So I’ve noticed this a lot where big authors or at least authors who have had a story appear on a featured shelf try to get featured again. Or if someone suggests their story for it to appear on a shelf, they’ll encourage it and won’t say “thank you, but my story has been featured already.” I just think it’s a little inconsiderate to always try to get on shelves when they’ve already been on it and have a large reading/following and don’t really need the boost anymore. I’m pretty sure you can’t even do that either… It’s more so for authors who haven’t gotten a lot of recognition, and I personally would like to see some new stories rather than the same ones on the shelves over and over again.
Idk man, that’s just my opinion though. Let me know what you guys think down below. Maybe I just sound salty, but I just find it a little annoying. Especially when big authors just promote other big authors that are doing just fine.
Interesting discussion, I’m curious what others think about this
To be fair I’ve actually seen authors saying this and I really respect that. But yes, there are others who will encourage it. In my opinion it’s rather Episode who should pay attention to this, because readers will recommend stories that they know and in most cases they will recommend the same stories over again because they only read the trending section. I’m always happy to see hidden gems being recommended, and I’m ever more happy when they actually get selected.
Regarding this, I would rather see a story featured twice with let’s say 50K reads, than to see another one that has never been featured but is already ranked in the top 10 with millions of reads.
I know some amazing stories that I think would have deserved more reads while there were on a shelf, and I kind of wish these authors would get another chance. Funny thing is that some of these authors are actually the ones who would say “thanks, but my story was featured already.”
With all these things considered, I just wish that people would start recommending stories that actually fit the shelf theme. In that case I wouldn’t mind to see stories from the same authors, but it kind of annoys me when a story with no plot gets on some specific shelf instead of another that would have fit perfectly.
Yes! I’ve definitely seen others say that “my story’s already been on a shelf” so that’s valid. It’s the ones that don’t Im not a fan of. That’s the other thing! Sometimes people don’t suggest stories that fit the theme and it’s kinda frustrating. I agree w/ the 50k vs 10 mil tho. Once you get that high you definitely don’t need to be taking up space on a shelf. And yeah episode has done a pretty good job of filtering the repeats out thus far I’d say.
With the same story? Eek
Idm if an author is featured multiple times with different stories, but if it’s a story that’s already been featured, won a contest or a story that has an ink and LL version and they’re trying to get the other one featured … None of those sit right with me tbh.
Bahahaha this made me laugh because this happened to me last week and after a few times of saying exactly this I just gave up and said “thanks” instead lol. At some point I have to assume that half the people don’t remember that I was featured and so just rely on Episode to remember themselves.
Tbh, this does make me question their motives. Because… Well, why? Are they only writing for the reads? Is it because they’re in payments and know they will get a spike in money if they are featured? Like, I don’t understand asking people to recommend you for a second time? My conscience would be telling me not to do that
You saying this makes me think of this one particular story that was featured in Feb this year that still to this day has less than 5k reads and I would be thrilled to see it get the attention it deserves… So now idk. Because I know this is me being bias, and I shouldn’t be, but damn, it’s still such an underrated story.
I want to say: In some cases I think big authors promoting other big authors is often just friends supporting friends. If you’ve been with someone in the Episode community since day 1 and both of you happen to get popular I think it’s only natural to support each other. I will also add that I see less popular (but still fairly popular) authors doing this also.
As for a better answer of the topic: I do think self-promotion often feels tacky to me. It’s one thing to love and care about your story and another thing to try and shove it down people’s throats or make people feel like they have to promote/suggest the story get featured.
But (there always has to be a but with me, soz) I do think like all things there are exceptions. I think, for example, if a story gets featured in one shelf and then also gets featured in another shelf it fits in in the future it’s a lot different than a story getting featured twice simply because it’s popular. For example I wouldn’t mind a romantic comedy (a true one) getting featured in a romance based section and a comedy section if they truly can fit in both.
I know the topic of reads has been mentioned here as well and I do agree with that to a certain extent too. If a story is already popular it is nice to let other, less popular, stories get a chance.
I tend not to judge an author based on the amount of reads they have, yes, small authors need recognition too, but that doesn’t mean that big authors should stop promoting their stories and keep themselves on top. It’s difficult to keep the reads over the years, I saw some fairly big authors struggling getting even the smallest amount of reads recently. With that being said I don’t agree with featuring your story twice in a row. The last part is essential for me because if a story is a good fit for the shelf and it’s not growing even after being featured, I think that it’s totally fine to promote it.
What I dislike is seeing the same story over and over getting suggested. Let’s say that someone wrote an Harry Potter inspired story (I don’t want to bash anyone, I purposely choose this theme because I know that it’s against the guidelines and none wrote it) and they suggest it for the romance shelf, the comedy one, for magic, paranormal, like stop it already.
And correct me if I’m wrong but contest winners can’t get featured?
The friendship remark is fair. Yes, by all means, support your friends. Tbh tho, I don’t think ive ever seen a larger author read a hidden gem. It’s always strictly their friend’s work. Which again, is fine, but that really limits the amount of stuff you’ve seen on the app, and you don’t have anything else to compare it to. I obviously won’t name drop b/c the thread will honestly get reported if I do but I feel like there are certain authors that only aim to be friends with authors that have a lot of reads so they can get more people sent their way when they get mentioned on their friend’s insta story or something.
I legit saw someone in the comments on the new feature story post say that the ink version of their story already got featured but they still wanted their readers to get the limelight one featured and I’m just like…
I really don’t mind who promotes who I just don’t like when people promote stories that have already been featured and they know that. I’m trying to look for new stories and hidden gems to read and by hidden I mean stories that have been hidden from me no matter how big or small the author is. I just really want new and good stories to read.
I agree with this. I will add I know one author (not going to name drop because well…) who doesn’t really read a lot of stories unless they’re by friends/people who’s stories she’s read simply because with her own writing it’s hard for her to keep up with them.
I also can’t get over people asking to be featured. Like it’s one thing to support other people doing it of their own accord but…asking? I just…
I agree with this. I think it’s way different if a story gets featured twice/different versions get featured if there’s space in between (say 6 months-a year or something) vs getting on shelves two times in a row.
but I feel like there are certain authors that only aim to be friends with authors that have a lot of reads so they can get more people sent their way when they get mentioned on their friend’s insta story or something.
) who doesn’t really read a lot of stories unless they’re by friends/people who’s stories she’s read simply because with her own writing it’s hard for her to keep up with them.
