What are Promising Authors at Gay Authors?

[Graeme]

A.J. posted just above the details of how to be nominated, as well linking to a blog post about the Author Promotion Team that is still largely appropriate (the team has changed since that blog and we're not currently looking for new members, but the process is still the same). As A.J. said, it's not a quick process and we've already got several months of backlog to get through.

Please be aware that there are a number of factors that are taken into account when determining if an author is to be promoted; reputation by itself isn't a significant factor because reputation can be gained for more than just stories. The APT has a number of metrics available to it, as well as using the old-fashioned approach of actually reading the stories of the author being reviewed...

If anyone has any questions, or would like to make a nomination, please feel free to PM the APT Lead (who happens to be me at the moment  ).

 

PS: As per the instructions in that blog entry, we don't take public nominations so please PM me if you want to nominate someone.

[quokka]

5 hours ago, chris191070 said:

 

I think that @quokka should be promoted as an author as he has 16 stories on GA now. Chris

Thanks for your nomination @Chris191070, its very much appreciated mate.  Q

[quokka]

On 6/14/2018 at 1:00 PM, chris191070 said:

 

I think that @quokka should be promoted as an author as he has 16 stories on GA now. Chris

Ten years now…

Prolific Author for quite some time.

 73 Stories 
 104 Reviews  
7,298 Comments  
 2,928,982 Words

Am i ever going to be promoted?

[E K Stokes]

Prolific author is a badge, not a rank which is given by the site management. The ranks are Promising Author followed by Signature Author. These ranks appear permanently fixed, or at least have not changed in nearly ten years. February 2014, Myr wrote: "We are still updating a lot of things and it takes time." Sasha Distan, a Promising Author, replied (February 2014): " wonder the promising section on the weekly update is so small. there are only six of us..."

There were six Promising Authors in 2014, the same six today in 2024. I could be sarcastic and say those authors haven't lived up to their promise, but the simple evidence is the ranking of authors is obsolete, fixed back in 2014 and not touched since, well as far as I can see. 

In any case, being prolific has nothing at all to do with gaining Promising Author status, it is not a foot on the ladder to promotion, simply a recognition that you have published a lot of stories.

[drown]

50 minutes ago, E K Stokes said:

There were six Promising Authors in 2014, the same six today in 2024. I could be sarcastic and say those authors haven't lived up to their promise, but the simple evidence is the ranking of authors is obsolete, fixed back in 2014 and not touched since, well as far as I can see. 

There have been so many promotions to Signature and Promising since 2014, I don't even know where to begin. Your statistics are completely wrong, just read through the promotion blog posts.

To sum it all up, I'll refer to Cia's post "How do I become a Promising or Signature Author?" from the FAQ. The criteria are clearly listed and word count isn't one of them.

[LJCC]

6 hours ago, drown said:

There have been so many promotions to Signature and Promising since 2014, I don't even know where to begin. Your statistics are completely wrong, just read through the promotion blog posts.

To sum it all up, I'll refer to Cia's post "How do I become a Promising or Signature Author?" from the FAQ. The criteria are clearly listed and word count isn't one of them.

I think word count is one of them:

• She has been a member at GA for just under five years, and in that time she has posted over 900,000 words across ten stories...
• ...has been a member since 2016 and in that time has posted over 500k words across 35 stories including the popular...
• has only been a member at GA for less than two years, but in that time he has posted over 700,000 words across twenty-three stories
• for almost eight years, and in that time has posted over 1,370,000 words across thirty-one stories
• a member at GA for over three years, and in that time has posted over 340,000 words across twenty-three stories
• has been a member at GA for over six years, and in that time he's posted over 700,000 words across eight stories including his highly enjoyable epic 

It kind of makes sense they'd consider prolific writing as a testament to the promotion since they'd have to ensure that you'd keep on writing after being promoted as part of their requirement: Promising Authors must be willing to agree to post concurrently on Gay Authors any new material with the exception of personal blogs

Although it begs the question, how often should you post once you're promoted?

Are you required to post at least 100,000 words a year to complete a single story to maintain your status?

Or,

You'd have to shell out several stories a year regardless of the word count?

Because, based on the promoted authors, they've had numerous stories (with lots of views) on their plate, and those collated stories were (based on the lowest number of their 'wored count' announcements) more than 300k+++ words at least.

Is it safe to say you'd need to write at least 300k++ words to be considered?

They should definitely have a clear cut rule on that.

Because it makes authors assume that you could write ONE very successful story and that you could be viable for promotion when, in fact, you'd need to write an X amount of successful stories with an X amount of word count that are legible, readable, well-written, and have a core audience or demographic before being considered.

