That might be how it happened so.
When my comedy story got reviewed it was trending in the comedy genre and from 5k reads I got to 11k reads in a week, so this is how it was for me. Probably because a lot of ppl read comedy. As for my thriller story, the same thing happened when it was reviewed, but I got from 1k to 3k, because thriller is less popular.
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I understand. I just find it very odd that a story that had very little reads for months, suddenly shoots up to about 400k reads within only a few weeks. It really sounds more like paid promotion to me to be honest.
It could very well be. I did say above:
I know this worked for some people. But I feel like only certain stories would benefit from this (i.e ones with covers and descriptions that attract the same readers as the promotor). The thing with a paid promotion on a 40+ episode story- you only need a few people to read a few chapters and the story would fly up the ranks fast and then more people would see it.
But then it’s also possible to have that same spike with no promotion, especially if the author batch updated. It’s easier to trend with more episodes.
It’s a bit of a gamble if they batch updated without the paid promotion, especially since the story I was referring to earlier on in the thread, released an episode every week - sometimes even 2 - and the story ended up with about 40 eps with 30k reads. In all fairness, when the majority of people see that amt of eps with little reads like that, they wouldn’t be very impressed with it. Also, the cover didn’t look very eye-catching either, like most of the expensive covers in Episode. If people are well off to buy expensive covers, then why not pay for someone to promote their story? It seems the whole paid promotion issue, is sort of a subject people prefer not to talk about much here, probably due to the fact that if everyone was to get a paid promotion, it would make the competition a lot tougher for those who are paying for it, which I reckon is a LOT of them. Anyway, for a small author with a pretty weak cover, and who had updated frequently, with still very little reads, to suddenly shoot up to an extra 400k reads within only about 2 to 3 weeks, landing their story in the romance shelf - most popular genre - passing a bunch of huge authors there so fast, I have no doubt there was paid promotion there. When you have a service or product, it’s understandable to try promote it as best you can. So yeah, it seems the reads shooting up like that, is most likely from paid promotions.
I keep records of my reads. I don’t pay for promotions.
I batch updated episodes 11, 12 & 13 on April 28. I had 80k reads on that date.
On May 13 (so basically 2 weeks later), I was up 40k. Not the same spike as you mentioned, but I only had 13 episodes. Most of that increase was within the first week of updating.
30k isn’t a bad amount of reads at all- it does imply that the story has a few hundred readers. Batch update 5 episodes (for example) and have 200 loyal readers read it- 1000 reads. 1000 reads in ~2-3 hours would bring you into the top overall 100.
Might not be eye-catching to you, but those are the covers that trend for a reason. They target the core episode audience.
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This is getting a bit histrionic now.
First it was 50k, then 100k, now 400k?
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How did you get your story exposed to so many readers for those amt of reads for only a few eps? You must have gotten a huge amt of readers to know about your story. Read for reads definitely wouldn’t do that.
Might not be eye-catching to me? If that’s the case, why is like 90% of covers VERY professional looking, not inexpensive and mediocre like the very few I see.
Don’t people join contests and try promotion through many things? I would also think recommendations help, getting on a shelf, word of mouth, and being consistent with your stories would help a lot. I’m not entirely sure though.
I don’t do read for reads.
It was my cover! I explained earlier:
I do have a decent IG following, however my new story isn’t like my previous story (and doesn’t attract the same readers). Compared to my other stories, in its debut week, it tanked (for me). 400 reads in a week is my worst performing story, not including my first story.
When my story got reviewed (by Episode) and approved, I double updated. My regular readers read it and the story was automatically visible in the top 100 genre. It took off like crazy. I actually couldn’t believe it- it outperformed every story I’ve even had on a shelf before. Why? I’m guessing the cover and description. I paid for my cover and it’s pretty click-baity honestly. It’s the kind of thing you see trending.
Are they trending? Then I’m assuming that most readers think the covers look great. I’m not really sure which covers you’re talking about. I paid for my cover and I personally love it.
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I think we might be misunderstanding each other on this actually, because I don’t understand your comment. You do or don’t think the professional looking covers are eye-catching?
I’m saying, that the professional-looking covers seem to attract readers. I don’t think you necessarily need a digitally drawn cover (and non-professional covers have been in the top trending before), but I do think it helps. It was my own little experiment on my new story and I feel like it made a difference.
I don’t think any of them are mediocre? Although some are (IMO) better than others 
I think you do get what you pay for most of the time.
