70 Deadly Wattpad Sins (The Book Of Evil Advice!)

Sin #07: Know Your Followers (What? I'm being followed?!)

You can't think of the people who follow your books as a herd of sheep. Unless they are, in fact, literate livestock... in which case I would encourage them to read to their heart's content. Bloody freaks of nature.

Hey, it's that guy again! Tieroh300 or whatever!

That's me! Hello again, and welcome to a brand new lesson in Wattpaddiquette! Instead of coming right out with today's corny moral, let us first investigate how your relationship with your Followers currently works.

Followers? Doesn't that, err... sound kinda cult-ish?

Depends on the book, really. However, in this sense the word 'Follower' means another user who can receive updates on your Wattpad activities, observes who you interact with and will be notified whenever you post new chapters of your story.

Simple enough, right? If Wattpad user @Xx1DHarryStylesIsMyHomeboy1DxX wants to know what the deal is with your latest boyrotica fanfiction, then all they need to do is click that shiny 'Follow' button on your profile!

This is the way Wattpad works, and... it's functional, right? Letting some soulless automatic system interact with your subscriber base so that you don't have to, could that really be the same as committing an unholy Wattpad sin?

Wow, someone's a little judgemental today. Get off your high horse, you use the exact same system as everyone else!

Dude, let me finish! Sure, we all rely on Wattpad to achieve bare-bones communication, but what I'm talking about is actually engaging with your audience; seeing them as living, breathing people instead of random usernames.

These are real human beings like yourself, who have decided to spend their valuable time supporting and reading through your questionably 'unfinished' story. When you think of it like that, every single read or vote should be recognised and appreciated like the thoughtful gift it is!

However, modesty can only get you so far on Wattpad. It's not enough to understand how meaningful the system can be, you have to put yourself out there and engage with your Followers in order to make them feel welcome around your works.

What? No one said I had to be nice to people! Man, that sounds like a lot of work...

Surprisingly, it isn't hard at all! It doesn't take much to brighten someone's else's day, as I'm sure you've all heard; even a simple smile can be contagious, try it out the next time you're in public! Just... don't smile too much, or you'll end up on a list.

I am serious, though. If somebody comments on your story, all you have to do is click 'reply' and thank them for any thoughts/advice that they shared. If they added your story to their reading list, send them a quick message saying that you hope they enjoy it. If they followed you, check out their profile's content and see if you'd like to follow them back!

These small acts of kindness or appreciative nods aren't just for brownie points, as you can probably tell; each time you complete a positive interaction with anyone, you become slightly more memorable as a passing figure in their busy lives. One day, they might stop and think 'Tyro31 is soooo darn sexy, incredibly buff and totally available... I wonder what that stud-muffin's up to now?'

You see? Because I was so flirtatious and irresistible, as a being of raw sexual-

Didn't happen, dude.

All right... Because I was nice to this person, they decided that I was worthy of their patronage and ended up providing consistent support for my works. I didn't have to pester them with messages every day, or deliver huge waves of content for them to read. I didn't even set out to try and befriend them; it was just one user showing gratitude to another, that's all.

We've covered networking before, but this is slightly different. You don't have to come out of every encounter with a new best pal, no one's Christmas card list is that big! Sometimes a friendly acquaintance is all it takes to give your Wattpad profile a smidgen of fresh personality.

You should be able to recognise the majority of your Followers by their usernames, no matter how many you accumulate down the road; maybe not their family history and social security number, but know enough about them to distinguish from Bob in Human Resources. Or 'Bold Text Guy', he's pretty generic too.

Hey! How do you know I'm not a girl?

...Good point. You know what, though? It's okay if you don't get to know 100% of everyone that's already there. You might want to consider reaching out through email notifications or maybe holding a competition of sorts to unite your Followers, but the main focus would be to adapt your current attitude.

Make sure that each incoming vote and follow is met with open arms, and it might just tip the scales in your favour. That's not to say that you should engage with users solely for personal gain, though! We're entrepreneurs, not sociopaths! Let's just enjoy the fact that we're surrounded by lovely people, and that all it takes to make them feel right at home is a couple of innocent words.

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In my country, we have a custom. Whenever you pass a fellow hiker on the open trail, it's absolutely vital that you acknowledge them with a smile and a warm greeting; to not do this, would come off as incredibly rude and even offensive.

With Wattpadders stuck behind the impenetrable wall that is the internet, we are blind to the faces of those passing 'hikers'. What we don't see, when they extend their hand to ours, is that look of utter loneliness and disappointment when their kind gesture is completely ignored. Considering that these are the people who support our content, it's almost sad to see writers treating their own fan base like they don't exist.

Don't be a stranger. I urge each of my followers who reads this to shoot me a message about how much I suck at keeping updates, or perhaps compliment me on my rugged handsomeness; whatever you have to say, I want to hear it... and I hope that the rest of you will do the same with your Followers.

Seriously, though... What am I, a typeface? Do I even have a gender? Arms, legs? A voice? H-Hello?! Can anyone hear me??

Annoying. You're annoying.