You are right, they’re not exactly steamy. However, the covers themselves are definitely erotic ahaha!
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A very well-informed response. Your words really resonated. It is an over-saturated market, and advertisement is key.
And absolutely-- a lot of stories are just to make money. Which is fair, we are an economically-driven society… but it can be disheartening. I guess I’ll just hope for a diversified future, and immerse myself in a community of like-minded folks!
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That’s the true misery of it-- the Mafia and gangs. Romance in itself is not inherently bad-- it can be beautiful. But I have seen time and time again that people are acknowledging how harmful these gang-related stories are. I’m surprised the guidelines allow it, considering the majority of the audience is young and may not be equipped with the capabilities of discerning that these tropes are harmful and not something to be sought after in their real lives.
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Absolutely! Sorry to hear that your hard efforts have only gathered 100 or so reads. Still, the hype for Mafia stories will die down eventually. Perhaps then, the neglected genres will be the new rage.
I CANNOT STAND CULTURAL APPROPRIATION. There, I said it. And ASHY LIPS. Can’t. Nope.
Yes! Let’s change this mess! I’m sure the hype will die down soon enough. Then, maybe one day someone will begin complaining and critiquing the prevalence of horror and sci-fi stories haha!
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I must admit, I witnessed a lot of drama in my early days on the app and in the Instagram community. You are spot-on. Exposure is power, and so are the carefully selected cliques.
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Valuable contribution, thank you! x
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Can I frame that? Haha!
It is a wonderful idea and Episode should be PRAISED for such a story-telling platform. It is unique and I do hope to see it succeed even more into the future.
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Welcome back 
After reading all the replies here I feel like I’m about to be the odd one out, but to answer your main question that was in bold, I have to say that no, I don’t share this feeling.
I know for me it’s partly that I like the added challenge this creates. So many people have shared their tips on how to write a hit story on Episode and I feel like with all of my stories I have done the opposite of all these tips. In theory, all of my stories should not be successful and truthfully, they’re by no means as popular as the stories you see in the trending section (though one was in the top 100 for a few weeks), but each of my stories has built a loyal reader base regardless and that’s more important to me.
But that also brings me to the other reason why I’m saying no. Because I can’t handle the pressure that comes with writing a successful story on Episode. For the past year and a half I had a pretty popular ongoing comedy story on the app. Of course, I enjoyed writing it, but I was, uh… I was very under-prepared for the amount of attention it would get, let’s just say… And I went through a lot of personal things last year which made it hard for me to find time to write… so it felt like I was always letting my readers down. I was always trying to push myself to write and update faster because I couldn’t deal with all the messages I was getting - and it sounds crazy because so many of the messages were really kind compliments and words of encouragement but because I am wired the way that I am, it just made me feel so guilty that I couldn’t give readers what they really wanted. So… I don’t know. I guess the point I want to make is that I don’t fear being drowned out by the trending section because I fear disappointing readers more… and that fear means I’m letting readers control me which is a super unhealthy way to live for a year and a half. So I guess I fear I’ll become that person again? Oh god, this got way too deep. I’m so sorry 
All that being said, it does piss me off to no end that episode appears to promote the types of stories you mentioned. I’ve accepted that stories about mafias, student teacher relationships and billionaires will do well here no matter what, but it still annoys me that Episode buys these stories because they’re trending, when they as a company have the platform and the reach to change to actually change these trends.
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I would like to see that! My suggestion would be to only rec stories you’ve actually read and feel good about condoning. I’ve seen some Episode Instagram group promote stories that are basically trauma porn (which, again, they never actually read), even giving the stories awards. 
I wouldn’t mind so much if these weren’t often the same people that shrug off any valid concerns regarding their work as “jealousy” or do whatever they like, fully knowing they have younger audiences hanging on their every word. If I liked the people writing for money or simply felt idle indifference towards them? Would be a different story.
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Such an interesting perspective, I completely respect that. With popularity comes pressure.
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Hey, OP, I’m going to reply your og post as
well as some other things I’ve seen on the
thread:
I’m going to take this in a different direction as
I am an author who’s often in the trending
section of drama which isn’t romance but it’s
like romance’s slightly less popular cousin so I
think I have some interesting takes on this.
When I first started writing on episode
seriously it was because I wanted an outlet for
creativity and something to do because all I
was really doing was going to work and then
not doing a lot of other things. (l mean I do rp
and there’s youtube but nothing that was like:
actually work and do something). So it was
purely for me needing a creative writing outlet
and not wanting to go so much the traditional
novel writing route that I had been so focused
on for years.
And now, roughly 10 months later my feelings
haven’t changed even though I’ve passed the
100k mark, won a contest, have been in the
top ten of drama, etc. Do I write about the
topics you’ve mentioned? No. But I feel a weird
sort of protection because I think there’s this
assumption that anything that ends up in
drama or romance trending is automatically
bad and that simply isn’t the case (and I’m not
even speaking on my own story, but rather the
stories of friends and just authors I admire in
general).
I also think we need to stop assuming why
authors write, because we’re never going to
know. Assuming someone is writing just for
money or just for fame isn’t necessary.
Sometimes we get opportunities and it’s not
smart to just push those away. There’s always
been this weird starving artist mentality I think
(not just on Episode), over anyone actually
getting money for doing what they love. Does
that mean they didn’t originally go into it for
the money? I mean, we don’t know. But we’ve
really got to stop shaming authors for wanting
to be successful on this app, or for becoming
successful on the app. I myself am really close
to making payments and I hope I won’t be
shamed for doing so should it happen. Writing
is what I’ve wanted to do for most of my life
and if I have the chance to get paid to do it you
best believe I’d jump on it.
This got really long and it probably makes no
sense, sorry. 
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It actually makes perfect sense, and I am so grateful you took the time to shed some light on your perspective. I never expected to see such diverse feelings when I started this thread. I have been pleasantly surprised, and my perspective has changed a lot. Thank you immensely for this heartfelt response.
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Oh, you’re welcome! 
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