Discussion: Weekly shelves

I want to know everything lol, so why do you think some stories on the weekly shelves get way more reads than others do? I’ve seen quite a lot of awesome stories being featured lately that just don’t make it to the trending and I want to understand why. I know I already raised this question in Amberose’s thread, but I think it was only partly relevant to that discussion, and I’m still interested in more opinions :upside_down_face:

  1. How often do you read stories from weekly shelves? Does it depend on the shelf theme?
  2. What grabs your attention in a story? (How important is the cover and description to you? CC? The genre? The author?)
  3. Are you more likely to read a story if it already has thousands/millions of reads?
  4. When you have the time, do you give a chance to all stories on a shelf (and read at least the first chapter), or do you only read 1-2 that seems to be interesting?
  5. What would you recommend to smaller authors to be more succesful while being on a shelf?
  6. What themes would you recommend to Episode that would make readers more interested?
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Usually… One or two. I used to sometimes read the first episode of every story on a shelf back when there was always 6 stories. Doesn’t depends on theme for me though, just depends on how much free time I have. My reading list is kinda long at the moment so I’m more selective when I start a new story.

I guess it’s a combination of title, description and the cover. But sometimes I will check out a story of a friend has recommended it to me too.

No more likely or less likely to be perfectly honest. The reads don’t matter to me, it’s not like I think a million reads automatically equals a good story… But I don’t intentionally avoid them either.

Depends on the amount of episodes they have. If I have time, I might read the first episode of them all. But usually if there’s a story that has 3-5 episodes that appeals to me, I’m more likely to read that whole story over another one that already has 15 episodes. Those usually go on my reading list that I keep thinking I will get around to one day hahaha lol

Update while you’re on the shelf. …and maybe also be active when you’re on the shelf too? I’m not sure if it makes a huge difference but when I was on a shelf there was one story that hadn’t been updated in ages and the author was MIA and it had more reads than mine did when the shelf was first up, but by the end of the week, my story had done a massive jump and that other one hadn’t grown that much at all.

Um I could go on forever here but I’ll keep it short…
After today’s background release a “royalty” theme would be a good one.
I’ve also noticed there’s a lot of sci-fi stories on the app lately too, so that would be a good one since it’s not a genre on the app.

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  • How often do you read stories from weekly shelves? Does it depend on the shelf theme?
    I read stories from weekly shelves when there is a interesting contest theme that ended (that probably did not make any sense, but I hope you understand what I mean). It depends on the shelf theme for me.
  • What grabs your attention in a story? (How important is the cover and description to you? CC? The genre? The author?)
    Most definitely a story’s description grabs my attention because if the story line is interesting to me, it makes me want to read it; also the genre grabs my attention as well.
  • Are you more likely to read a story if it already has thousands/millions of reads?
    It depends on what the story line is.
  • When you have the time, do you give a chance to all stories on a shelf (and read at least the first chapter), or do you only read 1-2 that seems to be interesting?
    Yes, sometimes I read majority of the stories that are on a shelf.
  • What would you recommend to smaller authors to be more successful while being on a shelf?
    I don’t quite understand what you mean.
  • What themes would you recommend to Episode that would make readers more interested?
    Hmmmm :thinking: I don’t know at the moment.
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Do you have any ideas, suggestions what authors could do to attract more readers? See Amber’s reply as example.

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Okay, thanks for explaining that for me.

I cannot stress this enough, but always update frequent episodes of your story because once you step away from your story, you’ll suffer from it a little bit as an author. It’s definitely not a good feeling to have your readers stop reading your story especially if your story is on a shelf.

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A lot of readers love CC and choices that matter, so realistically if a story lacks them and another one has it, it would have more reads. Also, the episodes matter too.

It definitely depends on the theme. I check all of the stories to see if anything interests me, with themes, I usually find something, but Editor’s Pick is kinda pointless. So I don’t read it usually lol

The cover is not important at all, but the description is sooo important.

Nah, all stories start at the same level. I pick the winner :smiling_imp:

I only read 1-2 that seems interesting. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s retention. If a story can’t impress me in the first 5 minutes, I drop it. (if it’s full of narration it only has 2 minutes to impress me lol)

RELEASE NEW EPISODES!!!

