MONDAY (25 JULY, 2016)

TALK 1: Karim Suliman (Karimsuliman) on A Cruise in the Orange Ocean

Hey there folks!In case it's your first time to e-meet me, my name is Karim Soliman aka Karimsuliman on Wattpad. I'm a member of Wattpad Stars Program, through which I managed to publish a short story in Simon and Schuster's anthology of "Imagines". I also had an amazing opportunity to write a 5th Wave novella for Sony Pictures as part of their promotional campaign on Wattpad for their movie 5th Wave. My Sci-Fi book "Bermuda" enjoyed some decent time on top of the Sci-Fi and Action Hotlists. "The Warrior's Path" has become a featured fantasy book. So, as you see, my second life on Wattpad is not bad so far.

But that wasn't the case three years ago when I joined the orange community. I started with zero followers. My first book had zero reads, zero votes and zero comments.

And what did I do in those three years to change that? Everything. 

I knocked all doors my hands could reach to get my story noticed. Right doors and wrong doors. Unfortunately, these doors were not labelled to know which was which, so I learnt the hard way. Trial and error. AND observation. That's why my Wattpad experience was a bit rich; because I was able to connect the dots, and link the cause with its effect until I managed to grasp the rules of the game.

How is your journey on Wattpad so far? Doing well? Excellent. I'll really appreciate it if you share your insights with us to enrich this session.

 Do you feel you're exerting too much effort without getting the results you're expecting? I hope my two cents about my little cruise might be of help.

THE HOTSPOT LOTTERY

So, do you think you have an enticing story? Check. 

Bearing in mind that we have like 200 million books floating in the orange cloud, how do you think your potential readers will find you?

A miracle? Sure, it will do. But just in case your miracle is a bit late for any weird reason, you should take the reader's seat for a few minutes to get the feel of his/her treasure hunt on Wattpad.

First of all, 90% of Wattpad activity is on mobile. So, you can safely assume that 90% of Wattpadders are app users.

 Which means, they NEVER check any club threads. Sorry to disappoint you, but the pinned threads of "Share Your Story Here" in all clubs are useless.

Below is the screen your potential reader is most probably (probability=90%) browsing right now. That's the spot where you want your story to appear.

    Or this one between chapters 

The list of stories recommended by Wattpad is customized according to what the system 'assumes' it suits the reader's preferences. And this 'assumption' is based on each reader's activity (mainly the stories she votes on) as well as the activity of the people she follows. So, the more readers (not just followers) you get, the higher the chances your story will get exposure—because the followers of your readers will be more likely to find you. Got the idea?

But still the question is: how can you 'convince' the system that your story will match your potential reader's taste? The answer lies in the most underrated feature: tags.

Underestimating the importance of tags, many Wattpad writers don't use the 20 tags allowed to them, while more tags means higher chances of your story getting recommended by the system to those who read 'similar' stories.

Not sure which tags to use? Have a look at those tags of successful stories in your genre. Check the trending tabs from the 'Discover' tab (using a web browser, not the app), and pick those you find relevant to your book. Tagging your sword and sorcery fantasy with #HarryStyles is just a waste of one tag if you ask me.

Also choose a word that your reader is likely to type in the search tab. Tagging your book with Aukarashu, the name of your mighty dragon, is not a smart move, unless Aukarashu has suddenly become a popular name for the fantasy community.

Book Clubs?

Many Wattpadders advise newcomers to join book clubs to get reads. I disagree.Joining book clubs helps won't help you gain 'loyal' readers, but it might help you improve your writing. I went through an awesome experience myself with the 100/20 group managed by the incomparable Jason aka SeeThomasHowl. The feedback I received about my work, as well as reviewing works of other authors of different writing styles helped me hone my skills. And much better, I made friends with a bunch of amazing fellow-wattpadders.

Book clubs are of value indeed. But you should know what to expect from them.

Update! Update! Update!

