Today's chat is all about how to get readers and make friends on Wattpad the RIGHT way. Have your own tips? Share them down below!
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Lana: @AuRevoirSimone and myself are here today to talk all about how to succeed on (and off) wattpad the RIGHT way.
Simone: These are just some tips we've learned and shared over the past few years on how to get reader feedback
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Lana: Step one: Making friends and Influencing People! Emphasis on the making friends bit! When I first came to Wattpad, one of the first things I did was go out, find authors who wrote in the same genre, read their stories, drool, share my meager feedback and... MAKE FRIENDS
Lana: I still chat with most of these weirdos some 4-5 years later including the VERY FIRST friend I made on Wattpad, the lovely @HeathenWench
Simone: Right! That's how I tricked Lana into becoming my beta slave! We bonded over books we loved and I also bonded with @HeathenWench over hair care tips and my horrendous advice on how to chat up guys (which surprisingly worked)
Simone: The story thing was like a side effect, lol!
Simone: The key to good feedback I've found is finding people with like minds who understand you and your stories - which, when you think about it, is the basis of most friendships anyway
Lana: Yep! The key to getting feedback is to find similar writers, with similar interest and OFFER up your advice and create a symbiotic, mutually beneficial relationship. Rather than just brow-beating people into reading your stuff. Be genuine. And more importantly be NICE.
Simone: Another tip would be going after the readers, rather than the writers. A lot of writers don't actually read on wattpad - or, if they do, they only read certain types of books much like any other reader with specific tastes & reading "kinks". A lot of writers also don't have time to post in-depth comments on other peoples' stories all the time because they're busy writing. Readers, on the other hand, are there to do just that - read. When I first started out, a great way to get feedback and gain loyal readers was to check out books similar to yours in similar genres, find readers through the comments that you connected with and befriend them!
Lana: Now that you've made friends, I think the second step (or probably the first) is to just....write! I've heard from soo many people who are frustrated by why they aren't popular or why they have no reads and they have a total of...1 chapter to their name.
Lana: Very RARELY will you rack up the reads with ONE chapter or even ONE story.
Simone: It can be frustrating not getting feedback right away, but the best part about writing is that you can always rewrite - and if you later find out, ten chapters in, that you need to go back and head in a different direction... it's okay! You didn't waste time. You learned from writing all that, and that is NEVER a waste.
