A question directed mainly to authors:
What do you think about Reads for reads? 
For myself, I believe that if my story is good enough, I should not have to ask people to read it. And if it is not good enough, then one extra read on it would do me no good.
But that’s just my opinion. What do you think about read for reads?
Hmmm, sometimes, I’m asked to have a “R4R”, I always read their stories, but somebody doesn’t, yeah…
Right. And sometimes people say they will read our stories. We read theirs but they never do.
I just think it’s a bit in-genuine. I’ve never done one, but I can imagine a lot of people must be thinking, does this person even want to read my story? Is this a burden to them? Do I even want to read theirs?
I know a lot of people have found stories they love through R4R’s and even become friends with the people they exchange with, but I think in the long run, it’s not worth it. People should read what attracts them and shouldn’t have to fulfill an obligation to gain reads either. Especially when there’s millions of readers on the app. Readers who don’t have any of their own stories to write and are really just looking for a way to kill time with stories to read. It’s better to put effort into targeting that side of the market.
I absolutely agree with @amberose I believe that genuine readers stay with us throughout our journey. Even though some R4Rs turn into real friendship, I call it a luck.
True! We may get genuine readers by the process sometimes but that is rare and is no use in the long run.
I haven’t done r4r before but I don’t think I’ll do it. It’s like getting sympathy read, and that person doesn’t actually appreciate or like your story.
I mean sometimes they might actually become a genuine reader if they like it very much but that is very rare. Yes.
I haven’t done R4R and I agree of what you thought but I say if you want someone to read your story you need to first attract them with the cover because sometimes when I read stories the cover let yo think of what kind of story you’ll be reading… you can say that I have a high standard when it comes to reading story especially with non-official Episode stories… BTW even if you have a beautiful cover you also must have a beautiful plot to let your reader know that the story is fully packed… Just my opinion
I do agree with you. Cover plays a very important role. A good Cover is what convinces a reader to give your story a try and a good plot is what keeps them reading.
I tried the R4R, because I thought that was how to promote my story, but I actually don’t like it.
(I did find some great stories though and a good friend). But I also got burned - reading a lot of stories and giving them feedback, but didn’t get the same in return. 
I actually prefer reviews instead, so that I can learn from my mistakes and get better. 
Yes, if you want to improve reviews are a better option then read for read.
They’re “dangerous”. Honestly, I was excited to try them out at first but I’ve been scammed so many times and got my feelings hurt, I stopped. I will not ask anyone for a read 4 read ever again. I would recommend people don’t do them or the very least perhaps publicize a list of all the people who refuse to read back in order to protect others. I get it, calling out others may be bad but you’re saving others from the same fate you received. And the list is fine so long as no one shames anybody on it. Even if they refused to read your story after you read theirs, they don’t deserve hate in public. Doesn’t matter how bad they were. So, yeah, to conclude, read for reads sometimes do well, but for me, it’s super rare. There are some good people you’ll find though. But sadly there are not good ones and they are the ones who give the term “read 4 read” a bad name.
True. That is actually a good idea as it would make sure more people aren’t scammed but then again as you said, calling someone out in public may do no good.
The problem with calling out is that sometimes people have a tendency to attack others. Nope, you shouldn’t. If there ever was a list, no one on it deserves to get bullied, even if they’re rude and scammers. It would just be there to warn people so they don’t go through unnecessary stress when they end up getting scammed.
Now that you put it this way, I see there is a good chance that plan will work out well for people who do reads for reads but more or less, I am trying to understand why authors do reads for reads in the first place even though there is an extremely rare chance of getting genuine readers.
“Empty” reads might boost your read count and in turn your rank for a short period of time but in the long run it hurts your retention rate far too much, the lower it is the more you’re automatically put lower in the ranking system making it harder to find your story. I personally don’t see the point in them anymore, it’s better to find genuine readers who like the story so much that they will stick with you and it to the end.
Because other authors tell them to? That would be my guess.
If I look at any thread that someone’s created asking for tips on how to get more popular or to get more readers, there’s always someone that says R4R’s.
Exactly my point.
Maybe so because when I published my first story, disaster as it was, I had no motivation whatsoever to do reads for reads because I thought there was no point. (Which is only my opinion)
After that I often thought why people do reads for reads, like what do they expect of them if not genuine readers.
Not to be dramatic or anything but I’d rather die and have 0 reads than do R4R