A Question for All Readers on Wattpad

Hello fellow Wattpadders!

I was wondering if I could take a minute of your time so you could answer this simple question: What makes you as a Wattpad reader drawn into a book (without reading a chapter of it)?

The reason for this is because I think so many wonderfully written books on Wattpad are undiscovered and unnoticed. So how do the most popular books that are at the same writing caliber as the unnoticed ones get so many more votes/comments/reads? That perplexing statement has given me the idea to ask you, the Wattpad readers, how a book stands out in your mind.

Thank you for your time!

elle23

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@elle23 Cover, title and pitch are the thing that most attract me to a book on Wattpad. Then I look at the first page and go on from there. But if the title is one of those "I slept with my werewolf maths teacher", or if there are obvious spelling mistakes in the pitch, I don't bother to even click on it.

To answer the second question, popularity on Wattpad is mainly contingent on how much advertising you're willing to do. Some people spend ages doing Reads for Reads, comments for comments, etc... which bumps their stories up the lists and gets them even more attention. Even if the story is rubbish, you can gets lots of reads if you work for it. I guess some people aren't prepared to do this. I know I'm not.

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Haha, there are tons of those 'werewolf math teacher' books out there. And thank you for your opinion, @alissende! And same, I'd rather have a really good book that's not very popular then one that's immensely popular but is completely horrible. elle23

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Cover and Summary...sometimes the Title too. If there are numerous grammar mistakes I immediately leave the story.

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@elle23 First of all, I don't read the popular books on wattpad. I've only read about one of them actually.

Second of all what draws me in is an interesting title, and a cover. Next, I'll look at the summary. If the first 2 sentences don't hook me I usually go "NEXT" and find a different story.

So practically the best thing to do is hook the reader as fast as possible, and as good as possible.

If that makes sense

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Thank you, @TheFayz and @SenselessExistence for your opinions! A lot of people say the cover of the books, and yet we probably shouldn't judge a book by its cover (but we all do it)!

elle23

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@elle23 @alissende mentioned the whole cliche story thing, but I think that there's a large amount of people who are willing to read the same kind of story but with different character names. I find that a little ridiculous but each to it's own, I suppose. But I completely agree, there are so many undiscovered stories that deserve to be way more popular! But I guess, there's also the whole writing style, punctuation/grammar, cover and trailer/banner factors.

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@elle23 As shallow as this seems. I actually scroll around looking at the covers. If the cover seems interesting as well as the title, I'll read it or look into it. But that's mostly when I'm looking on the popular lists etc but when it comes to the unpopular books / undiscovered etc I usually read the summaries

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@elle23 it has to be in a genre I like, a decent title (nothing overly explanatory or cliche), and a good cover (nothing smushed or made on paint or anything).

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@vitamin_water @xFakingaSmilex @cilla848 Thank you, all! It seems books need to have good first impressions to make people look at it. elle23

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@elle23 The title is the first thing. If it's one of those long titles that is a whole sentence, like some of the ones on the werewolf stories, like... *Trying to come up with a long title name* Don't feel like taking one from a book, as to not offend the author... But I don't read books if it's some immature title, or if there are grammar errors in it. I also won't read if the title's in CAPS, or if it's all lowercase. A title says a lot about the contents.

Then I'd look at the number of parts and the pages. I know, kinda shallow. But I've noticed that stories with more pages than the number of parts are more professional-ish than the ones with less pages than parts.

Usually I'd head to the synopsis next, and skim the beginning. If it sounds cool, then I'll read the rest of it. If I like it, then I'll start the book. I'm really picky with my stories. If there is a single flaw with either one of those, then I don't bother to read.

As for how some people say that covers attract attention, I think that's true, but since I'm stubborn and hate how that goes, I try to ignore the covers. Not that they don't pique my interest. They do, but I don't count them to see if I think a book's interesting. I'll pay attention to books that are coverless.

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@BreathlessTears Haha it always seems to be werewolf stories! elle23

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I always pay attention to the covers :) If it doesn't look eye catching or it looks like something made on Paint, I usually skip that story.

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They say "Don't judge a book by its cover". Well, I do:

I usually judge the picture they chose, the font, the colors... It tells a lot about the author. The same with the username.

