Hi! I was just wondering for all of those episode writers that have a good amount of love and support cast upon them, what to do to promote my story, my account, and just to get recognition. I know so many amazing authors that deserve it and hope I can share some tips with them as well!
Iām not one of the āpopularā authors but I can tell you the things Iāve observed from them:
Post regularly to social media with sneak peeks, new episodes, etc. It keeps people coming back to check your page for updates.
Promote your story everywhere you can. Post to any āpromote your storyā (or any variation of the title) which will help you gain exposure for your story.
Publish regularly-- to do this, Iād say have at least 6 episodes finished before you publish (only release 3 at the first publishing) and set up a personal schedule for releasing (ex: every two-three weeks) and publish 1 or 2 more episodes.
^^^ Doing it that way will give you a little wiggle room to work on your story and not feel rushed or pushed into publishing anything that you are less than completely proud of.
If you have any other skills (ex: backgrounds/overlays/proofreading/beta reading) offer them to people. The more people that recognize you, the more followers youāll have.
Interact with your people. Do giveaways, contests, Q&A posts. This will help them feel more connected to you,
All of the above tips are great! I faded into obscurity during my grad school years since I wasnāt active in the community + my IG got hacked, but I still remember how the process of getting more readers went. To add a few more tips:
After the initial three episodes, keep updating in batches of 2-3 episodes. Iāll admit Iāve never done this and probably never will (due to most of my stories having fewer episodes to begin with), but I do know that it encourages more binge reading, which provides more reads over a shorter time in order to help boost your storyās rankings. I donāt recommend more than 4 episodes in a single batch, as that pace can be unsustainable to authors and readers alike.
Participate in writerās contests. Not all of them - you can burn yourself out that way, and if youāre forcing yourself to participate with a theme doesnāt inspire you, it will show - but every now and then is a huge help. Even if you donāt win, it boosts your readership due to people actively looking for stories within the contest to read. Most of my consistent readers pre-disappearance found me through my contest entries. They found my entry, enjoyed it, followed my Instagram, and continued to read my work after.
Be kind to your readers. This goes along with the advice to interact, but generally keep your interactions positive. This doesnāt mean you have to put up with someone whoās being rude while saying nothing constructive; then you can block with no mercy. In all other cases, however, a lot of readers tend to avoid writers who are hateful or rant endlessly about āhatersā when people raise legitimate concerns. Even though more well-known authors unfortunately get away with it, those behaviours went public after they became known. You donāt have to be everyoneās best friend, but a little maturity and positivity goes a long way. This is also general advice, even if your goal isnāt to become popular. After all, the last thing any online community needs is more toxicity.
Seriously, Instagram is a fantastic platform for promoting Episode stories. Since the Episode team doesnāt moderate it as strictly as the forums, yet Instagram as a platform has a fairly relaxed reputation as far as social media goes, a large portion of the active Episode community is on there. The visually-oriented nature of it also makes it easy to share screenshots. You can also find quite a few pages there dedicated to helping Episode authors with tips, backgrounds and overlays, reviews, shoutouts, mini-contests, etc. I never use it for anything else, but for Episode content it justā¦ makes sense.
Gem choices can help you rise through the rankingsā¦ but be careful. Most readers arenāt fond of gem choices that make a story feel pay-to-win. This is part of why official stories get so much flack. The most commonly accepted gem choices are optional āsupport the authorā choices, buying bonus points if you have a points system, and unlocking bonus content at the end of an episode. The more gem choices people can buy, the higher your story can trend. That said, if you want to continue without them (as I do because I like to keep my stories as accessible as possible), you can. You just have to rely more heavily on promoting your story.
Know what sets you apart from other authors. Do you have a certain writing style? Is there something special about your story structure, settings, characters, etc.? Do you have a unique perspective on a certain topic within your writing? This knowledge takes time to develop, but itās also where your existing readers are a big help. Pay close attention to the feedback you get as you grow. Over time, more people will say what specific things they like and what stands out to them. While it always helps to try new things and expand your comfort zone, playing to your strengths at the same time helps your stories to truly shine.
