FoundryInk Academy Academy / Growing your audience
Growing your audience

Events, cameos, and reader rewards

Discovery wins a reader once. Community keeps them. FoundryInk gives you a public events calendar, playful cameos that readers chase across the site, and a whole rewards layer that celebrates the people who keep showing up.

Read time about 6 min

1Put yourself on the map

In your studio's Events tab, add an event: a title, a type (a convention, a signing, a virtual stream, a launch), a date, and either a physical location (with an optional booth) or a join link. Publish it and it appears on your studio page and the platform-wide calendar at the public events page, where readers can filter, find what is near me, and add it to their calendar.

The New event dialog: a type, a date, an optional end and a timezone.
The New event dialog: a type, a date, an optional end and a timezone.See the full screen
The public Events page, with a Near me filter, a ZIP code and a distance.
The public Events page, with a Near me filter, a ZIP code and a distance.See the full screen
Pro note
Doing a con or a livestream? Post it. Readers who filter by near me will find you without even searching.

2Send a cameo running

A cameo is one of your characters that darts across the public Browse page, where signed-in readers click to catch it and add it to their collection. Turn cameos on in Settings, then in a project's Cameo tab add one: a name, an animated run cycle, and a portrait. Keep the art clean (no text or logos). Cameos are submitted for approval and run once approved.

Cameos switched on in the studio's Studio features settings.
Cameos switched on in the studio's Studio features settings.See the full screen
Editing a cameo: its Character name, a Run cycle and a Collectible portrait.
Editing a cameo: its Character name, a Run cycle and a Collectible portrait.See the full screen
There is even a rare holo variant for collectors to hunt. It is a playful way to make your cast part of the whole site.
Pro note
Pick a character with a fun silhouette, they read best zipping across a page at a tiny size.

3Reward the regulars

Readers earn badges automatically as they read, post, and collect, from first-read to full-set collector to founding member, and they climb a reader tier from newcomer upward. You can add time-limited challenges and multi-step missions for your audience. It all shows on their profile and their menagerie, so being a fan of your studio feels like leveling up.

The Badges page with active challenges and missions in progress.
The Badges page with active challenges and missions in progress.See the full screen
A reader's menagerie: caught cameos above the trophies they have earned.
A reader's menagerie: caught cameos above the trophies they have earned.See the full screen
Pro note
Challenges give your most loyal readers a reason to come back this week, not just someday.

Build your community

Pick one to start. Each links into the app. Saved on this device.

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Quick questions

On your studio page and the platform-wide calendar. Readers can filter by type, find events near them, and download an add-to-calendar file.

Cameos run across the whole public site, so a quick review keeps them clean and on-brand (no text, prices, or logos in the art) before they start running.

No. Reading, collecting, and tenure badges are awarded automatically. You only create the optional extras, like a seasonal challenge or a mission.

A reader's personal collection page of the cameos they've caught, grouped by studio, alongside the trophies they've earned. It is where their reader identity comes together.

You've built a community

Events, cameos, and rewards turn readers into a community that comes back. That takes you from a blank studio to a thriving one. Go make something great.

Grow reach with easter eggs →