Wattpad Alternatives: The Good, The Bad, and The Scammy

I love wattpad. They’ve been making some questionable decisions lately (for real, when will you guys bring the newsfeed back??) but they really are the best of the best when it comes to serialization.

Wattpad has a reputation for being a site that only has cringy fanfiction and werewolf and bad boy romance. That stuff is there, but there is also every other genre you could possibly think of. People only focus on the weird fanfiction and content written by teenage girls because it’s easy to dunk on (get less lazy, you salty motherfuckers).

Wattpad has plenty of high quality stories written by adults. In fact two of my favorite wattpad writers are traditionally-published, in addition to putting their stories on wattpad. These are Shimaira and Pixie Stormcrow.

Shimaira writes horror and gothic romance and is published by the small press Gurt Dog Press.

Pixie Stormcrow writes BDSM romance and paranormal romance, but no it’s not bad boy! (And okay, she has one werewolf story, but it’s like really good).

Basically, wattpad is a vibrant community with PLENTY of well-established authors. Some are rocking amazon self-publishing and some have books published via trad-pub. Anyone who believes wattpad is “all teenagers writing weird fanfiction” is being willfully obtuse. There are tons of people on wattpad in their 30s, like me. Many who are much older.

I like wattpad best for a few reasons. One is that it’s reputable. There’s also the vibrant and positive community (although wattpad has really been doing everything it can these past few months to kill off all social aspects of the site-first trashing the forums and then the newsfeed feature). Still, the community is there and it is hella supportive.

Wattpad is also established enough to provide many different opportunities to writers. They partner with different brands, publishing houses, movie studios, and streaming services, giving opportunities to their writers not likely to be found on other serialization sites.

After started as a Harry Styles fanfiction and now it’s a traditionally-published series with a major motion picture to boot.

The wattpad story Light as a Feather was adapted into a Hulu series.

Not everybody who shares their work on wattpad will find fame and fortune (and yes, there are still loads of literary agents and publishers who won’t even consider your book if it has been posted to wattpad and that’s something to consider), but the chance for greater visibility and opportunities is there. That’s something wattpad has over all the other serial sites.

That being said, there’s no reason you can’t play around with multiple serial sites. I’m currently using both wattpad and Inkitt. I have friends who toggle between wattpad and radish. Some use both wattpad and tapas. There’s no reason you can’t diversify your online presence with a mix of serialization sites.

But how do you know if a site is worth using? How do you know if it’s right for you?

I decided to make this post to give a quick breakdown of some of the serialization sites out there.

Let’s get into it!

Summary: It’s a widely popular wattpad alternative. It’s main claim to fame is that stories with the most engagement get a shot at being published (apparently Inkitt has ties to several traditional publishers). Romance tends to do the best on Inkitt, but what’s new? Romance is always the most popular genre on any platform. Even in trad-pub, romance consistently out-sells every other genre. It’s because romance is awesome. That being said, I’ve also found many unique horror stories.

UI: Easy to figure out. I’m a tech idiot and I navigate the site with ease. With their alogorithm, it’s also much easier to get noticed than on wattpad.

Reputation: Great. People love Inkitt. It’s a trustworthy site that many established indie authors use in addition to wattpad and amazon.

Community: Fair. It’s not super bustling and vibrant from what I can tell, but it’s there. I’ve only been using Inkitt for my own work for a little over a month and already I’ve had a few people chat with me and reach out to leave messages on my wall.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: You can leave a full review of a book, just like you would on amazon or goodreads. You can rate it between 1-5 stars. I freaking LOVE this feature. I love being able to leave my full thoughts on the work as a whole and leave a star rating. I always thought this was a feature wattpad should have.

While researching for this blog post, I was also informed Inkitt has an app called ‘Galatea.’ This is a system that uses coins and has a plethora of different stories, including text stories and interactive stories with elements like sound effects.

Justin Mark Antony of wattpad had this to say about the Galatea app:

This app requires writers to sign a contract. The stories that become popular are the ones adapted to become immersive (with sound effects and other cool features added).

