![]() In my view, Wattpad is not a replacement for publishers, but a gateway leading to them.īut shouldn't writers get paid for their work? In an ideal world, yes. For those who want to hone their writing skills, schools and tools are increasingly available. Not everyone wants to read those kinds of books, and not everyone wants to write them – but they remain a huge aspiration for many. Publishers bring a lot to the joint venture that is producing a book. The second idea is that traditional publishing is doomed. Like Dickens during his serial publication of Pickwick, Wattpad writers get feedback from readers, and may shape their stories accordingly. However, you don't get that impression from Wattpad, possibly because the site emulates features of video games: participation. First, that young people aren't reading, but are playing video games instead. We hear a lot these days about two ideas. (For instance, the Wattpad One Direction launch has been viewed by 1 million, and has generated 12,000 pieces of fan fiction to date.) They're also talent-spotting on it, and some Wattpad writers have already moved over to other, more traditional, paid methods of publication. Increasingly, publishers and music companies are looking at it as an aid to promotion. Over six years, it built itself up under the radar of the traditional publishers, and it now has a membership of millions, in 25 languages, with 1.7bn minute views per month. Wattpad was started in 2006, before the tsunami of ebooks. Some of us later created literary magazines cranked out on mimeo machines and sold in early 60s coffee houses during Poetry Night, after our angst-fuelled readings of our own left-handed works. We had to use our real names, which meant that many of us hid our most heartfelt writing in our sock drawers. We went on to place an ill-advised poem or story in the school yearbook, to the secret derision of our classmates. We put together little booklets with our writing in them – our handwriting – for a readership of two: our parents. Think of the outlets young writers of my generation had at our disposal. ![]() Not only that, you'll have readers who leave encouraging comments on your message board, thus boosting your morale. Then you can post stories about Pod People or affairs with smouldering hunks undead for 2,000 years, which beats "My Summer Holiday" every time. You can be FlamingLeprechaun and represent yourself with a picture of a bat or a spoon: the internet lends itself to surrealism. And if you're worried about adverse reactions from your teachers, your grandmother, or others who might not like you writing about slavering zombies or your relatives, you can use a pseudonym. No one need know how old you are, what your social background is, or where you live. ![]() On – using your computer, tablet or phone – you can post your own writing. You're free to explore, and to guinea-pig yourself, and to stretch the boundaries. But at my age you can afford to be undignified. Maybe my dates with Wattpad are a bit undignified. Get back up on that pedestal! Strike a serious pose! Turn to stone!" Why are you sneaking out with an online story-sharing site heavy on romance, vampires and werewolves? You should be endorsing Literature, capital L. "You're a literary icon at the height of your powers it says so on your book covers. "But Margaret," you can hear them whispering. Why Wattpad? And, indeed, what pad? Wattpad, as in wattage, the kind that makes the lights turn on. O nce again people are giving me strange looks.
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