DISCUSSION : Would you include gem choices in your story?

I wouldn’t because I know how it feels when you’re reading a story and you have to pay gems for a cute outfit or a interesting choice. That stuff becomes annoying after a while and encourages the reader to stop reading so if I make a story it’s gonna be gem free cause nobody got time for that.

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I recently shared a screenshot of a possible scene with gem choices in one of my stories, and asked on a sale from 1 - 10 how much my readers would hate me if I added gem choices. (10 being they would cry.) I actually got alot of replies that said, they would hate me and they aren’t rich.

However, those replies stuck me as odd. . .

So I ask people who have included gem choices in their story, thus far, how is it working out for you?

I would never do that to my readers tbh and I feel like there’s no point to making such a choice if not many are going to select it. I think the goal with choices should be to give the reader some degree of freedom in the story, rather than emptying their pockets and depriving me- I mean, THEM, them of money for my- I mean. their anime merch. ahaha (Nah, I’d never waste money on choices.)

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  1. Idk why, but I have this feeling that some people just think gem choices are cool?? But yeah, people would definitely do it to earn some money.
  2. I would never include gem choices. I myself am really tired of being so limited because of gem choices that I just can’t afford. I’d never do that to my readers.
  3. Money is the only benefit I see.
  4. Readers can’t afford it and therefore stops reading your story.
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I think it’s incredibly manipulative and selfish of authors to use gem choices to gain profit off of their own readers. If you’re writing on episode as a user for money, then you don’t deserve any reads.

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Preach :raised_hands:

I think that’s a bit…generalizing?

Personally, this depends. I’ve seen authors who added gems which added absolutely nothing. I think it’s fine and I’d be willing to spend soms if I liked the author and if its’ reasonably priced.

It’s really a huge rip off personally if they use gem choices that affect the story. Gem choices for bonus content is acceptable and would actually make me pay, granted they’re reasonably priced, like 10-15 gems.

It encourages the writer too, you know.

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Hold up.

Wait a minute.

Authors that use gem choices are selfish?

Do you know the time and effort that goes into writing a story?

Do you realize that some authors spend their own money buying backgrounds or paying commissions for special art scenes?

Do you realize how many authors are hounded constantly to update a story, when they have lives outside Episode?

Gain profit off their readers? Most writers get NO profit due to the time and money they spend creating a story.
Umm… you go to a store and buy a book, the author gets profit off the book you buy.

I think its sad that there are so many amazing authors out there that DON’T get paid.

Note: authors that get PAID are ones that have a lot of reads (due to the requirements to get paid).

Have you ever written an Episode story? Do you know the time and effort that goes in to produce ONE episode?

Maybe all these authors that get paid should just leave Episode so you have NO quality stories to read.

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I think that they’re saying that authors who write with their main goal being money are selfish. I don’t have a problem with authors who use gem choices if you can tell that they’ve poured their heart and soul into the story :purple_heart:

If an author hasn’t poured their heart and soul into a story, it will show in the story and probably won’t get many reads anyways.
I know several user authors who use gem choices. One only did it because she was short 25k reads on hitting the 500k in 60 days which was deflating.
Of course all the stories that I’ve read with user gem choices, they are very good gem choices. They don’t impact the story, but they give a bonus (more information or the ability to max out points on a story that choices matter).
Lumping them all together is wrong though.
Some authors spend a LOT more money producing a story than they ever get from Episode.

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I don’t think any author writes stories to make money
I know many authors personally and they all write as a hobby. I’d love to see @episode.anon try making a story, and keep in mind… If you ever read the writers payment section You don’t earn direct money from readers choosing gem options, you still have to get a certain amount of reads in a certain amount of time!

you should write for yourself and for the joy of story telling. I have written on episode and it is a lot of time and effort. But I do it as a hobby and I do it because its fun, im not gonna ram some gem choices in there so I can get on a payment plan. Also no one is forcing you to commission scenes, they are not necessary or essential to the story and a lot of authors do just fine not spending money. It’s a free app and everything in the portal is free. There’s no need to try to force a monetary gain through gem choices and ruin the experience for readers.

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I do have a story lol and I use advanced directing, overlays, backgrounds and the whole ordeal. But I think its selfish to force yourself on a payment plan at the expense of readers. You don’t think readers feel that they’re missing out if they can’t afford gems? A big portion of readers are teenagers and they don’t have access to credit cards the same way adults do. If you get 500k reads in two months? Great. But to force and shorten the time through adding gem choices at the expense of readers is selfish and the intention of adding gem choices is very clear for monetary gain and I quit stories that do this.

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That’s the thing.
To even get money from your story
You either
Get 500,000 general chapter reads

OR

100,000 gem chapter reads and 300 gem choices selected.

An opinion is an opinion, and I would never make my stories gem ones. But if the author feels that they should have them then they should!
And, gems generally cost wayyy less than featured stories.

  • 2 gems for less than 10,000 reads
  • 5 gems for 10,000 and 100,000 reads
    *10 gems for stories over 100k reads
    Even if a gem story reaches 1 million reads it still won’t be the over amount of 20 like the featured ones.

as an author, I think that the readers come first. I know how it feels to have no gems and to see a gem choice sprung at me. People who read episode are doing it in their free time for entertainment, they don’t deserve the hassle of acquiring or buying gems because that takes time and/or money. I just think that authors who add gems choices are very, very clear with their intention of getting on the payment plan and that puts a bad taste in my mouth. The payment plan is an added bonus, it’s not the ultimate prize or goal in writing at episode.

In the end it’s your opinion babe, I can’t change it :heart:

Honestly? This wouldn’t be such a problem if stories that DO use gem choices helped you gain a gem per episode.

Most of the featured stories are crap, and it’d be nice to get gems out of authors who utilize them so I’d be a little more willing to unlock a bonus scene. Which isn’t saying much, but the unlimited pass thing makes me wanna speedrun featured stories like the Pitch Perfect and PLL stories by tapping super fast. :roll_eyes:

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