Wattpad 101: Your guide to the world of Wattpad

How do I get reads on Wattpad?

2) Have a constant and steady release schedule

I can not tell you enough how much having a reliable release schedule makes a difference. Indeed, 9/10 readers will never notice that you release exactly on Sundays... but anyone who becomes a fan will start to notice and rely on your once-a-week release. Naturally, the faster you release, the more chances you have to catch people's eyes. Every time you release, you end up being moved to recent releases, giving yourself another shot at catching a reader. Release daily, and your work is going to go across a lot more eyes than if you release monthly.

It's important to be reliable. You want to turn your readers into fans... and the best way to turn them into fans is by forcing them into a habit. Xian Xia and Wuxia's are a type of Chinese web novel which often has 1000+ chapters. Many of them will be released (or at least translated) one chapter a day. Many people will start the story, read in 300 chapters, and then join what is lovely called the "chapter-a-day club". A part of their lives becomes set around waiting until the next chapter comes out so they can read a bit farther in the story. It's their routine, and entire cultures build around it just like a tailgate party.

This is a thing that doesn't exist for novelists, but when it comes to web novel writers... this group of loyalists is exactly what you'd like to achieve. You want people eagerly waiting for your next chapter... and you want to be able to deliver that chapter on time.

Once you start missing those deadlines... and releasing unreliably, you'll break people's drive to read your story... and your fanbase will quickly scatter.

Books have DIED because of this mistake. Not just books, movies can die too. You might have a story that is super hyped... but that hype can only last for so long. The longer you delay the movie, the more the hype will die. That's why a movie that came out ten years after the last one isn't going to be as popular as a sequel that came out within a year or two. In terms of Web novels, that hype is even shorter.

For example... there was a time where I was writing Vampire's Kiss... and it exploded in popularity. It was extremely popular and is a lot of the reason I even reached the 1k+ club. Had I been able to keep writing that story at the time... I have no doubt I'd have 10k to 20k followers right now. However, at the time, I wasn't the writing guru I am now, and I couldn't make it a schedule. The result? Vampire Kiss who? Even if I put all of the chapters out today and then released the next chapter... I would never get HALF the views I would have gotten when the story was in its prime.

The answer isn't to strike when the iron is hot... it's to keep striking steadily and never give up. You're never going to know when that iron will "get hot", but as long as your striking away at a constant rate, you're going to make it.

3) Remind People to Vote

I also have an entire chapter on this concept. In the end, I think my conclusion was that if you wanted to remind people, it doesn't hurt, and it's up to you which you want to do. However, recently, I think my opinion on this might be changing a bit. This comes mostly from my view of youtube channels.

Subscribe and smash that button! It does help the channel!

If you watch youtube, you've probably heard these kinds of words. According to these channels and their analytics... asking does help overall. People just don't think to do it normally, and will just keep going on and on.

The trick is not to ask in an invasive or annoying way. Don't hold back chapters or threaten readers. Your release schedule should not depend on how many stars you get. However, a line at the end of every chapter, done reliably as if by rote... really will help.

"Please vote and comment if you like this story. It will help it get seen and I'd really appreciate it. Thanks!"

Something like that at the end of EVERY chapter, with either a line or bold text so it isn't confused with the story... would be all you need. Will it work? 99-100 times, no. People will just come to ignore it. It will just be background noise. However, 1/100 times... you'll get that one more vote. When your chapter is at 1000 reads, that's an extra 10 votes... which then helps it get seen by more people, read by more people, and voted by more people. In the end, it really does help.