# On Wattpad? Post your profile link here.



## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

I don't understand Wattpad. I've heard good things about it, but how do people find your stories? Do you have to market them? Facebook, Twitter, etc.? I've had a story up there for a year or so and it's had five reads. I've never mentioned my Wattpad account anywhere, just thinking people would find the story. (I do have it tagged, which I figured was the main thing.) But many people have stories with over a million reads. How? Does a person have to put time into promoting the story just like everything else   How do people even know your stories exists? Or is it a totally random thing, and readers simply stumble upon them accidentally?  If you are on Wattpad, do you ever put up stories that are also published? Do you put up works-in-progress to generate interest in the completed project? But if nobody is reading it...


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## johnlmonk (Jul 24, 2013)

I am not a Wattpad expert.  But I've had about 30 reads of my first chapter without trying very hard.  I followed a few people and read their things, commented once or twice, but really I've let it sort of sit there not doing anything.

I think if I got "active" and started reading/commenting and adding to my presence there, I'd have a lot more than 30 reads.  Some of the notes I got about my work were confusing--they thought it was a work in progress.  To the right of the story/chapter, there's information on what the person is reading.  In there was a tiny link to the amazon page, which took me forever to find after trying to get something there.  ie., the user-interface isn't that easy to use (imho).

I've heard people say they do great with Wattpad and I hope to make more use of it in the future.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

I'm in no way a Wattpad expert, altho I do have some short stories there. I experienced something similar to John, that unlike the type of 'publishing' we're used to WP is geared more towards putting up stories _as you write them,_ in other words, chapter by chapter. I had fully completed stories, but I only put them up piece by piece.

I don't have a lot of exposure on WP but I am somewhat active on a thread for "mature" writers (as opposed to all the teenagers who seem to make up the majority of WPers). My non-teen stories get modest reads, but I have no idea who's reading them.

As John said, if you have the time to be very active and visible on WP, you might be successful there, but it can be a huge time suck, so you have to weigh whether or not it's worth it. A lot of people on WP seem to be students (high school or college) so their time demands are different from the demands that I or others have.

(Note: I'm not positive yet on what happens when/if you want to publish your work on Amazon... do we have to take it off WP?  )


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

I’ve kind of studied a few authors who are “successful” on Wattpad — i.e. have tons of reads. 

The problem I found is that although someone can have hundreds of thousands of reads there, their Amazon sales don’t necessarily look stunning. At all. 

Maybe it’s a good “point of entry” marketing strategy for the long term, when you make a name for yourself among the young readers giving them your stories for free. Then, when they eventually grow up and see your name in store, they may buy your book. 

My probably unjustified suspicion is that these folks are used to getting written entertainment for free. Why would they pay to buy your work?


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

when I had my book Static up in its entirety, I got close to 3 million hits on it.  Did that translate into any sales? HELL NO.

But 99% of my readers are teens, with no credit card or interest in reading on a kindle, or iPad etc.  They are just looking for good free reads and most are honing their own craft.

I wrote a sequel just for these fans, and I haven't sold very many.  Not sure how to move fan base off of Wattpad and into another venue...some of my fans mover over to my facebook account but not many.

Even with 3 mill I don't know the secret of Wattpad.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Vivi_Anna said:


> when I had my book Static up in its entirety, I got close to 3 million hits on it. Did that translate into any sales? HELL NO.
> 
> But 99% of my readers are teens, with no credit card or interest in reading on a kindle, or iPad etc. They are just looking for good free reads and most are honing their own craft.
> 
> ...


Is Static still on WP? Or did you have to take it down to publish on KDP? I know Amazon doesn't like books it sells to be available for free elsewhere, so I just wondered.

Also, I think it's worth mentioning, as Vivi said and I alluded to earlier, the vast majority of people who frequent Wattpad are teens or young adults, most of whom either can't or don't buy e-books and prefer to read in short increments. _If you write for that demographic, you might do well. _ On the other hand, these people are not my target audience, so I doubt my stories would ever get a lot of traction on the site.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Jena H said:


> Is Static still on WP? Or did you have to take it down to publish on KDP? I know Amazon doesn't like books it sells to be available for free elsewhere, so I just wondered.
> 
> Also, I think it's worth mentioning, as Vivi said and I alluded to earlier, the vast majority of people who frequent Wattpad are teens or young adults, most of whom either can't or don't buy e-books and prefer to read in short increments. _If you write for that demographic, you might do well. _ On the other hand, these people are not my target audience, so I doubt my stories would ever get a lot of traction on the site.


No I took it down when I enrolled Static in select. But that will be over at the end of the month, so I might put it back up there. I've been getting tons of messages on Wattpad with teens pleading with me to put it back up. And others telling me I suck for not having it up. LOL


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

Vivi_Anna said:


> No I took it down when I enrolled Static in select. But that will be over at the end of the month, so I might put it back up there. I've been getting tons of messages on Wattpad with teens pleading with me to put it back up. And others telling me I suck for not having it up. LOL


Yeah, of course we suck for not giving months of our work and hundreds of dollars of investment for free, lol 

YOLO, dude. ZOMG.

I actually like the platform, but I think if I were to use it, I'd write a book targeted only at WP, and maybe other free sites, and leave it there with clear links to my other work that actually keeps me, you know, alive to write.

I used to do something like that at a computer game fan fiction site eons ago, and, although I had no idea what I was doing, I built quite a platform. Unfortunately, I had no idea what I was doing, so I lost all the ground I gained.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Vivi_Anna said:


> No I took it down when I enrolled Static in select. But that will be over at the end of the month, so I might put it back up there. I've been getting tons of messages on Wattpad with teens pleading with me to put it back up. And others telling me I suck for not having it up. LOL


Whether it's in Select or not, won't Amazon "price match" it to $0 since it's "free" on WP?


