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WATTPAD: ANYONE HAVE SUCCESS MARKETING HERE?

1K views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  wilsonharp 
#1 ·
I was just reading some information in my files (from 2010) from an author and her experience with Wattpad and how it launched a major career, and I was wondering if anyone else has had a good (or bad) experience with Wattpad. Maybe this has been hashed over before. If so, I'd appreciate an update from those using this in the last year. Thanks in advance.
 
#2 ·
I don't use Wattpad, but I launched my career on WFG (Webfictionguide) / topwebfiction. It's less crowded over there, the audience is more mature on average, all the stories are original (no fanfic) and the focus is more on fantasy / superheroes than romance. Even though it's less crowded, there's still a good amount of reader traffic. I had a day with over 1600 views, several hundred on average.

Not that it's a major career yet, mind you. My Amazon launch included several newbie mistakes that I'm going to fix over the next 5-6 months.
 
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#3 ·
There have been some huge successes launched from Wattpad. AFTER for example was the first story to receive over a billion reads and Anna Todd signed a 6-figure deal for the series.

However, it is a social media site. Yes there are a number of Wattpad users who went on to large trad deals BUT you need to put in the work to garner that many reads and followers. You need to engage, read, comment, vote and participate in the community. It really depends if that is where you want to invest your time or not.

I have a couple of books up on Wattpad, its fun to interact with readers but personally I've found only a teeny tiny percentage go on to buy the second in series. Most send you messages asking when the sequels will be posted for free as they don't pay for content.
 
#4 ·
Tilly said:
There have been some huge successes launched from Wattpad. AFTER for example was the first story to receive over a billion reads and Anna Todd signed a 6-figure deal for the series.

However, it is a social media site. Yes there are a number of Wattpad users who went on to large trad deals BUT you need to put in the work to garner that many reads and followers. You need to engage, read, comment, vote and participate in the community. It really depends if that is where you want to invest your time or not.

I have a couple of books up on Wattpad, its fun to interact with readers but personally I've found only a teeny tiny percentage go on to buy the second in series. Most send you messages asking when the sequels will be posted for free as they don't pay for content.
I tend to agree with this assessment. I'm on Wattpad as well. From my own experience, while there has indeed been those who have gone on to launch mega careers, I've found that there is very little crossover from Wattpad (free) readership to paid readership. In fact, one of my books started on Wattpad and has several tens of thousands of reads, but I can't say that any of its Wattpad readers have gone on to purchase the Amazon version.
 
#5 ·
Tonya Snow-Cook said:
I tend to agree with this assessment. I'm on Wattpad as well. From my own experience, while there have indeed been those who have gone on to launch mega careers, I've found there is very little crossover from Wattpad (free) readership to paid readership. In fact, one of my books started on Wattpad and has several tens of thousands of reads, but I can't say that any of its Wattpad readers have gone on to purchase the Amazon version.
I think this could be because Wattpad's average reader is fairly young and might not be able to buy books online even if they want to.

WFG's readership appears to be a bit older - many are in the college age range, I believe. I got about 25 or so sales from them when I launched the first ebook, and I don't have nearly as many followers as some of the big names do. Two of the most successful RoyalRoadL (yet another web fiction platform) authors had VERY successful ebook debuts lately:

https://www.amazon.com/Goblins-Tale-Iron-Teeth-Book-ebook/dp/B071LHHY85

and

https://www.amazon.com/Delvers-LLC-Welcome-Blaise-Corvin-ebook/dp/B01M0U4B3S

Even if only 1 out of 100 readers buy the book, a large enough following can make quite a difference by providing an initial visibility boost. Instant algo love!
 
#6 ·
C. Rysalis said:
I think this could be because Wattpad's average reader is fairly young and might not be able to buy books online even if they want to.
Yes, this, and I knew this going, so when I published my book, I didn't expect any returns from Wattpad. The age factor does play a part.
 
#7 ·
C. Rysalis said:
I think this could be because Wattpad's average reader is fairly young and might not be able to buy books online even if they want to.

WFG's readership appears to be a bit older - many are in the college age range, I believe. I got about 25 or so sales from them when I launched the first ebook, and I don't have nearly as many followers as some of the big names do. Two of the most successful RoyalRoadL (yet another web fiction platform) authors had VERY successful ebook debuts lately:

https://www.amazon.com/Goblins-Tale-Iron-Teeth-Book-ebook/dp/B071LHHY85

and

https://www.amazon.com/Delvers-LLC-Welcome-Blaise-Corvin-ebook/dp/B01M0U4B3S

Even if only 1 out of 100 readers buy the book, a large enough following can make quite a difference by providing an initial visibility boost. Instant algo love!
IMO 1 out of a 1000 would be generous, and I think total reads on a 'novel' there add up all the reads from all the chapters. I could be wrong, but that's what my math worked out when I looked through a popular story there. So I imagine you are looking at a conversion from your popular book of 1 for every 10k-50k reads. Might be better ratio on lower numbers, because the big ones tend to snowball and draw everyone in at least for a look.
 
#8 ·
Adam_T said:
IMO 1 out of a 1000 would be generous, and I think total reads on a 'novel' there add up all the reads from all the chapters. I could be wrong, but that's what my math worked out when I looked through a popular story there. So I imagine you are looking at a conversion from your popular book of 1 for every 10k-50k reads. Might be better ratio on lower numbers, because the big ones tend to snowball and draw everyone in at least for a look.
In my case, it was around 1 book sale for every 20 readers who kept following the story until the very end - calculated from the number of views on the epilogue. But as I said, my readership is a bit older than Wattpad's average. Many of them are college students.

My next serial will be released as an ebook first. Readers will have the option to wait for the next free update, or buy the book and finish the story right away.
 
#9 ·
It was easier to get noticed back when the site was still new, but now the user base is huge. Of course, there are the clubs (forum) where you can advertise your books on the dedicated thread. You can also contact Wattpad and ask for your book to be featured in your selected category. The books that are featured usually aren't the "hot" ones on there. I think it's their way of helping new/rising authors gain readers. It also depends on the genre of your book(s) on how much attention it gets. Teen fiction and romance are the hottest categories, but fantasy does decent too.
As others have said, most users are tweens/teens so they may not be able to buy  ebooks or don't want to as there's tons of free content on the site.
If you're doing a loss-leader book, maybe making it permafree or $0.99 will encourage some users to buy your book. If you already have free books that aren't in KU it wouldn't hurt to put them on there. But don't put the book up all at once. Post a chapter once a day or every couple days. This will keep your book more on the radar. Once it's fully posted, make sure you change it to complete in the book's settings 'cause there's some people who only look for complete books. Another tactic is at the end of every chapter post a link to where readers can get the full version without having to wait for updates.
Another option is posting samples of your books, but make it clear it's a sample otherwise you may get backlash from readers who thought they could read the whole book free.
 
#10 ·
On my debut novel, which I put up on Wattpad to gain some free advertising, I have 7,705 reads on the final chapter. That's the best estimate I have on who finished the book. Overall, I have 310,000 reads on the book, and I would say less than 20 sales from all who have read it on any one of my other books. I don't regret putting it up, and I'm glad so many have enjoyed it (great reading through the comments!), but it isn't a place to promote your writing as a paid author.
 
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