This is a great idea.

On the one hand, regularly curating our Follow lists could help, but on the other hand, I don’t think discouraging people from following authors is a good thing.

The UX could get confusing if following and favouriting were two separate options, but it could work if the option shows up only during or after following an author (“add to favourites”?).

A possible disadvantage is that some folks might then stick to reading their favourite authors. Then there’s a lower chance of them randomly discovering new authors and ideas – a loss on both sides!