Since i’m new into the episode community thing, there are certain things in Episode that i dont understand; one of them being the official Episode stories (with the “E” on the corner). Like, the ones written by users, but with the “E”.
Is there a contest every weeks/months/years amongst all the stories written by the community? If so is there several winners or just one at a time?
Also, if there is contest, arent the winners not a bit repetitive? Like, do Episode staff has their own personnal favorite who’s already popular so its always them or every story has a chance to win?
If no contest, do they choose an author to create a story for them, or use one that the author already has written and repost it with gems choices added?
Episode does have contests every once in a while, but I don’t know the spacing time in between. The winners aren’t usually repetitive, as many undiscovered authors do get on the shelf for the contest because (hopefully) the winnings are based on how good directing/storyline/etc. of the story was. When a previously community author suddenly has an “Episode Official” story, that means they’ve given their story to Episode with permission (I think at least? Someone sort of said that to me.)
From what I gather, stories that are episode official stories are either written by the people that work for episode or community authors that episode have paid (I think) to feature the story.
Contests are generally every 3/4 months, there are numerous winners for certain things (example: best directing, best plot etc.) winners generally aren’t repetitive
Quite a few of the “Episode Originals” were stories bought by Episode from community authors (you can tell because the original author’s name will be displayed on it) whose stories performed quite well and/or were what Episode was looking for to add to their catalog of stories. Some authors have a contract with Episode where they’re required to write certain stories. You can still find the original community stories on the authors’ profiles, but they are hidden in search results so that the Episode Original version (with gems) receives more reads, since that will earn Episode more money and they own the rights to story (since they bought it/them), not the original author. The Episode Original versions are also edited to shorten the amount of chapters the story has overall and they may change some dialogue and scenes, basically they can change them to however they see fit or profitable.
As for contests, there are Writer’s Contests held every 8—12 weeks and the number of winners varies for each one. Sometimes there are 12 winners, sometimes there are 6 but there is almost always a “Best Directing” and “Best Interactivity” winners. While some entries become popular, most do not. But it’s not a contest to see which stories are to be bought by Episode, the prizes consist of exposure and gems. Every contest entry has a good chance at winning if the reader retention is high, it fits the rubric score, and it has a fit-to-contest theme, irrespective of who the author is.
From what I’ve seen, Episode mainly works with authors they already have affiliations with and who’ve shown consistency with updating and rake in a lot of reads, hence money.
Episode also has themed shelves in their app too (not a contest) where they select stories to be featured on it. Featured authors on the shelves typically get the exposure for a week or month depending on the shelf theme and they’re also awarded with some gems. Some examples of themes they’ve featured are “Black History Month” where they’d feature stories by black authors for a month and “Editor Picks” where the team picks out some of their favorite stories and they’re featured for a month, “Hidden Gems” where they’ve picked out unknown stories with a great storyline and/or directing (typically features for one week), etc. the list goes on. (:
No worries! I was once in the same boat as you years ago when I was new and didn’t really know much about Episode Originals, the shelves, the contests etc so I’m happy to help out new members. (:
