This has got to be my most-requested topic, next perhaps, to questions regarding YuenRank/the ranking algorithm. I get tons of PMs and questions around this particular topic.
How do I get my story Featured?
Before I get into this in detail. I'd like to start by having you you think about what goals you have for being on Wattpad.
Most writers on Wattpad have one of two goals: Get "Famous" or Get Published. But what does that even mean? More reads? More followers? Exactly how many reads? And what about getting published? That's an even loftier goal. So, the most important thing is really to begin with the end in mind. Set goals for yourself, because setting goals determines the path you have to follow and the actions you have to take to get there.
Oh, and for those of you who say, "But I'm just here to share my stories with the world", let's be honest for a moment. If that was all you cared about, you shouldn't be reading this. You've already posted your story on Wattpad. Therefore, you're done. Mission accomplished. You've shared your book with the world and you don't care about anything else.
Now there are indeed, some writers who think that way, or some writers who have an honest desire to help others on this website. But, they aren't reading this book.
YOU ARE.
Which means, you do care about the reads and want to do something about it :)
One more thing to keep in mind regarding goals: set realistic targets for yourself. It's fine to say, "one day, I want to have a million reads". It's certainly an admirable goal, but if all you've got right now are ten measly reads, that goal is going to be more demoralizing than motivating. So, set realistic targets for yourself. Setting realistic targets also helps spur you along and motivate you. When I first started, my first goal was to hit 1,000 reads. It was very encouraging when I finally hit that number, but even more encouraging, was the first time I clocked 1,500 reads over two days! So do that. Because hitting those read targets will inspire you to do more.
Set a realistic goal. When you accomplish that, set a higher, but equally realistic goal. Pretty soon, you'll find you can keep going higher as long as you're trying harder too.
Important Sidenote: it's now a lot harder for an unknown story to accomplish what my story did because of the 3/2013 change, unfortunately. Now, only Hot List stories and Featured Stories can possibly clock that many reads in a short amount of time.
Okay, why did I just go through all of that? Because your goals will determine what path you should take.
Featured or Hot List or Both
Ok, here's something some of you might find really interesting. Getting featured and landing on the Hot List are actually conflicting goals! It's very interesting, but it's true.
Why are they conflicting?
Think about it. What's the number one key to being Featured? That's right. The story has to be well-written. Now, "well-written" is a term that so many misinterpret, and that's because even Wattpad changes their standards for the definition of well-written, but I'll get to that in a minute.
Ok, what about the Hot List, then? Well, think about it. What's the best way to land on the Hot List? That's right, get as many readers to read, comment and vote on your story as you possibly can!
Ok Mike, I'm still lost. Where's the conflict you were talking about?
Here it is:
If you happen to write well enough to get Featured, you're going to run into something very interesting. You're going to get readers, who can't understand your book! They're going to get lost in the prose! Crazy, right? Not really. The readers who buy books in bookstores are REAL readers. They know how to read prose. In fact, they're expecting it when they buy books.
The readers on Wattpad? Not so much.
Some of them may be experienced readers, but a few of them are just starting out. Many of them won't have english as a first language. So the level of sophistication of the readers on Wattpad is completely different. The connoisseurs pay for quality, the masses take what is free. And Wattpad, ladies and gentlemen, is FREE. :D
Now, back to the Hot List. And here's why I said set your goals: if your goal is to be "Wattpad Popular" and land the Hot List, you're better off writing in simpler sentences, with less flowery speech and focus on making a "mental movie" in the minds of your readers instead. There's nothing wrong with this.
Here's an example:
This works better for landing on the Hot List:
There were giant screens all around, depicting moving pictures, various advertisements and commercials. The colors from the screens lit up the entire city, filling it with a bright glow and casting shadows upon the tall buildings behind them, overlooking highways that went all over the city. Light mobiles sped along the highways as they went about their business.
This works better for getting Featured:
Giant screens dotted the landscape, a jumbled morass of shifting images and disjointed messages, casting moving shadows against the backdrop of tall buildings and twisting highways, where light-mobiles sped along their pre-determined mag-rails, encroaching upon each other in the darkness.
What's the difference between the two? They both say exactly the same thing, but more readers will understand the first paragraph more than the second. One can argue that both are "well-written". No grammatical errors, and such. But the second paragraph is an attempt at real prose. Remember, writing is an art. Just like music or painting. Anyone can paint. But only a true artist can create art. That's the difference. Learning prose takes time.
But landing on the Hot List? Not that hard. You need a good story, that's going to appeal to as large an audience as it possibly can. That's pretty much it for landing the Hot List.
Good writing vs real prose
Take a look at Featured Stories from three or four years back and read them. You might find, to your surprise, that you write much better than a few of those original featured stories! And you might actually be correct about that.
Back when Wattpad was unknown, it really struggled with finding writers that would draw the audience that they needed. And because beggars can't be choosers, Wattpad featured stories with the following criteria only: it has to be grammatically correct, and the writer has to be somewhat competent in their choice of words.
That's It.
Seriously. That's how easy it was.
Now, don't get me wrong. Even the featured stories from three or four years ago are STILL head and shoulders better than 90% of the work found today on Wattpad. These are still the cream of the crop on Wattpad. BUT it was significantly easier to get featured back then than it is today.
And now on to another point. There's good writers. And then there's good writers, if you know what I mean.
