications and services is protected by technical security measures including but not limited to screenshot prevention, screen recording detection, and watermarking technologies. You acknowledge that attempting to capture, record, or circumvent these protection mechanisms violates this Agreement and applicable intellectual property laws.
7.2 Security Event Monitoring: You consent to comprehensive monitoring of your device interactions with StoriesHut applications for security and fraud prevention purposes. This monitoring includes but is not limited to: detection of screenshot attempts regardless of success, screen recording detection, reading pattern analysis, device fingerprinting, and behavioral anomaly detection. All security events generate immutable logs accessible to StoriesHut security personnel and potentially shared with law enforcement or rights holders.
7.3 Blank Screenshot Treatment: You acknowledge that screenshot attempts resulting in blank captured images due to security protection mechanisms constitute violations of this Agreement identical to successful content captures. The attempt itself, rather than success, triggers violation recording and consequence enforcement.
7.4 Consequences and Enforcement: Security violations trigger graduated enforcement responses including but not limited to: risk score increases, reading session invalidation for royalty purposes, temporary account suspension, permanent account termination, legal action for intellectual property theft, and referral to law enforcement. You acknowledge these consequences and agree that suspension or termination for security violations does not entitle you to subscription refunds.
Platform Scaling Considerations
1
Database Scaling Strategy
PostgreSQL vertical scaling accommodates early growth phases through incremental compute and memory increases, whilst horizontal scaling via read replicas distributes query load across multiple database instances. Partitioning strategies segregate high-volume tables like security_events and page_reads by time ranges enabling efficient archival and query optimization. Supabase managed infrastructure simplifies scaling operations providing automatic failover and backup systems.
2
Content Delivery Optimization
CDN integration caches static assets (book covers, UI resources) at edge locations globally reducing latency and origin server load. Encrypted book content requires origin server processing for signed URL generation and access validation but benefits from regional caching after initial authorization reducing repeated origin requests for popular titles. Adaptive bitrate streaming for future audiobook features requires CDN sophistication supporting chunked delivery and quality switching.
3
Application Architecture Evolution
Monolithic backend services transition to microservices architecture as complexity grows: authentication service, content delivery service, royalty calculation service, payment processing service, and analytics service operate independently with defined API contracts. Service isolation enables independent scaling—high read traffic scales content delivery without overprovisioning payment processing capacity. Event-driven architectures using message queues decouple services reducing synchronous dependency chains.
4
Observability Infrastructure
Comprehensive monitoring across application metrics (request latency, error rates, throughput), infrastructure metrics (CPU, memory, disk I/O), and business metrics (active users, reading volume, revenue) enables proactive capacity planning and rapid incident response. Distributed tracing correlates requests across microservices debugging complex failure scenarios spanning multiple system components. Log aggregation centralizes diagnostic information from distributed service fleet enabling efficient troubleshooting.
Mobile Application Screen Architecture
Reader App Navigation Structure
Home Screen: Featured books carousel, personalized recommendations, category shortcuts, reading progress widgets, continue reading section. Links to: Category Browser, Search, Library, Profile.
Book Detail Screen: Cover image, title/author, description, rating summary, sample chapter link, purchase/subscribe button, "Add to Library" action, reader reviews section, discussion forum link. Links to: Reading Interface, Author Profile, Similar Books.
Reading Interface: Full-screen book content, top toolbar (back, bookmark, settings), bottom navigation (chapter, page position), tap zones (page forward/back), long-press menu (highlight, note, define, share). Links to: Chapter Navigation, Settings Overlay, Bookmark List.
Library Screen: Downloaded books grid/list, cloud books section, collections folders, sort/filter controls, storage management. Links to: Book Detail, Collections Manager, Download Management.
Writer Portal Screen Flow
Dashboard Home: Earnings summary cards, recent activity feed, quick actions (new book, view analytics), notification center, help resources. Links to: Book Manager, Analytics, Earnings Details, Account Settings.
Manuscript Editor: Chapter navigation sidebar, rich text editing canvas, formatting toolbar, autosave indicator, version history access, preview mode. Links to: Chapter Manager, Publishing Workflow, Cover Generator.
Publishing Workflow: Submission status tracker, metadata editor (title, description, categories), cover image uploader, pricing configuration, rights/availability settings, submit/publish buttons. Links to: Dashboard, Book Preview, Cover Generator.
Analytics Dashboard: Key metrics overview, time-series charts (reads, earnings), book comparison tables, geographic distribution maps, reader demographic breakdowns, export data controls. Links to: Detailed Reports, Dashboard Home.
Admin Console Screen Specifications
1
01
Admin Dashboard Home
Primary navigation hub displaying platform health metrics: active user count, daily/weekly/monthly signups, revenue trends, content growth (books published), security event frequency, support ticket volume. Alert feed shows critical notifications requiring immediate attention. Quick access buttons link to major functional areas: User Management, Content Moderation, Security Monitoring, Financial Operations.
2
02
User Management Interface
Searchable user directory with filters (role, status, risk score, registration date). User detail views show: account info, subscription status, payment history, content access history, security events, support interactions. Action buttons enable: temporary suspension, permanent ban, password reset, role modification, manual verification. Links to: Security Events Details, Transaction History, Communication Log.
3
03
Content Moderation Queue
Prioritized list of books awaiting review with filters (submission date, category, flagged items). Book review interface displays: full manuscript preview, metadata verification form, cover image assessment, category appropriateness check, policy compliance checklist. Actions: approve publication, reject with reason, request revisions, escalate for senior review. Links to: Writer Profile, Related Content, Policy Guidelines.
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04
Security Monitoring Console
Real-time security event stream with filtering (event type, severity, user). Aggregated threat analysis shows trending patterns, high-risk users, affected books. Investigation tools enable: user behavior timeline, correlated event analysis, IP address tracking, device fingerprint clustering. Response actions: flag for investigation, initiate suspension, invalidate sessions, escalate to legal. Links to: User Risk Scores, Affected Books, Incident Reports.
Finance Console Screen Workflows
01
Royalty Calculation Review
Monthly settlement dashboard displays: total pages read platform-wide, global royalty pool amount, per-writer allocation preview, fraud exclusion summary, validation status indicator. Drill-down enables book-level and writer-level detail inspection. Approval workflow requires finance manager sign-off before proceeding to payout preparation. Linked reports show exclusion details and anomaly flags requiring investigation before finalization.
02
Payout Preparation Interface
Writer payout list showing: writer name, total amount, payout method, bank details verification status, tax compliance indicators, approval status. Batch actions enable: bulk approval for amounts below threshold, individual review for high-value payouts, payment hold flagging, bank detail update requests. Generates payout files formatted for Razorpay Route batch processing with reconciliation references.
03
Transaction Monitoring Dashboard
Real-time payment processing status across: subscriber payments (success rate, failure reasons), writer payouts (processing status, settlement times), refund operations. Filter and search capabilities enable rapid transaction lookup by user, amount, date range, status. Failed transaction investigation tools show detailed error messages, retry attempts, manual intervention options.
04
Tax Compliance Reporting
Automated GST return preparation interface aggregating transaction data, calculating tax liability, generating electronic filing formats. TDS certificate generation queue for writer payouts with bulk processing and individual PDF downloads. Export capabilities for Zoho/QuickBooks integration with configurable chart of accounts mapping. Audit trail documentation for compliance verification.