Remember that Episode is a hobby for most authors. While it can be nice to reach a point where you can get paid for it, if it isnāt your job then the most important thing is to enjoy what youāre doing. When you find joy in your creations, others will too - no matter how strange or niche it may seem.
i dont do a great deal of promotion outside if instagram but i would say consistancy is key. you wanna post multiple times a week if you can on instagram, because the platform itseld rewards consistancy. also promote on forums as much as possible and request reviews. people are more likely to read if you get a good review snd its posted on insta. id only do this if youre sure youre first 3 episides r perfect though
i dont do r4r but if you wanna thats a good way to get new readers as well.
you need update the story regularly, id say at least once a week. people will leave a story thats only posting once ever couple weeks because you just forget what happens and its super annoying so id post as much as possible
PLEASE laugh at your negative fanmail, if you dont it can be very discouraging. Which is stupid because who takes time of their day to message you smth mean like do u not have a life? its funny, if you take it too seriously you might not wanna post abt the story and then youre like, fookd yano
Hey Tyranny.ep,
Same as @ColeCatalyst, I am not one of the āpopularā authors. But I am hanging around over here since 2019. Here are some advices
- Never compare yourself with big authorsā¦ ā Even big authors started with 0 reads.;
- Donāt stop promotingā¦ Even if you reach the 1k reads, you still need to promote your story. When you stop promoting after those 1k readsā¦ Your views will stuck at 1k reads;
- Donāt hesitate to ask for help at other authorsā¦ They had to start somewhere, too. ;
- Promote at instagram (Facebook) AND/OR on this forum (so you reach more readers);
- And donāt forget to take breaks. If you have a writer block, donāt forget your story, but take a break and think about something else for a while. But donāt force yourself to write.;
- Donāt expect you get readers immediately after you published (sounds ridiculous, but there are (starting) authors who think that if you publish magically those readers will appear out of nowhereā¦);
- When the first hate mail comes in donāt get demotivated. And donāt give up to write. You are here to write, because you like to write, not because that one negative person doesnāt like your story. You are here because you want to publish YOUR story. ;
- Do R4R on this forum or ask for feedback from other authorsā¦;
Now a few directing advices:
- Donāt use exit left or right or enters left or right. It changes the size of the characters. So, children will become bigger if they exit or shrink when they enter.;
- Please, no black screens for narration ā use other backgrounds and characters with animations during narration;
- Check your grammarā¦ Before you publish, just check one more time for grammar and spelling;
- If you use your own character (authors character) donāt use it half of the story-time or a whole episode;
- Donāt use one whole episode for CCā¦ (If you have CC in your story);
For the rest:
- You also can use: Joseph Evansās YouTube clips for directing tips, Dara Amarieās website (https://www.dara-amarie.com) for templates and also help from other authors at this forum;
- Enjoy to write and donāt hesitate to ask me for more help by PM at this forum or DM on instagram (if you have instagram ā @angelwings_1983 ).
Happy writing and stay safe,
Love A-W
Adding to @AngelWings1983 's tips for directing/writing your story. Some authors repeat the exact same word for something over and over to describe something. (i.e. sheās so beautiful. then throughout the story they constantly use beautiful)
This website is awesome--
āIām not 100% on the accuracy of its translations (always double check with people who actually speak the language either in real life or through the forums.)ā
A great thesaurus/dictionary/etc tool. Because reading the same word 100000 times in one conversation or by 10000 people is really boring to readers. It also gives you that option of making a character seem more educated by using proper terms, ālargeā or uncommon words for seemingly simple ones, etc.
And I wish someone had told me about this website sooner. It uses a program that reads your script out loud to you. Youāll be amazed how many things (word spelling/etc etc) that your eyes will miss after reading something 1000 times while coding. Hearing your script read to you will definitely help your perspective and help you catch any misspelled or misplaced/missing letters you might miss.