Whenever someone wins a yearly contest that's it, you don't necessarily hear about them anymore. Don't worry though, I gotcha. 

Wattpad keeps evolving and so do the individuals who use the app, but there's life beyond this site and I've got four amazing ladies here who've not only participated in the Winter Rose Awards, they've ventured farther than just winning a spot in the top four.

Winter Rose Awards Participants of the 2020 Spring Edition, give warm greetings to Tiffany, Lev, Estelle, and Pixie.

*#*

(Simply_Hiraeth)

Q. Lev, your story As The Crow Flies went on to win the wattys last year. How big of a deal was that?

For me, it was a huge deal. I'm not someone who went in expecting my book to win. I submitted it at the very last minute, actually. Winning a Watty in the grand scheme of things is not a big deal, but it does make you feel good. To be recognized by Wattpad itself was really special for me. Also, it opened up a lot of doorways for me, that wouldn't have been possible otherwise. 

Q. Did winning the wattys boast you in any way?

It did, but it wasn't a huge avalanche all at once. As the Crow Flies is added to a lot more reading lists now, because of the exposure. It helped me a little bit, but you still have to put the work in, make connections, and stay focused. Winning the Watty didn't make me a Wattpad celebrity or anything. 

Q. You have a website, how important is it for writers to have one?

Well, it's not really a website, it's a writing blog. I started makingitupwriting.com because I wanted to connect more with people and discuss different topics on writing. I think it is important for writers to have a website because it helps bolster their sense of community and expands their writing range. 

Q. Do you believe winning and getting a review in awards such as The Winter Rose Awards is relevant compared to the wattys?

I think winning any kind of award is amazing. Whether it's recognition from the Winter Rose team or Wattpad HQ, it is a confidence booster, it helps you grow as a writer, and it is fun to participate in a competition. 

Q. What sort of tip would you give to writers in order to relax and enjoy writing?

Write for yourself. Of course, please share on Wattpad, but write the story that makes you the happiest. Write because you love the craft, because you love words, because you love to create worlds. Write for you, you, and only you. 

Q. What's the next step for you as a writer?

I'm waiting to hear back on some opportunities, but in the meantime, I'm just working on my blog. I'm also sketching out the very first ideas for something I might publish on Wattpad. I'm not sure where my path will take me, but it has been fun so far.

Lev does some pretty good Q&A, Trivia etc over on Instagram so if you've got a writer's account, follow and enjoy all the randomness to your heart's content.

*#*

( elusive_6788) 

Q. Estelle, you are now a contracted writer, congratulations. Your book Love Fool was the winning story last year, what three important tips would you give to anyone who's considering submitting their work to a publisher?

Thanks, Latty. These are the three valuable lessons I’ve learned during the process, from writing to being signed with a publisher:

1. Edit your work. Use a program like Grammarly or a spell-checker on Word or Google Docs after you write your first draft. Don’t lose yourself to the technicalities at this stage; just fix the obvious spelling and grammar mistakes. Once you receive comments and feedback, make changes to your content based on what works. Not all feedback will suit your overall story, but you will know when a reader is right. 

Personally, I used a professional editor for the final manuscript of my other story, Lessons on Seduction, before submitting it to my publisher. Editors don’t have to cost an arm and a leg. You can find them on Google, Twitter, Facebook, or www.wattpadwriters.com (in Story Services). 

2. Believe in yourself. If you want to be an author, you need confidence in yourself and your work. It takes a lot more than being a talented writer to be successful. Good writers know how to craft words into a compelling story but if they don’t believe in themselves, they’ve already quit. Part of never giving up is believing in your work even if others don’t. That is so valuable, and something that needs to be practiced every minute, every day. Self-confidence will help you develop a strong voice and stand by your work, which leads to the next point.