Reader Mobile App - Authentication & Onboarding Screens
01
Splash Screen
StoriesHut logo with animated loading indicator
Brand colors and tagline
Version number footer
Auto-transitions after 2 seconds
02
Welcome/Onboarding Carousel
3-4 slides showcasing key features:
  • "Unlimited Reading" - Visual of book library
  • "Read Anywhere" - Offline reading capability
  • "Support Writers" - Pages read = writer earnings
  • "Your Personal Library" - Customization features
Skip button (top right)
Next/Previous indicators (dots)
"Get Started" CTA on final slide
03
Sign Up Screen
Phone number input field (+91 prefix)
"Continue with Phone" primary button
Divider with "OR"
"Continue with Google" button (Google icon)
"Continue with Apple" button (Apple icon, iOS only)
Terms & Privacy policy links (small text)
"Already have an account? Log In" link
04
OTP Verification Screen
"Enter verification code" heading
"Code sent to +91-XXXXXXXXXX" subtext with Edit link
6-digit OTP input boxes (auto-focus, auto-submit)
Countdown timer "Resend code in 0:45"
"Resend Code" button (enabled after timer)
"Verify" primary button
05
Profile Setup Screen
"Complete Your Profile" heading
Profile photo upload (circular, camera icon, optional)
Full Name input field (required)
Email input field (optional)
Date of Birth picker (optional)
Gender selection (Male/Female/Other/Prefer not to say)
"Finish Setup" primary button
"Skip for Now" text link

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Reader Mobile App - Home & Discovery Screens
1
01
Home Screen (Main Feed)
  • Top Navigation Bar:
  • StoriesHut logo (left)
  • Search icon (right)
  • Profile avatar (far right)
  • Hero Banner Carousel:
  • Featured books/promotions (auto-rotating)
  • 3-5 slides with book covers and CTAs
  • "Continue Reading" Section:
  • Horizontal scrollable list
  • Book covers with progress bars
  • Last read timestamp
  • "Recommended for You" Section:
  • Personalized book recommendations
  • Grid layout (2 columns)
  • Book cover, title, author, rating
  • "Trending Now" Section:
  • Popular books this week
  • Horizontal scrollable list
  • "New Releases" Section:
  • Recently published books
  • Horizontal scrollable list
  • Category Quick Links:
  • Romance, Thriller, Fantasy, etc.
  • Icon + label buttons
  • Bottom Navigation Bar:
  • Home (active)
  • Browse
  • Library
  • Profile
2
02
Browse/Explore Screen
  • Search bar (top, prominent)
  • "Popular Categories" Grid:
  • Romance, Thriller, Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
  • Horror, Historical, Biography, Self-Help
  • Each with representative icon and book count
  • "Leaderboards" Section:
  • "Top Books This Month"
  • "Rising Stars"
  • "Most Read Authors"
  • Tap to view full leaderboard
  • "Editor's Picks" Section:
  • Curated selections
  • Card-based layout with descriptions
  • Bottom Navigation Bar
3
03
Search Screen
  • Search input (auto-focus on entry)
  • Recent Searches (chips, dismissible)
  • Trending Searches (list)
  • Search Filters Button:
  • Category
  • Language
  • Rating
  • Completion Status
  • Sort by (Relevance, Popular, New, Rating)
  • Search Results View:
  • Book cards with cover, title, author, rating
  • "Load More" infinite scroll
  • Empty state: "No results found" with suggestions
Reader Mobile App - Book Details & Reading Screens
01
Book Details Screen
  • Book Cover (large, centered top)
  • Book Title (bold, prominent)
  • Author Name (clickable link to author profile)
  • Rating Display (stars + average rating + review count)
  • Book Metadata:
  • Category/Genre tags (chips)
  • Language
  • Page count
  • Publication date
  • Completion status (Ongoing/Completed)
  • Action Buttons:
  • "Start Reading" / "Continue Reading" (primary CTA)
  • "Add to Library" / "Remove from Library" (heart icon)
  • "Share" button (share icon)
  • Synopsis/Description:
  • Expandable text (Read More/Less)
  • 3-4 lines preview
  • "About the Author" Section:
  • Author photo (small circular)
  • Brief bio (2-3 lines)
  • "Follow" button
  • Link to author's other books
  • "Readers Also Enjoyed" Section:
  • Horizontal scrollable similar books
  • "Reviews & Ratings" Section:
  • Rating breakdown (5-star distribution bar chart)
  • Top reviews (3 most helpful)
  • "See All Reviews" button
  • "Discussions" Tab:
  • Recent discussion threads count
  • "Join Discussion" CTA
02
Reader Screen (Active Reading)
  • Minimal UI (content-focused):
  • Book text (customizable typography)
  • Chapter title (top, fades on scroll)
  • Progress indicator (thin bar at top)
  • Tap Zones:
  • Center tap: Show/hide controls
  • Left edge tap: Previous page
  • Right edge tap: Next page
  • Top Bar (appears on tap):
  • Back button
  • Book title
  • Chapter dropdown
  • Settings icon
  • Bottom Bar (appears on tap):
  • Page slider (drag to navigate)
  • Current page / Total pages
  • Bookmark icon (toggle)
  • Reading Controls Menu (swipe up or settings icon):
  • Font size slider
  • Font family selector
  • Line spacing options
  • Brightness slider
  • Theme (Light/Sepia/Dark/Black)
  • Margins adjustment
  • Page turn animation style
Reader Mobile App - Library & Interaction Screens
Library Screen
  • Tab Navigation (top):
  • "All Books" (default)
  • "Currently Reading"
  • "Finished"
  • "Bookmarked"
  • View Toggle:
  • Grid view (default, 2-3 columns)
  • List view (detailed)
  • Sort & Filter Options:
  • Sort by: Recent, Title, Author, Progress
  • Filter by: Category, Language, Downloaded
  • Book Cards Display:
  • Cover thumbnail
  • Title and author
  • Progress bar (for in-progress books)
  • Download indicator (cloud/checkmark icon)
  • Three-dot menu (Remove, Download, Mark as Finished)
  • Empty State:
  • "Your library is empty"
  • "Explore books" CTA button
  • Search within library (search icon)
  • Bottom Navigation Bar
Highlights & Notes Screen
  • Book Selector Dropdown (top)
  • "All Books" or specific book
  • Filter Tabs:
  • "All"
  • "Highlights"
  • "Notes"
  • "Bookmarks"
  • Highlight Cards:
  • Highlighted text (with color indicator)
  • Chapter and page reference
  • Date created
  • Personal note (if added)
  • Action buttons: Edit, Delete, Share, Jump to Location
  • Color Filter (floating button):
  • Yellow, Blue, Pink, Green highlights
  • Search within highlights
  • Export Options (menu):
  • Export as PDF
  • Export as CSV
  • Share selected highlights
  • Empty State: "No highlights yet"
Discussion/Community Screen
  • Book Context Header:
  • Book cover (small)
  • Book title
  • "Back to Book" link
  • Discussion Thread List:
  • Thread title
  • Author avatar and name
  • Comment count
  • Last activity timestamp
  • Chapter tag (if applicable)
  • Spoiler warning badge (if marked)
  • "New Discussion" FAB (floating action button)
  • Sort Options:
  • Recent Activity
  • Most Comments
  • Trending
  • Filter by Chapter dropdown
Discussion Thread Detail Screen
  • Original Post:
  • Author avatar and name
  • Post timestamp
  • Chapter tag
  • Spoiler warning (collapsible content)
  • Post content
  • Upvote/Downvote buttons
  • Comment count
  • Comments Section:
  • Nested replies (indented)
  • Avatar, username, timestamp
  • Comment text
  • Upvote/Downvote
  • Reply button
  • Report button (three-dot menu)
  • "Add Comment" Input (bottom):
  • Text input field
  • "Mark as Spoiler" checkbox
  • Chapter selector
  • "Post" button
Reader Mobile App - Profile & Settings Screens
1
Profile Screen
  • Profile Header:
  • Profile photo (large, circular, editable)
  • Username/Display name
  • Member since date
  • "Edit Profile" button
  • Reading Statistics Cards:
  • Total books read
  • Total pages read this month
  • Current reading streak (days)
  • Favorite genre
  • "My Activity" Section:
  • Recent reviews posted
  • Recent discussions participated
  • Books added to library (recent)
  • "Following" Section:
  • Authors followed (count + avatars)