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

sheesh.  good information. this is kind of the feeling i had about the place, but then i'll see successful writers talking about it and i wonder if i'm just not getting it. i do suspect that big names are actually somehow featured, but maybe i'm wrong about that.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

Jena H said:


> Whether it's in Select or not, won't Amazon "price match" it to $0 since it's "free" on WP?


Nope, never had a problem. I had Static up there completely for over a year. Never had an issue with Amazon or B&N about it. They never price matched it. Because they don't care about it really. Even if it had been free at SW, they wouldn't price match it.


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

I've been on wattpad for a few years now. I have two stories in the millions of reads category, one in a hundreds of thousands, and the rest in the thousands. It's all about catering to what the demand is, which is YA romance in all honesty. Before, wattpad had a group called the "share your story" club where you could exchange read for reads and advertise your story. They have since taken it down and getting your story noticed is much harder. I know a few authors who exchange reads and comments for critiques etc. Mostly it's done through private message, although if you just ask people to read your story they probably wont. It's only after the story gains a good amount of reads and goes up the lists that you can start getting more reads. You just need it to take off. Asking popular authors to advertise your work to their fans, maybe after offering a thorough critique, can be very beneficial. As for sales, I've asked a lot of my readers if they would purchase my book if I ever decided to publish and a lot of them said yes, although not sure how many will go through with it if I ever decide to.


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## scottmarlowe (Apr 22, 2010)

Here's a few posts which might help you out:

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/guest-posts/how-to-win-followers-and-influence-readers-on-wattpad/

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/guest-posts/how-to-connect-with-readers-using-wattpad/

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/book-marketing/can-posting-stories-on-wattpad-help-you-sell-books/


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Vivi_Anna said:


> Nope, never had a problem. I had Static up there completely for over a year. Never had an issue with Amazon or B&N about it. They never price matched it. Because they don't care about it really. Even if it had been free at SW, they wouldn't price match it.


Good to know.  I'd been delaying putting something in KDP because I was afraid it would get price-matched, but if that's not an issue.... full steam ahead!


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## David Thayer (Sep 7, 2012)

When I post to Wattpad 20 or 30 people read. Too Beautiful got over 300 readers.
I discovered that posting to Wattpad in small chunks is a great way for me to edit/analyze my book length stuff.
Who knew?


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## RJ Kennett (Jul 31, 2013)

I just signed up on Wattpad after reading this thread. I posted a short story of mine, then the first chapter of my novel. By the time that first chapter was posted (maybe 15-20 minutes due to scaling artwork), the short story had already garnered 14 reads.

It'll be interesting to see if a little exposure on Wattpad leads to sales!


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## katherinef (Dec 13, 2012)

Don't expect many sales, but you can still get a fan or two who will buy all of your books. If you already have a perma-free book, it wouldn't hurt to upload it, especially if the book is teen romance. Completed stories get much more attention than samples or WIPs. I'm not sure about promotion, but I guess you have to be active on Wattpad.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

YolyM said:


> I've been on wattpad for a few years now. I have two stories in the millions of reads category, one in a hundreds of thousands, and the rest in the thousands. It's all about catering to what the demand is, which is YA romance in all honesty. Before, wattpad had a group called the "share your story" club where you could exchange read for reads and advertise your story. They have since taken it down and getting your story noticed is much harder. I know a few authors who exchange reads and comments for critiques etc. Mostly it's done through private message, although if you just ask people to read your story they probably wont. It's only after the story gains a good amount of reads and goes up the lists that you can start getting more reads. You just need it to take off. Asking popular authors to advertise your work to their fans, maybe after offering a thorough critique, can be very beneficial. As for sales, I've asked a lot of my readers if they would purchase my book if I ever decided to publish and a lot of them said yes, although not sure how many will go through with it if I ever decide to.


good to know, yoly!!!! i would consider you an expert!! thanks for the info!


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

rjkennett said:


> I just signed up on Wattpad after reading this thread. I posted a short story of mine, then the first chapter of my novel. By the time that first chapter was posted (maybe 15-20 minutes due to scaling artwork), the short story had already garnered 14 reads.
> 
> It'll be interesting to see if a little exposure on Wattpad leads to sales!


DAMMIT!!!  okay, now i'm going to have to test it with another story.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

I wrote this linked post about Wattpad. I can attribute hundreds of sales to Wattpad, though I've sold far more than that without Wattpad, obviously. Wattpad isn't the magic pill, but it is a strong component of my sales strategy, especially for international and non-Amazon sales. For me, it's been far more useful to generate sales than anything except Bookbub, and it's better for reaching my primary target audience than Bookbub is. It's also been great for growing a fan base. Sure, most read for free, but some of those young free readers will grow up and get a job one day. Hopefully they won't forget me along the way.

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/guest-posts/how-to-win-followers-and-influence-readers-on-wattpad/


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Austin_Briggs said:


> I've kind of studied a few authors who are "successful" on Wattpad - i.e. have tons of reads.
> 
> The problem I found is that although someone can have hundreds of thousands of reads there, their Amazon sales don't necessarily look stunning. At all.


First of all, reads at Wattpad are per chapter not per book. One reader completing a book with 50 chapters will count as 50 reads. This adds up fast.

Second, popular books get sampled a lot. Each sample of the first chapter will count as one read, upping the read total. I have 146,000 reads on my 1st chapter of The Storm Dragon's Heart but only 28k on Chapter 2. Which is not a bad statistic. A lot of people find the book, but it isn't for everyone. That's cool. That's how the site works.

Third, I've seen the opposite of what you have in regard to sales numbers and Wattpad success. But such things are variable. Like, when did they get most of their reads on Wattpad? That may have resulted in a three month sales spike that occurred two years ago. I've sold thousands of books, but my sales are in the October dumps, like a lot of folks, so if you check my Wattpad reads vs my Amazon sales ranks, you won't be impressed. I'd always caution against making such judgements unless you make them over time. The bulk of my Wattpad reads are from 9-12 months ago. And again, Wattpad isn't a miracle pill. It's a technique, a component, whatever you want to call it.