And I'm not saying it's wrong or it's bad.

It is just the requirement to keep this site flowing (which I wholly understand), because promoted authors who aren't exactly posting is a definite 'bad for business' model.

So if you're writing a lot, but those stories aren't really picking up traction, or if you're writing once in a blue moon and you're like RR Martin who'd post a story once every turn of the third moon, then chances are, you won't be considered.

[drown]

2 minutes ago, LJCC said:

They should definitely have a clear cut rule on that.

I do agree that word count matters—it is a metric available and most likely being used—but making clear cut rules defeats the whole system. Editorial decisions shouldn't be based on statistics alone, and their reasonings shouldn't be available to the public. This however, is just my personal opinion. 

[LJCC]

16 minutes ago, drown said:

I do agree that word count matters—it is a metric available and most likely being used—but making clear cut rules defeats the whole system. Editorial decisions shouldn't be based on statistics alone, and their reasonings shouldn't be available to the public. This however, is just my personal opinion. 

Well, they're the ones who made it obvious by stating, elaborating, and elucidating the numbers. It's not like I just magically made it up to prove a point.

I got it from the link you posted, and all of their announcements for their signature and promising authors had a very clear word count description.  

https://gayauthors.org/search/?tags=author promotion&updated_after=any&sortby=newest >> the link you sent.

As I've said, I'm not saying it's a bad metric in general, but when they've blatantly made it obvious, then come on, just make a rule about it.

Chances are, if they wrote, for example: You need to write 300k+ words a year (or something).

Aspring Writer A would think: "Hey, my stories were a hit. I have an audience. I've written around 250k+ words. Why not write another epic banger so I could be considered?"

I mean, that's basically going for the basic script of why they had promising authors and signature author titles to begin with, to inspire writers to write...and of course, to have those stories posted on this site. 

[Graeme]

Don't confuse correlation and causation. One of the key criteria for Promising Author and Signature Author is quality, but it's difficult to judge quality on a small sample, so naturally there's a certain minimum amount of writing required to allow the quality to be assessed. So there's a correlation with word count but there's not a causal link.

[LJCC]

32 minutes ago, Graeme said:

Don't confuse correlation and causation. One of the key criteria for Promising Author and Signature Author is quality, but it's difficult to judge quality on a small sample, so naturally there's a certain minimum amount of writing required to allow the quality to be assessed. So there's a correlation with word count but there's not a causal link.

It's not really a correlation and causation fallacy if the word count appears to be the glaring truth as written in every one of your promising and signatue author newsletters. You could have omitted that and just stated that X Author has published 150 books in 10 decades or something. 😂

Even quality could be tested for metrics and paramaters, as with everything else this world. If let's say:

Author X has a very good response rate/feedback from readers. (Quality metric, 50%)

Author X has written 5 stories in an X amount of time. (Quantity metric, 20%)

Author X has written roughly 300k+ of text. (Consistency metric, 20%)

Author X has been consistently posting in 5 years/1 story per year...(Consistenty and Quantity metric, 10%)

And so on and so forth, then it'd be easier for authors to have a set goal to aspire to. The only objective metric would be quality, to assess if whether the feedback or response are actually commentaries aimed at the quality of writing or not.

I'm just imagining writers are like in an X Factor stage and the mods are like, "Sorry sweety. It's an X for me." And then the Simon Cowell of the juding panel are like, "Your writing's shit. I do love your similes. Improve on that. Next!" 🤣

[CasualWanderer82]

It’s difficult not to notice a certain lack of transparency in how “Promising Authors” are selected on the GayAuthors platform. While I fully understand that any form of recognition inevitably involves a degree of subjectivity, the criteria as they currently stand feel somewhat indistinct. Speaking from personal experience, I have met, and in some cases exceeded, the outlined prerequisites, with multiple stories reaching the most-read lists across several genres. That said, recognition itself has never been my primary motivation for writing.

What does give me pause, however, is the apparent disconnect between the stated guidelines and the outcomes they produce. There are many writers within the community whose work demonstrates consistency, audience engagement, and clear narrative growth, qualities one would reasonably associate with “promise”, yet they seem to remain outside the scope of consideration. This raises a broader question about whether the existing parameters are as clear or as consistently applied as they could be.

Greater transparency around the selection process would not only help manage expectations but also reinforce a sense of fairness and trust within the community. At present, the ambiguity leaves room for uncertainty, particularly for those who are actively contributing, evolving, and resonating with readers in measurable ways...

