I joined Wattpad a couple of years ago – I forget exactly when – and published my first story on July 14th 2014. That story has had 13 ‘reads’. I didn’t start using Wattpad properly until May 2015, when I started writing and publishing A Day of Faces, my on-going weird sci-fi serial.
In September I tentatively took part in something called the Story Fair, run via Facebook by a handful of far more established Wattpad authors (who have tens of thousands of readers between them). That event brought in a whole bunch of extra readers and also unexpectedly got me involved with the upcoming Wattpad Block Party, which is going to happen in February. You can find out about the event here.
Even though the event is still a couple of months away it’s already raising ADoF’s profile, with a bunch of new readers arriving and seeming to enjoy the work (if their votes and comments are anything to go by). I’m optimistic that the main event in February could lead to a very nice profile bump.
This coming Saturday there’s the Wattpad LonCon, a meet-up in London for Wattpad authors. It’ll be the first time I’ve met any fellow Wattpad writers in person and is another complete unknown, as was the Story Fair back in September. Every stage of publishing through Wattpad has been something of an experiment, and the results have been pleasant each time.
Bottom line is that in just over seven months, A Day of Faces has had over 1000 reads. That’s small fry compared to many authors on there, let alone traditionally published authors, and it’s not life-changing by any means. But compare it to the readership of any of my previous fiction – basically a handful of personal friends – and it’s a total sea change. My fiction writing has never had this kind of exposure (unlike my copywriting, which has always had a pretty big online presence). Those people who are reading it also seem to be liking it, which is even more thrilling.
It’s still early days but there’s a definite sense of momentum building. It’ll be interesting to see where my fiction writing is at a couple of years from now.
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