  • "See All" link
  • "Achievements/Badges" Section:
  • Reading milestones (gamification)
  • Badge icons with labels
  • "Settings" button (gear icon, top right)
  • Bottom Navigation Bar
2
Edit Profile Screen
  • Profile Photo Upload:
  • Current photo (large)
  • "Change Photo" button
  • "Remove Photo" option
  • Form Fields:
  • Display Name (text input)
  • Bio (textarea, 150 char limit)
  • Email (text input, verified badge)
  • Phone Number (display only, verified)
  • Date of Birth (date picker)
  • Gender (dropdown)
  • Location (text input, optional)
  • Reading Preferences:
  • Favorite genres (multi-select chips)
  • Preferred language(s)
  • Privacy Settings:
  • Profile visibility (Public/Private toggle)
  • Show reading activity (toggle)
  • Allow followers (toggle)
  • "Save Changes" button (bottom)
  • "Cancel" button
3
Settings Screen
  • Account Section:
  • Manage subscription
  • Payment methods
  • Billing history
  • Linked accounts (Google, Apple)
  • Reading Preferences:
  • Default reading theme
  • Default font settings
  • Auto-download new chapters (toggle)
  • Download quality (High/Medium/Low)
  • Notifications:
  • New chapter releases (toggle)
  • Discussion replies (toggle)
  • Author updates (toggle)
  • Promotional emails (toggle)
  • Push notification settings
  • Privacy & Security:
  • Change password
  • Two-factor authentication
  • Blocked users
  • Data & privacy settings
  • App Settings:
  • Language preference
  • Storage management (clear cache)
  • Cellular data usage (toggle downloads)
  • App version info
  • Support:
  • Help Center
  • Contact Support
  • Report a problem
  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy
  • "Log Out" button (bottom, red text)
Writer Portal - Authentication & Dashboard Screens
1
Writer Portal Login Screen (Web)
  • StoriesHut Writer Portal Logo (centered)
  • "Welcome Back, Writer" heading
  • Login Form:
  • Email/Phone input field
  • Password input field
  • "Remember me" checkbox
  • "Forgot Password?" link
  • "Log In" primary button
  • Divider with "OR"
  • "Continue with Google" button
  • "Don't have an account? Sign Up" link
  • Footer: Terms, Privacy, Help Center links
2
Writer Portal Sign Up Screen (Web)
  • "Join StoriesHut as a Writer" heading
  • Registration Form:
  • Full Name (required)
  • Email Address (required)
  • Phone Number (+91 prefix, required)
  • Password (with strength indicator)
  • Confirm Password
  • "I agree to Terms of Service" checkbox (required)
  • "I want to receive updates" checkbox (optional)
  • "Create Account" primary button
  • "Continue with Google" alternative
  • "Already have an account? Log In" link
  • Email verification notice after signup
3
Writer Dashboard Home (Web)
  • Top Navigation Bar:
  • StoriesHut Writer Portal logo (left)
  • Navigation links: Dashboard, My Books, Analytics, Earnings, Profile
  • Notifications bell icon
  • Profile dropdown (right)
  • Welcome Banner:
  • "Welcome back, [Writer Name]"
  • Quick action buttons: "New Book", "Continue Writing"
  • Key Metrics Cards (4 across):
  • Total Pages Read (this month)
  • Estimated Earnings (this month)
  • Active Readers (today)
  • Total Books Published
  • "Recent Activity" Section:
  • Latest reviews received
  • New followers
  • Discussion mentions
  • Recent earnings transactions
  • "Your Books" Quick View:
  • List of published books (3-5 most recent)
  • Each showing: Cover, Title, Status, Pages Read (30 days), Earnings
  • "View All Books" link
  • "Quick Actions" Widget:
  • Upload new book
  • Edit draft
  • View analytics
  • Withdraw earnings
  • "Announcements" Section:
  • Platform updates
  • Policy changes
  • Tips and best practices
Writer Portal - Book Management Screens
1
My Books List Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "My Books" title
  • "Create New Book" primary button (top right)
  • Filter & Sort Bar:
  • Status filter: All, Draft, Under Review, Published, Unpublished
  • Sort by: Recent, Title, Pages Read, Earnings
  • Search books (search input)
  • View toggle: Grid / List
  • Books Table/Grid:
  • Book cover thumbnail
  • Title and subtitle
  • Status badge (Draft/Published/Under Review)
  • Category/Genre
  • Pages Read (30 days)
  • Earnings (30 days)
  • Last updated date
  • Actions dropdown: Edit, View Analytics, Unpublish, Delete
  • Pagination controls (bottom)
  • Empty state: "No books yet. Create your first book!"
2
Create/Edit Book Screen (Web)
  • Left Sidebar Navigation:
  • Book Details (active)
  • Manuscript Editor
  • Cover Design
  • Pricing & Distribution
  • Preview
  • Main Content Area - Book Details Tab:
  • Book Title (text input, required)
  • Subtitle (text input, optional)
  • Author Name (auto-filled, editable)
  • Description/Synopsis (rich text editor, 500 words max)
  • Category Selection (dropdown, required)
  • Sub-category (dropdown)
  • Language (dropdown, required)
  • Tags/Keywords (chip input, max 10)
  • Content Rating (dropdown: All Ages, Teen, Mature)
  • Completion Status (toggle: Ongoing/Completed)
  • Expected chapter count (number input, if ongoing)
  • "Save Draft" button (bottom left)
  • "Continue to Manuscript" button (bottom right)
3
Manuscript Editor Screen (Web)
  • Top Toolbar:
  • Book title (breadcrumb)
  • Auto-save indicator
  • Word count / Page count
  • "Preview" button
  • "Publish" button
  • Left Sidebar - Chapter List:
  • Collapsible chapter tree
  • Chapter numbers and titles
  • Add chapter button (+)
  • Drag to reorder chapters
  • Chapter status icons (draft/published)
  • Main Editor Area:
  • Rich text editor (TipTap/ProseMirror):
  • Formatting toolbar: Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough
  • Headings (H1-H6)
  • Lists (bullet, numbered)
  • Blockquote
  • Alignment (left, center, right, justify)
  • Insert link
  • Insert image
  • Horizontal rule
  • Clear formatting
  • Chapter title input (top of editor)
  • Full-screen mode toggle
  • Distraction-free mode
  • Right Sidebar - Chapter Settings:
  • Chapter number (auto)
  • Chapter title
  • Publish date (for scheduled release)
  • Word count
  • "Save Chapter" button
  • "Delete Chapter" button
Writer Portal - Cover Design & Analytics Screens
1
Cover Design Screen (Web)
  • Left Sidebar Navigation (same as before)
  • Main Content Area:
  • "Book Cover" section header
  • Cover Preview (large, centered):
  • Current cover image display
  • Aspect ratio guide (standard book cover dimensions)
  • Upload Options:
  • "Upload Custom Cover" button
  • File requirements: JPG/PNG, min 1600x2400px, max 5MB
  • Drag-and-drop zone
  • "Generate AI Cover" button
  • Opens AI generation modal
  • AI Cover Generation Modal:
  • "Describe your book cover" text input (large)
  • Style presets: Realistic, Illustrated, Abstract, Minimalist, Fantasy, Thriller
  • Color scheme selector
  • "Generate" button
  • Generated options display (4 variations)
  • "Use This Cover" button for each
  • "Generate More" button
  • Cover Guidelines:
  • Best practices tips
  • Do's and Don'ts
  • Example covers
  • "Save & Continue" button (bottom)
2
Analytics Dashboard Screen (Web)
  • Date Range Selector (top right):
  • Last 7 days, Last 30 days, Last 90 days, All time, Custom range
  • Key Metrics Cards (4 across):
  • Total Pages Read (with trend indicator)
  • Unique Readers (with trend indicator)
  • Estimated Earnings (with trend indicator)
  • Average Reading Time (with trend indicator)
  • Pages Read Over Time Chart:
  • Line graph showing daily pages read
  • Hover tooltips with exact numbers
  • Toggle between books (if multiple)
  • Reader Demographics Section:
  • Geographic distribution (map or bar chart)
  • Age groups (pie chart)
  • Gender distribution (pie chart)
  • Device types (mobile vs tablet vs web)
  • Book Performance Table:
  • Book title and cover
  • Pages read
  • Unique readers
  • Completion rate
  • Average rating
  • Earnings
  • Sort by any column