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## Vivi_Anna (Feb 12, 2011)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> First of all, reads at Wattpad are per chapter not per book. One reader completing a book with 50 chapters will count as 50 reads. This adds up fast.
> 
> Second, popular books get sampled a lot. Each sample of the first chapter will count as one read, upping the read total. I have 146,000 reads on my 1st chapter of The Storm Dragon's Heart but only 28k on Chapter 2. Which is not a bad statistic. A lot of people find the book, but it isn't for everyone. That's cool. That's how the site works.
> 
> Third, I've seen the opposite of what you have in regard to sales numbers and Wattpad success. But such things are variable. Like, when did they get most of their reads on Wattpad? That may have resulted in a three month sales spike that occurred two years ago. I've sold thousands of books, but my sales are in the October dumps, like a lot of folks, so if you check my Wattpad reads vs my Amazon sales ranks, you won't be impressed. I'd always caution against making such judgements unless you make them over time. The bulk of my Wattpad reads are from 9-12 months ago. And again, Wattpad isn't a miracle pill. It's a technique, a component, whatever you want to call it.


Yes, that's correct. 3 million reads doesn't mean 3 mill people read my book, it means a total of 3 million read my whole book consisting of 29 chapters. So in reality, only about 100,000 people read my whole book.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

So can someone tell me how to get rid of the huge, ugly spaces this site puts between my paragraphs?


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> First of all, reads at Wattpad are per chapter not per book. One reader completing a book with 50 chapters will count as 50 reads. This adds up fast.
> 
> Second, popular books get sampled a lot. Each sample of the first chapter will count as one read, upping the read total. I have 146,000 reads on my 1st chapter of The Storm Dragon's Heart but only 28k on Chapter 2. Which is not a bad statistic. A lot of people find the book, but it isn't for everyone. That's cool. That's how the site works.
> 
> Third, I've seen the opposite of what you have in regard to sales numbers and Wattpad success. But such things are variable. Like, when did they get most of their reads on Wattpad? That may have resulted in a three month sales spike that occurred two years ago. I've sold thousands of books, but my sales are in the October dumps, like a lot of folks, so if you check my Wattpad reads vs my Amazon sales ranks, you won't be impressed. I'd always caution against making such judgements unless you make them over time. The bulk of my Wattpad reads are from 9-12 months ago. And again, Wattpad isn't a miracle pill. It's a technique, a component, whatever you want to call it.


Very helpful, thanks.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2013)

I don't really like the idea of wattpad, and Mike Shevdon (fantasy author) breaks down a few copyright issues worth bearing in mind if going this route:

http://shevdon.com/wattpad-reaching-the-next-generation-of-readers


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Vaalingrade said:


> So can someone tell me how to get rid of the huge, ugly spaces this site puts between my paragraphs?


I did copy/paste from Word into WP, and then hit Publish. Immediately I opened the story, and invariably, there would be an extra space (return) before the last paragraph. (Never anywhere else, just before the last paragraph. Go figure!) Anyway, I'd go back into edit mode and remove the extra return, and problem solved.

if you're getting a LOT of space between a LOT of paragraphs.... I don't know what to tell you.  If nothing else, do what I did and as soon as you hit publish, go back to the edit mode and you should be able to see/remove the extras.

That's the extent of my experience and advice, FWIW.


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

ColinFBarnes said:


> I don't really like the idea of wattpad, and Mike Shevdon (fantasy author) breaks down a few copyright issues worth bearing in mind if going this route:
> 
> http://shevdon.com/wattpad-reaching-the-next-generation-of-readers


I believe he raises a good point: that many people, indeed, expect authors to give their work away for free. Those same people, mind you, wouldn't normally work for us for free-like baking our bread, educating our children, designing our covers.

But in a way, the "win" here goes three ways: Wattpad gets their advertising money, the readers get to read professional fiction on their "poor" iPhones while keeping their money, and the authors reach new readers who may, eventually, buy their content.

I don't know. I'm sure that any advertising avenue, when used strategically, can work.

Maybe at some point I'll post the first chapter or two of my YA work... will see.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

ColinFBarnes said:


> I don't really like the idea of wattpad, and Mike Shevdon (fantasy author) breaks down a few copyright issues worth bearing in mind if going this route:
> 
> http://shevdon.com/wattpad-reaching-the-next-generation-of-readers


Those are pretty standard terms necessary for content display on websites and devices. You will find similar ones all over the place. Nothing ominous there. Wattpad takes down anything you remove immediately and it disappears from devices swiftly. They're very dedicated about that. You're not in any way relinquishing your copywrite.

As for the rest, no one makes you give work away for free. It's a choice. It's in my best business interest to partner with Wattpad to give away free material to support sales of my other works. I'm happy with the arrangement. Amazon makes profit if I give away free material, too.

I'll say no further, because it will just devolve into the age old I arguments about giving away some things for free to make money off other things. If you're not okay with that concept, you're not going to be okay with Wattpad.


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2013)

The big issue is with the transferrable non-exclusive world-wide part. That essentially means they can do what they like with it without paying you a cent. I'm not going to support a publishing platform with that much freedom to abuse/profiteer from my work. As writers, copyright is all we have. It's not wise (in my personal opinion) to give it away so freely, but each to their own. I'm just presenting one view. It's up to each individual to decide how they manage their intellectual property.


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## Vaalingrade (Feb 19, 2013)

Literally the first thing I was able to do was set my work to All Right Reserved, so...


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## Guest (Oct 21, 2013)

Vaalingrade said:


> Literally the first thing I was able to do was set my work to All Right Reserved, so...


After agreeing to their terms and conditions which is signing a contract... Which is cool, if thats what people are happy to do.


