Cracking the Wattpad Code: Insider Secrets the Pros don't want you to know!

Code Crackers Episode 1: @LeighUre

And so, ladies and gentlemen, for this first episode of Wattpad Code Crackers I present, The curious case of the Explosive Book!

Enjoy! :D

ML: Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you discover Wattpad?

I'm a 36 year old South African.  I'm married with two young children, my daughter is seven and my son is three. When I was younger I loved to write but when I started working life got hectic.  I'm a computer programmer for the one of the top banking softwares world-wide which also means my job is very stressful and I travel extensively.  At my last count I'd travelled to 27 different countries.

I love to read so in Aug 2012 when I stumbled across Wattpad on iTunes I was hooked.  A year later with some free time on my hands because I'd taken a break from working I decided to write my own story and I started publishing it on Wattpad in Sep 2013.

We share so much in common! I'm the same age, work in a bank, and have a 4 year old, LOL! We could probably talk endlessly :)

When you first started posting your story, what were your initial results like?

Tell us a little bit about your story (here's your chance to plug it hard)! :D Did you write the story all the way through before publishing on Wattpad or did you post it and write it as you went along?

Wow, we have a lot in common.  You look a lot younger in the photo!  Then you'd also understand how hard it sometimes trying to write when you have a 3 year old running around the house getting into things they shouldn't!

It's a werewolf love story about a girl who meets her mate and he happens to be the Alpha.  The difference is the lead female character is strong and not weak.  I also changed some of the rules about werewolves to make my story different.

I wrote as I published.  I first started posting my story 'Alpha' in 25 July 2014.  Normally I'd post a story under two genres but I'd read in your CTWC that putting it in just one genre would increase the number of times it got advertised so initially I just categorized it as Werewolf. 

The first ranking I achieved after 3 days and posting 2 parts was no 131 on the Werewolf chart.  It had 108 reads and 21 votes.

I update regularly, three times a week.  By 11 August (18 days) I'd posted 8 parts and it ranked 36 on the werewolf chart with 6,239 reads and 403 votes.

By 23 Aug (30 days) and updating 13 parts I ranked at 13 on the first part of the Werewolf chart with 42,935 reads and 2,146 votes.

Edit: I don’t know about you guys, but 42K reads in 30 days is beyond crazy, isn’t it?

Then, it just exploded.  Honestly it's like watching a balloon grow and expecting it to pop but it didn't, it just kept going and going.

By 30 Aug (37 days) and after updating 16 parts I ranked no 9 on the Werewolf chart with 108,173 reads and 4,919 votes. 

By 12 Sept (50 days) and after updating 22 parts I achieved the top ranking of 1 on the werewolf chart with 495,224 reads and 20,939 votes.

Then I decided on the 15 Sept (53 days) to categorize it under Teen Fiction as well.  The very next day 16 Sept (54 days) with 23 parts updated I ranked 2 on Werewolf and 2 on Teen Fiction with 680,512 reads and 27,576 votes.

By 22 Sept (60 days) and updating 26 parts it ranked 1 on werewolf chart and 2 on Teen Fiction chart with 1,079,940 reads and 39,020 votes.

Today, 23 September (61 Days) with still only 26 parts published Alpha is ranking #1 on Werewolf and #4 on Teen Fiction with 1,148,084 reads and 40,842 votes.