Writing and Wattpadding (a guide)

Getting Readers

This is the all mighty question here on Wattpad. How in the world do you get more reads?

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Well I don't look at in terms of reads, I look at it as readers. 

There's a difference between the amount of overall reads that you have, and the number of readers you have. You have the people who click on the first couple chapters and then you have those who go all the way through from start to finish. 

You'll notice when you look at your story that there is a very disproportionate number of readers from your first chapter or two to your most recent chapters. The number at the end is about how many readers you have. 

Now how do you get those readers?

-- Cover

In the beginning, it's all up to you. It starts with the product you have to give people, because essentially your book/story is the product you're trying to sell. 

You need to have an attractive looking product. You know that phrase "never judge a book by its cover?" Well here's a secret: we're human and we do in fact judge books by their covers. We like attractive things. We like things that catch our eye, and books are no exception. 

You need to have an attractive, attention grabbing cover. 

-- Description. 

When people cross your story on the Stories You Might Enjoy (SYME) they only see a few lines. That means that you need to grab their attention in just a few lines. You're first sentence or two needs to be good enough to make them want to click on your story and read more. 

Once you got them to click on it, they're going to read the rest of your description. You're going to want to make it something that's page turn worthy. Leave them wanting to know what's going to happen next. Make them want to find out what happens at the end. 

When you're working on your description it needs to have a few key things. Who's your main character and what's the problem?  you want to present your problem without giving too much away. Why should we care? Make the reader care and want to read on. 

Once you get them to turn the page, you've potentially got a reader. Whether you keep them there or not now depends on the content that you have inside your story. Some people will be hooked and they'll keep reading. Others may get bored with it or maybe something happens that they just don't like and they'll leave.

It happens, I've had it happen to me more times than I can count. I've had people tell me that they were stopping because they didn't like something. That's fine. Don't worry about it because for every person that says they're not going to read anymore, there are many who will keep reading. 

"Okay, well what if I already have that stuff? What if I have a good cover and an interesting description and I'm still not getting a lot of readers?"

Well, remember in the last section how I said not to advertise yourself using other stories and profiles. That's important. However, it is okay to request people to read your story. There are some important guidelines you should follow for this though. 

-- ONLY make requests to people you know

DO NOT go to random people and ask them to read your story. It's another thing they will find rude. Especially if your first interaction with them is you posting a link to your story or you asking them to read your story. 

Get to know other people by reading stories and commenting on them. There are a lot of writers on Wattpad who reciprocate. If you read and comment on their story, then they are more likely to read and comment on your story. You'll also find that you can meet some people through the comments. You'll find that people tend to stick within a genre. You will most likely see the same people on various stories and they will be seeing you. In this way, you can make connections with other commenters. They can be a great way to find more readers because you most likely write in a genre that they already read. Never ask them to read your story in the comments of another story though. 

-- Always ALWAYS make sure you check a person's profile before you ask them to read your story. A lot of times you will see a person post in their "about me" section that they don't take read requests. This means they DO NOT take read requests. Don't ask them. They won't do it. It's not even worth it. You're just going to tick them off. 

If they don't have anything in their "about me" first make sure they take read requests before you ask them. 

-- Reader onlys are a good way to find more readers. If you're looking for more readers, then search the stories that are within the genre you write. Find people who are reading stories that are like yours. Get to know those people. Talk to them in messages and whatnot. Once you've formed that connection, then you can ask them to read your story. You have better luck with this when they are only readers. 

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To be quite honest, if you take the time to really get to know a person, chances are you won't even have to ask them to read your story. They will most likely just read it because you've taken the time to get to know them. However, don't get to know someone with just the hopes that they will read your story and you have no plans to reciprocate. If they have a story, then you should read their's as well. Reciprocity is a great thing on Wattpad. Never go in with the intention of getting something without giving something. 

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There is another way you can advertise yourself on Wattpad. This way is sanctioned by Wattpad yourself and it's called clubs. 

For the site, there are clubs for each genre, and within those clubs there are different threads. In there, there is always one constant thread called the Share Your Story (SYS) thread. In there, you are allowed to share your story as long as it fits in with the genre of the club. If you have a werewolf story, it goes in the werewolf SYS thread, if you have a romance story, then it goes in the romance SYS thread, and so on. 

As I said, these are accessible only on the site as far as I know. Meaning they cannot be accessed from the app. 

Due to that, I'm not sure how effective they are in reaching readers because of two small facts. 

1) About 85%-95% of Wattpad users are mobile users

2) The people who are on the site are writers, and they're going into those threads to share their own stories. They aren't going in there to find stories to read (at least not generally). 

However, it never hurts to try to advertise in there, and the pinned thread for SYS is cleared once a week. What day and time depends on the club and the Ambassador who wipes it. 

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So here's a recap on how to get readers:

-- Attractive, attention grabbing cover

-- Description that makes the reader want to know more

-- Content that keeps them interested and invested

-- Reading and commenting on other stories that are similar to yours (reciprocity)

-- Making friends with other readers

-- Advertising on the SYS threads in the clubs

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Any other topics you want me to cover? Leave your questions below or message me and I'll see what I can do.