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## Austin_Briggs (Aug 21, 2011)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> Those are pretty standard terms necessary for content display on websites and devices. You will find similar ones all over the place. Nothing ominous there. Wattpad takes down anything you remove immediately and it disappears from devices swiftly. They're very dedicated about that. You're not in any way relinquishing your copywrite.
> 
> As for the rest, no one makes you give work away for free. It's a choice. It's in my best business interest to partner with Wattpad to give away free material to support sales of my other works. I'm happy with the arrangement. Amazon makes profit if I give away free material, too.
> 
> I'll say no further, because it will just devolve into the age old I arguments about giving away some things for free to make money off other things. If you're not okay with that concept, you're not going to be okay with Wattpad.


I've read your article, it's very insightful. As I suspected (as said above), it can be used as a POME (point-of-market-entry) program by branding yourself with the young consumers who only now enter the market.

I'd still probably use WP to post WP-dedicated work, or previews of my commercial books, rather than giving away whole books for free.

In your post you address my main concern, which is giving free material to the audience that may _never_ wish to pay - vs. creating desire to read my books among a paying audience. Looks like the strategy is working for you.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

thanks for all of the great information. I've started over with a new story on Wattpad, and am going to take David Alastair's advice of a chapter a week. I've actually been doing that on my website anyway, so this will pretty much be the same thing.


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

Anne Frasier said:


> thanks for all of the great information. I've started over with a new story on Wattpad, and am going to take Alastair's advice of a chapter a week. I've actually been doing that on my website anyway, so this will pretty much be the same thing.


Ohh! I'd love to read it. Username?


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

YolyM said:


> Ohh! I'd love to read it. Username?


i wasn't sure if we could post that info here, but i'd like to see what everybody else is doing as well!

my user name is TheresaWeir. i wish all of my books were under one name because it gets very confusing.

http://www.wattpad.com/user/TheresaWeir


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

ColinFBarnes said:


> The big issue is with the transferrable non-exclusive world-wide part. That essentially means they can do what they like with it without paying you a cent. I'm not going to support a publishing platform with that much freedom to abuse/profiteer from my work. As writers, copyright is all we have. It's not wise (in my personal opinion) to give it away so freely, but each to their own. I'm just presenting one view. It's up to each individual to decide how they manage their intellectual property.


Interesting article. Gave it a read, and I admit he had a lot of good points, but his argument was also very one sided. I don't think there is anything wrong with wattpad for certain people. Younger people get a chance to have their works read, learn to love reading since it's made accessible, and generally participate in a community that's aimed for something great, like literature. I get that for some people, they feel like their writing is worth the money it makes. For others it's the chance to share their story and get feedback. Personally, just the fact that my work is attention grabbing enough to have people reading and begging for updates makes it worth something. Gavin's invitation wasn't very well written though, lol.

My point is, the article had a good points for people in that author's similar position, where maybe they already have an audience in the bag, and the means to publish their works with some investment, etc. For authors who are starting out, etc, the website is a good idea. Just my two cents.


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## YolyM (Jul 15, 2013)

Anne Frasier said:


> i wasn't sure if we could post that info here, but i'd like to see what everybody else is doing as well!
> 
> my user name is TheresaWeir. i wish all of my books were under one name because it gets very confusing.
> 
> http://www.wattpad.com/user/TheresaWeir


Ohh! I'll definitely give it a read! Just followed too. Username is WeAreAHurricane


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

YolyM said:


> Ohh! I'll definitely give it a read! Just followed too. Username is WeAreAHurricane


oh, fun! you have close to 8K followers!!!! wow!!!!!! i will read one of your stories after i take the dog for a walk. he's staring at me.

edit: okay, read a short and the beginning of what must be a full or novelette. and i'm hooked. it's addictive. you are really good.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

David's posts earlier in this thread are great. I can recommend everything he says. Genre matters on WP, so does having a book that appeals to the teen audience. 

I've got my YA permafree book on WP in its entirety (THE MEDIUM), plus some bits & pieces of other works. If you have a permafree, it makes sense to put it up in another venue to get eyeballs. To me, WP is just another place to market my books. I was lucky in that I was also featured for 6 months - the WP admin team approached me. Although that 6 months is over, I still get readers trickling in. Since this book is the first of a trilogy, it's led to sales of books 2 and 3 from WP readers. I know because they tell me.   Sure, several have asked (begged) to have books 2 & 3 on WP too, but I politely tell them that I'm a professional author and can't afford to give all of my books away for free. They're mostly understanding about. 

The fans on WP are rabid if they like you  I don't have a huge number of reads like other authors (totalling 600k+ at the moment on THE MEDIUM), but I have over 11k followers and my read-to-vote ratio is pretty good. I've been happy with my WP experience so far.


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## A. S. Warwick (Jan 14, 2011)

A couple of things I've noticed about wattpad;
The largest group on there are teenage girls, so unless you are writing for them, it is a bit harder to get noticed.

Unless your book is already popular, it is hard to get noticed.

Advertise in the forum for your genre.  I prefer the new method.  It allows targeted advertising for those you know will prefer your genre.  The old free for all advertising saw any ads lost in the spam of 1D fanfic and read swapping.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

i read a couple of yoly's stories and i can feel wattpad sucking me in. i see why readers like it. there's something really fun about reading that way -- total surprise to me.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Anne Frasier said:


> thanks for all of the great information. I've started over with a new story on Wattpad, and am going to take David Alastair's advice of a chapter a week. I've actually been doing that on my website anyway, so this will pretty much be the same thing.


Good luck on there!


