WATTPAD - WRITING SITE WINNER REVIEW AND TOUR

I carried out my review last week in relation to 'writing sites' I have used for the past few years. I chose a winner based on what they had to offer, could you use it easily on the move, plus the scope for you as a writer to be able to reach readers and receive feedback. The winner was Wattpad!

I promised to share my experience of Wattpad and how I use it daily with a quick tour. Here it goes, I hope it makes sense and does the site justice. 

What is Wattpad?
Watt stands for Wattage as in electronic and Pad is book, 'Ebook'. At least that is how I look at it.

(These are stats taken from an email I received back in May)

Wattpad is the world's largest community of readers and writers. It's the free and fun way to read online! Whether you’re an avid reader or an aspiring writer, Wattpad is the best place to discover and share unlimited stories. Everyday millions of people use Wattpad to read great fiction or share their own creative writing. It's the only community that offers a mobile, social, eReading experience!

Also, here are the latest stats about us: 

From About page:

• 3.2 million stories posted with another 300,000+ added every month
• 8 Million unique monthly visitors
• 1 comment posted every second
• Many popular titles have over 10 million reads and more than 10,000 comments

Extra info:

Usage doubles every 6 months

1.5 billion minutes a month spent on Wattpad

One of our most popular unpublished teen writers (xxSkater2Girl16xx) has a story with almost 20M reads

Here are the team... yep real people!

Wattpad is worldwide and used by millions of people not just English speaking so there is a language choice:

They have 'Watty Awards' each year which as you can see includes prizes! If you are writing work which is G rated to PG13 you can enter Watty Awards. (RRated is not accepted)

They have competitions e.g. Poetry which is called 'Atty's as it is run in conjunction with Margaret Attwood who is a Wattpad member.

Evidence of accomplished writers supporting Wattpad: 

Margaret Attwood http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood

Paulo Coelho http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulo_Coelho

Vincent Lam http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_Lam

Success Stories of writers being found on Wattpad by Publishers: 

http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/Authors/11436/abigail-gibbs

What did the Publisher see on Wattpad to make them offer Abbie a deal?

So how will things look to you when you start to use Wattpad... here is my profile. I initially joined in Oct 2010 but didn't start using it until March 2012. You can see how many fans, reads, votes, dedications etc I have just from six months. 

It is so easy to use and it is incredibly rare for the servers to go down. If they do they are back up before you have a chance to flag it.

Here is an example of what your work could look like on Wattpad. *Note there is 'chat' just like Facebook.

Wattpad allow RRated work to be on their site but should something have content which is 'risque' they will mark it 'Private'.  

Wattpad rules of site:

R - The story's content is considered "adult". Stories that are rated R cannot qualify for Wattpad's "What's Hot" listing. The violence, sexuality and story lines are not suitable for all readers. Occasional description of sexual scenes are included and characters may act violently and with dark motives. Please note that pornography is not considered adult and will not be permitted on Wattpad. R rated content may include stories that touch upon or refer to, BUT DO NOT DESCRIBE IN DETAIL mature themes, such as: serious drug use, prostitution, suicide, and all types of abuse. Graphic depiction of any of the preceding may result in your story being removed from Wattpad. In an R rated story characters swear and use impolite, derogatory terms. Actions and things can be described using swear words or impolite, derogatory terms.

Please Note: The story content includes textual and any images and videos associated with a story. Wattpad reserves the right to remove stories that do not follow these guidelines.

Wattpad encourages authors to self rate stories they have uploaded and to report stories that they think deserve a higher rating.

RESTRICTED MATERIAL

Do not submit any material that is unlawful, obscene, defamatory, libelous, threatening, pornographic, harassing, hateful, racially offensive, or is otherwise inappropriate. We will promptly remove any such material submitted to the service.

If you want to read more adult content you can click the 'mature' button to have them included. It is a new feature and a work in progress. You can also chose to only show 'completed' work so you are not left waiting on chapter updates. (You will get an email when someone updates if you are a fan). You must also know the name of the book you are searching for and chose the category and length e.g. short story 6 pages to read over coffee at work.

If you know the person you are looking for you can search their name. 

Wattpad have Forums, Clubs etc where you can get advice, share you story or discover new ones that people are recommending. 

Wattpad have Ninja's... yep Ninja's or Ambassadors, where writers volunteer to keep and eye on the 'forums' or 'meet and greet' new users etc. Below is one example and this writer prefers to write 'short stories' which I enjoy as they are quite 'Twilight Zone', he is also a volunteer and helps keep things running smoothly. http://www.wattpad.com/user/TheOrangutan

If you have an issue there is a help desk which actually 'Helps'. No attitude, or waiting days for a reply. It is received, acknowledged, assigned, you are emailed and stick with the same person until it is resolved.

What does the helpdesk ticket look like?

Who is dealing with your request? 

As you can see it is a quick tour, and I am sure you will love it and find it has everything you could every need as a reader or writer. They also have Meet Up's all around the world e.g. London, Toronto, New York etc. I attended the 'London Meet Up', Allen Lau was there who is one of the co-founders and a delightful chap who didn't mind getting his hands dirty dragging chairs around when more and more people arrived. Maria was also in attendance and as you can see a user know most of them on a 'first name basis'. Kevin is a very helpful chap on the Helpdesk. Eva who is pictured above is lovely and has a passion for poetry which is infectious. What other site do you use where you know peoples names, have met them face to face, who know about you and your stories,  who never see it as a chore because they are passionate about writing like you? The other thing they are passionate about is your success.

I have recommended Wattpad to so many people in the past few months e.g friends, family, people at work, in cafes, nightclubs, pubs, gym, doctors, nurses, facebook, twitter etc and all love it. With the recession in full force in the UK lots of people couldn't afford new books, or a night out so love the free reads, the endless library of talent at their finger tips and were in awe of the cover art and trailers made by users. Several of my friends were avid readers but never dared to write as they felt 'silly', now thanks to Wattpad they are addicted to getting the words on a page and writing their own books. 

What you waiting for join over 5 million other users and become a Wattpadder http://www.wattpad.com