  • Reader Engagement Metrics:
  • Average pages per session
  • Return reader rate
  • Drop-off points (chapter-level heatmap)
  • "Export Report" button (PDF/CSV options)
3
Book-Specific Analytics Screen (Web)
  • Book Header:
  • Book cover (small)
  • Book title
  • "Back to All Analytics" link
  • Date Range Selector
  • Overview Cards (5 across):
  • Total Pages Read
  • Unique Readers
  • Completion Rate
  • Average Rating
  • Total Earnings
  • Chapter Performance Table:
  • Chapter number and title
  • Pages read
  • Unique readers
  • Average time spent
  • Drop-off rate
  • Completion rate
  • Reading Patterns Chart:
  • Heatmap showing when readers are most active (day/hour)
  • Reader Retention Funnel:
  • Visual funnel showing reader progression through chapters
  • Percentage completing each chapter
  • Reviews & Ratings Section:
  • Rating distribution (5-star breakdown)
  • Recent reviews (with sentiment analysis)
  • "View All Reviews" link
  • Discussion Activity:
  • Number of discussion threads
  • Total comments
  • Most active chapters
  • "View Discussions" link
Writer Portal - Earnings & Admin Console Screens
1
Earnings Dashboard Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "Earnings" title
  • Current balance (large, prominent)
  • "Withdraw Funds" button (if balance > minimum threshold)
  • Date Range Selector (top right)
  • Earnings Summary Cards (4 across):
  • This Month's Earnings (with comparison to last month)
  • Total Lifetime Earnings
  • Pending Earnings (not yet settled)
  • Next Payout Date
  • Earnings Over Time Chart:
  • Line/bar graph showing monthly earnings
  • Breakdown by book (stacked or grouped)
  • Hover tooltips
  • Earnings by Book Table:
  • Book cover and title
  • Pages read (current period)
  • Earnings (current period)
  • Per-page rate
  • Percentage of total earnings
  • View details link
  • Transaction History:
  • Date
  • Type (Royalty, Withdrawal, Adjustment)
  • Book (if applicable)
  • Amount
  • Status (Pending, Completed, Failed)
  • Download invoice/receipt
  • "Export Earnings Report" button (CSV/PDF)
2
Withdrawal/Payout Screen (Web)
  • Current Balance Display (large, top)
  • Minimum Withdrawal Amount Notice
  • Withdrawal Method Selection:
  • Bank Transfer (default for India)
  • Account holder name
  • Bank name
  • Account number
  • IFSC code
  • Account type (Savings/Current)
  • UPI (alternative)
  • UPI ID input
  • PayPal (for international writers)
  • PayPal email
  • Withdrawal Amount Input:
  • Amount field (with max = current balance)
  • "Withdraw All" quick button
  • Fee Information:
  • Processing fee (if any)
  • Net amount to receive
  • Tax Information:
  • GST/TDS deduction notice
  • Tax certificate download (if applicable)
  • "Submit Withdrawal Request" button
  • Withdrawal History Table:
  • Request date
  • Amount
  • Method
  • Status (Pending, Processing, Completed, Failed)
  • Expected completion date
  • Transaction ID
3
Admin Console - Dashboard Home (Web)
  • Top Navigation:
  • StoriesHut Admin Console logo
  • Navigation: Dashboard, Users, Content, Security, Finance, Reports
  • Admin profile dropdown
  • Platform Overview Cards (6 across):
  • Total Active Users
  • Total Books Published
  • Pages Read Today
  • Active Subscriptions
  • Security Alerts (red if > 0)
  • Revenue Today
  • Real-Time Activity Feed:
  • Recent user registrations
  • New book publications
  • Security events flagged
  • Payment transactions
  • User reports/complaints
  • Quick Actions Panel:
  • Suspend user account
  • Unpublish book
  • Review flagged content
  • Process payout
  • Send platform announcement
  • System Health Indicators:
  • API response time
  • Database performance
  • Storage usage
  • CDN status
  • Recent Security Events (critical):
  • User ID
  • Event type (screenshot attempt, screen recording, etc.)
  • Timestamp
  • Risk score
  • Action taken
  • "View All" link
Admin Console - User & Content Management Screens
1
Admin - User Management Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "User Management" title
  • "Export Users" button
  • Search & Filter Bar:
  • Search by: Name, Email, Phone, User ID
  • Filter by:
  • Role (Reader, Writer, Admin)
  • Status (Active, Suspended, Banned)
  • Registration date range
  • Risk level (Low, Medium, High, Critical)
  • Subscription status
  • Sort by: Recent, Name, Risk Score, Total Spent
  • Users Table:
  • User ID
  • Profile photo (thumbnail)
  • Name
  • Email/Phone
  • Role badge
  • Status badge
  • Risk score (color-coded)
  • Registration date
  • Last active
  • Total spent (for readers) / Total earned (for writers)
  • Actions dropdown: View Details, Suspend, Ban, Reset Password, Send Message
  • Bulk Actions:
  • Select multiple users (checkboxes)
  • Bulk suspend/unsuspend
  • Bulk export
  • Pagination controls
2
Admin - User Detail Screen (Web)
  • User Profile Header:
  • Profile photo (large)
  • Name and user ID
  • Role and status badges
  • "Edit User" button
  • "Suspend Account" / "Ban Account" buttons (red)
  • Account Information Tab:
  • Personal Details:
  • Email (verified/unverified badge)
  • Phone (verified/unverified badge)
  • Date of birth
  • Gender
  • Location
  • Registration date
  • Last login
  • Subscription Details (if reader):
  • Plan type
  • Start date
  • Renewal date
  • Payment method
  • Billing history link
  • Writer Details (if writer):
  • Total books published
  • Total earnings
  • Payout method
  • Tax information status
  • Activity Tab:
  • Reading history (for readers)
  • Publishing history (for writers)
  • Discussion posts
  • Reviews posted
  • Reports filed
  • Security Tab:
  • Risk score (large, color-coded)
  • Security events list:
  • Event type
  • Timestamp
  • Device info
  • IP address
  • Action taken
  • Login history
  • Device list (active sessions)
  • "Force Logout All Devices" button
  • Financial Tab:
  • Transaction history
  • Subscription payments
  • Refunds/chargebacks
  • Writer payouts (if applicable)
  • Admin Actions Panel:
  • Send notification
  • Reset password
  • Verify email/phone manually
  • Adjust risk score
  • Add internal note
  • View audit log
3
Admin - Content Moderation Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "Content Moderation" title
  • Filter tabs: All, Pending Review, Flagged, Approved, Rejected
  • Search & Filter Bar:
  • Search by: Book title, Author, Book ID
  • Filter by:
  • Status (Draft, Under Review, Published, Flagged, Unpublished)
  • Category
  • Language
  • Flagged reason (Copyright, Inappropriate, Spam, Other)
  • Date submitted
  • Sort by: Recent, Most Flagged, Oldest Pending
  • Books Table:
  • Book cover (thumbnail)
  • Title and author
  • Status badge
  • Category
  • Submission date
  • Flags count (if any)
  • Flag reasons (if flagged)
  • Last reviewed date
  • Reviewer name (if reviewed)
  • Actions: View Book, Approve, Reject, Request Changes, Unpublish
  • Book Detail Modal (when "View Book" clicked):
  • Full book metadata
  • Cover image (large)
  • Synopsis
  • Sample chapters (first 3)
  • Flag details (if flagged):
  • Reporter information
  • Reason
  • Description
  • Timestamp
  • Moderation Actions:
  • Approve and publish
  • Reject with reason (text input)
  • Request changes (text input)
  • Unpublish (if already published)
  • Contact author
  • Internal notes section (admin-only)
Admin Console - Security & Finance Screens
1
Admin - Security Monitoring Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "Security Monitoring" title
  • Real-time alert indicator (red badge if active threats)
  • "Export Security Report" button
  • Alert Summary Cards (4 across):
  • Critical Alerts (last 24h)
  • High-Risk Users
  • Screenshot Attempts (today)
  • Suspicious Activity Detected
  • Real-Time Security Events Feed:
  • Auto-refreshing list (every 30 seconds)
  • Event type icon (screenshot, recording, jailbreak, etc.)
