The excitement to hit the publish button is always there. You can't wait to show 50 million people what you can do.
But before you do, you wanna make sure that your story is close to perfect and will reach the people it is meant to reach.
How do we do that?
1) The Title: Short and sweet is good. Long ones are good too as long as they are not spoilers. Imagine this: MY BEST FRIEND SLEPT WITH MY BOYFRIEND AND NOW I WILL SLEEP WITH HERS.
Also, please make sure that the title relates to your story, I beg. Imagine finding a story titled: THE BAD BOY AND ME and the story has no bad boy at all. It's a zombie apocalypse story instead. Hilarious, isn't it?
The truth of the matter is, you can be unsure of the title. Sometimes, you just have an idea instead of a dream title. Take your time, develop your story and characters. Titles will flow later, trust me.
2) Blurb:- this is the summary of your story. If this can't convince someone to read that story, you're doomed.
How do you make someone want to go beyond the blurb?
- don't spoil the story. Picture this:- a florist meets a billionaire CEO, they fall in love, they fight his clingy ex-girlfriend, his shitty parents and live happily ever after.
You've just spoilt the story for me. I don't need to read it anymore.
- Spelling and Grammar. If your blurb contains spelling mistakes, what about the story itself? Imagine buying your favorite Harlequin book and you find a spelling mistake on the cover. Would you like that?
- Don't be stingy. Don't just write 'read on to find out' as your blurb. To find out what? You haven't told me anything!
Most people include the main characters (emphasis on main), the turning point of the two characters (when everything begins to change) and the main conflict of the story (when one or all the main characters have to make difficult decisions). Ex: Janice and Martin have always hated each other and think they'll continue to do so until both of them are assigned to work together for a school project. After a series of unforeseen events, the tension between them starts to build into something else. Will they acknowledge the new feelings or hold onto their hatred for each other?
- not the best example but it explains my point. Janice and Martin are the main characters. The turning point is when they are assigned to do the project together. The conflict is if they will acknowledge the new feelings or not. No spoilers here.
Blurbs don't take after a specific format but the above is the most common I've seen.
3) Tags:- I beg of you, dear reader, never ever in your whole life, take tags for granted. It may seem useless but hear me out.
Wattpad has an algorithm, like every other site. While the algorithm works with different story aspects, tags are one of them.
You'll be my witness if I tell you that if you read 5 CEO romance books consecutively, Wattpad will recommend CEO romance books on your homepage the most.
Isn't that right?
How do you utilize tags to trigger the algorithm then?
1) those tags must fit the story. If it's CEO romance, add the tag #ceoromance. Who knows? They'll recommend you to someone who loves reading CEO romance.
2) fanfictions have a better chance at tags. If you write a Harry Styles fanfic, just tag #harrystyles and anything one direction related. I'm not lying when I say that people go in the Wattpad search bar and search for "Harry styles". Guess whose story is most likely to show up?
For more information on tags: https://creators.wattpad.com/blog/tagging-101-how-to-choose-the-best-tags-for-your-wattpad-story/
3) Genres: if you are not new to writing, this shouldn't be new to your ears. If you are new to this all, a genre is like a category of stories which best fits your own. A romcom fits in romance, the search for the killer may fall in mystery or adventure, werewolves, vampires and supernatural beings fall in paranormal and so on.
If you are writing something, you for sure know exactly what genre it is. Here on Wattpad, you have a lot of genres to choose from - including random, general fiction (for stories that don't seem to fit in one genre), nonfiction, poetry, ChickLit, New Adult, Teen fic, etcetera.
Before you write in a genre, it's common knowledge that you should search that genre up, read about it and see what it's readers like and don't like, common cliches, tropes, plot lines, word counts, etcetera. That way, you won't mess up and end up throwing your readers off.
If you are unsure of which genre your story fits in, just call it general fiction and you can decide to change it later when you are sure and ready. No pressure.
Will that affect your story? Perhaps. But again, most people search from tags - not genres, or that's just me - so, if you have your tags right, it should be no problem.
For more information about genres, check the link here: https://support.wattpad.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020325871-Content-Categories
4) Copyright:
In simple language, copyright is the permission a creator or another right holder has to reproduce, share or extract a creative piece / work. When you download something online without the owner's consent, it's abuse of copyright and you could be sued. I'm sure that it annoys you if you write something on here and then find it copied onto a mirror site.
It's annoying.
So, what do we do about it? Before publishing your story, you are given different copyright options. If you don't want your work to be copied or reproduced without your consent, your go-to copyright option is ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
However, there's many other options on there and you can read about each one of them and choose what you'd like.
Once your work has been copied, you can then file a DMCA complaint and have the copy taken down. That being said, don't copy someone else's work.
For more information on copyright: https://support.wattpad.com/hc/en-us/articles/216192503-Copyright-FAQ
5) Story language:
This should be simple. If you write in Spanish, choose Spanish. If French, choose that. To each their own. That way, your story finds its intended readers.
6) Story cover!
This one is my favorite. Your cover is the first impression. It's what attracts people to your story - not the content, blurb or tags. However healthy your lungs are, it's your face that we see first. That is what your cover is about.
I won't say much about it because after all, we have AI (Artificial Intelligence) to do all the work for us if we don't have any creative juices at all. You can generate images, text, illustration and everything - and use softwares like Canva, Designer Microsoft, Photoshop, Fotor and others to design your covers.
If you still aren't able, there's people on here that give free covers - the catch is that you have to follow them. That's better than having a bad cover, right?
Some simple cover advice:-
- it should be attractive
- the text should be easy to read
- it should illustrate what the story is about (if possible)
- it should be simple really. Don't lump everything up together on one cover
I really feel like I have said way too much for this chapter, so, I'm gonna stop here and continue my rant in the next.
Vote if you find this helpful, thank you.
Next chapter is all about what to do after publishing your first chapter....and subsequent chapters.
Stay tuned. All love.
ESTÁS LEYENDO
MY WATTPAD 101
De TodoHave you ever walked into a door? Or wall? And then you wished that someone had warned you that there'd be something to run into? I rushed into Wattpad. And I crashed. Here's a couple of things I wish someone had told me about Wattpad before I cras...