So it seems like Inkitt is offering a service comparable to Radish with this Galatea app.

Speaking of Radish….

Summary: Radish is a serialization site that has a higher bar for entry than wattpad or Inkitt. You have to apply and send them the first 30 pages of your story. Then you are either accepted or rejected. My friend Emily Hurricane had her story Wrong Number accepted as a Radish serial. Me, on the other hand, I keep getting rejected by them. Gah! So, it can be frustrating if you don’t make the cut. On the other hand, both as a reader and a writer, when using Radish you know the stories have been vetted to a degree. The stories are likely to be more cohesive and have less spelling and grammatical errors. Radish has some free stories and some that are paid. There are some that have creative monetization options, like you can wait a certain period of time and the the chapter will be free, or you can use some coins and unlock the story right away. I’ve been told by authors who use it that the royalties are quite fair and above average for industry standards. The genre that is most prominent on Radish is romance. It’s known as a romance serialization site and rarely do I find stories of other genres.

UI: I’m personally not a fan. Mainly because, like Instagram, you can only use Radish on a mobile device. I prefer to do almost everything on a laptop. I find it much more comfortable and I like having a full keyboard to type with. The design is sleek (I could do without the hyper-feminine hot pink, but aside from that). I’d just enjoy Radish a lot more of they had a desktop version like wattpad does.

Reputation: Great. It’s seen as a much more professional option for indie romance authors looking to serialize. Authors (from what I have seen) generally trust Radish and feel they are treated fairly by them.

Community: Dead. I’m told by friends who write for Radish that comments from readers are rare, and when they do get comments, it’s usually from wattpad readers who followed them to Radish. Don’t expect high engagement on this site. Ghost readers are the norm.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: Many monetization options, a higher barrier to entry, and a more niche audience (almost exclusively romance readers).

Summary: This is a niche serialization site with a primary focus on fantasy (especially LitRPG) and fanfiction. No other serial site has such a strong focus on fantasy. Here is an explanation of Royal Road’s niche focus, taken from a reddit post by a newish Royal Road writer:

“For example, RoyalRoad focuses mainly on progression fantasy, with a heavy emphasis on LitRPG and a lighter one on cultivation, reincarnation, dungeon core, and a bunch of other sub-genres. I got lucky writing a xianxia(well, it’s really a xuanhuan, but nobody really knows that term here) on there, because I probably wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much of an audience if it was on, say, wattpad (I actually did try posting my xianxia on wattpad once, but that’s a different story)“-u/Nameless3002

UI: It’s great. It has a sleek design and the site is very easy to navigate.

Reputation: Great. Fantasy writers and fanfiction writers alike hold Royal Road in high regard. In fact, it was a fanfiction writer who made sure to ask me if I’d be including Royal Road on this list. RR is a beloved pillar of the fantasy writing community.

Community: The community there is quite active. However, the community is generally not viewed as especially positive. It’s not exactly toxic, but can be quite critical, gatekeep-y, and harsh. Royal Road has forums, something wattpad recently did away with, and many of the more professional serialization sites (like Inkitt and Radish) don’t have forums. I am very much pro-forum, so active forums with engaged users shows is a real indicator of community health imo.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: Forums, the ability to give stories a star rating, the “surprise me” feature that gives you a random story, and the niche fantasy and LitRPG focus.

