MY WATTPAD 101

So, you've signed up? What now?

I know you're probably telling yourself, "this is another one of those 'how to wattpad' books." And guess what? You're right. I've read a couple myself because God knows how stuck I would be if I hadn't come across them. Although the content in this book might be similar to a couple you've read, I'd also like to add that it's not entirely the same. Gimme a chance before you scroll off, will you?

Great. If you haven't left, thank you. Virtual hugs.

If you signed in to Wattpad with the intention of being a reader, this book will most likely not help you. I'm a reader myself but I'm more of a writer here than a reader.

Moving on, you just signed into the orange app. You are very very excited because you can't wait to publish your first story and share it with the world. You have very high expectations and maybe some wild dreams - like getting a movie deal (which isn't entirely unachievable but you get my drift.)

When you look at your homepage, there's a couple of stories. Some with millions of reads, others with thousands. You totally can see yourself getting thousands of reads because how hard can it be?

That's what I thought.

Until I pressed publish on my story and months later, it still sat at 13 solid reads and 1 vote (from yours faithfully). I've taken down that story - and many many others I wrote after that - but I'll have you know that I almost cried. I spent nights wondering what I was doing wrong. Sure, my story wasn't so well written but a couple I had read weren't either and they were getting reads. What was wrong with my story?

I did vote trading for a while, read for read and follow for follow. I gained like 500 followers at that time. Then I just woke up one day and unfollowed everyone out of pure rage. Why have 500 followers when you can't even raise 20 votes on your story? It didn't make sense. I started growing on my own and I know my following isn't big but I'd rather have those than thousands for nothing.

Anyways, before I rant on, you're probably wondering what the point I'm trying to make is.

My point is, I rushed. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know how Wattpad works. Now that I do, I look back and curse myself for being such a fool.

Ladies, gentlemen and non-binary readers, before you publish your first story, make sure that your profile and bio look good enough such that even when someone lands on it, it's appealing and would want to make someone to stay.

1: Your profile. This includes your profile photo, background photo, username and name. When you sign in to Wattpad, it gives you a default profile picture. Some get cats, a guitar, weird flowers and others who aren't lucky get letters of the alphabet. What you shouldn't forget however is that hundreds of other users get assigned the same profile picture. It's not yours alone. Upload a unique photo - it doesn't have to be of you. I'm gonna be frank here and say that the moment I click on a profile and it still has the default Wattpad profile picture, I click off. It screams that the owner of the profile doesn't care.

Most people don't care about usernames. However, avoid using a lot of numbers eg. alliastbh77886548065 or repeated letters eg. alliasssssssssss.

2) Your bio: This says a lot about you, your preferences and everything you want to say. Using your bio, you can get people who are interested in the same things as you. I included in my bio that I like listening to One Direction. I have a lot of friends I connect with because of our shared love for the boyband. Another instance was when someone reached out to me after reading that I'm studying Food Science and Technology. We're good friends now.
My point is, in your bio, include a couple of your preferences: music, books, movies, sitcoms etc. That's how you'll get friends on here, somehow.

Most people include that they are open to talk any time. That's a good thing and that mostly shows how approachable you are. However, don't include it if you're not going to respond to people after all.

The bio is also a good place to add links to your other works, social media, website, you name it.

In future, you can always include your works, your favorite reads and stuff like that.

Avoid including these in your bio
- Exact Location: this is internet. You have no idea who is looking at your profile and would like to pay you a visit when nobody is watching.
- Phone contact: I don't even have to explain this, do I?
- One word / sentence bio: picture this:- you click on someone's profile and all it says is what's up losers? Or in San Francisco jamming. While that may be okay for some people, don't be so vague.

Ps: I know that there's a provision for location on your profile. You can put your state, country or anything really. Don't be so specific about where you live, please.

Just like you would do for your Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest or any other social media bio, do the same for Wattpad. It may be such an underrated thing but it's certainly helpful.

When you are finally confident that your profile looks good and does not have any hate comments or triggering words, congratulations! You can start brainstorming for your story's ideas. Look around and see what writers who are writing in the same genres as you are doing. Remember not to rush. Take your time, think through everything before you publish anything.

Next chapter: followers, where are you?

Comment if you found this useful. Recommend it to someone who'll need it. Vote and leave any comments about anything you'd want me to address.

Peace 👋