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

CJArcher said:


> David's posts earlier in this thread are great. I can recommend everything he says. Genre matters on WP, so does having a book that appeals to the teen audience.
> 
> I've got my YA permafree book on WP in its entirety (THE MEDIUM), plus some bits & pieces of other works. If you have a permafree, it makes sense to put it up in another venue to get eyeballs. To me, WP is just another place to market my books. I was lucky in that I was also featured for 6 months - the WP admin team approached me. Although that 6 months is over, I still get readers trickling in. Since this book is the first of a trilogy, it's led to sales of books 2 and 3 from WP readers. I know because they tell me.  Sure, several have asked (begged) to have books 2 & 3 on WP too, but I politely tell them that I'm a professional author and can't afford to give all of my books away for free. They're mostly understanding about.
> 
> The fans on WP are rabid if they like you  I don't have a huge number of reads like other authors (totalling 600k+ at the moment on THE MEDIUM), but I have over 11k followers and my read-to-vote ratio is pretty good. I've been happy with my WP experience so far.


Thank you!

And yes, it's just one more way to market books and build a hopefully rabid fan base. Discoverability is thine enemy.


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## H. S. St. Ours (Mar 24, 2012)

I've been posting a chapter a week on Wattpad from my work, "Sami" and gotten many great comments from readers. Mostly teens, of course, but that's the genre I'm writing at the moment, so it works out. "Sami" had nearly 66k reads so far with 2 chapters left to post, but, as I have come to expect, those reads ("looks," really) haven't translated into sales. But that's not what I'm at Wattpad for.

If you're a Wattpad member, post your profile page so we can follow you. Here's mine.
http://www.wattpad.com/user/HSStOurs


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2013)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> Good luck on there!


I started using Wattpad after reading DAH's post on Linday Buroker's site a few months back. I started putting up a chapter, or half chapter, of my perma-free book each week. So far I've got 6 chapters up there now, or about 10 parts. I took a month or 6 weeks off and didn't post once, as I never saw any reads. I got back into it but still nothing. Overall it's a waste of time, but that time only takes about 3 minutes of copy/paste, so is it really? And what I remember from that article (I think) is that sometimes you just take off months down the road.

I also put up the first two chapters of my Fantasy mercenary story, but also no interest.

Obviously I'm not 14.


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## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

For those of you who've found success on Wattpad, how long do you make each section of your stories? I'm getting ready to serialize a Halloween story and I'm not sure how many words to post at once. Is there an optimal word count?


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

I've been puttering around with WP for a month or three. It has taken me a while to 'get' it, which mostly means figuring out how to alter the ugliness of my stories after publishing them at WP. All of the formatting (the indents are the most egregious) issues drive me crazy, but I'm over it now. My latest learning experience was figuring out how to start a 'book' and then add chapters to it.

I use WP to toss up bits of stories I'm in the middle of writing, as well as one of my published stories (using it as sort of a preview for upcoming chapters/parts as I publish at Amazon). I'm not concerned at all about WP's ToS. Worrying about what they can and can't do with my words is like worrying about piracy, and besides, there's a huge disconnect between WP users and Amazon purchasers (this is my opinion, but I've not seen anything that negates it yet).

I'm starting to get into it, and I'm definitely going to use it to throw up some more of my stranger ideas. I suppose with only 13 followers, I am talking out of my rear end a bit, but it makes me happy that 13 persons were foolish enough to follow me. I'll show them the error of their ways quickly mwahahahaha.

EDIT: read the article. Whoever wrote it is...crying about a lot of nothing. Boo hoo, not going to give my work away for free. Wah. Then don't. I was already wavering on even reading the entire article after the first paragraph, but I like to not be some book reviewers who give a 1-star rating on book they didn't even read/finish.

When I arrived at this:



> It's insidious, and at the base of it is the implicit assumption that an author's work has little or no value,


I knew that I simply couldn't go on. Tuned this dude out in a heartbeat. No offense, but I have better things to do that listen to drivel that sounds like a non-fiction version of the drivel I write as fiction.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Here's my profile: http://www.wattpad.com/user/CjArcher

I'm off to check out the others from this thread.


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## David Thayer (Sep 7, 2012)

Here's my wattpad page:
http://www.wattpad.com/user/DavidThayer

I can't claim any expertise in the correct usage of Wattpad or even any consistency as to treating it as a proper noun or not.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

H. S. St. Ours said:


> I've been posting a chapter a week on Wattpad from my work, "Sami" and gotten many great comments from readers. Mostly teens, of course, but that's the genre I'm writing at the moment, so it works out. "Sami" had nearly 66k reads so far with 2 chapters left to post, but, as I have come to expect, those reads ("looks," really) haven't translated into sales. But that's not what I'm at Wattpad for.
> 
> If you're a Wattpad member, post your profile page so we can follow you. Here's mine.
> http://www.wattpad.com/user/HSStOurs


great idea. i was wondering about starting a thread for wattpad follows.

edit: i just edited the thread title. hope this isn't against WC rules.


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I think I might want to give this a try. Does Wattpad work well if you post chapters while you're still writing the book? Like, if I write chapter one, publish it, write chapter 2, publish, etc? It could be very useful for me to get feedback on my books while they're still being written. I think the instant gratification of chapter-by-chapter feedback would be an excellent motivator.


Oh, and is there a good following there for epic / sword & sorcery fantasy?


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Lizbooks said:


> For those of you who've found success on Wattpad, how long do you make each section of your stories? I'm getting ready to serialize a Halloween story and I'm not sure how many words to post at once. Is there an optimal word count?


There's no optimal length, really. The chapters in my books are short, especially in Book 2. It drives the readers crazy, but that's not a bad thing - just means they want more.

You want more chapters to get more reads, but be fair about it and don't make anything so short it makes your book hard to read. My chapters are short and have hooks at the end. It's how I write.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Greg Strandberg said:


> I started using Wattpad after reading DAH's post on Linday Buroker's site a few months back. I started putting up a chapter, or half chapter, of my perma-free book each week. So far I've got 6 chapters up there now, or about 10 parts. I took a month or 6 weeks off and didn't post once, as I never saw any reads. I got back into it but still nothing. Overall it's a waste of time, but that time only takes about 3 minutes of copy/paste, so is it really? And what I remember from that article (I think) is that sometimes you just take off months down the road.
> 
> I also put up the first two chapters of my Fantasy mercenary story, but also no interest.
> 
> Obviously I'm not 14.