Summary: Of course we can’t talk about serial sites without talking about fanfiction.net! As for my own experiences with this beloved dinosaur, I started playing around on fanfiction.net when I was in middle school and I became part of a friend group that included several girls who wrote fanfiction on fanfiction.net. I didn’t get into writing fanfiction myself. I’ve never felt a strong pull to write fanfiction. But I did spend a good chunk of one summer (the summer between my first year in 8th grade and my second year in 8th grade-I repeated the 8th grade for….reasons. Not academic reasons. I was in gifted classes in 7th and my first year of 8th grade. I had many emotional difficulties that made my middle school hesitant to send me off to high school-anyhow…) reading Harry Potter fanfiction on fanfiction.net. I read the fanfiction of my friends and fanfiction written by strangers. I got pretty hooked on reading HP roleplays. I tried to work up the nerve to jump into a roleplay once. I was super nervous. I sat staring at the keyboard for ages. Finally, I typed out one line introducing my OP. One person responded and I was so overcome with anxiety that I logged of fanfiction.net and shut the whole damn computer down. I was a weird child and did not have an aptitude for interacting online. Although this was in 2002, so it’s not like the internet was as ubiquitous a part of daily life for kids as it is now. Anyway, that’s my own experience with fanfiction.net. Like many other millennials, this site plucks a few nostalgia cords for me.

UI: I’m not a fan. The design hasn’t been updated for YEARS. It looks nearly identical to the fanfiction.net of the early 2000s. It’s hard to find anything. The design is boring. I’m not a fan.

Although others enjoy that the site hasn’t changed.

And there is a perk to the fanfiction.net user interface that I didn’t know about. My friend Emily Hurricane (who has been using the site since she was a teenager) had this to say about fanfiction.net’s UI.

Reputation: Great. Fanfiction.net is a beloved pillar of the fanfiction community. It’s an integral part of many fandoms. People love this site for what it is. You’d be hard pressed to find a fanfiction writer who doesn’t have something fond to say about this site.

Community: VERY active and vibrant. I don’t see this community dying anytime soon. Emily Hurricane had this to say:

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: It is much easier to get your story noticed. Other features would be the nostalgia factor and the niche focus on fanfiction (which provides ample opportunity to connect with countless fandoms).

Summary: This is a subscription based serialization site. I wrote for Channillo years ago (I want to say for about six months in 2016). I’d never heard of serialization before Channillo landed in my Twitter DMs. I was naive little idiot back then and actually believed I was being contacted because a Channillo rep had read my stories and found them valuable. I never imagined a serial site might just be spamming any and every writer they come across, without giving a single fuck about the quality of the writing or the brand of the author.

When I got a message saying, “You stories would be a good fit…” it just didn’t dawn on my that this might be bullshit and they might not know anything about my books.

Some people have called Channillo a scam or a pyramid scheme. Eh…it’s not quite that nefarious. But it’s also not really worth your time.

They act like there’s some barrier to entry with their application process, but I can assure you there isn’t. One scroll through their current serials and you’ll see they are aiming for quantity not quality. I’d also bet they’re banking on the writers they “publish” buying subscriptions. I’d bet money most of Channillo’s revenue is made off the very writers TRYING to make money by publishing their books and columns on Channillo. It’s not exactly a pyramid scheme, because there is nothing that says their writers HAVE to buy a subscription. In fact, this is from their FAQ page:

It’s also not a scam. It is possible to make money via Channillo. It just isn’t very likely.

Channillo is very small, very obscure, and has a very poor reputation.

They do not have a reputation for curating quality content. Take exhibit A….

Really, what in the GRAPHIC DESIGN HELL are these things? These are meant to be book covers? Like a couple of them are okay. Most of these though….look, I suck at graphic design too. I get it. But y’all really got to hit somebody up on Fiverr, before you go spending any money on a Channillo subscription. Here, I’ll even shout out the cover artist I use most often. Pro ebook covers is amazing and she made my gorgeous book cover for Combustion.

I wasn’t always at a point in my writing career where I cared enough to commission a real ass, sleek and professional looking cover.

Back when I was an amateur, I fucked around and added font to a shitty photo and called it a day.

So this is nothing against those indie authors with those crappy covers. They are amateur now, just like I was amateur once upon a time. This is more a mark against Channillo. They curate amateur writers. They don’t provide valuable content to subscribers and even if they DID curate quality content, their subscription model makes little sense.