3. Have thick skin. Be prepared for criticism to arrive in your inbox, ranging from constructive feedback to harsh, blunt, and rude comments. I’ve received all types of comments on my stories, and one that still haunts me today because the words were so cruel; there was nothing constructive in that feedback. Authors need tough, strong minds and the ability to handle the painful punches before they find success. Stephen King received 30 rejections from publishers for Carrie. 

Q. Do you think awards such as The Winter Rose Awards are still relevant?

Absolutely! The Winter Rose Awards is one of the most reputable awards on Wattpad so having that in my writer’s CV is like winning gold. It’s an honor that I am proud of, because it helped me gain confidence. When I wrote Love Fool, I wasn’t sure if any reader would favor my style of writing. The Winter Rose Awards played a big role in helping me develop and fine-tune my voice as a writer.

The feedback I received from my judge bcpratt was valuable—I’m still editing Love Fool, taking in the constructive comments and suggestions, which I found useful. 

Q. What key details should potential writers pay attention to before publishing a story?

The story needs a good plot, characters with depth (make them imperfectly interesting), and places that are easy to visualize. Use the five senses when describing the story and cut down on the backstory. Use words to stimulate the readers’ mind. They want to see “a tear rolling down her reddened cheek”, not “she was sad.” Avoid excessive words; this can put the reader off from continuing a story. Finally, make sure your work is proofread and edited. 

Q. How important is having a social media handle for a writer?

Oh gosh, this is a little embarrassing for me! I’ve learned that digital media, including social media (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) is important to be noticed as a writer these days. Prior to being accepted by my publisher, Black Velvet Seductions, I had a weak social media presence. I had less than 100 Twitter followers about one month ago; it’s around the 600 mark today and still growing. I discovered that Twitter is a great hangout for writers, editors, publishers, agents, avid readers, book bloggers, and reviewers—the publishing industry. Wattpad has a strong social media profile.  

Having a social media presence is part of my brand identity as an author. It helps me connect, share, and network with others in the industry. I strongly recommend anyone who wants a writing career to build their social media; work with Instagram, Facebook and Twitter as the main three social platforms outside Wattpad. 

Q. Any advice for this year's participants?

Work with your own unique style and trust your voice. Make sure the first few chapters hook the reader with good dialogue and vivid descriptions that are succinct. Have confidence in your writing, and most importantly, have fun! 

Q. What's next for you?

I’m working on my next erotic romance, Wicked Seduction, on Wattpad. I will continue supporting writers in every way I can, as well as helping to make sure that this platform continues to be a great place for people to read, write, connect, and share their stories. I’m a strong believer in writers supporting writers, as writing can be a lonely path but we don’t have to be alone. 

Estelle here gives amazing advice, tips, and motivational suggestions over on my monthly published magazine Solace Magazine that happens to be a featured book. She also has a blog and can be found on Instagram and Twitter socially, Facebook too but I'm only sure about these two hehe.

If you wanna check out her articles over on Solace Magazine, here's the link (https://my.w.tt/8ML2qhL1D5) to her introduction and she can be found under the chapters titled: A Love Letter to Writers. 

*#*

(ClarityNMercy) 

Q. Tiff, your book Our Love In An Unforgiving World was our winning story last year. Regardless, that's not the story you've gone on to publish in the literacy world any reason?

There is. I really have aspirations to traditionally publish the Our Love series. The problem with that is marketing the story. It's much too long to market as one novel, and breaking it into a trilogy would make the first novel a pretty straight forward single romance. The problem with that, is it's a poly romance. Our Love is my baby, and it's very personal, that also makes it hard for me to put it out there and open it to the criticism of the big world. I'll figure it out one day. It will be published in some form in the future.

Q. How was your experience as a winner with The Winter Rose Awards and do you believe awards such as this are still relevant and helpful?

The WRA's are one of the most organized, well run awards, I've ever been a part of. I do think these awards are relevant, especially for newbie writers who are looking for feedback. And that's also how they are helpful.

