Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

Public Readers are the Worst

Okay... Okay... the title is clearly over the top. I'm naturally being a bit hyperbolic here. However, I felt this chapter was worth writing for two reasons. One, I'm writing it for the writers, many of which had likely felt the stresses and issues I'm talking about. The second reason I'm writing this is for the readers. I feel like you guys need to understand some of the things your fellow readers do. You're likely not one of these people, but it doesn't hurt to have some perspective and awareness regarding the ones that come with you.

You guys are probably familiar with a certain kind of joke. Parents with their first baby have new everything, and take so much time and care and consideration that their baby gets the best. By the time they have the third baby, they're sleeping in half a crib and the parents don't even bother. How about this one? You say when you're an adult, you'll never give your kids sugar, or swear in front of them, or let them watch TV. You'll treat them like adults, making every order 100% clear... Ten years later, you're saying "Because I told you so..." and giving them melatonin just so they'll go to sleep.

What I'm talking about here falls in this kind of category. The young and inexperienced writers will have this fantasy about how they'll write and how they'll interact with their fans. Perhaps, you even have a couple of diehard fans, and your interactions with them have been beautiful. Then, ten years later, you're successful and have thousands of fans, and then you're bitterly cursing your readers and writing vague rants just like me.

The idea of this chapter popped up this Thanksgiving. I was writing a thank you letter to my readers, and this included a coupon in my store. In the past, I'd literally just give people a voucher that allowed them to have one of my books for free. I like giving people free content, and my entire model focuses on offering free content. (Although you wouldn't believe that talking to some of these readers, more on that in a bit).

So, what happened? Well, the last time I gave a book for free, my free readers chose to take the voucher, and then create a dozen fake accounts, so they could steal EVERY book in my library. They used my kindness to rob me of hundreds of dollars' worth of content. No joke.

And, this wasn't a person, or a few people. This was 20% of every person who used the coupon. That's right, I knew who used the coupon, and I knew how many times someone stripped my site of content, and 20% of all free readers went on to steal everything.

I should also point out that the way I deliver this voucher is the same way I deliver it monthly to all of the members who support me monetarily. All 1300 of them. Yes, a member has occasionally stripped me like that, but with 1300 members and maybe 100 new ones a month, I see that happen maybe five times a year... whereas with the public, 20% of users chose to illegally steal from me, exploiting my own kindness to do it, within a day of having the coupon up.

We'll get back to that in a bit, let's go back to the free story I wanted to give my readers. I realized that they would steal everything if I gave them a choice, so my second thought was to just offer them one story. A single book for free that they could enjoy. However, many people don't read all of my series. Most readers only read one or two of my series. Furthermore, they might have already bought or previous acquired that book from a previous giveaway. What then?

Then, I'd get people angry and upset. They'd literally be less happy because I gave something away for free because it wasn't what they wanted. There is an entire reddit section dedicated to these kinds of stories. It's called entitlement. When you get something for free, you feel entitled to continue to get it for free. Sites like Wattpad here are great at fueling that entitlement. All of the writers here offer their content for free. How dare they want something for the hours upon hours they spent creating this work you're enjoying. How dare they...