Now, most published authors, are on a completely different scale. They understand much more than just good writing. They know how to set a scene, know when to change POV (Point of View) and why. They understand pacing, and what it means for a novel to be "structurally flawed". In other words, they're pros.
Fast forward to today's Featured Stories and you'll find them to be at a completely different level. The current crop of Featured Authors have amazing writing styles, and voices. Several of them are good enough to be published. In fact, a handful of them ARE. Getting featured today is very similar to the process of getting published.
The Process of Getting Featured
Ok, let us, for a moment put ourselves in the shoes of Wattpad's leadership. By the way, if you're trying to accomplish something, this is one of the best ways to do it: Put yourself in your target's shoes (whether that's wooing a guy or girl, or getting that customer to buy something from you).
Ok. You're Allen Lau. Wattpad CEO extraordinaire. You're trying to accomplish three things (at this time):
1) Most importantly, you're trying to get as many people as you possibly can to gather on your website and spend as much time as they possibly can on it.
2) You're trying to find, the very things that are going to accomplish #1.
3) This one's new: because Wattpad finally has *respect* and a foothold into the industry, you're now trying to legitimize yourself against the likes of Harper Collins, Amazon, and the rest of the giant publishing houses.
Now that we understand what Wattpad's trying to accomplish, how does that help?
Well, for one, we know what Wattpad is looking for then! They're looking for, in order:
a) Published Authors with published works as part of a partnership (because they accomplish all 3 goals)
b) Amazing but "Undiscovered" Authors with amazing writing voices (these are the people who get "discovered" or independently scouted on Wattpad (because these are the folks that the publishing houses will eventually want), and lastly...
c) "The rest of us."
Now "the rest of us" have to have entertaining stories that appeal to a wide variety of readers, a good, attention grabbing cover (not all the time), and write well enough to fool most readers into thinking they're reading a published work.
Now in years past, because Wattpad has focused on goals 1 and 2, they've tended to focus on "whatever gets the people to our website." Now that they've reached critical mass, they're now switching things up a little. Now they're trying to get people to recognize Wattpad as a legitimate vehicle for the delivery of literary prose.
So #3 is a game changer.
Which means the selection process just got a lot harder. A lot closer in fact, to traditional publishing.
The Slushpile
Does anyone know what a slushpile is? If you don't, your story is going to get rejected for featuring.
Plain and simple. So, the important thing is to understand what you're up against.
Here's what a slushpile is: when you submit your story for consideration, it goes into a pile of books for consideration. Every single poor soul that's submitted their work for consideration goes into this pile. And make no mistake: the pile is massive! Let's put this into perspective. How many of you get read requests on a regular basis? Pretty much every single one of us right? Now, imagine how many read requests, stories@wattpad.com receives? Thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Millions? I don't know the exact numbers, but I can tell you it's massive.
Now let's put ourselves into the mindset of our next target: our poor beleaguered slushpile reader.
As a slushpile reader, you're tasked with the impossible: find the needle in the haystack that's going to be the next big thing for Wattpad. That thing that's going to accomplish goals 1 to 3 and make Allen Lau happy.
Now, when you have too many submissions, what's a poor slushpile reader to do?
That's right. You don't have enough time in the day to go through EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THESE.
So, you get good at identifying garbage.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. When you're looking for gold, you get better at identifying the dirt. You know what isn't gold. Possibly within the first two paragraphs, most likely within the first few sentences.
So we come across an important truth: the slushpile readers aren't actively looking for a reason why your book should be featured.
No.
They are actively looking for a REASON to REJECT IT so they can move on to the next book in the pile.
And because the pile gets bigger everyday, they literally only have minutes to spend on each book. So the quicker they can reject something, the more progress they can make on the pile.
Wow. Isn't that interesting?
So your first job is to not give them any reason at all to reject your book!
That means, no typos, good grammar, strong opening chapter, powerful hook at the beginning. If you're missing any of that, you get rejected. And it doesn't matter what reason Wattpad gives. The only thing that matters is that
YOU.
DID NOT.
MAKE.
THE CUT.
Most folks fail here.
DON'T BE ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE.
So, now is the time when you might be asking, how do I not be one those people?
Well, how many of you have gone to a critique website?
If your response to that question was, "What is a Critique Website?" please, please PLEASE. Do not submit your story for consideration.
Why?
Because it is GOING TO BE REJECTED.
Let's take a common use case. Are you pretty? Handsome? How did you know that? Because your mother told you? Because a friend said it? Because you were popular in sixth grade? What about a beauty pageant then? Have you ever joined one of those?
Let's face it, submitting your story for consideration for featured stories is no different from joining a beauty pageant! Your friends and family might think you're the shit, but that doesn't mean you'll make the cut. I can tell you right now, my entire family is CONVINCED I am the next big thing. Doesn't mean I am. :)
So it is significantly better to find out well ahead of time whether or not your story can cut it.
And you do that by going to a critique website.
So, your goal is to solicit as much objective feedback as you possibly can for your story. That means asking for critiques on professional critique websites such as Absolute Write or Critters.org, or Critique Circle and Scribophile.
Trust me, you do NOT want to take chances with this. Your Wattpad slush reader should NOT be the first objective reader to see your work. That is asking for INSTANT REJECTION. Which is what you'll get if you submit your book for consideration without first getting it properly hammered on a critique website.
Okay, I have to stop here, unfortunately, but please watch out for Part 2!
Oh, and get thee to a proper critique website! ;)
TO BE CONTINUED...