Any Reason to Use Wattpad?

John Guillen38 Comments

logo_Wattpad

On this day in 2014 I published Male or Female Protagonist: Why does it even matter?.

I’ve never used Wattpad. I can’t even remember playing around on the site. But I know a lot of bloggers use it. I’m just wondering if it’s actually useful.

I’m not going to pretend to know exactly how it works, but from what I’ve heard I gather it lets users create an account and then post original stories. Am I on the right track here? I guess one can receive feedback, perhaps? Not sure. But I’m just trying to figure out what draws a writer to the site. I can understand someone sharing one of their first stories, but I’m not sure I see any positive coming from an experienced writer sharing a new story that could be self published or pitched to an agent or entered into a competition. I just don’t see the point.

I’m not against the site. I’ve never used it. But outside of someone just beginning their writing journey, I’m not sure it’s really all that useful. If you’ve proven yourself as a writer, published or not, why use Wattpad? I don’t know the answer.

Photo Credit: Wattpad

38 thoughts on “Any Reason to Use Wattpad?”

  2. It sounds familiar. I didn’t used it and if i see the app in the app store i don’t think i will use it in de future. It doesn’t look easy on the pics i saw. But the app in the Appstore tells me you can read free books and follow your favorite writer. Think it’s like goodreads perhaps?

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    • I’d say it’s like Goodreads in that it’s social media around books/stories, but I think that’s it. From what other commenters have said, writers are writing and readers are following along and reading. I think that’s the basic premise.

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  3. I have a friend who has published a couple of books and been picked up by a real publisher. She’s writing a very different kind of book, chapter by chapter on Wattpad. She’s picked up a lot of readers along the way, and I’m sure a bunch of those will have gone off to investigate her other books. Some won’t like them, because they are different, but some will, because it’s still HER writing them. She’s using a free sample to draw people to her as a writer. It’s a risk, because all the time she’s writing on Wattpad, she’s not writing her other, more profitable books. But this is a story she wants to write, probably a story she would write anyway, so she’s not losing out.
    Since she’s also extremely professional, when she’s completed the story on Wattpad, she’s going to tear it to pieces and edit it and rewrite it. The final book will resemble that first draft, but it will be better, and I don’t think people will mind paying for a proper copy, even if they’ve read the first draft on Wattpad.
    That’s not how everyone uses it, of course, but my friend is smart and organised, and I think she’s doing it right.
    None of this means it’s the right thing for YOU. But if you have old pieces that are not going anywhere, you could do worse than hoisting them up onto Wattpad to get new readers watching what you’re doing.

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  4. I use wattpad all the time. I like it because most of the people on there are teenagers like me, so I get to interact with the audience I would be writing for. It can be really encouraging…or really disappointing. There’s not really an in-between. That’s the downside.

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  6. It’s just interesting to read books online. And some of them are really interesting and good. Also – great place where to find writers and readers in my own age and discuss something with them.

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      • Rather wattpad than a book, yes. Can’t really choose between Kindle and Wattpad. I haven’t used Goodreads much until this moment somehow I liked Wattpad better. Besides – it is super easy to use.

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  7. Hi there! I’ve been on Wattpad for over two years now. One of my major problems with Wattpad is the quality of stories there. Though you’ll find some diamonds, most of them are dominated by cliche chick-flicks which involve the usual bad boy falling for good girl stories. Some stories with irritating grammar manage to garner a million reads! It’s a site dominated by teen and tween girls and unless you churn out something of their tastes, becoming popular and gathering readership is one tough job.

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    • I think any site or platform on which anyone can write and/or read is going to be dominated by bad writing. But even those who have a lot of people reading their stories, what is there to gain? A site like that can’t really make you a better writer. I got better by reading and writing college essays. Not from something like Wattpad. But I don’t know.

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  8. It’s good for marketing purposes, I guess. I’ve heard many stories of authors who put up only half of their stories, and then a link to the amazon page. If you liked the story, then you buy the book.
    Seems good to me.

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    • I guess. I’d like to know how many people actually sell books because people on the site like whatever part of the story is available for free. And how many books we’re talking.

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      • I can’t be sure of the numbers, but they have noticed an increase in sales following an increase in their Wattpad activities. Of course, getting enough, valuable attention in such websites is very hard, but for those who made it, it was kind of worth it.

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  9. I genuinely dislike Wattpad because the main audience simply wants to read fanfiction. It’s very hard to get a good story noticed unless it’s a stereotypical romance. There’s not a lot of room for authors to grow unless they’re in certain niche-categories or simply lucky.

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  10. As someone who is starting to seriously sit down and work on their first full piece this looks like it could be a great tool, especially since I don’t intend to publish this story, but share it online.

    Seems like it’s probably geared more towards amateur writers such as myself. Glad I ran across this!

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  12. Erm… is it shameful that I didn’t even know what wattpad was until you described it? I hate most apps or programs like that. You can get far more from a few trusted friends and writing accomplices than from a bunch of random people who may do more damage to your writing and your self-esteem. Why bother? I won’t use it.

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