I’m so excited to share my next interview because I’m always looking for ways to invigorate my reading! If you’re looking to try a new way of reading, Radish might be your style! It’s a new platform that is dedicated to giving readers stories on demand, where you can binge as much as you want in a soap opera style format. The best part? You can access it on your phone or desktop! It’s certainly going to make your reading interesting when you just can’t find anything to read.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Sue Johnson, who is the Chief Content Officer at Radish! She speaks about the platform, the selection process, how readers are using the platform, and more!
Can you tell us about yourself and about Radish?
I’m Sue Johnson and I work for Radish as Chief Content Officer and Head of the New York Office. Radish is the premiere serialized mobile fiction app and publishes stories in bite-sized bingeable episodes to read on your smartphone. These stories are ongoing with chapters publishing on a regular schedule – for our most successful story that’s five times a day!
As the former V.P. of Programming at ABC Daytime Television, I oversaw the soap operas, All My Children and One Life to Live. In combination with my experience as a storylead at Pocket Gem’s Episode Interactive, I bring extensive experience in both serialized and mobile storytelling to the Radish platform where I now oversee all content acquisition, production and development.
How did Radish come to be?
Our founder, Seung Yoon ‘SY’ Lee, started the company in 2016 after seeing the potential for a Netflix-like platform for serialized fiction stories, and the success of such platforms in Asia. He loved reading as a kid and wanted the publishing medium to evolve with the use of modern-day tech and data.
Are there categories on Radish that you are noticing are more popular than others?
We have seen the most success with romance – in all categories and subgenres. However, we are seeing increased popularity across fantasy, YA, paranormal, LGBTQ and mystery as well.
How is it different from a website like Wattpad?
We are a curated app. Wattpad is a user generated content platform. Unlike Wattpad, not everyone can put a story on Radish. We have very strict guidelines concerning our content and the quality of the writing. Every story that appears on Radish has been reviewed and accepted or created by us. For our Originals, we have a team of over 90 professional writers who work collaboratively in TV-style writer’s rooms to produce multiple seasons (20 episodes) of our hit stories in a hyper-fast, data driven way. The writing staff, who collectively has amassed 14 Emmy Awards, includes head writers from almost every major soap opera.
Additionally, Radish lets readers’ feedback and interaction provide us with data that enables us to create the best user experience possible. For example, we can test multiple first episodes in order to find the one that readers like the best, and that causes them to stay in the story the longest. That allows us to put up a story that provides the best user experience possible.
We also have live chat rooms that are open for three hours after a new episode publishes. It gives an opportunity for readers to discuss the story amongst themselves, and also allows authors to chat with readers and get immediate feedback on their stories.
In what ways is Radish changing the way that readers consume literature?
With Radish, the stories you love don’t have to end. Unlike a beloved traditional book that leaves you wanting more, Radish gives you your favorite stories and characters on a regular basis. It’s a soap opera style format where we update constantly. Radish also offers chat-style stories that are read in a text chain format as another way to share fresh content with readers. And all of this can be carried with you in your pocket, anywhere you go, accessible at all times.
Can you talk about how readers use Radish?
The beauty of Radish is that you can use it anytime, anywhere. Because the episodes are bite-sized you can read them when you have just a little time to kill – ex: while you’re waiting in line at Starbucks or taking a bathroom break at work (we had a reader tell us she did this!). But our stories are also bingeable. If you find yourself with more time on your hands – ex: your toddler is finally down for their nap or you’re stuck at home during the pandemic – there’s plenty to read.
What is the selection process for stories that readers find on Radish?
Stories come to Radish in 3 different ways:
- Stories that we create as our Originals – these are the stories created in house by our team of professionals. They can be continuations of stories that have seen success on Radish or stories that we create from original concepts, brainstormed and tested with pilots on the app.
- Stories acquired by us – Our Acquisitions team seeks out stories from both new and highly acclaimed authors that they believe will succeed on Radish.
- Submissions from authors – these are reviewed for content and writing before allowing to be published on the app.
What’s one of your favorite aspects about Radish?
If you’re talking about the app, it’s the wonderful depth and breadth of stories that can be found on Radish and the ease of which you can find them. There’s always something nice and fun to read on Radish.
If you’re talking about the company, it’s the amazing people who work there. We have a wonderfully diverse group of people who believe in what we’re doing and support each other at every turn. And on top of that, we genuinely like each other and have fun working together.
Let’s talk about the graphics for Radish for a moment. Are they selected by the writers? Or what’s the selection process for the book/story “covers”?
Once again, there are several different types of covers:
- Originals covers – these are designed by our inhouse Design team with input from our story creators, LiveOps and Marketing teams. They are created with an eye to what looks good in the app and also what will work for marketing.
- Acquisitions covers – they can be original covers used before we acquired the story, or, if they’re not available, we design them inhouse.
- Authors, who submit stories and are accepted, provide their own covers within our guidelines.
What’s been your favorite read on Radish so far?
That’s a tough one – there are so many I love! I guess I’ll have to go with Torn Between Alphas just because it’s such a fun read and has been so successful for us.
If you could describe Radish in three words, what would they be?
Fun, Juicy, Addicting
Favorite time to use Radish to read stories?
Anytime you want to have a little “me time”
The company encourages bullying and toxic behavior in the live chats and comment sections by using their comments in the stories. The louder and more volatile fans get, the more there comments are used. When alerted about the toxic atmosphere inside their app, they ignore. People are creating fake accounts to mess with the story outcome and to gang up on fans. I think the company should be in the comments and chat section making sure it is friendly and a safe place. I also think they should stop using fan comments to change the outcome of the story. They say they don’t when asked, but read the comments in TBA. You can see fan words being used. Once they are used, just watch to see how hostile the environment can get. Radish seems to listen to those who bully others which makes other readers uncomfortable in there. I have wrote to them and nothing back from this company.