Here is a comment from a reddit thread about Channillo:

And that’s a good point. Why pay $5 a month for very amateur self-published books? Why do that when TONS of content is available online for free? And sure KU is more expensive, but they have self-published authors AND traditionally-published authors. Channillo just isn’t worth it for readers. As a writer, it’s unlikely to help you earn money, yet it IS likely to hurt your reputation, as your work is listed alongside very sloppy and amateur works (nobody go getting their feelings too hurt. I DID admit I used to write for Channillo. I was sloppy and amateur at one point too).

What caused me to stop writing for Channillo was somewhat silly, but I still stand by the point I made to the Channillo staff. At the time, they had the rule that anything published on Channillo could not be available for free anywhere else on the web. It didn’t say you could publish samples or a certain percentage of the work. Their rule was that you could publish the work elsewhere, as long as it was not free.

One day, I stumbled across a book on wattpad that I recognized from Channillo. I was floored. This was a MASSIVE wattpad writer (in fact, he is still pretty popular today, and a big part of me wants to say who it is and label him as the dirty, rotten rulebreaker that he is! but alas…I will try to have some chill, especially considering this all went down in 2016). I couldn’t believe somebody would outright ignore the TOS. Like here I was, getting no reads on my Channillo serial, making no money AND getting no readers. Yet I wouldn’t dare put it on wattpad, because I have respect for the agreements I sign. This guy was breaking the rules and getting an advantage that I wasn’t. That’s so scummy! It’s scummy to ignore a contract. It’s scummy to knowingly double-dip, knowing that the Channillo writers who have respect for the TOS can not reap the same benefits.

Anyway, I reported that book.

A couple of weeks later, I found another Channillo book on wattpad. This time I tried to have a tad more chill. I told the writer he was breaking TOS. He argued with me and said that it was “only a sample.” I pointed out that nowhere in the Channillo TOS did it say that writers could offer free samples on other platforms. In fact, this argument made no sense, because he had no links to his Channillo page. I think he just got called out before he could upload more chapters.

So I also reported him to Channillo staff. I received in response the snarkiest email. They said something like, “We already took down the other story you reported. This story is only a sample, so it’s fine.”

Umm…why are they acting like they’re doing me a favor? That response made it seem like having a TOS violation reported to them was some kind of annoyance. I responded by pointing out that nowhere in their TOS do they say free samples are okay or specify what percentage of a work would count as a sample. Then I immediately canceled my serial, forfeiting the $7 I’d made (because it needed to reach $50 before a payout), and canceled my subscription.

The whole thing was so unprofessional.

You either have rules or you don’t.

But I felt like I was being punished for following the rules, while other writers just did whatever the hell they wanted, and then the people who MADE THE DAMN RULES acted like I was being an annoying snitch. Well, just don’t have the fucking rule then!

And I guess that’s the conclusion they came to, as they no longer seem to have a rule against offering content from Channillo serials for free.

This is from their current TOS:

But yeah, the whole thing pissed me off and that’s why I quit, but I probably would have moved on eventually regardless. Channillo is really a waste of time.

UI: Their UI is fair. It’s very basic, but the site is neat and clean. It’s very easy to navigate.

Reputation: Very poor, for all of the reasons already covered. Working with them is likely to hurt your reputation.

Community: Semi-active, both on Channillo and on Twitter, but the community is small, full of newbie writers who still have a lot to learn, and criticism and improving one’s writing are generally not a focus.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: For monetization, the barrier to entry is much lower. Wattpad has their Paid program, but it is notoriously difficult to get into. Writers probably won’t make much through Channillo (if anything), but it is easier to get the opportunity to monetize (although all of that said, there’s nothing stopping writers from skipping serialization and going straight to KU if monetization is really the goal).

Summary: This is a site, I’d never heard of before I started planning this post. When I asked my discord for suggestions of wattpad alternatives to cover, one of my discord members suggested Scribblehub. Since I’d never heard of it, I had to a little investigating. I read a number of reddit threads and explored the website a bit. From what I can tell, this is another fantasy-centered serial site (although they technically have all genres) and it appears to have the most overlap with RoyalRoad.