  • User ID and name (clickable to user detail)
  • Event description
  • Timestamp
  • Device info
  • Risk score
  • Auto-action taken (if any)
  • Manual action buttons: Investigate, Suspend User, Dismiss
  • Filter & Search:
  • Filter by event type
  • Filter by risk level
  • Filter by date range
  • Search by user ID
  • Security Events Table (historical):
  • Timestamp
  • User ID and name
  • Event type
  • Device and OS
  • IP address
  • Location (approximate)
  • Risk score
  • Action taken
  • Admin who handled (if manual)
  • View details link
  • Risk Score Distribution Chart:
  • Pie chart showing users by risk level
  • Click to filter users by risk level
  • Threat Trends Chart:
  • Line graph showing security events over time
  • Breakdown by event type
2
Admin - Finance Dashboard Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "Finance Dashboard" title
  • Date range selector
  • "Export Financial Report" button
  • Revenue Summary Cards (5 across):
  • Total Revenue (period)
  • Subscription Revenue
  • Transaction Fees Collected
  • Writer Payouts (pending)
  • Net Profit
  • Revenue Over Time Chart:
  • Line/bar graph showing daily/monthly revenue
  • Breakdown by source (subscriptions, one-time purchases, etc.)
  • Comparison to previous period
  • Subscription Metrics:
  • Active subscriptions count
  • New subscriptions (period)
  • Cancellations (period)
  • Churn rate
  • Average subscription value
  • Renewal rate
  • Writer Payout Management:
  • Pending Payouts Table:
  • Writer name and ID
  • Amount due
  • Payout method
  • Request date
  • Status (Pending Review, Approved, Processing, Completed)
  • Actions: Approve, Reject, Hold, Process
  • "Bulk Process Payouts" button
  • Payout History link
  • Transaction History:
  • Date and time
  • Transaction ID
  • User (reader/writer)
  • Type (Subscription, Payout, Refund, etc.)
  • Amount
  • Status
  • Payment method
  • View details link
  • Tax & Compliance Section:
  • GST collected (period)
  • TDS deducted (period)
  • "Generate Tax Report" button
  • "Download GST Returns" button
3
Admin - Platform Reports Screen (Web)
  • Page Header:
  • "Platform Reports" title
  • Date range selector (global)
  • Report Categories (tabs):
  • Overview
  • Users
  • Content
  • Revenue
  • Security
  • Engagement
  • Overview Tab:
  • Platform Health Score (large, color-coded)
  • Key Metrics Grid (6 across):
  • Total Users
  • Active Users (30 days)
  • Total Books
  • Pages Read (period)
  • Revenue (period)
  • Security Incidents
  • Growth Charts:
  • User growth over time
  • Content growth over time
  • Revenue growth over time
  • Top Performing Books (table):
  • Rank, Cover, Title, Author, Pages Read, Revenue
  • Top Earning Writers (table):
  • Rank, Name, Books Published, Total Earnings
  • Export Options:
  • "Export as PDF" button
  • "Export as CSV" button
  • "Schedule Report" button (for recurring reports)
  • Email report to recipients
Social Media Mobile Screens - Profile & Activity Feed
1
User Profile Screen (Enhanced Social)
  • Profile Header Section:
  • Large profile photo (circular, tap to view full size)
  • Cover photo (banner image, editable)
  • Display name and @username
  • Verification badge (if applicable)
  • Bio text (250 characters, expandable)
  • Location and website link
  • Join date ("Member since March 2024")
  • Edit Profile button (own profile only)
  • Follow/Unfollow button (other profiles)
  • Three-dot menu (Report, Block, Share Profile)
  • Statistics Bar (4 metrics):
  • Followers count (tap to view list)
  • Following count (tap to view list)
  • Total posts count
  • Books read/published count
  • Action Buttons Row:
  • Message button (opens DM)
  • Add Friend button (if not friends)
  • Share Profile button
  • Profile Tabs (horizontal scroll):
  • Posts Tab: All user posts in reverse chronological order
  • Books Tab: Published books (writers) or reading library (readers)
  • Reviews Tab: All book reviews posted
  • Highlights Tab: Shared bookmarks and quotes
  • Lists Tab: Created and followed reading lists
  • Media Tab: Photo and video gallery
  • Friends Tab: Friends list with mutual friends highlighted
  • Empty States:
  • "No posts yet" with "Create your first post" CTA
  • "No books in library" with "Explore books" CTA
  • "No reviews yet" with "Write your first review" CTA
2
Activity Feed Screen (Home)
  • Top Navigation Bar:
  • StoriesHut logo (left)
  • Search icon (top right)
  • Notifications bell icon (with unread badge)
  • Profile avatar (far right)
  • Feed Type Selector (tabs):
  • Following: Posts from followed users (chronological)
  • Discover: Algorithmic recommendations and trending content
  • Friends: Posts from friends only
  • Post Cards (scrollable feed):
  • User avatar and name (tap to view profile)
  • Post timestamp ("2 hours ago")
  • Post content (text, images, videos, polls)
  • Book card (if book-related post)
  • Engagement metrics (likes, comments, reposts)
  • Action buttons: Like, Comment, Repost, Share, Bookmark
  • "See more" for long posts
  • Sponsored Posts (marked as "Sponsored"):
  • Book promotions
  • Writer announcements
  • Platform features
  • Infinite Scroll:
  • Load more posts automatically
  • "You're all caught up" message at end
  • Pull-to-refresh gesture
  • Floating Action Button (FAB):
  • "Create Post" button (bottom right)
  • Opens post composer
3
Post Composer Screen
  • Header:
  • "Create Post" title
  • Cancel button (left)
  • Post button (right, enabled when content added)
  • User Info:
  • Profile photo (small)
  • Display name
  • Visibility dropdown (Public, Followers, Friends, Private)
  • Content Input Area:
  • Large text input ("What's on your mind?")
