More Thoughts on Wattpad

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I blogged in May that I was giving the publishing platform Wattpad a go.  I was somewhat worried about this decision at the time, wondering if my octogenarian protagonist and I would fit in among the youthful readers on the site.

From May to August, I went from several reads to steadily increasing reads.  Nothing I’d call spectacular.  But each day or couple of days I’d get a notification that I had someone else following (I think of them more as subscribers of) my story.  The number of reads (not readers, reads of each chapter) grew and with them grew more visibility.  That’s how it works at Wattpad.

Now, suddenly, I have over 18,000 reads.  I’ve done absolutely nothing to get these.  I’ve not been actively networking, not been joining groups.  I’ve been pretty darn introverted on the site except for my pleasant exchanges with readers who have commented on each chapter.

What helped tremendously was that I was recently placed on the Featured List on Wattpad.  Someone from Wattpad emailed me and asked to feature my book.  The only thing required on my end was that I keep the book up on Wattpad (once completed, since it’s being released on Wattpad serially) for six months.  Featured stories get 1-2 weeks on the front couple of pages before joining the rest of the works on the main list.

We could say that it’s because the content specialist knew I was a published author and that he felt safe featuring my selection.  But during our email exchange, it became clear to me that he had no knowledge of my other books or even of the fact that I’d finished writing the book I was posting to Wattpad.  He seemed not to know that the book had been published in its entirety for several years.  That’s a bit worrying, considering that I posted that information at the end of every uploaded chapter.  It’s the “call to action” that’s recommended for authors on Wattpad.

So this is what I’m thinking helps us get featured (like it helps us find readers, in general):

Cover quality

Quality of the writing/lack of typos

Consistency in terms of publishing (this is clearly specific to Wattpad and its serial release culture)

Decent formatting/understanding of the platform

Slow but steady increase in reads (site visibility)

Other discoveries:

There are older readers there, too.  Not tons, but some.

Younger readers were surprisingly willing to give the book a go and surprisingly gracious about its content.

I haven’t run into trolls there.  This doesn’t mean it won’t happen, but it hasn’t happened yet. It’s been very friendly there.

I haven’t run into the time suck that I worried I’d face with Wattpad.  Interactions have (mainly) been short and very pleasant.

Yes, being “featured” on Wattpad makes a huge difference.  My “reads” (again, these are “reads”, not “readers”—so each chapter garners reads from readers who’ve already read previous chapters.  If that makes sense…) went from the hundreds to the thousands.

How has this affected my sales?  I have absolutely no idea.  I know that sales in general took a summer dip in July, before picking up again.  I think this is increasing awareness of my books.  That’s what I believe my online presence, in general, does–give me a bit of visibility.  I think I’m gaining younger readers—something I think is important for series longevity.

When might a Wattpad experiment work well for you?

It’s probably not for everybody.  You’re putting something up for free. Wattpad is probably not as friendly to some genres (non-commercial fiction comes to mind).  I’ve had a writer on Google Plus to recently remind me that it’s a “content silo” profiting from writers.

All of that is true(ish).  For me, though, it’s worth it.  I already have at least one book at bargain basement prices for sale online.  Free isn’t a big deal to me.  And I don’t see any other opportunity to actively court young readers in an arena that large.  If they’re using me, I’m using them right back.

If you had several books out, wrote YA or other commercial genres, and didn’t mind having a book available for free…Wattpad could provide you with added exposure.  And if the book is already written, the serial thing won’t give you any deadline stress–you’d just submit a chapter from your old Word file each week.

So….curious.  Have y’all checked out Wattpad for your stories?  Visited there at all?  What are your thoughts on the platform?