Wattpad Block Party - Summer Edition IV

Lightning_Stryker Presents: How to Build Your Readership

TIP 1: Be prepared to invest some time.

Are you serious about becoming a writer? Most of you are probably nodding your heads yes right now.

Okay, here's another question. Do you have about two to three hours a day to just sit down and advertise yourself? Ehh...I think not. That's why it's so important to know exactly how to advertise to maximize traffic to your stories.

Now, just because you're not going to spend two to three hours a day advertising doesn't mean that you won't be doing any at all. If anything, it's definitely one of the key aspects of making your story more marketable to an audience. But if you have a break of 15-30 minutes a day, that should be suffice. Writing- as most of you can already tell- is a craft that requires much time and precision. If you're not willing to take 10-30 minutes out of your day to be active on Wattpad, a blog, or any other writing outlet that you have, your writing may not be able to reach the audience you expected it to receive. You have to put in the work to see the results.

TIP 2: Write for yourself, not for reads.

THIS. Now this is one of the most important things to remember as a writer. When you set off on your storytelling journey, you want to write because you have a message to tell, because you love doing it, because you want to make someone feel good inside, etc.

Writing for the sole purpose of obtaining reads eventually leads down to a quite toxic road. It puts tons of pressure on you when you're not reaching the goals you expected to obtain. It can also become stressful when you continue writing a book just because it is getting 'popular'. If you're not invested in what you're working on, readers eventually catch on and so does your writer's block (yes, I went there haha).

And don't get me wrong, it's normal to grow out of a storyline. I've done it and so have a ton of other authors out there- including published ones as well. As humans, our minds are evolving and expanding every single day as we learn more. As storytellers, we sometimes grow into another phase and want to experiment with different elements in our craft of literature. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that.

But if there is anything that I have learned in my three years on Wattpad,- and there are other authors who will agree with me on this- it's that you will feel so accomplished as a writer when you are writing a story that you thoroughly enjoy creating.

TIP 3: Don't be shy, say hi.

This is definitely another important aspect of being a writer. You definitely want to interact with others in the writing community because having a support group is definitely beneficial for you! There are multiple ways to do this, a few which I will go over below.

If you are ever on the desktop version of Wattpad, you will see that there is a tab in the top left corner of the web page which says, 'Community'. If you click on that, there should be a tab beneath it that says, 'Clubs'. Wattpad Clubs are a great way to interact with others in the community. There you will find many threads which are chat rooms that you can connect with a vast variety of writers here on Wattpad. They are split up by genre as well so, for example, if you're a Fantasy or an Action writer and want to connect with others like you, the clubs are a great place to go! They even have threads designated for posting advertisements for your stories! So if you haven't taken a peek at them yet, I highly recommend you do.

Also if you want to connect with others writers on Wattpad, become a reader! Find some books that look interesting and dive in! If you enjoyed the chapter you read, be sure to leave a vote and a comment(s). Believe it or not, other writers greatly appreciate feedback and sometimes even answer back to your comments. It's a great way to discover some great stories and meet some new friends along the way!