Write On by Kindle: New Writers’ Community by Amazon
I received an invite to Write On by Kindle last week, and I jumped over there to take a look. To my surprise, I saw a new community from Amazon for writers that looks a lot like Wattpad. I am a fairly new user of Wattpad, and honestly haven’t put a lot of time into that platform because it’s overwrought with teenagers. You can read more about my experiences on that in this post.
I haven’t spent much time at all checking everything out, so I’ll do that now. I hope to find that it’s everything Wattpad is not.
A Quick Exploration of Write On by Kindle
A quick comparison of the categories between the two shows Write On to have a cleaner set. One of the main problems I’ve had over at Wattpad is the way they have catered to the teenage audience that has flocked there to write about 1 Direction among other things I can fathom no interest in. It was quite difficult to find adult authors there and to find a part of the community not overwrought with teeny boppers was nearly impossible.
That being said, perhaps this is what they set out to do in the first place at Wattpad, but I found it touted on numerous blogs as a great way to market your books. The only way this is a feasible option is if you write for young adults. The community was very tightly moderated as well. This is good in most aspects, but there was no option to create your own Club or find a way to connect with people with whom you might have one shred of something in common. Let’s see if Write On does this better!
Write On does have an area for Fanfiction, and I had scroll well below to fold before running into the first 1 Direction example. Conclusion: Infiltrated, but not yet overrun. A perusal of the Non-Fiction category is promising as well. Since this is my preferred genre, I see that it’s a much more viable place to share excerpts of my books. However, I’m seeing much of this going on.
Creating with Write On
Like Wattpad, Write On also has a section where you can create books right on the platform. You can upload a cover and everything. What I really want to know though is if there is an option to download your book once you’ve created it. Also, since this is “by Kindle”, does it integrate with the Kindle app? Let’s find out!
Alright, so I uploaded a story…actually a poetry book I had up at Wattpad, and it’s almost the exact same process. Also, there is no way to export the book as of yet. To me, the ultimate feature would be to integrate this somehow with Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), so users could move the book into the pay market as an end result. Also, no Write On functionality has yet been added to the Kindle app or as standalone app yet either. These would be two features I’m waiting to see.
Discussion
Write On chose the more traditional form of community discussion with forums which appear to have a decent start. Personally, I prefer this interface for interaction to Wattpad’s Clubs. Here’s a look:
Discussion also happens by following other users and commenting on their work. It seems at this time this communication is limited to public comments in various locations like on their profile or on the different sections of their stories. I’m sure Write On will understand soon enough how important a private messaging interface is for nearly anything you do online.
The My Stuff Tab
This tab is where you can check out what’s going on with the stories you have uploaded. Write On tracks:
Comments
Follows
Likes
Reads
You can follow a writer’s particular story without following their profile. There is currently no social media integration.
Upon viewing the status of my newly added story, I can see it is showing first under the default Recent filter.
Cool. I might have a fighting chance to build an audience here. At Wattpad, this story, in addition to another one, have been available for months and still have under 100 reads each. This, even after I was active in the Clubs and shared them on Social Media. So, I look forward to finding out if this is a more viable option.
Terms and Conditions
There’s doesn’t appear to be anything hokey in the TOS. You retain the rights to your content, but Amazon reserves the right to display it how they please while it appears on Write On. They provide the appropriate means to address infringements or other disputes.
Is Write On Viable for Book Marketing
This remains to be seen. The idea behind using a platform like Write On for marketing stems from using Wattpad. The way it worked is that you could post portions of a story such as a few chapters and then link to the sales pages of the entire book on Amazon. I have not seen anyone else doing this on Write On, but I also don’t see anything in the TOS against doing it. Even so, when in Rome…
At this point, I don’t know what the benefits to Write On could be for authors aside from its most obvious intended purpose which is to get feedback on what you’re currently working on. I would certainly encourage new and aspiring authors in fiction or any creative genre to seek this type of feedback. Don’t be afraid of it like I was/am. it will only make you better at your craft. For non-fiction authors, this may not be as viable a community.
Conclusion
I will abandon Wattpad for this community and put some effort into using it simply because Amazon. Since it’s in Beta, this is the ground floor and there appears to be room to become an authoritative member. Even though I am concentrating heavily on non-fiction right now, when I come back to my more creative pieces, I may consider starting them off here and getting feedback like the poetry book I’ve used in my testing here. I am really looking forward to seeing what features they add to this in the future.
Here’s the link to my book there – http://amzn.to/18sQQEr I go by QuietDeluxe. If you join, comment and let’s be friends!
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