Hey everyone!
I always seem to write these posts up at midnight, it's 12:21am here, but I had a brainwave today after a chat on Twitter (LHBlake if you're interested in following me).
The discussion was on Wattpad's reputation. How people seem to be ashamed to be associated with it, how people that aren't, that haven't even read a book on here, dismiss it as something cheesy and cringe and not of any worth.
On Twitter, someone said Wattpad's most known for the After series and The Kissing Booth, which I know is a result of the films they produced and no doubt the mass amount of marketing that sticks Wattpad's name to the poster, and if that's people's only experience with the site then that's all they're going to think.
I also think it plays a hand with YouTubers going through the novels on here and reading stuff aloud to their audiences for entertainment, ridiculing the works people put on Wattpad for their enjoyment and escape, and shaming them for it.
There are some truly beautiful stories on here. Wattpad held the only book that has made me cry (Letter's To Z, which is no longer on here, but I still remember it vividly). There are these diamond stories that are hidden, that aren't showcased because they're not as highly viewed as some of the books that are in the Paid Stories Program, or that have become films and box office successes.
I haven't read nor seen After or The Kissing Booth but I have read hundreds of books on here that are stunning, and I would love to see on screen, or hold in my hand as a paperback book.
Those books that aren't as well viewed, so Wattpad doesn't see them, doesn't promote them, and then all the world knows are the two trilogies of the same genre with hundreds of millions of reads online - and it's all the world will know, if nothing is done to change it.
So...I had an idea.
I'm going to create a playlist titled Showcase, containing the diamond in the rough stories that should be promoted for their excellence, arcs, characters, world building, and beauty. I have playlists on my profile of books I've bought, ones I think are fantastic, and ones that are my favourites and I often reread.
The Showcase playlist is going to be a collaboration - with you.
I want you to tell me your favourite Wattpad stories that you recommend to your friends, to family, that you tell people "no really, it's brilliant", and I want to put them out for the world to see.
Stories are immortal, books are immortal, and these hidden gems need to be shown and praised for their brilliance.
I'm going to build on this playlist over time, but I want you to tell me the best books you've read on here, regardless of view count, so I can add it to the Showcase.
Let's show the world Wattpad is more, a hundred million books more, than what they think.
Let's start the Showcase.
(should I be editing and writing right now? 100%.... Technically I should be sleeping, but I was determined to get this out first.)
L x
YOU ARE READING
Libby's Forums & Updates
Non-FictionCheck here for all my updates! This is to replace the Wattpad Forums and Newsfeed, and to give you guys more of an insight onto my (rather sparse) schedule and what's going on in my neck of the woods.