Six months for me to even start getting some traction with The Storm Dragon's Heart, but I had abandoned it there with only three chapters up over those months. Wrath of the White Tigress had been there even longer. But I wasn't trying, and the site is growing rapidly.


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

All right. I just signed up and followed everyone's links (the ones who posted them, at least). I'll be putting my first chapter up in a bit.

Chapter 1 of my epic fantasy book is now up! I won't have a cover to post for it until at least Sunday, but it's there for all to read.

http://www.wattpad.com/user/DavidScroggins


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Lizbooks said:


> For those of you who've found success on Wattpad, how long do you make each section of your stories? I'm getting ready to serialize a Halloween story and I'm not sure how many words to post at once. Is there an optimal word count?


Liz, I haven't been on WP very long, but I've been told that up to 3 "pages" per chapter is optimal. And I agree. I don't spend a whole lot of time on Wattpad, but if I see a chapter is longer than 3 or 4 pages, I usually won't read it (or will simply barely skim it). Of course, I'm not a 14-year-old girl, either, so take that for what you will. But more than one of my WP "club-buddies" who've been on the site for a lot longer suggest the 3-page limit.

I'm not super-active on there, but here's my profile. I may or may not get these things published on KDP at some point. http://www.wattpad.com/user/JYHarris

ETA: I have no idea how many words make up a Wattpad "page." Probably not too difficult to figure out, though. I'm just too lazy to do it.


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## Guest (Oct 24, 2013)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> Six months for me to even start getting some traction with The Storm Dragon's Heart, but I had abandoned it there with only three chapters up over those months. Wrath of the White Tigress had been there even longer. But I wasn't trying, and the site is growing rapidly.


That's the thing: it takes awhile. I try to put up a new chapter or half chapter each week, and I'm glad this is here today because Thursday's my usual day and I'd forgotten all about it.


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## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I need to go through and add better hooks at the ends of my sections!

I think I've added everyone who posted his or her link.

My YA pen name profile:
http://www.wattpad.com/user/carriebee


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## Al Dente (Sep 3, 2012)

I can't wait until Clarissa at www.bookcoversale.com sends me my shiny new cover so I can add it to my Wattpad book!


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## AngryGames (Jul 28, 2013)

David Scroggins said:


> I think I might want to give this a try. Does Wattpad work well if you post chapters while you're still writing the book? Like, if I write chapter one, publish it, write chapter 2, publish, etc? It could be very useful for me to get feedback on my books while they're still being written. I think the instant gratification of chapter-by-chapter feedback would be an excellent motivator.
> 
> Oh, and is there a good following there for epic / sword & sorcery fantasy?


Yes. This is what I'm doing. If you gain a lot of followers, you will start to get a lot of good feedback of your WiP (or whatever you post), as out of say 1000 fans as an example, you can probably count on at least 5-10 of the followers to be passionate enough to read whatever you post, and comment on it. Especially if you interact with them. Probably good way to proof for obvious mistakes like spelling, punctuation, double or missing words, etc.


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## PaulLev (Nov 2, 2012)

http://wattpad.com/PaulLev

first few pages of The Silk Code


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

I was putting up chapters every few days for a while late spring, but then life interfered. Here's my profile:

http://wattpad.com/SaulTanpepper


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## Lizbooks (Mar 15, 2013)

Jena H said:


> I have no idea how many words make up a Wattpad "page." Probably not too difficult to figure out, though. I'm just too lazy to do it.


It seems to be 500-800 words or 5000 characters (at least those are the numbers I've found). It would be nice if Wattpad let you preview your work before posting; that way you could see how many pages your section is. Or is there a way to preview and I just can't find it?


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## DarkScribe (Aug 30, 2012)

Anne Frasier said:


> I don't understand Wattpad. I've heard good things about it, but how do people find your stories? Do you have to market them? Facebook, Twitter, etc.? I've had a story up there for a year or so and it's had five reads. I've never mentioned my Wattpad account anywhere, just thinking people would find the story. (I do have it tagged, which I figured was the main thing.) But many people have stories with over a million reads. How? Does a person have to put time into promoting the story just like everything else How do people even know your stories exists? Or is it a totally random thing, and readers simply stumble upon them accidentally? If you are on Wattpad, do you ever put up stories that are also published? Do you put up works-in-progress to generate interest in the completed project? But if nobody is reading it...


Trying to generate sales from Wattpad is like giving away free clothing and accessories in a Salvation Army thrift shop and expecting to have those people buy the same brands from normal retail outlets at full price. It ain't gonna happen.

How many people do you know who have the ability to find Wattpad who actually go there for reading material rather than to Amazon or one of its competitors? I know of no one over the age of fourteen who prefers Wattpad to other outlets that offer free material.


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## AworkInProgress (Sep 5, 2013)

I'm on wattpad and have read some things on their in the past but haven't started doing much their yet myself. http://www.wattpad.com/DLSharpwriting


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## AworkInProgress (Sep 5, 2013)

DarkScribe said:


> Trying to generate sales from Wattpad is like giving away free clothing and accessories in a Salvation Army thrift shop and expecting to have those people buy the same brands from normal retail outlets at full price. It ain't gonna happen.
> 
> How many people do you know who have the ability to find Wattpad who actually go there for reading material rather than to Amazon or one of its competitors? I know of no one over the age of fourteen who prefers Wattpad to other outlets that offer free material.


I agree but I also think it's a great place to grab young readers. If you can manage to truly hook them with a story that not only entertains but speaks to them. The odds that they head over to to amazon or elsewhere to make a purchase that allows them to continue that journey is pretty good. I say this as a younger person who has used sites similar to wattpad in the past and gotten myself deeply hooked on some of the stories I found. Had the author had more elsewhere I probably would have paid for it.