UI: Clunky and ugly. The site has an archaic and disorganized look. That being said, discoverability is one of the elements users love about Scribblehub.

What clysmic is saying here is that there is a section on the home page for ‘latest updates.’ This is a feature that a lot of Scribblehub users love. It gives undiscovered writers the chance to get more eyeballs on their work.

Reputation: Fair from what I can tell. They are a small and obscure site, but I didn’t find any major red flags about their reputation in my research. Every thread I found about Scribblehub was generally positive, even when spoken about by those who prefer its primary competitor Royal Road.

Community: The community is very active and positive, although it is quite small. This would be a good fit for someone who prefers a lot of interaction within a smaller group. There is a widespread consensus among Scribblehub users that Scribblehub has a much more kind and accepting community than Royal Road. In fact, many Scribblehub users are Royal Road refugees who got sick of the more critical and gatekeep-y nature of RR.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: Forums and the ability to have your story listed on the home page, for at least SOME length of time, every time you update. It’s also a super new site (only about 2 years old) so getting in early can often be a great way to become a larger creator in a community. Also star ratings for all the stories (I REALLY wish wattpad would implement this feature).

Summary: This was another serialization option that I hadn’t heard about until I asked my discord to pitch me ideas for this post. So I had to dig in and do some research. According to Publisher’s Weekly, SwoonReads is “an online community, in which writers submit manuscripts directly to the publisher, and readers participate in the publishing process by reading, rating, and commenting on submissions. The manuscripts that achieve the highest ratings by readers and the Swoon Reads editorial board are published in print and e-book editions, with additional community input on cover design and marketing plans.”

So SwoonReads is niche, only publishing YA and NA, and they’re technically an imprint of Macmillan, so stories with a lot of engagement are likely to be considered for additional publishing opportunities. That’s pretty neat (although not an entirely unique concept to SwoonReads. Wattpad now has a publishing imprint and Inkitt also provides trad-pub opportunities to writers with stories that perform well).

UI: Look, all I know is that I was able to access every other site today except for Swoon Reads. I’m over here trying to research, but the website won’t load on my computer. I’m not having internet issues as far as I can tell. I’m able to get onto every other website. That being said, maybe this is rare for them. I only know that I can’t get on the site to form an opinion of the UI.

Reputation: Automatically high and trustworthy, as it is owned by Macmillan.

Community: I have no idea [image error] A lot of my research for this post was done via reddit threads, but there is very little on reddit about SwoonReads, and like I said, for some reason I can’t get on the website.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: Being owned by one of the Big 5 is a pretty big deal. There’s also a higher barrier to entry, as there is an application process. It’s much closer to the querying process than to the application process of most serial sites (they expect the story to be done before you apply).

Edit: Important info! Someone informed me that the reason I’m not able to access Swoon Reads’ website is because they are no longer taking submissions.

Shyauthorwrites, author of Waveborn, had a conversation with a Swoon Reads rep in February and found out they aren’t taking new submissions.

So, we have to edit that reputation. It’s absolutely wild that I was over here trying to get their site (that is still linked in the bio of their ACTIVE twitter account) and the site just wouldn’t load. When I google Swoon Reads, nothing comes up telling me they are no longer taking submissions. They should at least have their website redirect to an announcement of some kind. They should also have something in their twitter bio. Making it so difficult for people to figure out what the hell is going on is obnoxious. As is leaving messages from users on read for TWO MONTHS. People were actively using Swoon Reads, and they just fucking ghosted their entire user base, only to keep using the brand name for their imprint and carrying on via Twitter as if nothing happened. How….fucking sketch and strange for a brand that should be incredibly reputable, considering its Big 5 ties. (Also, the wording of their message to Shy Author is super weird. “The best way to support our books”??? Why on earth would your audience be in it to support YOU. The audience is there because they get something of value-some entertainment or service. It was just an odd word choice, considering the context. Your audience is always there to get something for themselves. They aren’t concerned with giving you anything, “support” or otherwise. You have to offer something they want or need, and they are, essentially, your customers. Making it that difficult for your customers to get fucking answers drives home the fact that it really doesn’t seem like Swoon Reads (aka Macmillan) cares very much at all about offering a valuable experience to its customers).