  • Rich text formatting toolbar (bold, italic, lists)
  • Character counter (5000 max)
  • Hashtag suggestions (as user types #)
  • Mention suggestions (as user types @)
  • Media Attachment Options:
  • Photo/Video button (up to 10 images or 1 video)
  • GIF button (Giphy integration)
  • Poll button (create poll with options)
  • Book button (attach book with metadata)
  • Quote button (share highlighted passage)
  • Location button (add location tag)
  • Preview Section:
  • Shows attached media thumbnails
  • Remove button for each attachment
  • Reorder attachments (drag handles)
  • Post Options (expandable):
  • Schedule post (date/time picker)
  • Disable comments toggle
  • Mark as spoiler toggle
  • Content warning selector
4
Post Detail Screen
  • Post Header:
  • Back button
  • Three-dot menu (Edit, Delete, Report, Share)
  • Original Post Display:
  • Full post content (no truncation)
  • All media in gallery view
  • Poll results (if poll post)
  • Book card with "View Book" button
  • Engagement counts (detailed breakdown)
  • Engagement Actions:
  • Like button with animation
  • Comment button (shows count)
  • Repost button with options (Repost, Quote Repost)
  • Share button (Copy Link, Share to Chat, External Share)
  • Bookmark button (save for later)
  • Comments Section:
  • Sort options (Top, Recent, Oldest)
  • Comment input field (bottom, sticky)
  • Nested replies (indented, up to 3 levels)
  • Comment cards:
  • Commenter avatar and name
  • Comment text
  • Timestamp
  • Like button and count
  • Reply button
  • Three-dot menu (Report, Delete if own)
  • "Load more comments" button
  • Empty state: "Be the first to comment"
5
Notifications Screen
  • Header:
  • "Notifications" title
  • Filter icon (top right)
  • Mark all as read button
  • Filter Tabs:
  • All
  • Mentions
  • Likes
  • Comments
  • Follows
  • Friends
  • Notification Cards:
  • Avatar of user who triggered notification
  • Notification text ("John liked your post")
  • Timestamp ("5 minutes ago")
  • Preview of related content (post snippet, book cover)
  • Unread indicator (blue dot)
  • Tap to navigate to relevant content
  • Notification Types:
  • New follower
  • Post liked
  • Post commented
  • Mentioned in post/comment
  • Repost of your content
  • Friend request received
  • Friend request accepted
  • New message
  • Book added to list you follow
  • Writer you follow published new chapter
  • Empty State:
  • "No new notifications"
  • Illustration of bell icon
  • Settings Icon:
  • Opens notification preferences
Chat & Messaging Mobile Screens
1
Messages List Screen (Chat Home)
  • Header:
  • "Messages" title
  • Search icon (top right)
  • New Message button (compose icon, top right)
  • Settings icon (gear, top right)
  • Filter Tabs:
  • All Messages
  • Unread
  • Groups
  • Archived
  • Conversation Cards (scrollable list):
  • Profile photo (circular, or group icon)
  • Display name or group name
  • Last message preview (truncated, 1-2 lines)
  • Timestamp ("2 hours ago", "Yesterday", "Mar 15")
  • Unread badge (red circle with count)
  • Pinned indicator (pin icon, for pinned conversations)
  • Typing indicator ("User is typing...")
  • Message status icon (sent, delivered, read)
  • Swipe actions:
  • Swipe right: Archive
  • Swipe left: Delete, Mute, Pin
  • Empty State:
  • "No messages yet"
  • "Start a conversation" button
  • Illustration of chat bubbles
  • Floating Action Button:
  • "New Message" button (bottom right)
  • Opens new conversation screen
2
New Conversation Screen
  • Header:
  • "New Message" title
  • Cancel button (left)
  • Search Bar:
  • "Search for people" placeholder
  • Real-time search as user types
  • Recent Conversations:
  • "Recent" section header
  • List of recent chat partners
  • Quick-select to start new conversation
  • Suggested Contacts:
  • "Suggested" section header
  • Friends list
  • Followed users
  • Mutual connections
  • Search Results:
  • User cards with avatar, name, @username
  • "Message" button for each user
  • Follow status indicator
  • Create Group Button:
  • "Create Group Chat" option at top
  • Opens group creation flow
3
Message Thread Screen (1-on-1 Chat)
  • Header:
  • Back button (left)
  • User avatar and name (center, tap to view profile)
  • Online status indicator (green dot)
  • Video call icon (top right)
  • Voice call icon (top right)
  • Three-dot menu (Info, Mute, Block, Report)
  • Message Bubbles:
  • Sender messages (right side, colored background)
  • Recipient messages (left side, gray background)
  • Timestamp grouping ("Today", "Yesterday", date headers)
  • Message status indicators (sent, delivered, read)
  • Typing indicator at bottom ("User is typing...")
  • Message Types:
  • Text messages (with emoji support)
  • Image messages (tap to view full size)
  • Video messages (inline player)
  • Voice messages (waveform with play button, duration)
  • File attachments (icon, filename, size, download button)
  • Book cards (cover, title, author, "View Book" button)
  • Quote cards (highlighted passage with attribution)
  • Replied messages (shows original message above)
  • Forwarded messages ("Forwarded" label)
  • Message Actions (long-press):
  • React with emoji (quick reactions bar)
  • Reply (threaded reply)
  • Forward (select conversations)
  • Copy text
  • Delete (for self or for everyone)
  • Edit (within 15 minutes)
  • Report
  • Input Area (bottom, sticky):
  • Text input field ("Type a message...")
