I admit, I get a little frustrated towards other Wattpad how-to books. There's thousands of them out there, all suggesting the same obvious advice for becoming #1 on Wattpad, like be active! and post consistently!

And yet, they get thousands of reads. Asking myself why, I realized I forgot something.

I forgot about the newbies. Because, for the younglings of Wattpad who are just starting out, a lot of bland, oft-repeated advice seems fresh and unique to them! If you're new to Wattpad, I can't just throw my most advanced advice at you and expect you to understand what I'm talking about.

So, it's time I catch you up to speed on common techniques to attract readers.

Now, like some certain other how-to books, I could drag out the process of explaining these basics in chapter after chapter. I could soak in the reads. I could frolic in the votes. Or, I could just summarize all the basics of posting on Wattpad in one simple, easy-to-read chapter.

THE BASICS:

🗸 End chapters on a cliffhanger

Listen, we all know it's a cheap trick, alright? But it's also very effective to leave your readers hanging on until the next chapter is released. If possible, try to end with a revealed piece of information that leaves questions in the reader's mind.

🗸 Make your average chapter around 2,000 words

In the words of Goldilocks, "1,000 words is too short, 3,000 words is too long, and 2,000 words is just right." If you have a 40,000-word novel and you average 10 votes per chapter, you'll get 200 votes if you post it in 2,000-word parts, but only 133 votes if you post it in 3,000-word parts.

Also, 1,000 words just tends to be too short for most readers, especially considering they have to sit through advertisements at the end of each chapter. The average reading speed is 200 words per minute. That means every 5 minutes they have to sit through an ad. Not a pleasant reading experience.

In contrast, 3000 words is a 15 minute reading time. Consider that most readers are on mobile, and therefore more likely to be reading while on lunch break, or standing in the line at Starbucks, or in some other short time period. Fifteen-minute chapters increases the likelihood they'll put the novel down right in the middle of your scene.

If you still don't believe me, let's take a look at the lengths of each Chapter 1 for top books on the hot lists, across all genres:

The average chapter length? 1725 words.

🗸 Make sure to reply to every comment

I touch on this a little in subsequent chapters, but it is a good idea to respond to every comment. Not only do comments boost engagement (which in turn helps you in hot list rankings) it also makes the reader feel better. Let them know there's a human being behind the pages.

🗸 New sequels are advertisements for past books

Every time you update, it boosts you in the hot list, which increases the likelihood that readers come along. If you're writing a sequel, you can redirect your new readers to the original book, and as they read along, it will boost the reads for each book in the series. This is why series are so popular right now in both the self-publishing and traditional publishing worlds.

🗸 Ask people to vote at the end of each chapter

People are forgetful. They may mean to support your work, but are so busy flipping pages in your Wattpad masterpiece they forget to hit that star button. A small, discrete banner or sentence can be unobtrusive while still reminding them to vote. If you didn't already know, voting provides legitimacy for your work, while also boosting you in tag rankings (the hot list).

🗸 Don't advertise your story in other people's books

It's rude and gives you a bad reputation. Don't do it.

🗸 Don't trade votes

This is against Wattpad guidelines. You can be banned for this.

🗸 Readers like to read popular books, creating a snowball effect

How can you tell if a book is well-written and engaging? You can't tell by the cover, or the title, or even the blurb. But on Wattpad, there are statistics that indicate other people found it enjoyable: in the form of reads, votes, and comments. When readers are looking for something to read, they are more likely to gravitate towards books that are already popular, because they have been tested by thousands, if not millions of other reads, and got approval in the form of votes.

This results in the total domination of the hot lists by mega-popular books. They are widely read, as therefore people flock to them, and in doing so, ensure that those books remain at the top of hot lists, which again makes people flock to them, and repeat ad nauseum...

🗸 Announce new chapters

Your followers are there for a reason: to get updates from you. Announcements provide a reminder that your book is updated, and, an opportunity for you to get more engagement from them. Tease the next chapter a little. Ask them questions. Tell them what you're up to.

🗸 Acknowledge follows

By saying 'thank you' to those who follow us, we are acknowledging them as fans. On a lesser note, our thank you message also serves as a small advertisement on their profile.

🗸 Write about Harry Styles

Okay, this one is a joke...but not really. If you have a pre-existing audience hungry for your fanfic content, like with Harry Potter or One Direction fandoms, you're already ahead of the curve.

🗸 Post once or twice a week on Tuesday and/or Friday

In the days of ye ol' Wattpad, you used to post Friday mornings because Saturday was when the algorithm updated. Now, nobody really knows when it updates anymore, but we still post Fridays because that is the time of week when people are most active.

That said, Tuesday is the other viable time of week to post. That's because the subsequent weekdays are the most popular days. We don't have any data on Wattpad, but for a close comparison, we can look at data from another youth-oriented social media platform, Instagram.

Notice that while Friday morning has the highest engagement level for media (the darkest shade of red), by posting Tuesday we end up with the chance that people will engage on subsequent days: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. As for the weekend? Well, forget it.