I’d rather read a story with 10 episodes than 4 episodes.

They need to feature fewer stories firstly… I hate the new 24 stories featured in a heritage month thing. I actually like the themes they feature now, it just never comes out. (example; swipe right shelf, musician shelf)

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I wonder if any of those come out today :eyes:

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Swipe right might come out today. Musician shelf seems dead :new_moon_with_face:

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Very rarely. Depends on the shelf’s theme and the stories themselves. I’m quite of a picky reader lol

While a nice cover is pretty good at making me check out the story, the title is what catches my attention first. Then I check the description to see if the story is worth reading. The first few scenes determine whether I continue. And yes, if I liked other stories by the author, there’s a high chance I’ll check out the story.

While I do notice the reads lol, it doesn’t affect my decision of reading a story.

I’m pretty picky with what I read and sometimes, I end up checking none of the stories on a shelf. If something catches my interest, then I end up reading.

I’d advise having an awesome title, cover, and description to catch any potential reader’s attention from the other stories in the shelf. I’d also say, release more episodes when featured on the shelf. That makes it very easy to trend.

Release more weekly shelves which have catchy themes. I don’t remember the last time there was a weekly shelf apart from editor’s pick. The last few shelves were based on heritage month. I’d rather have them release weekly shelves instead of the heritage month ones. Stories tend to trend better in the weekly ones.

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I guess not :flushed:

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I try to read one or two of the stories but it definitely depends on the shelf theme.

The dialogue and narrative, to me it’s the most important part of the story. I don’t care if their is CC because I like to see how the author imagines the character. The cover is not that important to me because it’s the description that will get me to read it.

I actually tend to read stories with less reads. I figure they already have the readership and I and to give a small author’s story a try. All readers have to remember that just because a story has 300k doesn’t mean it’s a good story. I’ve read stories that have 1000 reads that are 100% better than some of the bigger stories.

I will only read a story if it interest me and I won’t even bother if the topic is not something I enjoy reading.

I honestly have no idea. I guess then can promote on the forum and if they have a social media acct on Instagram or twitter.

I think they need to be more specific with their themes. Lately it’s been limit to different heritage months and even then they didn’t post every week.

I would suggest:

  1. A weekly hidden gem shelf
  2. A monthly a genre theme shelf where for an entire month they features shelves (drama, romance, fantasy, Comedy, etc…)
  3. a Shelf for stories under 5k or stories under 10k and so on

A new author will never get noticed if readers can’t find their story

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I’m probably a bit of an outlier here.


  1. How often do I read stories from the weekly shelves? Ah… I don’t usually read stories from the weekly shelves. However, if prior to the shelf if I had bookedmarked the story, I’ll give it a read while it’s on the shelf. (it’s like a nudge lel)
  2. Male MC? Yas that’s my jam.
  3. I am more likely to avoid it since most stories with millions of reads have romance in it. >.<
  4. I use to read all the stories on the shelf, like way way… way… back… back… like back when the first Let’s Talk About… started cause no one else shared? Hehe. I would like to read more but I lack the time (and passes lmao).
  5. Don’t hide from your new army of readers. /-/ Update your other stories as they will rank spike as well
  6. Male MC, Adult MC (40+)… uh a Magic :star2: shelf – HORROR SHELF YAS – Sci-Fi shelf…
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Bump

1. How often do you read stories from weekly shelves? Does it depend on the shelf theme?
Barely, I usually look for new stories to read on my Instagram or on ‘promote your story threads’
2. What grabs your attention in a story? (How important is the cover and description to you? CC? The genre? The author?) A good cover and description, I dont care for CC and I dont care for the author either. But if one of my favorite authors release a story I’m more likely to read it
3. Are you more likely to read a story if it already has thousands/millions of reads?
No
4. When you have the time, do you give a chance to all stories on a shelf (and read at least the first chapter), or do you only read 1-2 that seems to be interesting?
I may read just one or two if I’m on the shelves, but sometimes I’d try to read all
5. What would you recommend to smaller authors to be more successful while being on a shelf?
Probably promote it on episode forums and Instagram, maybe make a more attractive cover
6. What themes would you recommend to Episode that would make readers more interested
Weekly shelves tend to do very well and are very popular. I think they should release more of those with creative titles

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