Summary: Sweek is a site for free stories that is very similar to wattpad. There are all genres. The site has been around for years, but is still somewhat obscure and unknown. I played around with reading on Sweek for a little bit back in 2017. It was okay, but ultimately didn’t hold my interest. They have contests where they partner with brands and publishers (much like wattpad did before launching their own publishing company and movie studio). It’s basically like 2016 wattpad, except that nobody fucking knows it exists.

UI: The design is gorgeous. I absolutely the color scheme (I love teal and blueish green). The layout is sleek. The site is very easy to navigate. It’s intuitive and you can quickly find whatever you’re looking for (I actually love their UI WAYY more than wattpad’s-really? Orange?? Are you Home Depot? Who picked that color?)

Reputation: Poor…ish. Honestly, just nobody fucking knows about Sweek. The best I could find in scouring reddit was basically “What’s Sweek? Oh…yeah, I don’t know…seems weird.”

Community: Dead. Nobody has heard of Sweek. Back when I was playing around with it years ago, I remember they didn’t have an in-line comment function and figuring out how to leave comments in the first place was kind of confusing.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: They have a print-on-demand self-pub option. That’s kind of cool.

I don’t know if it has anything over amazon or lulu and the other POD platforms, but it’s neat they have that feature. I haven’t seen a serial site implement a POD function until now.

Summary: This is a serial site that mostly caters to graphic novels. You can find fiction on there, but it’s mainly for manga and comics. It’s similar to Webtoon. I played around with this site back in 2018, when a wattpad writer I liked started serializing one of her works on Tapas. I experimented with putting a few chapters on ‘Combustion’ on Tapas, but in the end, decided serializing on Tapas wasn’t for me. I did, however, enjoy reading on Tapas, particularly some of the manga series. Some are incredibly well-done and professional. Tapas has some monetization options as well.

UI: It’s fair. The design isn’t the cutest or most-eye-catching, but it’s not hideous either, and it’s easy to navigate the site and figure out where everything is.

Reputation: Fair. It’s not super beloved, but I’ve never heard anything bad said about Tapas. It’s not as obscure as Sweek, so it does come up in writer communities from time to time. That being said, it pales in comparison to the reputation of webtoon. The only aspect of Tapas that beats out Webtoon is the community.

Community: Tapas has a small, but very active community. Unlike Webtoon, they have forums (made with discourse software.) The community is generally positive and supportive.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: A UI that is made for graphic novels. While you may find some graphic novels on wattpad, they are incredibly rare, and they never really shine with the wattpad UI. This is also a site with graphic novels and mangas as the main niche, so if this is what you write, Tapas may be the place to find your target audience! Tapas also has monetization options, which, as we’ve already covered, is not something easy to come by on wattpad. There is a high barrier to entry for monetization on wattpad.

Summary: Webtoon is really THE place to go for any kind of visual storytelling. If you create graphic novels or manga this is the hub of the visual storytelling community.

UI: It’s great. The site is very eye-catching and professional in design and everything is very easy to find.

Reputation: Outstanding. This is the most highly-regarded graphic novel/comics/manga serialization site there is.

Community: Fair from what I can tell. They don’t have forums, but the community is large and enthusiastic.

Cool Features wattpad doesn’t have: A niche focus on graphic novels and other forms of visual storytelling. Monetization options.

Summary: This is bargain brand fanfiction.net. Many people prefer A03 over ffnet. But let’s call it like it is. This is another fanfiction.net. Some fanfiction writers say that A03 is better for fiction of modern fandoms, whereas (since ffnet has been around since the 90s) fanfiction.net has a better selection for older fandoms. Fanfiction.net also has more rules about what can and can not be posted (although how strictly these rules are enforced is up for debate), so if you’re looking for fanfiction of the smutty variety, far freakier stuff can be found on A03.

