Should I Publish My Book on Wattpad?

In this article, we’ll discuss if you should publish on Wattpad.

Wattpad is a free website and social networking app allowing writers to share and discover stories.

Over 5 million novice and professional writers alike, publish their books on this mammoth platform to over 94 million, worldwide, users.

Thousands of stories are shared a day to a hugely active community of readers, who spend 23 billion minutes a month using the platform.

With such an active community and huge reach, it seems the ideal place for authors to get their work seen.

But, is the platform for everyone? While there are tons of eager readers, it’s important to understand that Wattpad is rife with competition.

With over 64,000 stories uploaded daily, in 50+ languages, it could be hard to cut through the noise and get your content seen.

Editor’s note: If you want to learn more about publishing trends check out our blog post HERE

The History of Wattpad

Founded in 2006, by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen, Wattpad began its life as a platform for writers and readers to share and find great stories.

Writers could also get feedback on their work as they wrote, by publishing content in the development stage.

While this all still happens, Wattpad now has a publishing section that takes the best stories to print and a TV studio that turns popular books from the site into television series.

Pros and Cons of Wattpad

Pros

1. A Huge Audience of Eager Readers

One thing for sure about Wattpad is that people using the platform are book lovers. They are there to discover and read new books. Some stories on the site have reached over eighty million views!

Of course, not every book will reach that level, but many others get hundreds of thousands of views that shouldn’t be sniffed at. If you have a book to share that needs an audience, Wattpad is a good place to start.

And Wattpad is continually seeing growth. New readers are signing up every day and the team behind the platform are always looking for new ways to grow.

2. Get Feedback on Your Work as You Write

One great pro about Wattpad is the ability to upload chapters of a book you’re writing as you go. This is invaluable, especially for new writers, allowing them to get feedback and pointers.

Wattpad readers can add in-line comments to your chapters, detailing what they like and dislike. Not only does this get you invaluable feedback, but it may also get you ideas of what should happen next in the story.

Another pro of having readers follow the story as it develops is the encouragement to keep going. Writers’ block is real and knowing you have an audience already, waiting for the next chapter, is a reason to get out of a slump and keep going.

3. It’s Free to Store Your Work and Easy to Use

It’s a simple to use, free platform for writers to upload and store their work.

Storing it in the cloud on Wattpad means it’s safe forever and you don’t have to worry about losing it if your laptop breaks down.

Access it from your phone, an iPad or any laptop. Even if you decide not to publish, your work can live on the Wattpad platform forever.

4. Opportunities to Collaborate and Increase Exposure

Wattpad has a massive community of readers, plus writers, who are on the same journey as you.

The platform is an opportunity to connect and maybe even collaborate with like-minded individuals.

Alongside making friends, Wattpad offers incredible opportunities to gain further exposure for your work. Join Wattpad contests and even get the chance to turn your book into print or a TV show!

5. Increase Visibility by Getting on Wattpad Lists and Picks

After your book has been categorized in the correct genre, it has the chance to get seen even more if it’s added to the ‘’Hot List’’ inside the category.

Select authors also get the chance to be in the featured section, which again, helps new readers find you.

6. Discover and Read New Books Before Publication

Wattpad is ideal for writers and book lovers, allowing you to discover and read new books daily.

If you’re writing your own book, this is also invaluable research, to see what does well and what doesn’t.

Read through romance, adventure, fiction, horror, thriller, fantasy and everything in between. Literally, anything goes on Wattpad, giving you countless opportunities to grow as a writer.

Cons

1. A Huge Amount of Competition

Wattpad is a massive opportunity for writers, but it also comes with a healthy dose of competition. With tens of thousands of stories uploaded daily to the platform, it can be tough to gain visibility when starting out.

Fan favorites stay on the ‘’Hot List’’ and constantly rack up reads because they are so visible. This means you may have to write for a while until you get a fan base.

2. Growth Takes Time and Consistent Work

Like any new project, success on Wattpad does take time and a lot of work. Set yourself a manageable goal of how often you will spend on the platform.

Aim to share free content regularly and interact with your audience.

The top Wattpad authors are super active on the platform and you need to match, or surpass their effort to stand out.

3. Wattpad Success Doesn’t Guarantee Real-World Success

Just because a book has a million views on Wattpad, doesn’t mean that will translate to a million sales in the real world. The majority of Wattpad readers are there for the free content.

However, the platform is in the beta phase of allowing writers to charge for their stories.

This works by allowing readers to get free content up to a point and then have to pay to unlock further chapters of the book.

However, this could come with a downside, like scaring off some Wattpad users.

4. Not All Genres Have a Huge Fan Base

While Wattpad does have a huge reader base, the majority seem to be on the young side. So, if you write romance for ages 50+, this might do as well as teen fiction.

If your book is in a less popular genre, don’t be scared off too quick though. This might mean there is less competition and a higher chance of ranking.

Should I Publish My Book on Wattpad?

There is no definitive right answer to this question.

There are plenty of other publishing options.

And so it all depends on what you want to accomplish.

What is right for one person, might not be right for the next.

For established writers, Wattpad might not be ideal.

But if you’re starting out and looking to improve quickly, get feedback, and find a supportive community, Wattpad could be helpful.

Editor’s note: If you want to know more about publishing on Amazon please read our blog post HERE

Tips to Make Your Story Successful on Wattpad

When starting out on Wattpad, it’s important not to compare your success to those who have a large fan base already.

Fan fictions are extremely popular on the platform, partly because of who the story is written about and partly because the writer has been on the platform for a while.

To gain your own success, you need an exciting plot to grab attention and time to give your story to grow.