Q. Tell us about your first published book and what was the journey like?

I don't have a full-length novel published yet. But I do have a short published that is part of a series that will culminate in a novel after a trilogy of shorts/novellas. I launched my first novel in June, perhaps. Haha! I say that because with everything happening, release might be postponed until late summer/early fall. 

            The journey has been sort of stressful so far. There is so much involved in indie publishing. It's not just, write the book and hand it over to the publisher to market for you and edit. You have to find your editor, find your cover artist, find your promoters, come up with a marketing plan, create your website, build your mailing list, build your social media, the list goes on. 

Q. Where can readers find out more about you and your books?

They can visit my website, claritytownsend.com, it's linked in my profile. That has my published stuff. But my WP profile also tells you where to find the couple of books no longer available in full here on Wattpad.

Q. What personal tips would you give to writers who're considering to publish beyond wattpad?

It depends on whether they want to indie publish or traditional. For traditional it would be to be prepared for a lot of rejection, and perhaps never getting picked up. For indie, if you want any success, it would be to be ready for lots of hard work. You do everything yourself or you need to have the money to outsource. Writing is a tiny bit of the process, and marketing is the hardest part. But also, be prepared to have bad reviews and criticism. Both are mentally draining and can kill your will. Wattpad and the like are very warm and safe places for writers. Publishing in any form, traditional or indie, takes guts, and the right headspace. 

Q. How pressuring is it in becoming a published author?

It's so much work as I mentioned, and certainly not for everyone. Indie success is so much on your shoulders. You have to really put in a lot of effort to have even a fraction of success. We aren't talking about just throwing something on Amazon. Do you know how many books are on Amazon? It'll go nowhere without major marketing on your part. And even so, success isn't guaranteed. The market is fickle. But especially when it's your dollar on the line, and your investment, there is greater pressure to do well, and at the very least, break even. 

For me personally, it's making sure my indie work is quality. That means professional editing by a licensed editor. It's pricey. Lemme tell you. Some days I look at my to-do list and think, what have I gotten into. But in for a penny, in for a pound. There's no turning back now. And I'm excited and terrified all at once. Some days are filled with so much doubt, but I've never been one to let fear and doubt rule my life. So, yes. Tons of pressure. Because even if you are successful, then there's pressure to keep being successful. 

Tiff here can be found literally everywhere socially and her Facebook Group is pretty fun, each day there's a different theme and the responses are ridiculously humorous and lighthearted.

*#*

(PixieStormcrow) 

Q: Pixie, your book originally titled The Will To Serve was the winning story last year and you've now gone onto publishing it. How has that been so far? 

It’s been a really crazy journey and one I never imagined I would embark on when I first started writing on Wattpad. After I wrote the Will to Serve, I got a lot of requests to go back and tell the story of how Luna and Jacob began so I went and wrote The Words to Bind. The Words ended up becoming book 1 and as a random shot in the dark, I submitted it to a publisher. I think when they came back saying they were interested, I started shaking.

Publishing with a publisher rather than self-publishing meant some compromises. They wanted me to change the name of the club and the series. To me, that wasn’t a big deal; I wasn’t attached to The Red Room, so that got changed to The Playgrounds. The bigger issue was they didn’t want Lani’s story which was planned to be book 3 since she was a Domme and according to them, Domme stories don’t sell. That one I wasn’t willing to give up on so I negotiated for the right to self-publish if they decide to not take it. I was ready to walk away if they weren’t willing to compromise but luckily they did in the end.

People say that going with a traditional publisher means you lose creative control of your work. I am lucky enough for that to not be the case. The only edits they’ve done are technical and grammatical changes that have only made my writing stronger. I have learned so much through the process that it’s been an absolutely incredible experience. The guidance on both writing and marketing has been invaluable and it’s a bit like having a personal coach.

The Words to Bind will be out for pre-order April 16th and The Will should hopefully be out just in time for the end of the year.

Q. How hard is it to maintain a steady presence socially as a writer? 

It’s hard. Right now, I steal time to write and every minute I’m using to engage on my social channels, I’m not writing. Sometimes in order to do both, I give up sleep for. 