Frequency matters. Not only for the sake of the algorithm to boost your story ranking, but also for your readers who you don't want to lose. To demonstrate the importance of frequent updates, let's have a look at these two books.          

Both of them are sequels in two popular series. Even Bermuda has garnered more reads than The Warrior's Path (Book 1) although it has fewer parts and not featured. So, I expected Bermuda 2 to boom. But eventually, Bermuda 2 has barely surpassed 100K reads, and RoTBQ is almost touching the 300K reads now. 

While the number of parts could be a factor (RoTBQ has more parts than Bermuda 2), the main reason that hurt the momentum of Bermuda 2 was irregular updating. With RoTBQ, I didn't miss a week, but the case wasn't the same for Bermuda 2. Sometimes I took 10 days to post a new chapter, sometimes two weeks, a few times more than two weeks. By time, the decline of traffic momentum in Bermuda 2 became obvious. I wish I could do anything about it, but I was struggling with real life obligations.

Anyway.

1 week is an acceptable waiting gap for Wattpad readers. But try not to make them wait more than that. If you post twice per week, they'll love you more. Thrice per week, much more love, BUT, you'll hurt the momentum of your book reads. However, NYT bestseller Taran Matharu's Summoner was a famous and a rare exception. Although he used to update his story every day, it grossed over 150K reads in six weeks, if I remember right.

My dearest pal, Micheal Limjoco aka Michaellimjoco, author of Cracking the Wattpad Code (a must-read guide), believes that the five-day gap works best for Wattpad stories. You see, Wattpad algorithm works in one way or another like Facebook (not Twitter).

Let me take you off topic for a minute.Do you know how Facebook posts are sorted on your newsfeed?For the sake of simplicity, it depends on three factors:

1- 'Popularity' of the post: number of likes, shares, comments. (i.e. Reads, votes, library adds, comments)

2- 'Affinity' between you and the post owner: how often you interact with his post. 

3. 'Decay' effect. After three days, the post will sink way down in your newsfeed. According to Michael Limjoco, the decay effect starts here in Wattpad on the fifth day.

However, a 12-year 'old' Facebook post may pop up in your newsfeed, but under only one condition: when someone leaves a comment on it. 

Yeah, you got that right: that's what happens when you post a new chapter.

WAR OF TABS, CLASH OF CLICKS

Breaking news! Your book has just showed up on Jessica's screen (why Jessica? I don't know *shrugs*). The moment you've been waiting for has come at last.

But Jessica continues browsing her home page.

Yes, a spot in the 'hot zone' could be the final destination of your story. To understand why Jessica decided to skip your book, tell me which story you are more likely to click, provided that they have the same title and blurb.

Did I rest my case?

However, let me clarify this: a kickass cover creates a good impression about your book quality, but it's not a must. A'normal' cover will do.

Can you guess how I 'designed' Bermuda cover? An image from Google Images. Paint. Cooltext.com.

But imagine this cover without a title. Probably, you'll skip it. Like Jessica.

A comprehensive yet simple guide to check is Julie's (aka jewel1307) pinned thread in Multimedia Designs club.

First things first

Writing a 100,000-word novel is exhausting. Writing a few hundred-word blurb is a real headache. But this could be where your reader decides to tab 'read', or browse the rest of recommended stories by the system.

PLEASE. Don't leave blank space where you're supposed to write your blurb. Start with a short one, like a movie description on IMDB. Expand it. Check books on Goodreads to get a sense of how a blurb looks like.

Maybe I'm not among the majority, but I don't rely much on blurbs—as a reader—to judge a book. Usually, I decide after reading the first chapter, or before I even finish it. Sometimes the first few paragraphs are enough for me to look for another book to read.You should understand that readers are less patient with digital free books than with paperbacks. They would give a book they've paid for a decent chance before they decide to stop reading it. But on a free platform like Wattpad, nothing is easier for a reader than finding a new story to read. 

