Website: https://www.wattpad.com
Email: press@wattpad.com
Social media: @Wattpad (Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Tiktok, Facebook)
Goals/mission:
- To “revolutionize the way people discover, share, and connect through stories.” This movement shifts the act of writing from being a solitary, individual one and extends the franchise of who is given the platform to be successful in the industry. Authority over the narrative is newly redistributed between author and reader, as opposed to publisher and author.
- To construct a free, easy-to-use, widely accessible creative space in which writers and readers can interact and converse about stories, and to “connect a global community of 85 million readers and writers through the power of story.”
- To provide a platform on which writers of all ages, backgrounds, and skill levels can share their work, build an audience, and receive feedback about their writing, as well as to enable opportunities for professional literary development.
- To expand its brand beyond the world of written stories into the realm of entertainment, developing film and television, theme parks, and graphic novels, while using fan reaction and engagement data to see what works and what doesn’t.
- Ultimate aim: “For Wattpad to be the platform of choice for all fiction writers and their readers.”
Notable activities:
- Established Wattpad Books and Wattpad Studios as divisions geared towards helping promising Wattpad stories transition to traditional media.
- After, Anna Todd’s New York Times bestselling novel series, was originally a work of fan fiction on Wattpad; so was Beth Reekles’ The Kissing Booth, which was published as a teen book and received a series of widely-viewed Netflix adaptations.
- Holds the annual Watty Awards, the largest international writing competition open to all Wattpad users, where stories have the chance to win cash prizes, recognition on the website, and potential opportunities for adaptation. The awards were designed to recognize and spotlight popular stories on the platform and reward talented authors whose creativity keeps users coming back to read. The awards are not tied to one specific award or category and include sections such as Originals, Fanfiction, Undiscovered Gems, Poetry, Science Fiction, and Teen Fiction.
- Partnered with author Margaret Atwood in 2012 to launch the Atty Awards, a global poetry competition to recognize work by undiscovered poets.
- Established Wattcon, an international fan convention for “writers at all stages of their journey” held both virtually and in-person in major cities, featuring workshops geared towards writing and marketing your story, panel discussions with professionals, and meet-and-greets and speeches by Wattpad creators.
Ways to get involved:
- Sign up for an account on wattpad.com and participate in the community – either as a reader or a writer! The most obvious way to get involved is to join the 85 million users on Wattpad and write your own story, or engage with the stories of others. Help amateur authors improve their writing skills, try your hand at your own story to contribute to the diverse stock of story material, join a discussion forum for a story you have something to say about, or all of the above.As a writer: you can post your story, receive feedback from and interact with your readers, build a following through your author profile, gain attention on the platform to start growing and developing your literary career as an author, and open yourself up to publishing and adaptation opportunities with Wattpad and its partners.
- As a reader: you can browse detailed genre and trope tags, read, save, and “vote” for your favourite stories, leave detailed in-line comments right on the work for the author to read, follow and support authors on their profiles, directly message your favourite authors, and vote for the stories you love for awards like the Fan’s Choice Award.
- Enter the annual Watty Awards, open to anyone with a Wattpad account, at https://www.wattpad.com/wattys for the opportunity to win and see your story adapted to film, television, or animation by Wattpad’s partners in entertainment and publishing.
- If you know someone who wants to write but doesn’t know where to start or is perhaps discouraged about facing rejection for their work, urge them to seek out audience reception of their writing on Wattpad.
- Engage with genres on the app that you don’t usually seek out or that are often marginalized or rare in the literary space: LGBTQ+, Science Fiction, Paranormal—even Werewolf is a top genre on Wattpad.
- Attend Wattcon as a writer or reader whenever it’s held next. The convention always accepts virtual attendees and offers many workshops, events, and meet-and-greets with Wattpad creators and authors.
- Check out Wattpad’s wealth of resources about writing, editing, and marketing stories and books for not only its users but also for writers and creators in general at https://creators.wattpad.com/writing-resources/.
Information compiled by Lily Liu and Sarah Mitchell