Success on Wattpad: Tips for Getting Reads and More

Part 2: Getting Readers

When I started uploading GIVEN I had under 200 followers, and I had not interacted with my page for over two years. I knew that simply uploading and hoping people found the story would get me nowhere. I would have to be strategic. I did some research, looking up blog posts, YouTube videos and books just like this one to find out just what people where doing to bring readers to their stories. Here are the strategies that worked for me.

1)Writing a book people wanted to read. It's no secret that romance and fantasy are the most popular categories on the site. And the book I was writing just so happened to be both. Combined with everything I'd learned over the years about how to write a compelling story, GIVEN already had a good foundation for success.

2)Having a fire cover and description. GIVEN really started to take off once I had a picture of a purple dragon eye as the cover. I'd read somewhere that covers that make eye contact force people to stop, because it feels like they're being stared at. And my description was basically a quote from the book, the part where Yenni and Weysh first meet and he tells her she's his Given. That part was a cliffhanger and full of drama so it drew people in. Now your description doesn't have to be a quote from the book, it just has to have a lot of tension/conflict or drama to draw readers in.

3)Advertising in the forums, taking part in forum discussions, and being part of book clubs where we read and critiqued each other's work. I know the forums aren't around anymore, but the basic principle behind that was getting involved in the community. Find other authors with audiences and work similar to yours (maybe just a little bigger, people that can still see your comments and respond) that your GENUINELY LIKE and COMMENT GENUINELY on their work.

4) Keeping chapters between 1500-3000 words long. Not too short and not too long. I also tried to end chapters on cliffhanger if I could, to make the story feel bingeworthy. The more people read and voted at once, creating "vote storms" the higher it pushed the book in the rankings. At one point it was the #2 fantasy story on the whole site.

5)Uploading consistently. This is vital. Even on days when I didn't have a chapter I gave an update or a write up on the lore of the story. The main thing is you get something up at least once a week, ideally twice, to keep the algorithm happy. Much like everything else in our capitalist society, the more you have is the more you'll get. The more you can show the algorithm that people want to read your work, the more it will suggest your book to readers. If you're only uploading sporadically it won't promote you as much.

These top five tips were how I was able to get my first dedicated readers, but now on to the harder part, how to KEEP readers. More in part 3 coming soon!