[Jason Rimbaud]

4 hours ago, CasualWanderer82 said:

It’s difficult not to notice a certain lack of transparency in how “Promising Authors” are selected on the GayAuthors platform. While I fully understand that any form of recognition inevitably involves a degree of subjectivity, the criteria as they currently stand feel somewhat indistinct. Speaking from personal experience, I have met, and in some cases exceeded, the outlined prerequisites, with multiple stories reaching the most-read lists across several genres. That said, recognition itself has never been my primary motivation for writing.

What does give me pause, however, is the apparent disconnect between the stated guidelines and the outcomes they produce. There are many writers within the community whose work demonstrates consistency, audience engagement, and clear narrative growth, qualities one would reasonably associate with “promise”, yet they seem to remain outside the scope of consideration. This raises a broader question about whether the existing parameters are as clear or as consistently applied as they could be.

Greater transparency around the selection process would not only help manage expectations but also reinforce a sense of fairness and trust within the community. At present, the ambiguity leaves room for uncertainty, particularly for those who are actively contributing, evolving, and resonating with readers in measurable ways...

I also think one has to be nominated for Promising Author. 

I would presume that would mean one would have to be active not only posting quality stories, but also commenting on other writers' work to gain a certain level of popularity. If no one knows you outside of your stories, they are less likely to nominate you. I think the idea is all promising and other such titles are promoting a certain level of engagement with the community.

I could be wrong, and if I am, I'm sure someone will correct me.

But if you have surpassed all the criteria for promotion already, then you might not even need the title. Just keep banging out good stories.  

[CasualWanderer82]

10 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I also think one has to be nominated for Promising Author. 

I would presume that would mean one would have to be active not only posting quality stories, but also commenting on other writers' work to gain a certain level of popularity. If no one knows you outside of your stories, they are less likely to nominate you. I think the idea is all promising and other such titles are promoting a certain level of engagement with the community.

I could be wrong, and if I am, I'm sure someone will correct me.

But if you have surpassed all the criteria for promotion already, then you might not even need the title. Just keep banging out good stories.  

I see what you’re getting at, but framed that way, it starts to sound less like a recognition of promise and more like a reward for visibility.

If a “Promising Author” has to already be embedded in the community, commenting regularly, building rapport, becoming a familiar name, then the title isn’t really functioning as a spotlight for overlooked talent. It’s reinforcing the presence of people who are already, to some degree, seen. And that shifts the purpose quite a bit. A label like that naturally suggests discovery, the idea of elevating someone whose work speaks loudly even if their name doesn’t yet carry far.

But if nomination hinges on being known, then it introduces a kind of circular logic: you have to be visible to be recognized, and you’re recognized because you’re visible. At that point, quality alone isn’t the determining factor, it’s quality plus social footprint. And while community engagement is valuable, tying it too closely to recognition risks blurring the line between merit and popularity.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with rewarding active, engaged members, it strengthens the ecosystem, keeps conversations alive, and fosters connection. But calling it “Promising Author” implies something slightly different, something closer to potential being identified and nurtured, not simply acknowledged after it’s already gained traction.

So yes, it can start to feel less like a mechanism for lifting emerging voices and more like a reflection of who has already managed to carve out space for themselves within the platform.

[Jason Rimbaud]

6 minutes ago, CasualWanderer82 said:

I see what you’re getting at, but framed that way, it starts to sound less like a recognition of promise and more like a reward for visibility.

Just remember, I don't speak for GA and have given very little thought of promotion and or what it takes to achieve it. I could be completely wrong. I usually am. 

This is just an observation from someone who's been here twenty years or so, give or take a year. 

And if we look at the past promotions, I would say all of them were deeply engaged in the community.

And high readership doesn't translate to the nomination committee. Most of my readers aren't active members on the forums, if even a member. So you could have really high readership numbers, and the committee might not even know about your stories. This is a very big site, and if someone hasn't nominated you, you could get lost in the shuffle. 

I do know, that the Myr, our fearless wizard in chief, strongly urges people to self-promote, to engage in the community, as he has seen that as a very real tool to get recognition. GA isn't in the business of creating authors, they are a site where authors can create themselves. 

So my advice, get out and promote yourself. If your work is good, and I will admit I never saw your name before today, tell people what they are missing. Use GA to your advantage, cut through the noise of the other authors and take over the site as it were. You have literally thousands of visitors a month who are looking for great stories. GA is a tool, sharpen that sucker and make some deep cuts. . 

I will check out your work.  

[CasualWanderer82]

15 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

Just remember, I don't speak for GA and have given very little thought of promotion and or what it takes to achieve it. I could be completely wrong. I usually am. 

This is just an observation from someone who's been here twenty years or so, give or take a year. 

