I’m just happy that there’s nothing wrong with you 'cause I really don’t care about read counts.
Okay, jokes aside…
There are two types of content: content that many people read, and content that readers love to read.
Those that are reviewed by Episode are stories that have lots of reads, regardless of how popular the author is.
For popular authors, it’s easy to get their story noticed, so their read count is high. Episode reviews stories that are high on the leaderboard and one of the criteria of a high-ranked story is the read count.
Take note: Episode reviews high read count stories, not limited to good stories.
If your story is good but not reviewed by Episode, it’s not bad. It’s just that your story isn’t popular enough, it’s a hidden gem. It’s worthy. So are you.
I’ve read stories that are allegedly “good” as it has so many read but my reaction be like “what the heck-”
I’m not saying the read count and gem count are useless. I’m saying it’s a nice bonus to pay off your hard work. But if you’re gonna use the same metrics people use to measure your story to measure your ability to write then you’re too harsh on yourself. People judge your story, but you’re judging yourself.
I just don’t get episodes, and there never ending hypocrisy. I literally just saw an SWY entry that is about a celebrity (I was always under the assumption that was against guidelines) But nope it’s approved/reviewed/trending. I don’t know what is wrong with my last 2 contest entries but I am beyond disgusted at this time with Episode and their constant bending of rules.
I think Episode means by that, is to not promote the real celebrity (which is hard not to fall into that trap when you’re adapting a real-life celebrity and giving them a huge role).
I mean, if the celebrity is based on a real celebrity but not the exact image of them, I still consider this acceptable (although not recommended). However, if it’s basically adapting a real-life celebrity, I’d say that’s a big no-no.
Maybe the fault was never about you. I would say if Episode gave a story that violated the guidelines a green light then it’s on both Episode (for being careless about rules they created) and the author (for being careless and irresponsible).
We couldn’t change everyone, so I suppose we should change ourselves. We don’t have to put them down, we just discourage the community members from following the said paths.
Not trying to put anyone down, I guess kudos to whatever you have to do to get noticed. I definitely wouldn’t be using a celebrity without their permission. In fact, I have a message to Sebastian Bach currently with permission to use him in a story.
To me, it isn’t about getting noticed. I write because I have a story to tell and if no one finds it? Well, not my loss haha.
Also, it might have something to do with time. The longer you as a writer stay in this community, the more reads you’ll get in a given time.
Some took a month to get to… 0 reads, while others can get to 500.
Know this, the author who took a month to get to 0 reads is quite a well-known author right now, and that story I’ve mentioned is her first.
Everyone starts small, but the highest grounds require the most steps to reach.
It’s normal to feel bad if you’re spending time writing a story to then don’t get the recognition you think you deserve. There are plenty of stories out there and it’s really difficult to get to the top if you’re starting right now, but you’ll get there with time if you’re constant!
Most of the known writers in the episode community started just like most of us, having a few reads but continuing the story because they love writing. And look at them now! Having millions of reads in their stories. Have in mind that most of the stories with that many reads have been published for over a year or even more, so don’t feel bad if your story doesn’t go well the second you publish it.
There are a lot of ways to get more reads and let me tell you a few:
Instagram: Follow people from the community, post your story, post any update… etc. That way people will see your story and they will read it if they see your post and like what you’re writing.
R4R: A lot of writers do Read For Read, basically you read X episodes of their story and in exchange they read the same amount of yours. This helps you get more reads in many ways. Firstly, you get the reads the other writer is giving you, then, if they like it, they’ll continue reading whenever you update the story, also, as that helps you increase your reads it also increases your story rank! So it’s easier for your story to get recommended to other people.
Reviewers: On instagram you can find lots of accounts that review episode stories. Most of them have forms you have to fill in to get reviewed, but for some of them you can just ask them directly on their DM’s if they can review your story. Almost every one of them will then publish the review on their instagram feed, so other people will see it and read your story if they seem to like it! A lot of these accounts also do shoutouts/recommendations so they help a lot with that too!
Readers: Once again, on instagram, there are plenty of episode readers who love reading new stories and sharing them on their instagram page. You can find some of them by searching “episode reader” on the instagram search bar and recommend them your stories! A lot of them will be glad to help you out, if not, you can always try with new people!
These are ways of getting some reads that will certainly help you a lot. As I said before, you start like this but once you start getting more and more reads, episode will recommend your story to other readers as well as helping your story reach the top of the shelfs/rankings!
I forgot to add that usually, stories that get recognition are stories that have been already finished. People tend to go for finished stories because they don’t have to wait for new episodes to get released! Most of the non-completed stories that have lots of reads are usually written by already well known writers (they already have a “fan-base” that reads their stories because they already know how they write and they like it) or have lots of episodes (20 for example) and it’s a good amount even if it isn’t finished. Once again, there are other factors like, R4R. Many people do that with plenty of authors so you’ll see some stories having 1k reads thanks to it.
I have 2 stories that were semi popular years ago and i stopped writing both of them. I find for
me the pressure of people always asking for new episodes is lovely but also puts pressure on me that i need to get a chapter done
now I am writing a new story and putting a disclaimer that episodes will be released in my own time.
You mean an actual story where there is a character with the exact name of a real-life celebrity, they look just like them, that references that person’s content (like having them sing their actual songs onstage or appear in a movie alongside their real life cast members?)
I do, I thought I was doing pretty good with my story, then I got it reviewed. Turns out it sucks. A lot So I just decided to quit, writing is just not my forte.
This happened to me when I first joined Episode a few years ago wanted to write stories. I ended up having the stories deleted, went to grad school, did research, and ended up publishing an article instead. Lmao.
it was an athlete who played the actual sport the person in RL plays, appearance-wise I have no idea, I tend to not bother reading stories that are based on real-life people because I know either they are going to get pulled or they don’t have the persons permission to use them.
Someone please help me! I really want to create a story and every idea that I come up with, meets a dead end. I honestly feel like quitting.
What should I do?
An imp. piece of advice, if u r a new author, never go for review…and even if u did it, never take it to the heart…
They seriously judge too professionally, readers don’t… They will just go for ur spot directing, bubble placement, small grammatical mistakes, ur story cover, ur genre and everything…
As a new writer, we haven’t considered it so thoroughly because all we have is ideas and passion atm…
Tbh, I think readers consider mainly plot and if it catches their interest, they will read… Yeah u shouldn’t have too many mistakes with all coding stuff… That’s it…
Don’t just get discouraged and stop writing bcoz of some review… U have already made it that far by publishing ur story… Leaving it halfway is not good…u should continue ur story
OMG! That’s the most encouraging thing I’ve heard all day! Tysm!
Scripting episode stories just gets me away from my family since they treat me like nothing
So I just decided to quit, writing is just not my forte. 
