I’ve read a lot of episode stories and saw that some creators use gem choices and some don’t. I was wondering which one you prefer since im writing a new episode story ^^
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From the readers perspective, everything that is FREE is better. So if you give them free choices, free bonuses, free art scenes, etc., etc., it will be nice, basically doing the whole gem-free story.
And while I don’t agree with some practices about how to use gem choices because of my own preferences (for example: gem outfits in community stories that are only based on using the “pretty” and “ugly” outfit make no sense to me because everything that we provide is free and there is nothing “premium” about those outfits), as an author, I try to make bonuses and choices for gems to boost my rank. Without gem choices there is little chance to be reviewed, not to mention trend later. That’s how the Episode App works nowadays.
So, yes, if you want more recognition as a new author, boost your rank and give your story a chance to rank to make it more visible for new readers—use gem choices in your story. It’s the purpose of it. But! Make sense out of it. Don’t make expensive choices; there is a large possibility that they will click on choice 5-8 gems rather than 12-32. You can try to do bonus scenes, giving them extra content that wouldn’t be suitable in the middle of the story; a bonus art scene if you’re willing to commission artists; extra dialogues or choices that matter for gems (winning the mini game or skipping it without trying first, making a gem choice based on a lack of points, making them choose between an important choice and a “worse” choice), but remember in that case to not add them every choice opportunity. So if you have, for example, 2-4 labels of choices, give 1-2 with gems to see if that’s working for you and also to give them free choices as well to not make it seem like you’re a “gem-hungry” (yes, that’s how readers call it; I didn’t make it up) author.
You can also use the support author template at the end of the story with extra gems.
There are a lot of examples of how to use gem choices in stories; just try them and see what’s better for you and your readers, but don’t forget to make those choices impactful and meaningful. There is nothing worse than choice that doesn’t mean anything but you need to pay gems for it (no matter the price).
If you’re willing to make the free-gem story and you don’t care about being visible/reviewed, you just want readers to enjoy the story without worrying about “premium” choices, then go for it. At the end of the day, it should be your preference what to do. If you’re comfortable with that, you don’t have to use gem choices; if you’re okay with adding some gems to it, then don’t be afraid. I personally like to add bonus content, and whoever wants to support me with gems will receive something extra. It’s a form of little reward for me for the hours I spend writing and coding one chapter. 
but I don’t feel bad, because at the end of the day, I’m not doing it for an empty click, but always provide something more for readers.
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Thank you so much for taking ur time to reply to this! Gem choices make a lot more sense now :’) i think ill go for the no gem choices and some bonus stories for users who want to support me. I mostly enjoy that more since u can really decide the story directions, i hope other users do too. I dont really care that much about e.g. getting known, and thank u for the suggestions i really appreciate it! ^^
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I think I say for a lot of people when I say that we don’t like gem choices!!! If a story has gem choices I won’t read it I’m sorry, I’d recommend only putting gem choices at the very end to support the author and that’s it. 
thank you! i will definitely do it ^^
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one more question if that’s okay! U mentioned that there is a so-called ‘support author template’. Is that a coded template that u can write in ur story (with credits ofcourse) or do u have to program it urself?
Hey there!
I agree with everything that is already said. Support the author is a must i feel like cause of how episode works. By the way you can code it yourself if you want but u can also head to dara amarie’s page and grab one. I don’t at all appreciate scenes important to the plot, carrying points etc being behind a gem choice, and can also make me stop reading the story no matter how good it is. But bonus scenes that even if you dont watch it doesnt matter are totally fine. Just be careful not to overcharge them. Between 5-10 gems is fine. But even then, dont make a bonus scene like 10 seconds long and charge it 10 gems, cause the reader will feel like you took advantage of them 
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thank u for the help and clearification! i’ll make sure not to overcharge it ^^
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Like mentioned, Dara has a template for simple support the author: https://www.dara-amarie.com/support-author
But you can modify it as you want. :))
And don’t feel pressured to not add gem choices or gem scenes to your chapters just because someone claims they won’t read your story. People will complain about everything, but at the end of the day, it’s your decision. If you want to add gem choices, add them; if you don’t want them, don’t do that.
There is this thing: if someone is willing to support you with gems, they will do that. If that’s something they don’t want to do, they have the choice to click on the free choices. Hearing “if you have gems in your story then I will not read it” is demotivating, and no one wants to hear that, but you do you. If you make those choices valuable for a reader and YOU see it that way, that’s all that matters. 
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thank u so much! yess i wont forget it 
it all starts with doing what u love and liking the results urself
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Certainly write the story any way you want to, it is your story after all. I think no matter what, having a “support the author” gem choice at the end of a chapter is a good way to go because it’s short, it’s simple, and it feels like an afterthought. But it enables readers to support you if they wish. As for other gem choices, I would suggest doing non-exploitive gem choices. By this I mean that the reader does not feel pressured to spend gems or shamed by the story if they don’t. These are the types of choices you see in most episode original stories. Spend gems on this outfit, or wear a bathrobe and have the characters make fun of you. Or, one of the more egregious examples as of late, spend gems to tell your skeevy landlord off, or don’t spend gems and whore yourself out to pay your rent. These types of choices will always leave a reader feeling frustrated because nine times out of ten it’s not one they want to make and it feels manipulative because they’re essentially being forced to pay gems to avoid a bad outcome. This will not endear your story to readers.
I’d suggest gem choices that are more about luxury and ease such as spending gems to skip a minigame, providing a hint early in the story about some detail that will be explained later on no matter what, buy points if there’s a point system (with the caveat that it never be necessary to spend gems to get full points), see bonus scenes that don’t provide any exclusive information about the story, or gain access to specifically themed “wardrobes” throughout the story. These choices are all completely optional and if a reader doesn’t choose them, they don’t feel like they’re missing out or being punished. But for those who wish to support you with gems, it gives them plenty of opportunity to do so.
I personally don’t recommend adding gem choices to an Episode story, except to support the author and buy points. You see, readers typically get upset if there’s gem choices in a story and they prefer that all choices be free.
No gem choices. But if you wanna boost your ranking, use support the author gem donations at the end of every episode! I’ve trended several times with just enough donations. Some people also like to top off points (have readers buy/cap off points) with gems.
I don’t read stories with gem choices…
If it’s a story where there are gem points to just top up on points that you didn’t get, that is totally fine. But I’m not trying to chose between going to prom in dirty shorts and tee vs a stunning dress.
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