As some of you know, I started posting The Emperor’s Edge on Wattpad, figuring it was one more place I could have that first book out there for free (I may post Book 2 as well). I’ve heard from other indie authors who have leveraged Wattpad’s massive reader base to gain fans, often before they’ve launched their first novels.
I’m not rocking it over there with EE yet (and admittedly haven’t done any networking or anything to reach out to people — I’ve just been posting my chapters and announcing them on Twitter), so when the more Wattpad-experienced Nicolette Andrews offered to write up a guest post on the subject, I said, yes, please. I’ll turn you over to her now:
How to Better Connect With Readers Using Wattpad
First of all, thank you, Lindsay for letting me take over to talk about my experience with Wattpad and gathering my army of cohorts/followers.
I want to say, I love Wattpad. I have been on the site for a year now and I have met some of the most amazing people you’d ever hope for. I was fortunate enough to find a niche of people who love High Fantasy and love to read and write. Wattpad, to me, is like the ultimate reader/writer social media outlet. And like any other media outlet it’s the ideal place to get to know your readers. I’m going to talk about a couple things that is unique to Wattpad and that I’ve utilized in keeping in touch with my readers.
Dedications
On Wattpad you upload each chapter at a time and it formats it to almost an e-reader format that can be read online or on a mobile app. As the author for each chapter you are given a variety of choices on how to customize said chapter, among other things you can add pictures, videos and a cast (if you so choose). What I love to use is the dedication. When you dedicate a chapter to another Wattpad member, they are notified and it shows up on their page. It’s a nice way of saying ‘thanks’ to some of your more devoted readers.
Broadcasts
The broadcast is similar to a status update or a tweet only instead of it just been part of the thread on a home page, it is directly emailed to any of your followers. (Almost like a built in mailing list.) This is a great way to email teasers, do reader polls, or for me I found volunteers to help me edit my novel ‘Diviner’s Prophecy’. But use the broadcast sparingly, multiple emails in a day about what you had for breakfast or posting for the tenth time that day that your book is now on the Kindle can become overwhelming and no matter how much they like your stories, they will stop following.
Comments and Replies
Another great feature of Wattpad is the comments. Readers have the option to give feedback chapter by chapter, and if you’re posting once a week like I do with my works in progress, sometimes there’s kindly worded threats to write faster. What’s wonderful about this feature is that you can respond to these comments and often times they open up a dialogue about your book. The more you interact with readers, in my experience, the more likely they are to stick around to read more of your work, even if you take forever to post the next installment.
Reading Other Readers’ Stories
This is something I personally like to do but not many authors think it’s worth the time. Now to be clear I only read stories that interest me and at times I have been requested to read other peoples stories and I will read for a while and give feedback as much as I can but you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere. When reading other authors stories I like to make sure I comment and vote. (I would want them to do it for me!)
Stay Active
Like any other social media site, persistence is key. Unlike other social media sites, Wattpad is tailored to readers and writers meaning it’s the ideal place to promote your work, connect with fans, and build a supportive village that will be ready and willing to purchase your books.
You can connect with Nicolette on Wattpad, Twitter, or her website, or pick up over first novel at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords.
Thanks again for letting me take over Lindsay!
You’re very welcome, Nicolette. Thanks for answering all these questions!
My pleasure, I love helping out. If you ever need a Wattpad expert I’ll be here lurking about.
Thank you for the tips. Have you tried posting on the forums there? Is that worth the time and effort?
When I first started out at Wattpad I used to post to the ‘Share Your Story’ Forum but it ended up being a wasted effort. The other forums especially genre specific ones are a good place to find like minded readers and writers, and I’ve spent a little time there mostly lurking to see if there’s a topic of interest there. I have met people that way though.
Yeah, I didn’t have much luck with the “Share Your Story” forum. I do sometimes delve into the fantasy/sci-fi forums, though. Lots of fun readers there. 🙂
Terrific tips, Nicolette! I love Wattpad, too. It’s a fun place to hang out and I’m enjoying the serialization process. I haven’t quite garnered a lot of attention, but like Lindsay, I’ve not spent too much time there on socializing. I am planning on interacting more soon. Happy writing!
Thank you for you kind comments. The social aspect is one of the best parts, I suggest you start right away and I see you followed me. I will be returning the favor and I’m adding your stories to my library. (see how good this works. ;))
I interact with the comments on my stories, responding to every comment that invites a response of any kind, but I don’t interact elsewhere on the site. Never have. The Storm Dragon’s Heart crossed 1 million reads this weekend, so I don’t think it’s necessary to socialize on the site.* What it did take was time and patience. Wattpad works on a snowball effect, but you start with an itty-bitty ball of ice.
* I sometimes wonder if I would’ve reached this point faster or would be farther along if I did, but I always side with write another book instead of get bogged down on another social site.