And if we look at the past promotions, I would say all of them were deeply engaged in the community.

And high readership doesn't translate to the nomination committee. Most of my readers aren't active members on the forums, if even a member. So you could have really high readership numbers, and the committee might not even know about your stories. This is a very big site, and if someone hasn't nominated you, you could get lost in the shuffle. 

I do know, that the Myr, our fearless wizard in chief, strongly urges people to self-promote, to engage in the community, as he has seen that as a very real tool to get recognition. GA isn't in the business of creating authors, they are a site where authors can create themselves. 

So my advice, get out and promote yourself. If your work is good, and I will admit I never saw your name before today, tell people what they are missing. Use GA to your advantage, cut through the noise of the other authors and take over the site as it were. You have literally thousands of visitors a month who are looking for great stories. GA is a tool, sharpen that sucker and make some deep cuts. . 

I will check out your work.  

I get what you’re saying, and I don’t disagree with the idea that authors carve their own path there. That part feels fair.

I suppose where I stumble a bit is that promoting myself has never really been my natural habitat. I tend to keep my head down, write what I can, and let the stories speak for themselves. The only reason I even chimed in is because this topic drifts across my feed every now and then, and today I actually stopped long enough to read through it.

What caught on me, more than anything, was the word “promising.” It carries a certain implication, of potential being noticed, of something being encouraged before it fully blooms. If the underlying expectation leans more toward self-promotion and visibility, then the label feels slightly out of step with what it suggests.

That said, I don’t take issue with the community itself. Quite the opposite, I’ve genuinely enjoyed the interactions I’ve had with readers, and there’s something quietly rewarding about sharing stories and seeing them resonate. I’m just not approaching it as a platform to market myself so much as a space to write, when time allows, around a full-time job and everything else life insists on throwing into the mix.

If anything, my grand promotional strategy seems to be: accidentally exist and hope someone trips over a story. Not exactly a masterclass in branding, I admit. 😅

[ReaderPaul]

39 minutes ago, Jason Rimbaud said:

I also think one has to be nominated for Promising Author. 
     I would presume that would mean one would have to be active not only posting quality stories, but also commenting on other writers' work to gain a certain level of popularity.  If no one knows you outside of your stories, they are less likely to nominate you.  I think the idea is all promising and other such titles are promoting a certain level of engagement with the community.
     I could be wrong, and if I am, I'm sure someone will correct me.
     But if you have surpassed all the criteria for promotion already, then you might not even need the title.  Just keep banging out good stories.  

Excellent points, Jason.  It was mentioned several posts above that public nominations are not accepted; that nominations have to be made by PM (Private Message) to the APT (Author Promotion Team).  Perhaps @Graeme or another member of the APT might post if the person to PM has changed from what is mentioned above.

Probably many members are somewhat like me, in that real life, my time available for reading has actually decreased since retirement.  I have more and more involved in taking care of my spouse, and said spouse is having major memory issues and some seeming dementia.  

This is not a bid for sympathy.  I have my life, and mostly like it.  But I see very interesting discussions here. and once in a while I get time to read a new authors or three.  Hang in there, authors.

[Jason Rimbaud]

6 minutes ago, CasualWanderer82 said:

If anything, my grand promotional strategy seems to be: accidentally exist and hope someone trips over a story. Not exactly a masterclass in branding, I admit.

Then I'd say keep doing what you're doing. Your stories seem to have triple the number of readers I get, so you are on the high side of readership.

You really don't need a title anyway; it doesn't give you any perks other than bragging rights and a bit more visibility for readers to find you.

I'd actively seek it if I got like a free Premium Membership, then I'd actually start writing good stories and stop being a pain in everyone's back there place. 

Good stories always rise to the top. So maybe keep on trucking on and let people find you organically.  

[Graeme]

On 4/19/2026 at 5:33 AM, ReaderPaul said:

Excellent points, Jason.  It was mentioned several posts above that public nominations are not accepted; that nominations have to be made by PM (Private Message) to the APT (Author Promotion Team).  Perhaps @Graeme or another member of the APT might post if the person to PM has changed from what is mentioned above.

Send me a PM if you wish to nominate someone for promotion and we'll add them to our list. We don't accept public nominations simply because we don't have a formal place for those nominations. The site is too broad to monitor everywhere for nominations. We decided a long time ago it's simpler to just have the nominations sent to the APT team lead (currently me).

Please note that the team that reviews nominations are all volunteers who also have other work to do so reviewing nominations takes time. As such, we can't process too many nominations. We have a wait list of nominations so even if you nominate someone, it may take some months before they're reviewed.