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IMPORTANT UPDATE:
WATTPAD HAVE RECENTLY CHANGED THE WAY THEY RANK STORIES. IT IS NOW BASED ON TAGS, NOT CATEGORIES - MAKING TAGS IMPORTANT, AND CATEGORIES LESS SO (OR POTENTIALLY EVEN REDUNDANT).
IT'S A VERY NEW METHOD, AND I THINK THEY'RE HAVING A FEW ISSUES IN OPTIMIZING IT - SO I WON'T UPDATE THIS TIP UNTIL I KNOW WHETHER IT WILL REMAIN THE WAY IT IS, OR CHANGE AGAIN. BUT PAY MORE ATTENTION TO TAGGING THAN CATEGORIES! AND I'LL UPDATE TIPS 9 & 10 WHEN I KNOW MORE!
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10. Categorise correctly (and tactically)!
When you first publish your story, you need to assign it a category. The category is essentially the genre of your story. It's important to do this correctly so that your book will sit in the right place.
I also say categorise tactically. It's worth bearing in mind that some genres are much bigger than others - romance and teen on Wattpad are HUGE – which means that the potential audience is bigger than for a smaller category (e.g. Paranormal, Action) BUT it means your book has more books to compete against to be seen.
With a smaller genre you may have a smaller potential audience, but a higher likelihood of getting onto the top 100 hotlist (which makes you more visible).
If your book fits into two categories you have a choice to make based on the above - weighing the pros and cons of both. I personally found the smaller category approach worked for me.
As a YA Paranormal Romance, Cupid's Match could technically fit within Teen, Romance, or Paranormal. As an unknown writer, I originally went for the big category (Teen fiction). After a month or so of making very little progress up the ranks, I decided to move it to the smaller category (Paranormal) where I thought it would fit better – soon after it made its way into the top twenty, then the top ten, and then number 1!
If you're going to choose tactically - make sure the category is relevant though! If not your audience aren't as likely to see your book, and so less likely to read it!
YOU ARE READING
11 Ways to Wattpad like a Pro!
Non-Fiction11 Top tips and tricks to get the most out of Wattpad! From a Watty Award winning author with over 30 million reads online.