Ask the author
For readers and authorsUpdated 2 min read
A reader can ask an author a question from the author's page, up to three open at a time per author; the author answers as a Journal entry that quotes the question, so the answer reaches every follower, and the asker is told under the bell. The author chooses which questions to answer and can delete any; unanswered questions are seen only by the author. Available on every plan.
The short answer
For the reader
On an author's page, Ask a question sits with Follow in the row of actions, and opens one field: up to 280 characters, under your name, with a chip for what it is about (this book, the author, another book). A visitor is asked to log in first. Once an author has answered at least one question, their page also carries an Ask Ana Reyes module listing the answers; until then there is nothing to list, so the module is not there and the button is. Send it and it goes to the author alone; nobody else sees it until the author answers. There is no reply by message and no promise of an answer; an author answers in public or not at all. You can have up to three questions open (unanswered) with one author at a time, and an author who blocked you cannot be asked; the sheet is not for review requests or early copy applications, which live on the book page.
If the author answers, the answer is a Journal entry that quotes your question with your name, and you are told under the bell. Everyone who follows the author sees it. Until then the question is private to the author.
For the author
Studio › Posts › Questions lists what readers asked, newest first, New and Answered. For each: Answer in the Journal, which opens the composer on an entry of the kind Answer with the question quoted at the top (the quote cannot be edited; write under it), or Delete, which removes the question for good and tells the reader nothing. Publishing notifies the reader, reaches your followers like any entry with the Answer chip and the question quoted, and puts the answer on your page under Ask Ana Reyes, a module that appears with your first answer and not before.
Questions are moderated by you: delete what you will not answer, and a reader you block (Reporting and blocking) cannot ask. Ask the author is part of every author plan, the free one included.
Where this lives
Related
- The Author Journal: New entry opens the Journal composer with fourteen formats in four groups (General; Book and Story; Launch and ARC; Community), each asking only for what it needs, an audience (Public, Followers, Only me), an optional content note that hides the entry behind a spoiler warning, and a preview. Entries can be saved as drafts under Studio, Posts, and one can be pinned to your page.
- Following, and what you are told: Follow authors (their pen name), readers and series; their news reaches your feed and the bell, grouped and switchable per author. Notifications live under the bell, everything can be marked read at once, and e-mail is a digest, never one message per event.
- Reporting and blocking: Every profile, post, comment, book, review and photo has Report in its menu; a human moderator reviews it. Blocking someone hides you from each other entirely, they are not told, and you can undo it under Settings › Privacy.
- Your pen name and public page: Your pen name is your public identity; books, series, campaigns and Journal entries attach to it. Edit its name, bios, avatar, banner, the genres you write, the languages you publish in and external links under Studio, Settings. Several pen names per account from Studio, Pen names: add, open in Studio, make primary, archive; Author and Creator one, Pro up to five, Publisher unlimited.
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