That being said I don't plan to post any full works there that I will try to sell elsewhere. The first chapter or even the first few chapters to give those who enjoy the story enough time to get a feel for it and want more. And simply direct them to where they can purchase the finished work. Plenty won't go for this because they are used to free. But those who really find themselves attached to what you wrote may well become buyers. And I stick to only samples the loss of giving away my work for free isn't there. Of course this all requires what you're writing to appeal to the younger crowd because yourself and others are right, wattpad is full of teenagers. If you're not going to appeal to them I wouldn't bother. Sorry to butt in btw.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

DarkScribe said:


> Trying to generate sales from Wattpad is like giving away free clothing and accessories in a Salvation Army thrift shop and expecting to have those people buy the same brands from normal retail outlets at full price. It ain't gonna happen.
> 
> How many people do you know who have the ability to find Wattpad who actually go there for reading material rather than to Amazon or one of its competitors? I know of no one over the age of fourteen who prefers Wattpad to other outlets that offer free material.


I have hundreds of Wattpad-generated sales of books priced at $5.99.

Do you think people who read at Wattpad only read at Wattpad? That they _never_ buy any books?

It's a site full of people, predominately teens, who love to read. They buy books when and if they can. If they find something they love enough and have the resources, they will buy it.

Wattpad is even rolling out a Kickstarter-style system for fans to support their favorite authors' new projects. Experimental invitation only phase at the moment.

Some of my most dedicated fans started at Wattpad and bought all my books.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

D.L. Sharp said:


> That being said I don't plan to post any full works there that I will try to sell elsewhere. The first chapter or even the first few chapters to give those who enjoy the story enough time to get a feel for it and want more. And simply direct them to where they can purchase the finished work.


I think it's a good idea to put samples up on Wattpad. I will certainly be doing that myself for the books I don't post complete versions of and for the sequels to those I do.

However, if you don't have at least one book that eventually is complete on the site, you will likely never get much visibility for those samples ... unfortunately. Still a good idea, though.


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## Olivia_Devon (Oct 24, 2013)

I'm hoping to use Wattpad as Beta Reading outlet. I'd heard of some writers using it exactly that way. I joined just yesterday and posted some rather roughly edited chapters of a book in a new series I'm working on. Verdict is still out . My profile is http://www.wattpad.com/user/ODD_Olivia if anyone wants to "friend" me.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

Yoly mentioned upthread that it's much harder to get followers today than it was in the past due to Wattpad changes.

I think there's a fun, community element to Wattpad that's probably appealing to most of the people who use it.


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## Routhwick (Apr 1, 2012)

As I've mentioned once or twice before...


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## Clarketacular (Mar 3, 2013)

Just starting on this site, may post my new short stories there to see how it goes.

My link: http://www.wattpad.com/user/Clarketacular


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## MatNastos (Aug 4, 2011)

I've got chapters from my first two novels up on Wattpad. Will be adding more over the next month:

http://www.wattpad.com/user/MatNastos

-M


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## Rachel Aukes (Oct 13, 2013)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> Some of my most dedicated fans started at Wattpad and bought all my books.


This.

I (nervously) posted my full novel there and haven't seen a change in Amazon sales (good or bad). Yes, I'm sure I've lost a few sales, but I also know I've made a few sales thanks to the exposure on Wattpad. I'm using Wattpad to reach my future readers ("Get 'em while they're young"), many who'd never see my work otherwise. And, these readers have friends who just may buy my book. Wattpad isn't there to bring us sales, but as an exposure tool, I think it is one of the best out there (and it's FREE for authors to use).


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## David J Normoyle (Jun 22, 2012)

Just posted the first few chapters of my latest novella. Will post the whole thing, and then consider posting the follow on novel.

I've followed all the peeps in this thread.

http://www.wattpad.com/user/DavidJNormoyle


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

I'm starting to get into Wattpad. I'm planning on getting all chapters of my perma-free on there. I have the first chapter of most of my other books, though I have to add my latest one. It can be hard to keep up with all the sites!

http://www.wattpad.com/user/StacyClaflin


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

the perils of wattpad. 
i ended up deleting my wattpad account after receiving an account termination notice from amazon due to content being free on wattpad. this is something i should have known because i've read about it here, but i just didn't make the connection until i got the notice. and since amazon notices are automated it's particularly disconcerting. i've taken what i hope is the necessary step to keep my account open (which, according to their notice, is just republishing the book?? this makes no sense), but i guess i'll see. have a new book launching the 20th, so keeping my fingers crossed.


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## David J Normoyle (Jun 22, 2012)

Anne Frasier said:


> the perils of wattpad.
> i ended up deleting my wattpad account after receiving an account termination notice from amazon due to content being free on wattpad. this is something i should have known because i've read about it here, but i just didn't make the connection until i got the notice. and since amazon notices are automated it's particularly disconcerting. i've taken what i hope are the necessary steps to keep my account open, but i guess i'll see. have a new book launching the 20th, so keeping my fingers crossed.


Wow, that's worrying. I'm only posting chapters from my permafree at the moment, but was thinking of posting all of one of my paid books, as it seems many here have done. Might have to change that plan.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

David J Normoyle said:


> Wow, that's worrying. I'm only posting chapters from my permafree at the moment, but was thinking of posting all of one of my paid books, as it seems many here have done. Might have to change that plan.


david, yeah, that's what i was doing. posting a chapter at a time of one of my paid titles. BUT i republished the paid book after finding a typo. That was the trigger, but I'm guessing amazon bots would have figured it out eventually even if i hadn't repubbed.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Anne Frasier said:


> the perils of wattpad.
> i ended up deleting my wattpad account after receiving an account termination notice from amazon due to content being free on wattpad. this is something i should have known because i've read about it here, but i just didn't make the connection until i got the notice. and since amazon notices are automated it's particularly disconcerting. i've taken what i hope is the necessary step to keep my account open (which, according to their notice, is just republishing the book?? this makes no sense), but i guess i'll see. have a new book launching the 20th, so keeping my fingers crossed.