Once you have these, you need to spend time on the platform socializing with others and getting yourself known.

This doesn’t mean just messaging people and saying ‘’please read my story.’’

It means you should spend time supporting other writers, reading their content and reaching out to make constructive comments when necessary.

This will be appreciated by other writers and helps you to build a tribe that may support your content in the future.

After posting a story, aim to update it regularly. If you can manage twice a week, add this into the description so your readers know when to check back in. A good rule of thumb is to aim for 30 – 50 chapters, to help increase the reader count showing on the front cover.

Another thing to think about is the genre of your book.

Fantasy, sci-fi and teen fiction do really well on Wattpad.

Plus, some thriller and historical fiction have risen in popularity lately.

Always research your genre and ask yourself, is there a readership waiting for what you want to produce?

Can I Make Money Writing Stories on Wattpad?

Yes, you can get paid to write stories on Wattpad.

In 2019, the Wattpad Paid Stories Program was created.

This allows writers to make money from parts of their content.

Readers have to purchase coins, which can be spent to unlock further chapters of a book they are reading and enjoying. To join the Paid Stories Program, you need to be a Wattpad Star with:

• A minimum of two 50,000-word original narrative stories published on the platform marked as complete
• An updated story in the past three months
• Logged activity on Wattpad in the last 60 days
• One story started in the past 365 days

If you fit these criteria, you can apply to be a part of the program. The Wattpad staff will make contact if you’re selected.

If you want to know what happens to your publishing rights after you pass away click HERE

6 Inspirational Wattpad Success Stories

Writing fame on Wattpad doesn’t always translate to success outside of the platform. However, there have been a few inspirational success stories that moved from Wattpad and onto lucrative publishing deals. Over 100 published books originated on the platform. Here are six of the best-known authors today:

1. Anna Todd

Anna Todd from Texas is a well-known Wattpad success story. She wrote a fan fiction favorite about One Direction attending University that went viral. After hitting 1.5 billion reads on the platform, she was offered a six-figure publishing deal and went on to top the New York Times best seller list!

And, the successes didn’t stop there, Paramount Pictures ended up buying the rights to the story and turned it into a movie. Not bad for a book written mostly on her phone!

2. Abigail Gibbs

Abigail Gibbs from Devon, England, started writing her first novel The Dark Heroine at age 14. Staying up till 3am on school nights, she released chapters onto Wattpad where it started to gain attention. 17 million reads and four years later, Harper Collins signed her in a six-figure deal at 18 years old.

3. Beth Reekles

Beth Reekles was another early starter on Wattpad, releasing her first romance novel Kissing Booth at the tender age of 15. After it gained attention with 19 million reads, it was published by Random House and even got picked up by Netflix, who created a feature film. Following her huge success, Beth was named one of Time Magazines ‘’Top 16 Most Influential Teenagers 2013’’ and number 6 on the Times List ‘’Top 25 Under 20’’.

4. Lilian Carmine

Brazilian born Lilian Carmine posted the first draft of Lost Boys on Wattpad in 2010.

Two years later it racked up over 33 million reads and became one of the most read stories ever on the site.

Not long after, Random House picked up the story and wanted to publish not just the first release, but three consecutive books in the Lost Boy series.

5. Nikki Kelly

Nikki, from Birmingham, England, uploaded her romantic drama the ‘’Stycla Saga’’ to Wattpad and managed to rack up 1 million views. Not long after, Macmillan took notice and published the book in 2014.

6. Brittany Geragotellis

Before finding Wattpad fame, Brittany went down the traditional publishing route to be faced with frustration, having her first six novels rejected.

A while later, Wattpad reached out to her, asking for their platform to be advertised in the magazine she worked for.

After agreeing, she decided to upload her own story What the Spell, which got 19 million reads after six months and a publishing deal with Simon and Schuster.

Are There Any Famous Writers Using Wattpad?

Wattpad has been the launchpad for many authors to get book and movie deals. Today, a few famous authors have joined the platform to see what it’s all about. Here are a few you may know:

• Margaret Atwood. Margaret is the author of the Handmaids Tale, a Booker Prize winner and a huge advocate for Wattpad.
• RL Stine. The creator of Goosebumps and Fear Street, R.L Stine posts snippets and short stories on Wattpad.
• Dan Brown. Dan is the author of the best-selling Da Vinci Code and uses Wattpad to post 7-chapter samples of his work.
• Scott Westerfeld. Scott wrote the Leviatan and Uglies series and uses Wattpad to post book previews and complementary content.
• Brandon Sanderson. Brandon wrote the fantasy series Mistborn and he recently posted his novel Warbreaker on Wattpad.
• Meg Cabot. Author of the Princess Diaries, Meg often posts stories on Wattpad and hosts a book club.
• Naomi Alderman. Naomi is an award-winning author who wrote The Power. After joining Wattpad, she co-wrote a zombie novel with Margaret Atwood.

Conclusion – Is Wattpad Worth it?

Using Wattpad doesn’t guarantee success in the publishing world. However, if you’re willing to put in the hours, it is possible to reap huge benefits.

Go in with an open mind and keep your expectations in check.

Regularly assess your results as you go. Take the time to connect with your readers, update stories regularly and be patient.

Wattpad can be a slow burn and it could take several months for new stories to get any attention.

Many authors wouldn’t be where they are today without Wattpad. But, for every success story there are thousands more who didn’t make it.

Everyone is different and what works for one person, might not work for the other.

Wattpad is an incredible tool for new writers to connect with others and hone their craft.

Use it to get feedback on your writing, learn from the competition and see where it takes you.