  • Emoji button (opens emoji picker)
  • Attachment button (opens media picker):
  • Camera
  • Photo/Video gallery
  • File
  • Voice message (hold to record)
  • Book
  • Quote
  • Send button (enabled when text entered)
  • Scroll to Bottom Button:
  • Appears when scrolled up
  • Shows unread count if new messages
4
Group Chat Screen
  • Header:
  • Back button (left)
  • Group icon and name (center, tap to view group info)
  • Participant count ("12 members")
  • Video call icon (top right)
  • Three-dot menu (Group Info, Mute, Leave Group, Report)
  • Message Bubbles (similar to 1-on-1):
  • Shows sender name above each message
  • Different color per sender (for easy identification)
  • @mentions highlighted (blue background)
  • Reply threads (indented)
  • Group Announcements:
  • Pinned messages at top (collapsible)
  • Admin-only announcements (yellow background)
  • System messages (user joined, user left, name changed)
  • Input Area:
  • @mention button (opens member selector)
  • All other features same as 1-on-1 chat
5
Chat Settings & Info Screen
  • User Info Section (1-on-1):
  • Large profile photo
  • Display name and @username
  • Bio text
  • View Profile button
  • Message button
  • Voice Call button
  • Video Call button
  • Group Info Section (Group):
  • Group photo (editable by admins)
  • Group name (editable by admins)
  • Group description (editable by admins)
  • Created by and date
  • Add Members button
  • Group invite link (copy/share)
  • Members List (Group only):
  • "12 members" header
  • Search members
  • Member cards:
  • Avatar and name
  • Admin badge (if admin)
  • Online status
  • Tap to view profile or message
  • Admin actions (if user is admin):
  • Promote to admin
  • Remove from group
  • Shared Media:
  • "Media, Links, and Docs" section
  • Tabs: Photos, Videos, Links, Files
  • Grid view of shared content
  • Tap to view/download
  • Chat Settings:
  • Mute Notifications (toggle)
  • Custom Notification Sound
  • Disappearing Messages (toggle, set duration)
  • Block User (1-on-1 only)
  • Report User/Group
  • Clear Chat History
  • Delete Conversation
  • Leave Group Button (red, bottom):
  • Confirmation dialog before leaving
Friends & Social Connection Screens
1
46. Friends List Screen
  • Header:
  • "Friends" title
  • Search icon (top right)
  • Add Friends button (person+ icon, top right)
  • Filter icon (top right)
  • Tab Navigation:
  • All Friends: Complete friends list
  • Mutual Friends: Friends who are also friends with each other
  • Suggestions: Friend recommendations
  • Requests: Pending friend requests (with badge count)
  • Friends List (scrollable):
  • Friend cards:
  • Profile photo (circular)
  • Display name and @username
  • Mutual friends count ("12 mutual friends")
  • Last active status ("Active 2h ago", "Online now")
  • Quick action buttons:
  • Message (opens DM)
  • View Profile
  • Three-dot menu (Unfriend, Block, Report)
  • Alphabetical sections (A, B, C headers)
  • Search within friends
  • Sort Options:
  • Recently Active
  • Alphabetical
  • Recently Added
  • Most Interactions
  • Empty State:
  • "No friends yet"
  • "Find friends to connect with" button
  • Illustration of people connecting
2
47. Friend Requests Screen
  • Header:
  • "Friend Requests" title
  • Back button (left)
  • Pending Requests Section:
  • "Requests" header with count
  • Request cards:
  • Profile photo
  • Display name and @username
  • Mutual friends count
  • Time of request ("2 days ago")
  • Accept button (green)
  • Decline button (gray)
  • View Profile link
  • Swipe actions:
  • Swipe right: Accept
  • Swipe left: Decline
  • Sent Requests Section:
  • "Sent Requests" header
  • List of pending outgoing requests
  • Cancel Request button for each
  • Suggestions Section:
  • "People You May Know" header
  • Suggested friend cards:
  • Profile photo
  • Name and @username
  • Mutual friends or common interests
  • Add Friend button
  • Remove suggestion (X icon)
  • Empty State:
  • "No pending requests"
  • "Explore suggestions below"
3
48. Add Friends Screen
  • Header:
  • "Add Friends" title
  • Back button (left)
  • Search Bar:
  • "Search by name or username" placeholder
  • Real-time search results
  • Find Friends Methods:
  • Contacts Sync:
  • "Find Friends from Contacts" card
  • "Sync Contacts" button
  • Permission request if not granted
  • List of contacts on StoriesHut
  • Bulk add option (select multiple)
  • Nearby Users:
  • "Find Nearby Readers" card
  • Location permission required
  • Shows users within proximity
  • Distance indicator ("500m away")
  • Add Friend button for each
  • QR Code:
  • "My QR Code" card
  • Display personal QR code
  • "Scan QR Code" button
  • Opens camera to scan friend's code
  • Share Profile Link:
  • "Invite Friends" card
  • Generate shareable link
  • Share via WhatsApp, SMS, Email, etc.
  • Suggestions:
  • "Recommended for You" section
  • Based on reading interests
  • Mutual friends
  • Followed authors
  • Similar reading patterns
4
49. Followers/Following Lists Screen
  • Header:
  • "Followers" or "Following" title (based on tab)
  • Back button (left)
  • Search icon (top right)
  • Tab Toggle:
  • Followers (count)
  • Following (count)
  • User Cards (scrollable list):
  • Profile photo
  • Display name and @username
  • Bio snippet (1 line)
  • Follow status:
  • "Follows you" badge (if mutual)
  • "Following" button (can unfollow)
  • "Follow Back" button (if they follow you)
  • "Follow" button (if not following)
  • Message button (if friends or following)
  • Three-dot menu (Remove Follower, Block, Report)
  • Sort/Filter Options:
  • Sort by: Recent, Alphabetical, Most Active
  • Filter by: Friends, Verified, Writers, Readers
  • Search within list
  • Empty State:
  • "No followers yet" / "Not following anyone yet"
  • "Discover people to follow" button
5
50. Mutual Friends Screen
  • Header:
  • "Mutual Friends with [Name]" title
  • Back button (left)
  • Context Banner:
  • "You and [Name] have X mutual friends"
  • Profile photos of both users
  • Mutual Friends List:
  • Friend cards (same as Friends List)
  • Sorted by relevance (closest mutual connections first)
  • Quick actions: Message, View Profile
  • Empty State:
  • "No mutual friends"
  • "You can still connect!"
6
51. Friend Profile View Screen
  • Profile Header (same as User Profile Screen):
  • Cover photo and profile photo
  • Name, username, bio
  • Statistics (followers, following, posts, books)
  • Friend-Specific Actions:
  • Message button (prominent)
  • Unfriend button (in three-dot menu)
  • Mute Posts toggle
  • Add to Close Friends list (optional feature)
  • Friendship Info Card:
  • "Friends since [Date]"
  • Mutual friends count (tap to view list)
  • Shared interests (books, genres)
  • Recent interactions count
  • Activity Feed:
  • Friend's recent posts
  • Books they're reading
  • Reviews they've posted
  • Lists they've created
  • Privacy Respect:
  • Respects friend's privacy settings
  • Shows only what they've made visible to friends
Data Model for Friends System
Below are the proposed table schemas for managing friendships and related data.
friendships table:
- friendship_id (UUID, primary key)
- user_id_1 (foreign key to users)
- user_id_2 (foreign key to users)
- status (pending, accepted, declined, blocked)
- requested_by (user_id_1 or user_id_2)
- requested_at (timestamp)
- accepted_at (timestamp, nullable)
- created_at, updated_at
friend_requests table:
- request_id (UUID, primary key)
- sender_id (foreign key to users)
- receiver_id (foreign key to users)
- status (pending, accepted, declined, cancelled)
- message (optional text, nullable)
- created_at, updated_at
friend_suggestions table:
- suggestion_id (UUID, primary key)
- user_id (foreign key to users)
- suggested_user_id (foreign key to users)
- reason (mutual_friends, similar_interests, location, contacts)
- score (relevance score, float)
- dismissed (boolean)
- created_at
close_friends table (optional feature):
- close_friend_id (UUID)
- user_id (foreign key)
- friend_id (foreign key)
- added_at (timestamp)
Implementation Plan - Design to Production
The StoriesHut platform implementation follows a structured progression from foundational infrastructure through feature development, testing, and production deployment. This phased approach ensures stable foundations before adding complexity, enables parallel workstreams where dependencies allow, and maintains continuous integration throughout development.
