Have you heard Wattpad yet? It’s a social network designed to allow authors to showcase their work, chapter by chapter, and gain new readers. If you’re a writer, it’s a world you should discover. If you’re a reader, you just lucked out on finding millions of e-stories, some by amateurs, others by professionals, for free.
When I heard about Wattpad a year ago (from my publisher! They said I could put up an excerpt of Strangely, Incredibly Good) I wasn’t sure it was going to help me out. Surely if you can read books for free on there, you just keep on downloading free books, and never read anything else the author writes? And what about publishing my drafts? That’s embarrassing! I make so many mistakes along the way, and Wattpaders were going to read every one!
I was hesitant, but I joined. Soon, I got over the making-the-mistakes part. Readers would find them and kindly mention them to me (Hey, where’s that little cat you mentioned in Chapter 2?) Within weeks, I had thousands of reads of my first novel, and had enjoyed hundreds of fantastic comments from and funny conversations with readers. That was what made me stay. Everyone knows writers want to feel like they’re reaching an audience. Wattpad made me realize my work was interesting to 20, 30, and 40 somethings, some men, and lots of teen girls! I couldn’t believe it. I was gaining a new audience, and having fun along the way.
This past summer, I published my second novel, a sequel to Strangely, Incredibly Good called Remarkably Great. I’m not sure if having more work on the site (excerpts of my published books, and the full work The Ticket) gave me more street cred, but suddenly, The Ticket soared to #1 in Chicklit! It stayed there for a number of weeks, and I noticed an increase in Kindle sales of my first two novels and even increased sales of some of my poetry collections and my romantic comedy screenplay.
In late October 2015, Lays Wavy Chips chose to sponsor The Ticket on their reading list Inspiring Stories of Living Life to the Fullest. Reads on the Ticket climbed even higher, and I noticed so too did sales and borrows of my other books on Kindle.
By mid-November 2015, my sales had gradually increased to daily sales or borrows in either Canada, the UK, the USA, India, France, and Denmark. I also noticed a great increase in Facebook and WordPress followers (by the hundreds!) So, if you’re wondering if followers on Wattpad will look you up and see what else you’ve written, it has become obvious to me that yes, they do. And, given a little time, many will end up buying your other stories.
My sales have definitely increased since The Ticket reached #1 in Chicklit on Wattpad in July and it was chosen to be sponsored by Lays Wavy in October. I’ve also noticed more and more of my followers engaging with me, asking questions, making my time on social media more enjoyable. What’s not to love about that?
Fast forward to today: The Ticket, which I penned and uploaded chapter by chapter on Wattpad last April -June has been chosen as a Featured Story in Chicklit! Getting featured on Wattpad means your story has a chance to be seen and read more than the millions of other works on the site. It’s a wonderful opportunity.
The only downside is Wattpad asks featured authors to not publish their work for six months, so that all their readers have a chance to read the story in full. I’d planned to self-publish The Ticket in February, but I’m happy to wait until July, and see what this “being featured,” really brings. I’ve also started to pen my next novel, The Match, on Wattpad. I’m looking forward to seeing what happens with that project.
So, you’re a professional author, and you’re trying to make a living. Is Wattpad for you? I can’t determine how many of my sales in 2015 are due to my time spent on Wattpad, but I do know my sales have greatly increased, I have thousands more followers, and I’m having a wonderful time while I work. If that doesn’t convince you to join the Wonderful World of Wattpad perhaps you should just click your ruby slippers, and go back home. 🙂
Best wishes,
Heather
Today’s THE TICKET Stats on Wattpad!
486K reads
19.8K likes
1.9 K comments
and I have 847 Followers
Let’s see how it does when it’s featured, starting today.
Heather Grace Stewart 
Its really a great site.
BTW If u like “humane humor” then I cordially invite you to my site at http://www.antarcticadaily.wordpress.com
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Hi Heather, I’ve been ‘out of the loop’ for a while and am tentatively thinking about getting back into writing after just over a year (I have a 9 month old baby and a 4 year old, so things are a little hectic). I’ve just logged on to write my own blog post and yours was in my feed. It’s these words of encouragement that we need as writers, so thanks for posting this and giving me the boost I needed. 🙂
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Hi Fiona! I remember writing with little ones under foot! It’s possible; make nap time your friend! Extend nap time with whatever means possible( for the 4 yr old drawing time while Mommy writes is excellent until they put blue marker all over your walls when you aren’t paying attention. Not that that has happened to me) 😉 please as me anything; happy to try to help you get back into it. I am doing a live Q and A 2 pm est today on my FB page for half an hour, pop in if you can.
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I signed up for Wattpad after folks from the company did a presentation at a conference I was attending. I’ve never used the account and would likely have to start again. Might be worth a shot. I also have looked into KoboLife. Have you looked at that publishing platform?
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You should try again, Christine! The trick is to be active on the site. Engage with other readers and writers daily. Have fun with it! As for Kobo Writing Life, yes, I published all my poetry collections and my screenplay on there, but recently took them down to be in Kindle Select, Kindle’s exclusive publishing program which allows for us to market our work more and put it in the Lending Library. I am still on the fence about whether having my books on Kobo made much of a dent in sales. The traffic is much greater over at Amazon. Luckily, I can go back to Kobo every three months, if I decide I want to return.
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