I believe I specifically mentioned this very concern, on page 1 of this very thread, and one person said it had never been a problem.

I'm going to take a few of my stories off WattPad, since they're now for sale in numerous places. And the current work I'm putting up on WP will come down when I get ready to publish that one as well.

And since my works are _not_ YA stories, and don't include boy-banders, or fantasy characters, they won't be missed on Wattpad.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

Jena H said:


> I believe I specifically mentioned this very concern, on page 1 of this very thread, and one person said it had never been a problem.
> 
> I'm going to take a few of my stories off WattPad, since they're now for sale in numerous places. And the current work I'm putting up on WP will come down when I get ready to publish that one as well.
> 
> And since my works are _not_ YA stories, and don't include boy-banders, or fantasy characters, they won't be missed on Wattpad.


i knew i'd read about it somewhere! ack. i suppose that reassurance of it not being a problem led me to shrug it off. getting the notice stating they might terminate my account in five days is a real wake up.

mine actually WAS YA, but nobody was reading it. heh.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Anne Frasier said:


> i knew i'd read about it somewhere! ack. i suppose that reassurance of it not being a problem led me to shrug it off. getting the notice stating they might terminate my account in five days is a real wake up.
> 
> mine actually WAS YA, but nobody was reading it. heh.


Hardly anyone's reading my stuff on WP, and if Amazon only notices the connection due to sales, I'm pretty safe, as hardly anyone's buying the books either.


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## Natasha Holme (May 26, 2012)

I'm here:
www.wattpad.com/11175871-lesbian-crushes-and-bulimia-a-diary-on-how-i


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

Anne Frasier said:


> the perils of wattpad.
> i ended up deleting my wattpad account after receiving an account termination notice from amazon due to content being free on wattpad. this is something i should have known because i've read about it here, but i just didn't make the connection until i got the notice. and since amazon notices are automated it's particularly disconcerting. i've taken what i hope is the necessary step to keep my account open (which, according to their notice, is just republishing the book?? this makes no sense), but i guess i'll see. have a new book launching the 20th, so keeping my fingers crossed.


I've never heard of this being a problem before, except with Kindle Select books. I know people have gotten notices then. I've republished for corrections a couple of times since going over a million reads at Wattpad and haven't encountered any trouble.


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## Anne Frasier (Oct 22, 2009)

David Alastair Hayden said:


> I've never heard of this being a problem before, except with Kindle Select books. I know people have gotten notices then. I've republished for corrections a couple of times since going over a million reads at Wattpad and haven't encountered any trouble.


interesting. it must be the dark cloud that follows me around.  my book hasn't been in select for a long time.


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## David Alastair Hayden (Mar 19, 2011)

It could be something new they've started but in the past Amazon hasn't cared about free versions in non-ebook, no sales site form, unless Select was involved.


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## CJArcher (Jan 22, 2011)

Anne Frasier said:


> interesting. it must be the dark cloud that follows me around.  my book hasn't been in select for a long time.


I think those of us not in Select will be fine. Otherwise I'd be getting notices from them about my freebies over at B&N, Apple etc. I think they'd be more concerned over those than the freebie at Wattpad.


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## phil1861 (Dec 22, 2011)

http://wattpad.com/PhillipBryant717

HF on Wattpad isn't hyper popular, but exposure is exposure.


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## David Thayer (Sep 7, 2012)

Anne, sorry to hear about your travails with Wattpad. I'm putting out mostly yet to be published stuff although the opening chapter of the latest release is up there. I deleted some other stuff in part because I noticed the delete button for the first time and had to try it.


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## David J Normoyle (Jun 22, 2012)

Anne Frasier said:


> interesting. it must be the dark cloud that follows me around.  my book hasn't been in select for a long time.


Ah ok, it's only for Select books that there's a problem. Makes sense.


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## Leif Sterling (Jul 19, 2014)

I just joined Wattpad today!

http://www.wattpad.com/user/LeifSterling

I just posted the first couple of chapters to my book. We'll see how it goes.


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## CesarAnthony (Jul 10, 2014)

I joined there a few months ago. 
Let's follow for a follow. Account is - CesarAnthony


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## bobbic (Apr 4, 2011)

I just posted my first story there. 
http://www.wattpad.com/82326511-revenge-of-the-ulagu-complete-story


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## 75845 (Jan 1, 1970)

I'm at http://www.wattpad.com/user/MerciaMcMahon

I'm doing a sort of writing in public thingie for NaNoWriMo. The novel project that is my kb avatar is being posted on smashwords and on Wattpad at http://www.wattpad.com/79338768-grace-comes-home-how-is-your-grace


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## Scila (Apr 13, 2014)

I miss my old days of finding Harry Potter fanfiction, so decided to give this a try. For now, I'm posting a paranormal teen WIP and see what happens...
http://www.wattpad.com/user/PriscilaSantaRosa


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

I just joined and posted two chapters of my YA novel. No action yet but I know I need to start reading others

I'm going to follow everyone here. And here's my profile link:

http://www.wattpad.com/user/EmilyWibberley


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## AnonWriter (Dec 12, 2013)

Leif Sterling said:


> I just joined Wattpad today!
> 
> http://www.wattpad.com/user/LeifSterling
> 
> I just posted the first couple of chapters to my book. We'll see how it goes.


Wow, you have nearly 1K followers already. Nice work.


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## JKE01 (Apr 18, 2021)

__





Jessica (@TrickyCrayon) - Wattpad


MORE READING LISTS ON SECOND ACCOUNT : @TrickyCrayon2 LINK to second account : https://www.wattpad.com/user/TrickyCrayon2?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&am...




www.wattpad.com





^ This is my account  I create reading lists and categorise them for people to find good books easily - that I have personally read


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