THIS POST IS CONSTANTLY BEING UPDATED WITH NEW IDEAS
I NEVER EXPECTED THIS THREAD TO GAIN SO MANY LIKES AND COMMENTS AND IT IS GREAT THAT EVERYONE IS SHARING AWESOME IDES, I AM VERY PROUD OF EVERYONE. SINCE THE DISCUSSION IS HIGH-PACED, PLEASE, FORGIVE ME IF I DON’T GET TO REPLY TO EVERYONE. THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR AMAZING CONTRIBUTION!
THIS PETITION DOES NOT MEAN TO OFFEND ANYONE. WE SUPPORT AND LOVE ALL THE STORIES AND THE CONTEST WINNERS DEFINITELY DESERVE THEIR SPOTS. THIS PETITION IS ONLY ABOUT BALANCING THE CHANCES OF THE SMALL AUTHORS. PLEASE, BE RESPECTFUL TOWARDS EPISODE AND ALL CONTESTANTS.
IF THE PETITION GETS A LOT OF LIKES AND COMMENTS WE WILL HAVE A SOLID CASE TO DIRECT THE PETITION TO EPISODE MANAGEMENT, AND IT WILL BE EASIER TO PITCH OUR IDEA!
THE EXACT DETAILS OF HOW THE ALGORITHM SHOULD WORK ARE STILL BEING DISCUSSED, PLEASE, JOIN AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS!
IF YOU WANT MORE TRANSPARENCY AND WISH TO KNOW YOUR RUBRIC SCORE AND THE READER RETENTION RATE, PLEASE, SIGN THIS PETITION BY YAZHIN: Petition · Episode Interactive: Need transparency and accountability · Change.org
@AMANI182-EPISODEEEEE and @K_Artist2001 even came up with their own contest idea! Support these two amazing ladies and their project, they are really working hard on it!
INITIAL IDEA:
Dear Episode,
I have a suggestion/petition that I am sure many other authors would support.
I suggest each contest is held in at least two categories: upper league for already popular authors (say, over 1K reads per entry/or over 1K followers) and lower league for aspiring authors (under 1K reads per entry/or under 1K followers). Otherwise, emerging authors with a low amount of reads even if their retention rate is high don’t really stand a chance against those who have already hundreds or even thousands of followers. Also, the higher amount of reads the popular authors get the less they are affected by anyone who drops out, while with small authors every abandoned read really damages the engagement rate.
If, say, there are 9 winners, why not reserve 5 places for popular authors and 4 for aspiring authors? Otherwise, people just starting out and struggling to find their audience for their amazing stories will find it extremely difficult to succeed.
While popular authors do write amazing stories and absolutely deserve to be featured, I believe that new gems should also be given a chance, especially because there are lots of great stories that are unfairly underrated.
Another option suggested by @PerplexedJam is to make blind taste test where author’s name would be hidden. Although I still believe that authors would share their entries through IG, so that may not work.
One more option suggested by @EliseC is to choose 3 additional winners that scored high according the rubric but whose retention rate wasn’t great since they are emerging authors. (this would mainly apply to stories under 1K reads per entry) The details and rules are still being discussed.
Thank you very much for your attention. Please, give this petition a like and comment with your thoughts!
P.S. I copied this petition in the H & V and Fantastical Contest threads. Please, support me there as well so that we can create some buzz.