But it’s also really rewarding to talk to other authors, especially the ones you run into that are veterans of the industry and willing to impart advice. I’ve gotten some great help from both self-published authors and authors in the author community my publisher has cultivated. In that sense, it’s been well worth the effort but I do constantly feel like I can do better, especially in places like Wattpad where I got my start.

Having a schedule and strategy helps. Scheduling posts ahead of time helps. But ironically, the social presence in such a saturated market is only a small part of the picture when it comes to marketing yourself and you work. I learned recently that the name of the game is volume. Someone even said in one of the Facebook groups I belong to that once you hit 10 works listed on Amazon, Amazon’s search algorithm starts surfacing your stuff more. No idea how true that is but I wouldn’t discount the theory.

Q. Which of your books were the most enjoyable to write? 

That is hard to say. I enjoy each book I write because it’s almost always a new couple and a new challenge. I’m very proud of the most recent side story I wrote that’ll be out in July called The Knots That Hold about Elijah, the shibari master from The Words to Bind, and a journalist that pretends to be a Domme. Then I started writing Drawn to Light and was proud of doing an F/f pair. And now I’m working on a Halloween special where a hot, hot fae prince has captured my heart. Do you see where I’m going with this?

Q. How hard is it in gaining a contract? 

Extremely hard.

I have to admit that I got lucky with this random shot in the dark. But I’ve had rejections with other manuscripts before. It’s not just a matter of (a) being a decent enough writer but (b) have an idea that they think will sell in the market and (c) have an acquisition editor personally like what you are writing and be okay with taking a risk on you, especially if you don’t already have a massive following. The chances of all that lining up are extremely rare. But, it does and can happen. 

If you’re choosing to go down this path, be ready for tonnes of rejection. After all, even Harry Potter was rejected by 12 different publishers.

Q. Without spilling too much, how important is it to consider signing a contract? 

I won’t lie. Being offered a contract is an amazing piece of validation. Someone is willing to spend their company resources, money and time to invest in you because they think you have made something good enough that people will spend money on it. It’s hard not to lose sight of everything else and just sign the freaking piece of paper.

I made myself wait. I made myself read the fine print over and over again and I asked others to read it as well and then I made myself wait again for their feedback. I decided upfront what I was willing to compromise on and what would make me walk away. I think that’s the most important part of the signing process. All else will follow.

Q. In your personal opinion, do you think awards such as The Winter Rose Awards are relevant and helpful?

Yes! Wattpad as an app has challenges in helping connect readers to less popular books. You could be the best writer in the world with the most amazing story and still never get reads. Awards like these helped get my story discovered and helped me get the initial feedback that gave me the confidence I needed to keep writing. The feedback I’ve received has been invaluable.

However, people forget that Wattpad is a microcosm of the larger publishing world. You can receive all the Wattpad awards in the world but that doesn’t mean your work is polished enough for the publishing world and for the mass market, whether you’re going through a traditional publisher or self-publish. It’s important, if and when you’re ready to take the first steps in publishing to remember that. Even for my self-published stuff, I make use of critique partners, alpha readers and pay for professional editing in order to deliver a product worth asking money for. Just remember to keep perspective.

At first glance, Pixie seems shy and socially distant, but fret not. Once you get to know this woman she's a joy and is literally open to answering any and practically every question you may have regardless how irrelevant you may think it is. She also has a Facebook Group and it's just as fun like Tiff's. 

>>>>________<<<<

Ladies, I wanna thank you all for stopping by and giving us a minute of your time to share your experiences along with offered advice. 

Participants, hope you enjoyed this segment and learned from it as well. And also to put it bluntly *clears throat religiously* PLEASE DO NOT GIVE INTO THAT "will you read/check my story out " TEMPTATION! I know some might say "who'll really do that?" Or that I'm extra, but us humans can't help ourselves. 

Until then, good luck to each and everyone of you!

~Latty❤.