Thank you v.v
1 Like
This is indeed a highly controversial topic and I definitely empathize with both sides of the argument. I do think Episode is showing progress in supporting smaller authors (for example, someone mentioned selecting stories with low amounts of reads for shelfs), but there are a lot of good ideas floating around in the community that Episode could implement to further help out small authors.
Mainly, with this comment I want to address and deconstruct an argument I commonly see on threads dicussing matters like this. I often see self-described small authors claiming Episode in unfair because they put a lot of work into their story and feel like they don’t get the recognition they deserve. I’m not doubting the amount of effort these authors put into their stories, but it would be ignorant and wrong to say popular authors don’t put lots of work into their stories too. I feel like bigger authors are often vilified in the community because they receive an overwhelming amount of reads compared to the rest of us, but it’s not their fault they get lots of reads, and they shouldn’t receive hate for it. Yes, it’s frustrating to, as a smaller author, not get the recognition you think you’ve deserve for a story you put a lot of effort into, but this approach completely discounts all the effort bigger authors have put into both climbing the ladder to get to the top and remaining relevant and popular. All writers work hard at their stories, so saying “I work hard and don’t get reads” isn’t a very effective or logical argument.
17 Likes
I think ppl mean tht it shows tht these popular authors are putting effort in because their work is recognized and featured. Smaller authors dont really get much acknowledgement(hence all the promoting stories everywhere) both put eqaul amounts of love in their work just only certain ppl r recognized for it.(plus these featured stories push back a lotta new authors stories)
I understand what you mean. I honestly do. I’ve been writing on the Episode platform since the end of 2015. My first story EVER hasn’t even gotten to 100,000 reads. I’m sad because I worked really hard for that story. Of course, it has flaws and errors in it because it was my very first story on the platform. I’ve grown in story writing over the years, and I wouldn’t call myself a ‘pro’ at Episode. I’m not a cocky author.
2 Likes
That’s true.
I think it’s really up to the people reading the stories, whether or not they want to stick to the popular authors, or go find smaller ones, but yes a new stories/new authors shelf would help a lot!
2 Likes
@Willowbean
I definitely agree that most authors put in equal amounts of love and effort into their stories, so it would be frustrating that some gain popularity exponentially while others fall flat. I was just trying to highlight the effort of bigger authors because some people (not all) don’t see that.
@briana_m
I totally understand. I’m actually really sympathetic to the cause of supporting small authors, especially because I’m a small author too (I’m too afraid to publish anything yet, but I’ve been writing on the Episode platform for years as well). I stand by what I said, but I will admit I was playing devil’s advocate a little bit considering bigger authors are usually always represented, unlike smaller authors.
6 Likes
I’m willing to guess that actually most stories don’t even get to 100,000 reads either. But if that’s the goal you want to set for yourself, just keep writing. You said it has it’s flaws, right? Why don’t you go back and edit to fix them? I did that with my first story, which had been out for 7 months or so, and once I revamped it a bit it went from 60 reads to 1000 in about a month.
5 Likes
I did that last year. Everything is edited.
Ahh yeah thats true n.n wasnt trying to argue sorry
1 Like
Oh, well… 
There goes my suggestion…
Ohh okay. Well thanks for agreeing with me.
3 Likes
I agree with you, I understand that the popular people earned their spot but they need to back down a bit and let others have a chance instead of making new stories that they put little work into because they know it will become popular quickly.
sorry that probably made no sense
3 Likes
Hahaha I understand what you mean.
Woah woah woah. I’m sorry but I’m going to have to pull you up there. You can’t say that just because an author is popular they need to back down a bit and stop creating new stories. Just for a second, think how you would feel if you were really popular on the app, so people told you to stop writing stories? And what if you had a great idea for a new story, but you publish it and then people start accusing you of putting no effort into it because you knew it would become popular?
As said earlier in this discussion…
15 Likes
I get the frustration with reads. It took forever for my first story to get any reads. It’s been on the app for over a year now and has 7k reads. To be honest, the story isn’t good. At the time I thought it was great. I was so proud of it and I spent a lot of time on it. Now I can look back on it and understand that it wasn’t my best story and it really doesn’t represent me as an author.
On the flip side, my newest story (released in February this year) has over 100k now (but it was a contest winner so I got lucky).
I understand that it’s easy to feel discouraged in the community. It’s also easy to feel bitter when you see another author doing really well when you feel that your story is just as good and that you’re putting in just as much work. I get it. I have my own reasons to be bitter about certain things, but at the end of the day I think sometimes you just need to remind yourself why you started writing on Episode in the first place. Was it honestly to become “famous”? Because for me, I saw it as a stress reliever at first and then I realised how much fun it is to bring your imagination to life. I keep writing because it’s fun bringing my stories to life. The fact that people actually read my stuff is a bonus lol.
13 Likes
Most of the super popular authors on Episode have had their stories on Episode for a very long time. Many of the most popular ones were the ones I started off with back in 2016.
Of course, that’s not always true for everyone.
Some stories can have been released 3 days ago, and already have 1k+ reads.
2 Likes
I published my first Episode story (Bad Boy Roommate) back in January (2018) I had no connections or loyal followers more than anyone else. My five-month anniversary is in two days and I’m at almost 5 million reads! The only reason I say this, is I know it can be discouraging when you’re just starting out and you feel as though your hard work has gone unnoticed but anything is possible. 
4 Likes
There’s some instances where smaller creators get their stories removed for breaking minor rules while bigger creators have stories that include explicit sex scenes, drugs, and incessant swearing. At times, episode even endorses these stories.
Smaller stories are hardly advertised and episodes review team go hard on us.
I uploaded some art and used another art piece as reference (I altered it to my own accord!) . They claimed it as copyright when it legally/clearly falls under reference material not copyright. When I sent them multiple tickets they just replied once with the same claim (saying its copyright without any evidence or support to their claim) and when I continued to press further; they straight up just blew me off and didn’t give anymore explanation.
Mette the writer of the enchantress, the teacher, and feme fatale has celebrities (Ariana grande, Jason derullo, Johnny depp etc.) and art references in her art yet they approve it and even had her story on their front page. (No offense to her or the artist, both are talented)
This is like jakepaul/YouTube all over again. But episode style.
6 Likes
I Think that episode is a really god app
And i Can see your problems ofcourse but If you want something changes you need to say it to them
I would gladly do it for you Because i agree in it all
Now you know that other people thinks it to but If you wanna have it changes you need to do something Else then complain