People who take their writing seriously also take the book covering seriously. They won't use famous actors but someting that relates to their story. They won't use random pretty girls either (I saw a WP book called "My ghost stories" and there was a blonde duckfacing in the cover. No-no). They won't use fluorescent colors on the fonts either, actually, they would probably use simple fonts like Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Century Gothic...

It can look like a crappy cover, but if you pay enough attention you can realize if the person is serious about this or not.

(I can hear you saying "Watch out, we got a baddass over here!").

On the other side, it's combination of factors: Book cover, author's name, title and genre. Add a summary and you know almost everything about the book like that... I'm exagerating a little: you will know if the story worths it.

The author's note. If there's author's note, read it. It tells a lot about the writer.

And finally the first paragraph. I usually read the entire Chapter One before dropping a book, but there's people that with just reading the first paragraph or page they say "It goes to my book shelf" or "it goes to the trash can".

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@elle23 The title is what draws me in first. A good title to me means that there is a decent plot. The next thing that I look for is the book cover. Personally, I think that every good book needs an intriuging book cover. That, to me, plays a major part for me in deciding if I want to read the book or not. The third thing that I look for is a summary. If the story doesn't have a good summary or none at all, then I won't even go to the first chapter/prologue. And the fourth thing that I look for in the grammer in the summary. If it's not good at all or there are these little mistakes then I won't read it. Bad grammar drives me away from stories regardless if it has a good plot or not.

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Well sometimes the cover does catch the eye. Next the blurb. If it intrigues me, I'll prolly only read half of if and then just dive right in. And if not, I still give the story at least one chapter's worth of a fighting chance. Even willing to overlook the mistakes (because we all make them) if it is good.

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Sometimes the cover, more likely the title, genre and blurb. If there is obvious mistakes in any of them, like not capitalizing the i's or leaving out punctuation, I won't even bother to read it. I think most popular stories get that way by simply piling mountains of tags onto every chapter they write so no matter what you put in the search box their story will be up there somewhere...

If the story has a title along the lines of 'I slept with a werewolf who is alpha male of my pack and is also my english teacher and my dad but my boyfriend is actually a vampire who made me his slave' then I just move on quickly...

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@TitaniumAlex So many stories are like that unfortunately... I wish those writers could be a tad more original.

@so_fortunate We do all make mistakes, right? Haha, I wish I was as forgiving as you! Usually if there are even a few minor errors I skip the story!

@Issabell I'm the same way with grammar and book covers! I try to make sure my cover(s) are as perfect as they can be. Same with grammar.

@Mimicke I'll have to check out that book... But honestly, what does that have to do with ghost stories?! And I agree on the book cover, summary, and author's note: You should see if the writer really cares about their work or not.

@musicqueen2016 Haha, do people actually use Paint to make their covers? Never heard that one before!

Thanks, everyone! I decided to do this partly because I was curious, and partly because I was wondering how to make my story more.... Attractive, I suppose.

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@elle23 idk but half the time, they look like it! :P

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Good question and some insightful responses so far.

I treat WattPad reading for the slushpile it is and while I'm open to clicking to the first page of anything, I have many alerts that will either cause me to either a) start skimming or b) stop reading altogether. I'm happy to make exceptions for any of these, but once a few of these set in I'm usually giving up.

1) Bad Covers Like others mentioned, this is usually the item that is going to draw readers in or repel them. It's OK that most writers are not gifted graphic designers, but why do so many of them err on the side of gaudy fonts and obnoxious (and often copyrighted) graphics instead of something plain and simple? (Think "Catcher in the Rye": http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/archive/8/8e/20100614095113!Catcher-in-the-rye-red-cover.jpg) We'll never know...

2) Inserting Casual Author Notes into the Text I've seen a few places where writers use the first few lines of the story (albeit with a break) to address the reader directly about their work and sometimes ask for votes and comments, etc. It feels more like they're inserting a status update into their book and I find it hard to take the stories too seriously after that. Maybe it's a level of post-modernism I will just never be accustomed to but I think there's something about making the text space for the narrative free from other commentary (save maybe some end notes that are relevant to the text itself).