1
Phase 1: Foundation and Infrastructure
  • Core Infrastructure Setup:
  • Cloud infrastructure provisioning (AWS/GCP)
  • Database architecture implementation (PostgreSQL primary, Redis cache)
  • CDN configuration for content delivery
  • CI/CD pipeline establishment
  • Development, staging, and production environments
  • Monitoring and logging infrastructure (CloudWatch, Datadog)
  • Secret management and configuration systems
  • Authentication and User Management:
  • User registration and login systems
  • Phone/email OTP verification
  • JWT token generation and validation
  • Role-based access control (Reader, Writer, Admin)
  • Session management and device tracking
  • Password reset and account recovery flows
  • Basic Security Framework:
  • SSL/TLS certificate configuration
  • API rate limiting implementation
  • Input validation and sanitization
  • CORS policy configuration
  • Security headers implementation
  • Basic audit logging
2
Phase 2: Core Reading Experience
  • Reader Application Development:
  • Flutter mobile app scaffolding (Android and iOS)
  • Book rendering engine implementation
  • Page navigation and progress tracking
  • Reading customization controls (font, theme, brightness)
  • Offline reading architecture
  • Bookmark and highlight functionality
  • Dictionary and translation integration
  • Reading progress synchronization
  • Content Management System:
  • Book metadata storage and retrieval
  • Chapter organization and navigation
  • Content encryption and secure delivery
  • Signed URL generation for content access
  • Device binding and access control
  • Basic DRM implementation (screenshot protection)
  • Library and Discovery:
  • Personal library management
  • Book search functionality
  • Category and genre taxonomy
  • Basic recommendation engine (collaborative filtering)
  • Book details and preview pages
3
Phase 3: Writer Portal and Publishing
  • Writer Portal Development:
  • Web-based writer dashboard
  • Manuscript editor (TipTap/ProseMirror integration)
  • Chapter management and organization
  • Rich text formatting capabilities
  • Draft saving and version control
  • Publishing workflow (Draft → Review → Published)
  • Cover Design Tools:
  • Custom cover upload functionality
  • AI cover generation integration (DALL-E/Stable Diffusion)
  • Cover preview and validation
  • Image optimization and CDN upload
  • Content Moderation:
  • Admin review queue for new submissions
  • Content approval/rejection workflows
  • Automated content scanning (profanity, copyright)
  • Writer notification system
4
Phase 4: Monetization and Payments
  • Subscription System:
  • Razorpay payment gateway integration
  • Subscription plan management
  • Payment processing and webhooks
  • Subscription renewal automation
  • Failed payment handling and retry logic
  • Refund processing
  • Royalty Engine:
  • Page-read tracking and validation
  • Royalty calculation algorithms (KDP-style)
  • Monthly settlement processing
  • Writer earnings dashboard
  • Payout request system
  • Bank transfer integration (NEFT/IMPS/UPI)
  • Tax calculation (GST/TDS)
  • Financial Reporting:
  • Transaction history and audit trails
  • Revenue analytics and reporting
  • Tax compliance documentation
  • Invoice generation
5
Phase 5: Advanced Security and DRM
  • Enhanced Security Measures:
  • Screenshot detection and blocking (Android FLAG_SECURE, iOS)
  • Screen recording detection
  • Root/jailbreak detection
  • Security event logging and reporting
  • Real-time admin alerting system
  • User risk scoring algorithms
  • Fraud Detection:
  • Anomalous reading pattern detection
  • Bot detection algorithms
  • Coordinated abuse identification
  • Automated fraud response workflows
  • Royalty invalidation for fraudulent activity
  • Dynamic Watermarking:
  • User-specific watermark generation
  • Pixel-level watermark embedding
  • Forensic tracking capabilities
6
Phase 6: Social and Community Features
  • Social Media Integration:
  • User profiles with posts and activity feeds
  • Follow/follower system
  • Post creation (text, images, polls, book shares)
  • Like, comment, repost functionality
  • Hashtags and mentions
  • Notification system
  • Direct Messaging:
  • One-on-one chat implementation
  • Group chat functionality
  • Message types (text, images, voice, files, books)
  • Real-time messaging (WebSocket/Socket.io)
  • Message encryption
  • Read receipts and typing indicators
  • Friends System:
  • Friend requests and acceptance
  • Friends list management
  • Mutual friends discovery
  • Friend suggestions algorithm
  • Contact sync integration
  • Bookmark Sharing:
  • Public/private bookmark collections
  • Reading list creation and sharing
  • Quote card generation
  • Social sharing to external platforms
  • Discussion Forums:
  • Book-specific discussion threads
  • Comment and reply system
  • Spoiler protection and chapter tagging
  • Upvote/downvote functionality
  • Community moderation tools
7
Phase 7: Analytics and Personalization
  • Analytics Infrastructure:
  • Event tracking implementation (Mixpanel/Amplitude)
  • User behavior analytics
  • Reading pattern analysis
  • Engagement metrics dashboard
  • Recommendation Engine Enhancement:
  • Machine learning model training
  • Collaborative filtering refinement
  • Content-based recommendations
  • Hybrid recommendation algorithms
  • A/B testing framework
  • Writer Analytics:
  • Detailed reading metrics per book
  • Reader demographics and behavior
  • Chapter-level engagement analysis
  • Earnings projections and trends
  • Admin Analytics:
  • Platform health monitoring
  • User growth and retention metrics
  • Revenue analytics
  • Security incident tracking
  • Content moderation metrics
8
Phase 8: Testing and Quality Assurance
  • Unit Testing:
  • Backend API unit tests (80% coverage minimum)
  • Frontend component tests
  • Business logic validation
  • Database query testing
  • Integration Testing:
  • API endpoint testing
  • Payment gateway integration tests
  • Authentication flow testing
  • Third-party service integration validation
  • Performance Testing:
  • Load testing (1K, 10K, 100K concurrent users)
  • Stress testing (150% capacity)
  • Endurance testing (24-hour continuous load)
  • Database performance optimization
  • CDN performance validation
  • Security Testing:
  • Penetration testing (OWASP Top 10)
  • Vulnerability scanning
  • DRM effectiveness testing
  • Fraud detection validation
  • Security event reporting verification
  • User Acceptance Testing:
  • Reader experience testing
  • Writer portal usability testing
  • Admin console workflow validation
  • Cross-device compatibility testing
  • Accessibility testing (WCAG 2.1)
9
Phase 9: Beta Launch and Iteration
  • Closed Beta:
  • Limited user invitation (100-500 users)
  • Core functionality validation
  • Bug identification and fixing
  • Performance monitoring under real load
  • User feedback collection
  • Open Beta:
  • Public beta registration
  • Gradual user onboarding (1K → 10K → 50K)
  • Feature refinement based on feedback
  • Scaling infrastructure as needed
  • Community building and engagement
  • Iteration Cycles:
  • Weekly bug fix releases
  • Bi-weekly feature updates
  • Monthly major releases
  • Continuous monitoring and optimization
10
Phase 10: Production Launch and Scaling
  • Production Deployment:
  • Final security audit
  • Performance optimization
  • Database indexing and query optimization
  • CDN configuration finalization
  • Monitoring and alerting setup
  • Disaster recovery planning
  • Marketing and User Acquisition:
  • App store optimization (ASO)
  • Social media campaigns
  • Influencer partnerships
  • Writer outreach programs
  • Reader acquisition campaigns
  • Post-Launch Monitoring:
  • Real-time error tracking (Sentry)
  • Performance monitoring (New Relic/Datadog)
  • User behavior analytics
  • Revenue tracking
  • Security incident monitoring
  • Scaling Operations:
  • Database vertical scaling (increased resources)
  • Horizontal scaling (read replicas)
  • Auto-scaling configuration for compute resources
  • CDN optimization and expansion
  • Cache layer optimization
  • Queue system for background jobs (Redis/RabbitMQ)
  • Continuous Improvement:
  • Weekly performance reviews
  • Monthly feature releases
  • Quarterly major updates
  • User feedback integration
  • A/B testing for new features
  • Technical debt management
Parallel Workstreams
  • Design and UX:
  • UI/UX design for all screens
  • User flow documentation
  • Design system creation
  • Prototype development
  • User testing and iteration
  • Content and Legal:
  • Terms of Service drafting
  • Privacy Policy creation
  • Content guidelines development
  • Copyright policy documentation
  • DMCA compliance procedures
  • DevOps and Infrastructure:
  • Infrastructure as Code (Terraform/CloudFormation)
  • Automated deployment pipelines
  • Monitoring and alerting setup
  • Backup and disaster recovery
  • Security hardening
  • Quality Assurance:
  • Test plan development
  • Automated test suite creation
  • Performance benchmarking
  • Security testing preparation
  • UAT planning
Success Criteria Per Phase
  • Functionality: All planned features working as specified
  • Performance: Meeting defined performance benchmarks
  • Security: Passing security audits and penetration tests
  • Quality: Achieving code coverage and bug density targets
  • Documentation: Complete technical and user documentation
  • Testing: All test suites passing with acceptable coverage