You said you went from 400 reads on 3 eps to 12k reads IN A WEEK on 5 episodes, but this was the moment it got reviewed and put on the ranks. But for it to get reviewed, doesn’t it have to reach the first 100 rank thing in any genre shelf? And I’m sure that review took some time, then after the review was done, you had 5 eps with over 10k reads within that week, because you had managed to get the story to the first 100 ranks in order for it to get reviewed first of all? And yes, covers are the most important I understand that.
The first step before anything else, is getting the story to the 100 rank, but you didnt do read for reads whatsoever for that? Then how did you get a large network of readers to get you to that 100 rank?
What I mean with the covers is, that the majority of covers that looks extremely professional, polished digital art stuff is a huge winner. Only a minority of non professional or mediocre type art covers will do well. That’s what I meant. I only paid 13 euros for my cover for one of my stories about 2 weeks ago, and I love it, even though it’s not a very professional looking one.
lol, one of my stories got first prize in a contest at Christmas, and it did NOTHING for me.
Yup. And I gained enough reads to do that in my genre. I originally put the story in mystery, and I think 100ish reads in 24 hours is more than enough to hit top 100 there. (I gained almost 200 of my 400 reads in the first 24-36 hours). Note: Until your story is reviewed, you actually won’t see your true rank. You can’t show a rank better than 101 in any genre.
Not really. I got reviewed after 6 days (I was lucky! I think I published when they weren’t busy. It was pre-Covid). I took 24 hours to make the changes and get the story approved. It then shows up on the ranks instantly. The moment I got the approval email, I updated.
I then had 5 episodes and was able to be visible. From the day my story got reviewed (and I updated) to a week later, I gained almost 12k reads. I gained a few hundred IG followers in that week too, so I was gaining new readers. These reads weren’t just coming from my previous followers.
Nope. I never do read for reads.
But I do have a decent following and although 400 reads in a week isn’t a lot, it was enough to trend. If you’re not trying to trend in romance or drama, you don’t need many reads to hit top 100. (Horror, for example, only needs like 20 reads in 24 hours I think, maybe less)
Yeah, that’s true and that’s why I felt like paying for my cover would be worth it. In my case, it paid off.
But there was a story not that long ago that hit #1 overall trending and at the time, it just had a very basic edited cover. (I think the cover has been upgraded since.)
Wow, you got nearly 200 reads within 24 hours? How did you find all those people to give you that amt of reads within 24 hrs if you didnt do r4r?
Yes I understand that, but that only happens for a minority sort of thing.
So the most important thing is to be visible on the shelf to start getting decent reads. But you got nearly 200 reads within about 24 hours, for only 3 or 5 episodes? Do you have a large amt of reads on your other stories, for you to get those readers to give you nearly 200 reads in 24 hrs?
I just realised you’re the one who wrote ‘Maternal Instincts’. Damn, I loved that story by the way lol.
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I had (at the time) I think 4.7k IG followers. I don’t have a huge following, however I think my followers are pretty loyal and awesome. A lot of them will try most things I put out. Like I mentioned before, this particular story isn’t like my other stories so I knew that I wasn’t really targeting my regular readers, but enough of them read it to give me a boost.
I don’t really recommend read-for-reads, but with the new review and approval process, they’re probably a necessary evil for new authors unfortunately 
Or getting reviews from accounts like episodeaxiom (I think ones that are published on IG will help you more visibility wise).
There’s also a new free promo initiative by a group of authors with a large following. The hashtage is #spreadepilove
Decent. I’ve won contests and most of my stories have been on shelves. I don’t have millions of reads, but I’m very happy with my read count 
I’ve also been writing for over 3 years.
Yet, despite that, this new story still performed the worst in its first week compared to all my other stories (excluding my first one), but most of my other stories have been contest entries which usually get a bit of extra support.
That’s me 
thank you!
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Yeah I know what you mean. The visibility is so important and knowing how to do that. The only contest I went for, was not an Episode special shelf one, just a shout out and an award symbol, but it did nothing for me. The best contests are the ones for the actual Episode app itself.
So your 200 reads within 24 hours was due to your followers on IG and all that?
Yep.
I actually posted my story the day before and didn’t announce it. I gained 10 reads in 24 hours. I announced it on IG, and gained almost 200 the next day.
I don’t advertise anywhere else. I did have a couple friends share my post.
Even if you don’t win, I feel like a lot of readers go out of their way to read and promote entries. Then of course, if you win, you get to be on a shelf.