Wattpad is a website as well as an app for readers to read free books and also for writers to publish their works. It’s a completely free app all we need to do is register. The main aim of Wattpad is, to create social communities through stories for both amateur and expert writers. It has a total of 80 million users (2019) worldwide, who can directly connect with the writers and share their thoughts and opinions too.
Wattpad has a total of 49 languages available, while 77% of users prefer English to read and write. It has a variety of genres like paid stories, adventure, diverse lit, fanfiction, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, humour, LGBTQ+, Mystery, New Adult, Non-fiction, Paranormal, Poetry, Romance, Science Fiction, Short Stories, Teen Fiction, Thriller, Urban and Werewolf.
About Wattpad
Wattpad was founded by Allen Lau, and Ivan Yuen launched in December 2006. Their headquarters are located in Toronto, Canada. It has a total of 145 employees and is served worldwide. The slogan for its website from December 2006 – 2019 was “Stories you’ll love,” which was changed to “Where stories live” in February/March 2019. Though its primary language is English, many users are working on translating the stories to continue building the platform.
Wattpad was made available on the App Store in 2011, attracting around 1 million registered users and a $4.1 million funding. “The Kissing Booth” was written on Wattpad by Beth Reekles and then turned into a Netflix Original Film in 2018. In 2014 After became the most-read book on Wattpad, published by Gallery Books, and became the New York Times bestseller.
Wattpad launched its standalone app “After Dark” in February 2015, focusing on the adults’ romance genre. “Tap”, a chat stories app, was established by Wattpad on 21st February 2017, which offered stories in the form of text as if the reader is reading someone’s private conversation. On 13th November 2018, “Wattpad Next Beta” early access was launched in the United States, Canada, Mexico, United Kingdom, And the Philippines; later on 11th July, it was launched worldwide.
Wattpad also arranged many online contests for all professional and upcoming writers, like The Watty Awards, in 2011, which had three levels (Popular, On The Rise, and Undiscovered). These contests are open to any Wattpad users who have an account. In 2012 during the summers in collaboration with Margaret Atwood, Wattpad held a “Wattys” contest for poets, which is still ongoing.
7 Useful Tips To Become A Recognized Wattpad Writer
1. Decide your goal
Every writer who ever plans to write a story should keep their goal for writing that particular story.
- Are you a published writer and want Wattpad to help? Start by introducing your works to new readers who are interested in your type of writing. Make sure to keep the book free of cost to spark the public’s interests. Give your readers a platform to interact with you directly.
- A beginner? Wattpad will help you. Well if you are a beginner, Wattpad is a good choice to test your writing skills as well as to collect people’s responses on their type of reading. It can help one analyze the readers’ market as in what they are searching for.
2. Covers Catch The Eye
To attract readers make sure your cover is attractive and catchy. A terrific book cover creates interest in the eyes and minds of the readers about the book. If you don’t want to spend money on getting a cover for your book, then there is a community of graphic artists by Wattpad. This community creates low-cost or even free covers for your story according to your wants. The portrayal of the story’s description after the cover is one of the most critical parts that will help the reader decide whether to read the story.
3. Keep It Short And Use Tags
Tags help readers to find your work, so make sure to add proper and reader-friendly tags. Tags also help Wattpad rate your story, which helps other readers list and discover your story. Ensure that the chapters don’t cross 1000-2500 words, as there are many young readers and many use phones. It irritates them to read long paragraphs. So cut them short and set a word limit.
4. Cliffhangers
Cliffhangers? I know they are sometimes irritating, but that’s the thing that keeps your readers hooked. Some find it annoying, but that depends on how intriguing your cliffhanger is and how many times you use it; if you include cliffhangers continuously in all chapters, leaders will lose interest. So make sure to have cliffhangers at only important chapters and collect your readers’ reviews about what they think would happen.
5. Author’s Note
Make sure to add authors’ notes at the end of some chapters, skiing them to vote or their opinion on the chapter. This will always help them to not forget about voting, but also you will keep them engaged.
6. Update consistently
Keep a fixed schedule for posting your chapters. Make sure to post chapters at least twice or thrice a week. Remember to post on the intervals you have been previously posting the chapters.
7. Post Complete Stories
One of the best ways to get noticed is to make sure your story is completed. Readers hate to wait for an ongoing story if it’s not that interesting to keep them hooked, so better try to complete your story at the earliest. Also completed story stand a chance to get featured and participate in the various contest that Wattpad organizes.
So here are a few of the tips which I have discovered and observed while using Wattpad. I hope they helped the new writers on Wattpad. One needs to find ways of being in the public’s eye through his methods, experience, and observation.
