Cracking the Wattpad Code: Insider Secrets the Pros don't want you to know!

Fixing Wattpad's 'Quality' Problem

This is probably one of the biggest gripes across the board on Wattpad: why is it that amateurish stories and writers are the ones most often seen on the Hot List? What about the 'real' writers and the 'real' stories?

Well, one can argue that it can be fixed pretty darn easily. There are three reasons why a story doesn't get 'popular' on Wattpad.

1) Poor Marketing. Now if you're reading this book, #1 should NOT be a problem for you. It's my job to solve #1 for you. :D

2) The readers don't get it. This no one can help you with. If you write a story that takes a rocket scientist to understand it, then the only readers you will have are rocket scientists. Don't write a story no one understands and then moan about why you aren't getting enough readers. Understand what the market wants, and give it to them. Otherwise, understand that your readership will be limited by the popularity of your topic and leave it as is.

3) The readers that do get it, DON'T VOTE or COMMENT.

I'd like to focus  a large part of this chapter on the third reason.

Case in point:

Let's take two Wattpad mega-authors and pit them against each other. Ladies and gentlemen I give you @Imaginator1D aka 'Anna Todd' versus @HaveYouSeenThisGirl aka 'Denny'.

For all apparent purposes, either of these ladies can easily serve as the poster child for Wattpad success. Imaginator1D has 319K followers and HaveYouSeenThisGirl has a whopping 385K followers. Now, I dare you to find other Wattpad celebrities with this kind of rabid following, I mean, it is beyond ridiculous right? 

Absolutely. But let's dig into a few more numbers shall we?

Votes

Imaginator 1D: 8,868,766

HaveYouSeenThisGirl: 709,529.

Wait, WTH??? That's IT? HaveYouSeenThisGirl has a measly 709K votes versus Imaginator1D's incredible 8.8 MILLION votes. What the hell is going on? 

I'll tell you what's going on.

The difference is cultural.

In the West, we have a tendency to applaud and give our thumbs up when we enjoy a particular performance. In the East, things are a little more laid back, applause is not always so overt. Who's more popular? That's a tough question to answer.

Why? Because it's hard to say. In both cases, readers have taken action and have done something. Western readers are more overt, that is to say they are more demonstrative of their appreciation for something. This takes the form of votes, and comments. Eastern Readers on the other hand, are less overt. It takes the form of PMs, or short words of thanks on someone's messageboard. They don't always vote. In fact, they may not even understand the concept of voting and how it works.

Back to the Problem at Hand

Okay, let's get back to the problem at hand, which is 'quality' on Wattpad. The reason why 'quality' stories aren't always given attention is because the voting system is extremely limited. You either vote, or you don't. But what if the voting system was changed, pretty simply, to a five-star system instead of a one-star system?

It's not like the effort is different right? Rather than click a star, a reader still performs a single click. Only this time, they have to click a rating from one to five stars. 1 star for 'hated it', 5 stars for 'loved it'. It's not that hard. Anyone knows how to do this right? And the effort is still the same. It's still one click. 

Well sure Mike, but what about those non-demonstrative silent readers? 

Well, that's easy too.