You don't believe me? Check the analytics of your works (click on 'Create' via your web browser, then check 'Stats'). From the 'Engagement' tab, you may find that less than 50% of your readers complete your first chapter.

Give your first chapter your greatest attention. Don't put Jessica off with your typos and grammar mistakes. Trust me; while she's still at your first few chapters, switching to another book is an easy call for her.

However, a 'clean' first chapter is not enough on its own to ensure that Jessica will read chapter 2. She won't do that unless you give her a reason: an interesting MC she wants to know more about; an intriguing plot that makes her curious about what happens next. Don't start your story with another alarm clock waking your MC up. Unless he realizes that this is not his room, and he has no idea how he got there. And who's that girl sleeping beside him?

For more insights from a pro, check Cytolene's Bad Ways to Start a Novel.

Reading Requests & Self-advertising

Waiting is hard, I know. I was impatient when I first signed up. The notion of becoming another drop in the ocean bugged me like hell.

But trust me; these actions won't take you anywhere: 

- Sending a reading request to other writers: they will simply ignore you, send a polite apology they don't have time, or tell you to have a look at their profile where they clearly state: WE DON'T ACCEPT READING REQUESTS. 

Some writers will request a read in return. This way could only be useful in getting feedback; I review your book, you review mine. But it won't build a 'real' readership for your work.- Advertising on someone's profile: irritating.

- Advertising in the comments of someone's story: too irritating.- Advertising in club threads except in the "Share a Story" thread: it will be deleted.

- Do it again: you will be warned, and maybe banned.

- Sending a link via PM without even saying hi: consider it deleted.

My advice: if you are to send a reading request to someone, make sure she's NOT an author. Check her library to see whether she's into the genre of your story or not. And be nice when you ask.

If you want more insights about that topic, check my interview with Michael in his guide Cracking the Wattpad Code. 

And last but not least, THE CORE 

Simply: a compelling story.

Remember what I said earlier about knocking all doors to get attention for my story? That was what I did for The Warrior's Path in my first weeks on Wattpad. I approached too MANY potential readers, 'inviting' each one of them with a personalized message. I knew that "Hey, check my story" would sound robotic and would never work.

But I did nothing for Bermuda. 

Although I was still new, and Bermuda was my introduction to the Sci-Fi community on Wattpad, all I did was sticking to the basics: regular updates, a normal cover with a clear title, and right tags. 

What was the result? A start slower than that of TWP, but later on, the turtle became a rabbit.

(I guess some of you might be wondering: 'why on earth does he keep records of his books stats?' Well, it's in my blood. I didn't tell you that brand management was my profession, did I?) 

At its prime, Bermuda was garnering over 20K reads per week, sitting on top of both Sci-Fi and Action Hotlists. (At that time, you were allowed to allocated your story to two genres)

Bottom line: It's all about the story you craft. If it appeals to the Watt-munity, it will boom and nothing will stop it. But don't forget the basics you should stick to.What I strongly recommend is to make the most of the available resources on Wattpad. In addition to the countless guides about improving your writing (my favorite is Yuffie's Writing How-To's by YuffieProductions), there are also the talented Wattpad authors, whose works are at your disposal FOR FREE. Read their works and definitely, you'll learn from their different writing styles. 

If you're seeking inspiration, you will find compelling voices in every genre. My personal recommendations:

Fantasy: JessicaBFry and rmcneary

Science Fiction: Bella_Higgin and GregCarrico

Historical Fiction: KatherineArlene and RobThier

Paranormal: brucerelgin

Vampires: Bella_Higgin (again)

Romance: gabycabezut and Monrosey

Horror: EliseNoble, SheHopes

Action: Sam_McGregor, jr0127, EliciaHyder

Mystery/Thriller: Monrosey (again)

Anything about pirates: rskovach

Anything about mermaids: BrittanieCharmintine 

And if you're looking for a psychopathic MC: surely, it's Sin by ShaunAllan