Success on Wattpad: Tips for Getting Reads and More

Part 3: Keep Readers Around

A vital part of getting eyes on your work is keeping eyes on your work. Once you start promoting by seeking out similar authors, joining book clubs etc., you'll gain a few readers who vibe with your work. Do everything you can to make these readers feel welcome and valued, especially when you're just starting out. Remember that it's very rare for people to go out of their way to actually like and comment on books, let alone follow. Most readers just keep it moving. But another part of keeping readers and followers is giving them what they come for, which is regular content. Here are some of the ways I maintained audience retention:

1) Don't upload everything at once, but do upload at the same time. I wasn't always the best at this, but when I was going strong I uploaded every Wednesday and Saturday and people came to expect, and more importantly anticipate a new chapter on those days.

2)Building a community. There are a number of ways to do this such as answering all comments. Not only does this show readers you appreciate them, it's good for engagement and making the algorithm happy. Reads, likes, and comments all tell the algorithm your book is special—even if the comments come from you. (I know I'm terrible at this now that life has gotten in the way, but when I had the time I did my best.) Also posting a nice, relatable bio goes a long way. You could also ask your readers questions at the end of every chapter, shout out frequent commenters, write a thank you note on the profiles of people who vote on all your chapters, etc.

3)You can't always do this, it depends on what type of story you're writing and what works best for the story. But if there's a natural peak in tension where you can end your chapter, end it there so that people want to come back to know what happened.

4) Interacting with readers on your profile. If people are asking questions on your profile don't forget to answer those too. Also I liked to announce every time a new chapter was up and alert all my followers.

So as you can see, it's not just about getting readers, but keeping readers who will hopefully hype your book, whether through telling friends or voting so that your book appears on more suggested reading pages.

Speaking of which, it's time to talk about one of the most important tools for getting your book in front of readers—the algorithm. Coming soon in part 4!