What We Learned from the Featured Authors Pilot

This summer, nine RedQuill creators went from 104 followers combined to 2,175 in nine weeks. That’s the headline from our first Featured Authors pilot, which ran from July 2 to September 3, 2026.

We set out to answer one question: can RedQuill help story creators find more readers, more comments and more remixes? Here’s what we tried, what happened, and where the program goes next.

Why we ran it

RedQuill is built by the people who write on it. But great stories can get buried, and the creators behind them don’t always get the recognition or the readers they deserve.

We wanted to test a simple loop: if we spotlight creators and connect them with readers, will readers follow them and keep coming back? And will creators who feel supported keep publishing?

The deal was simple. We gave authors a badge, a profile spotlight, active promotion and a direct line to the team. In return, they kept publishing, engaged with their readers and told us honestly what was working.

How it worked

We hand-picked ten creators based on their activity on RedQuill and the engagement their stories were already earning.

Every feature went out in-app, on Reddit and on Discord, and the group coordinated in a dedicated Discord channel. Each week had its own focus:

1. Weeks 1–4: Spotlight. We featured roughly four stories per author, 38 in total.
2. Week 5: Fresh starts. Every author launched a brand-new story, and we featured Chapter 1 on day one.
3. Week 6: Duets. Authors paired up and co-wrote five stories together.
4. Week 7: Components. We spotlighted a component from each author for others to build with.
5. Final week: The Challenge. Each author entered one story, and the highest-rated one won.

Standouts

Every author grew, but a few runs deserve a shout-out:

• aerojay72 grew from 15 followers to 285 and nearly tripled their Creator Score.
• captainstinky had the biggest climb of the pilot. Their Creator Score rose from 8,639 to 82,077, up more than 850%. Their “Text-chat Only” component went from 19 uses to 202 in five days.
• hr6749 grew their following more than 25 times over.
• mjsimmons finished with the most followers: 386, up from 10 on day one.
• the_boldest_piffit grew fastest in relative terms, from 3 followers to 164.
• milodicmellodi gained 165 followers across Weeks 5 and 6 alone.
• hawk‘s Challenge entry, “Raw Devotion,” drew 116 comments, the most of any entry.
• huginn‘s “Intelligence Filter” component, already a community favorite, picked up 765 more uses in three days on the spotlight.
• johnno352 started with the most modest Creator Score in the group, and grew it 458%, the second-fastest rate in the group.

The Challenge crown went to captainstinky’s “Lydia’s Labyrinth Liberation”: a perfect 5.00 rating from 29 readers, plus 887 views and 65 comments.

What’s next

The pilot showed that spotlighting creators works, so we’re turning it into a longer-running program. Here’s what we’re shaping:

• Featured Authors, as a status.
• Story Competition.
• Featured Stories, open to everyone.
• .. and more

Thank you to our pilot authors for showing up every week and making this work.