If you’re not into social platforms then it’s not the right method for you. I am personally a ‘people’ person and I love the socializing aspect of wattpad.
Congrats on 1 million reads, that’s quite an achievement.
Oh, I like social platforms. I like them all too well. 😉
And if I never learn what all exists on the Wattpad forums, I’ll probably be safer! I’ve been trying to cut back on Twitter and Facebook, Writer’s Cafe. I couldn’t handle Goodreads or G+. I’ve cut back on the number of blogs I read. (+1 for Lindsay being awesome.) Don’t read news sites anymore. You get the idea.
I don’t find focusing easy.
Nicolette, thanks for sharing your Wattpad experience with us. I hope you don’t mind if I ask a couple of very basic questions. How does posting a story on Wattpad affect your ability to publish it elsewhere? Do you use it only for stories you plan to make free, or can you post a work-in-progress that you plan to sell once it’s complete?
I don’t mind answer questions, Sandra. I do plan on making these stories I post to wattpad free, eventually Everything I post is the first in a series or a short story. And I post them as works in progress. I am independently published so there’s no limits to where I can publish and I retain all rights to my creations by publishing through Wattpad they even have you choose copyright when you post to the site.
Can anyone look at the works posted there or are they protected behind a login?
My concern is that if you post something there, you are giving up your first pub rights.
Anyone can read them without logging in but they are copyrighted to the original poster and Wattpad has programing that disallows copying of text which protects from plagiarizers. Are you more concerned about traditional publishing rights? Because to my knowledge, if you post a story to a public website like Wattpad they won’t accept it. But I’m independently published and since I own them I can post them there. I hope that answers your question.
http://www.thepassivevoice.com/03/2013/teenager-lands-3-book-deal-with-record-breaking-romance/
Posting to Wattpad will not prevent you from getting a traditional publishing deal if that is your ultimate goal. In fact, it might increase your chances.
Howdy all,
I’ve been curious about using Wattpad myself, but never really figured out the idea behind it – or rather if it’s something I should look in – but with the serialization aspect and this post (thanks, Nicolette), I think it may be time to have a little wander over there and check it out for realz…
RG.
This is a follow-up, completely random question too, but have you ever written a post about writing for the demographic your books tend to lean towards? The language used, the censoring of one’s, shall we say… usually colourful tongue? Themes etc.
Have you ever wanted to really go crazy and do something out of that ‘genre’?
RG.
You’re welcome and I hope you enjoy the platform.
Do you mean have I personally written about the genre I write in? I did once, on my blog, talk about the genre in general.
I’ve written just for fun stories before none of them are around anymore, but sometimes it’s nice just to go crazy. 😉
Wattpad is definitely next on my promo to-do list. Thanks for all the cool insights and pointers, Nicolette!
I hadn’t thought of serializing the book I already have out. That’s a good idea Lindsay. I’ve looked into it before but since my book is MG I haven’t spent the time on it yet. Still, this makes me want to take a chance anyway.
Thanks for the info Nicolette and BTW I love your cover!
I serialized a book I already had out and sold copies of it along the way. The entire book is up now and I’m selling copies of book two because of Wattpad. That system worked very well for me. You will build more reads by serializing weekly, if you have patience.
Thanks for saying how it worked for you! That’s encouraging. I went over and looked again and there is no “children’s” genre – teen is the closest and my book is really aimed at younger. But I guess it doesn’t hurt to put it in there and try!
I don’t think listing your book as teen will hurt you there. The site’s top demographic is female teen readers, by far. I click on the profiles of my fans often and try to figure out as much demographic data as I can, because it’s interesting and good to know. Obviously I’m dependent on what they write in their bio. I’m not going to click on Facebook profiles if they have them linked because that’s … stalky … stalky can be a word. From what I can tell, a lot of my readers are young teens.
Thank you! I do love my cover. and I hope you have good luck with a serial.
Great post, Nicolette!
Have you, or anyone here, found much benefit in broadcasting your publications to Facebook, G+ and Twitter through Wattpad?
How about keywords and media like YouTube Videos.
I’ve experimented with all these things but haven’t been able to tell if they really result in more readership or interaction.
I’ve also noticed that most of the users have a very informal way of writing their profile bios. It can be instructive to read several of these and write one’s profile in a way that will best connect with the interests and values of this audience.
I’ve had limited success with just posting about my publications, most of my sales generation has been through wattpad and having people like my stories and being willing to purchase them.
Bio writing is tricky, I still think I need to perfect it.
Thanks for the insite on WattPad
Thanks for the tips! I just started using Wattpad recently (introduced by Margaret Atwood’s Happy Zombie Sunrise Home novella) and I didn’t realize there were all these different ways to connect with people.
It’s been quite a lot of fun though – if anyone wants to get in touch on Wattpad, look me up under CL_Frey 😉
Pingback: How To Win Followers and Influence Readers on Wattpad | Lindsay Buroker