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3) teh gramer , spelinng; and punctation!!!!!!! I have much lower standards for WattPad stories than anywhere else. I will let many things go because I see this as a place where many writers, particularly younger ones, can work on their craft. That said, some of the mutilations of the English language that are posted here are beyond cringe worthy. Stylistic experimentations aside, if you don't think it's worth the time to check that you're using remotely conventional spelling, to have new paragraphs to denote new speakers in dialogue, or capitalize the beginnings of sentences, proper nouns, or the pronoun I, then why should you feel it is worth anyone else's time to try reading and translating your story.

4) Fan Fiction I respect that there are audiences for particular strands of fan fiction but I have no interest in reading it myself.

5) Present Tense This isn't an absolute deal breaker for me, but writers need to have either a really good way with words or something very special going on with their story if I'm going to put up with present tense. I assume the majority of writers do it because it lends itself to the writing process, of imagining things and writing directly what you see happening in your head. It's been unfortunately popularized by "The Hunger Games" and most of the time it makes the prose quite cringe worthy. As I heard an editor put it once: "What these writers don't get is that the present tense is so very limiting." And then there's the case of writers who mix up tenses and don't seem to know (or care) which tense they're writing in. That's a red flag there.

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6) Too Long, Too Boring I'm generally more interested in reading short fiction on WattPad. The odds are usually better that a piece has gone through at least a tiny bit of editing. Most of the novels are first drafts or works in progress and the plots are in a state that they aren't ready for being submitted to a publisher, much less worthy of publication. There are manuscripts that have a certain curiosity at times and I don't mind being a "beta reader" if the writer in question is treating their novel as a draft and they're asking for feedback, I generally don't bother with them. I prefer writing that shows some economy of words (unlike my forum post here, I should point out) and many people are setting out to write a novel length piece without really considering whether or not they have a novel length story to tell.

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The cover is important, but I try not to look at the cover first. It's so easy to have one designed that it doesn't always seem an accurate portrayal of the story inside.

I take notice of the title first. I refuse to read a story that the author has found it necessary to tell the plot in. I don't mind if the title is simple; I have a horrible time with them and usually I don't decide on a creative and relevant title until I finish (or am a ways in).

Then I read the blurb. If there are grammatical errors, even simple ones, I don't bother. If an author can't find the initiative to edit a 300 word summary, the chapters likely will be riddled with errors that will never be corrected.

If I do choose a story, I'll try to read at least the first chapter. If the grammar/spelling is causing me to cringe, it's in present tense, or I can't stand the voice of the narrator, I stop.

I'm very picky with what I read. I won't waste time on something that isn't just what I want. There are many young, immature authors on here, but there are plenty of experienced writers here, too; I just have to go looking for them.

Also, I try to stay away from the stuff on the hot list. Most of the stories don't deserve it; it's merely that the author has networked enough get on the list in the first place, and then is riding the momentum that comes from being on the hot list.

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The cover is important, but I try not to look at the cover first. It's so easy to have one designed that it doesn't always seem an accurate portrayal of the story inside.

I take notice of the title first. I refuse to read a story that the author has found it necessary to tell the plot in. I don't mind if the title is simple; I have a horrible time with them and usually I don't decide on a creative and relevant title until I finish (or am a ways in).

Then I read the blurb. If there are grammatical errors, even simple ones, I don't bother. If an author can't find the initiative to edit a 300 word summary, the chapters likely will be riddled with errors that will never be corrected.

If I do choose a story, I'll try to read at least the first chapter. If the grammar/spelling is causing me to cringe, it's in present tense, or I can't stand the voice of the narrator, I stop.

I'm very picky with what I read. I won't waste time on something that isn't just what I want. There are many young, immature authors on here, but there are plenty of experienced writers here, too; I just have to go looking for them.

Also, I try to stay away from the stuff on the hot list. Most of the stories don't deserve it; it's merely that the author has networked enough get on the list in the first place, and then is riding the momentum that comes from being on the hot list.

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@DeerDeer I tend to steer clear of the What's Hot List, too. The stories tend to be predictable and unoriginal (I think that's a word).

@JamesBambury Lots of feedback, there! Thank you, I appreciate your honest answers.

elle23

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