What about Wattpad? Wonderful or Wicked?
Lots of authors consider Wattpad. Millions of readers, the hot website for right now.
Wattpad is a writing community in which users are able to post stories, poems and fan fiction. This includes works by undiscovered writers, published writers or people just looking for somewhere to write their ideas down. Members are able to leave comments and ‘like’ stories.
With Wattpad you serialise your novel rather than posting it up all at once. This hooks into an old tradition in literature. Many of Charles Dickens’ novels were serialised in newspapers. This structure is reflected in his stories. It’s funny but there’s something more intimate about releasing one part per week. Building up that tension and anticipation with your readers. In some way I feel more connected to them. Even though I don’t know who they are for the most part.
Wattpad is free and there’s no option to sell your book, so everything you put on there, you get nothing for other than the glory of lots of ‘reads’ – if you’re lucky.
On the plus side there’s the opportunity to gain a potential audience and exposure. There are news articles of people getting publishing deals off the back of Wattpad.
But…
What kind of audience are you generating? People on Wattpad like reading, but are they prepared to pay for it? Or at least will they become your cheerleaders? Telling all their friends and family about how great you are? Both are difficult to judge.
Those authors who get publishing deals had millions of reads. I was very happy with getting a few thousand reads until I saw that others were getting hundreds of thousands or millions of reads. I don’t know if that tells you more about me or the transitory nature of happiness.
Wattpad is another iron in the fire. It certainly generates views and interaction. In many ways it’s a better platform than other forms of social media because it is fundamentally grounded in your actual story rather than ‘what I did today’ type of updates.
One view of it is that Wattpad is another giant force helping to devalue writing. Because it’s free, people get used to the idea that all writing is free. However I hope that it creates a funnel for readers to find my work and ultimately buy it. Overall I like Wattpad and will persevere with it.
Only time will tell…
Tantum tempus narrabo.
Check out the Sword of Air on Wattpad. I post a new chapter every weekend. Just click on the wattled icon below to start reading now!
What’s your experience? Do you love Wattpad? Have you ever bought anything after reading it on Wattpad?
Are you an author? Has it worked for you?
Post your thoughts in the comments section.
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