UI: Somehow worse than fanfiction.net and that’s really saying something. It’s just as ugly as ffnet, without all the nostalgia that makes users willing to overlook it. That being said, I’m told the tag system is on-point and fanfiction.net can’t hold a candle to their search functions.

Reputation: Great. A03 will never have the kind of respect that fanfiction.net has, simply because ffnet was the firts of its kind. Yet, newer fanfiction writers are flocking to A03 and it’s become a staple of the fanfiction community. Speaking of community…

Community: Very vibrant and active. You have all the enthusiasm and chatter that you’d expect in a community built around fanfiction.

Summary: This isn’t really a serialization site per se, but I have seen Tumblr used to serialize fiction (I’ve also seen reddit and wordpress used to serialize fiction. I guess I just fucking felt like including Tumblr :P). Tumblr is a chaotic site full of bullshit, anti-capitalism, and utter pandemonium. It was once a site used almost exclusively for porn. Then they banned porn. Now it’s a mish-mash of memes, fandom communities, shitposts, and random columns and blogs.

UI: Fair. There are some great elements and some not so great elements. Because aesthetically there isn’t really anything wrong with Tumblr’s design. In fact, it’s pretty cute in a lot of ways. But also it took me fucking forever to figure out how to operate Tumblr. Also, when I tried to delete an old Tumblr blog (with my previous pen name attached to it), it kept telling me I’d deleted the blog, but then the blog was popping up in google and then the page would briefly open for a second after I clicked it. I had to go through a whole thing with submitting a ticket to get the blog taken down for good. There are some interesting UI features though, so I’ll give credit where it’s due. I like their reblog feature. And I like all the different options for creating posts (text, video, image, etc). Also the posts themselves are incredibly aesthetically pleasing. I like how they show up in completion in the newsfeed. And it’s very easy to create posts on Tumblr and then snag the code to embed it into a different website. I embed posts from my Tumblr advice column here on this blog all the time. It’s super easy and it shows up looking very cute.

Reputation: Erm….I…ah…I legitimately have no idea how to answer this. Tumblr’s reputation is…Tumblr. There’s no other way to describe it. From the Columbine fangirls and serial killer stans (do not go looking, you WILL find the Columbine suicide photos memed) to the Tumblr witch who stole actual human remains and then Tumblr memed the fuck out of it, to the rabid SJWs, to the shitposts that reddit fucking WISHES it could compete with, it’s like….how do you describe Tumblr??

It’s a fucking mess, but it’s a mess you really want to witness firsthand.

Community: Fuck Tumblr. The community is active and hilarious, but literally, fuck those guys.

Now onto the sites so scammy, they do NOT get a full breakdown. Just ignore them when they spam you on wattpad or whichever other legitimate site they’re trying to poach users from like the leeches they are.

These serialization sites that I urge you to avoid are:

-Dreame

-Rnovel

-Hinovel

-webnovel

-ringdom story

-Kahaniya

-Eglobal Creative Publishing (legit have no fucking idea what this is, but they sent me this message and any company that spams like this is bad news)

Here is something I’ve learned to look out for with unsolicited messages like this: did they mention anything specific about my book? Anything specific about me as a creator? No? Then they don’t know or care who the fuck I am and they are not worth any time.

You may be asking why Channillo did not make the “scammy” portion of the list. It’s because Channillo (as far as I know) doesn’t break competitors’ TOS by spamming to try and poach via competitors’ websites. All the sites listed above spam on wattpad like a motherfucker. That screams scummy to me. You just don’t go around spamming on wattpad when wattpad’s TOS clearly prohibits that. At least Channillo has the good sense to keep the spam to Twitter!

That’s it for my breakdown of wattpad alternatives! Any that I missed? Any you plan on checking out? Let me know in the comments below