Cracking the Wattpad Code: Insider Secrets the Pros don't want you to know!

And now for the Feature Presentation

Everyone knows that there is a very special group of people on Wattpad with special privileges. It is the group of people that is at once misunderstood, envied, and perhaps even detested.

Make no mistake however, Featured Authors have a special power on Wattpad.

Let's take a look at the advantages you get:

1) Your story gets "suggested" far more often than any other story

2) I've harped on the ranking algorithm and its tendency to prioritize stories that have recently updated. Would you believe that Featured Stories are immune to the time requirement? Well, they are! 

3) For at least a month (your first time), you get on the front page of Wattpad. And if anyone here thinks that's not a big deal, you haven't experienced it first-hand.

So, for those who don't have an idea of how the amazing advantage that Featured Stories have, let me put it into perspective for you. The moment you get on Featured Stories, here are some of the benefits (based on personal experience):

You get:

1) 1 - 2 library adds per hour

2) About 6K reads on average per day (my record was about 10K on really good days)

3) 1 - 2 comments per hour

4) A crazy amount of votes, though for some reason, I was really lucky and got great votes even before I got Featured.

5) It took me 3 days to go from unranked (because I hadn't updated in months when my book was finished which is the #1 thing the algorithm prioritizes), to #1 on the Hot List. On my  very first day as a Featured Author I ranked #400. I thought, "Cool, it's doing something for me at least." On the second day I was ranked #2 and #3 in Fantasy and Sci Fi respectively. I couldn't believe it. By day #3, I was #1 in both Sci-Fi and Fantasy Categories. It was, beyond ridiculous.

6) It was only on Friday (remember what I said about Friday?) that I would occasionally lose my #1 spot. By Wednesday of the week after, I would regain the top spot back.

I remained in the top spots for that first month. It  was only after I left the front page that my rankings dropped somewhat.

The moment I gave up my Featured Status to join the Wattys, my rankings dropped like a sack of hot potatoes. It only took me a week to get de-ranked completely (remember, no updating = no ranking).

That's the power of being a Featured Author.

 But how does one go about getting this amazing treatment?

As I write this, there are three ways to get into Featured Stories:

1) Get independently scouted. WP has readers that are constantly scanning the website for quality works.

2) Be a published author and get Featured as part of an arrangement between WP and the publisher.

3) Submit to WP for consideration. Here's the linky: http://www.wattpad.com/writers

Now, that third avenue is still very much open, which is wonderful of WP to do, as it opens up a world of opportunity for talented writers, so I strongly suggest everyone try and take advantage of that.

It doesn't matter which of the three routes you came in through. Once you are a Featured Author, you are on a level playing field with even New York Times best-selling authors, at least on Wattpad. It's a great experience and one that I am happy Wattpad facilitates.

The next update, I'll detail what it takes to get Featured Status and perhaps some tips and tricks on how you can increase your chances of getting Featured. Stay tuned! :D