Docs/Authors
People

Authors

Follow people, not just feeds. Build your library of writers and track your relationships with the voices that matter to you.

Your Library

Authors appear as books in your library. The height represents their essay count, building a visual representation of each writer's body of work.

Craig Mod
12 essays
Robin Sloan
8 essays
Mandy Brown
15 essays
Paul Ford
6 essays

Hover over books to see them come to life

Why People, Not Just Feeds?

Traditional RSS follows URLs, feeds that emit content. But the best content comes from people you trust and connect with. A feed is anonymous; a person is someone whose perspective you value.

- Following Feeds

  • Anonymous URLs
  • No context about publishing patterns
  • Easy to lose track of favorites
  • Content-focused, not relationship-focused

+ Following Authors

  • Named individuals with context
  • Activity tracking and expectations
  • Relationship depth over time
  • Genuine connections with writers

Marking a Source as a Person

When you add a source that represents an individual writer (a personal blog, newsletter, etc.), you can mark it as a "person":

1
Go to Settings → Sources
2
Tap the source you want to personalize
3
Enable "This is a person"
4
Optionally add their name and avatar

Activity States

Current tracks each author's publishing cadence and shows their current activity state.

Active· Publishing as expected
Quiet· Overdue for a new post
Away· Significantly overdue (2x+ expected)
Returned· Just published after being away

Returned authors

When a favorite author returns after being quiet, you'll see their book glow with a gentle animation, a celebration of their return.

Relationship Depth

Over time, Current tracks your engagement with each writer and builds a relationship score.

Relationship Depth

Depth builds through reading, saving, sharing, and time spent with an author's work.

Author Room

Tap any author to enter their room, a dedicated space showing:

Recent Articles

Their latest published work

Relationship Depth

Your engagement history

Activity Timeline

When they typically publish

Engagement Metrics

Time spent, articles saved

Tips for Using Authors

Be selective

Mark as "person" only the individual writers you want to track

Add details

Adding a name and avatar makes the Library view more personal

Check regularly

The Library view is a nice way to see who's been active

Let relationships build naturally

Don't over-optimize. Depth comes from genuine engagement.

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