Many people don't know this but I first joined Wattpad in 2015. My current page looks so empty because I took breaks. I actually, literally gave up Wattpad two times: first, between late 2015 to late 2017. For two whole years! Then, I made a New Year's resolution to come back but, as it was with New Year's Resolutions, it only lasted two months and then I quit again. I came back in the middle of 2018 and that was when I started posting The Boyfriend App.

You know why I had such an on-and-off relationship with WP? Because I felt my stories weren't getting enough reads. Yeah, I swear. It was miserable. 

Ok, first, a quick background. I don't know if you know this but, in the indie writers' community, Wattpad is viewed as a place where newbie writers go to hone their skills. But that's not 100% true because there are so many different types of people on Wattpad.

If I had to label them like in a high school movie, first, there are those who I like to call Chroniclers. They're the stereotyped amateur writers who want nothing more from Wattpad except to serve as a venue for their fanfics and poetry. They're not looking into monetizing i.e. earning from their work or becoming a professional author – at least not yet.

Second, there are the Rockstars who have made Wattpad their turf by building a certain size of following, from the mediocre to the cult-level. Rockstars may or may not be monetizing on their works, either through Wattpad's career opportunities or by going indie.

Third, there are what I call the Time-travelers because they're actually doing things slightly backwards. They're more or less seasoned indie writers with a couple or several titles on their belt, but they've traveled back in time – to Wattpad – to try and expand their reader base. I belonged to this group.

I remember, when I first joined Wattpad, I debated whether I should post my complete work or just a sampling of it, which I heard other Time-travelers did. Naturally, indie authors, by virtue of being independent, have to do their own marketing, too. And in the world of indie authors, marketing is prolly the second biggest, if not the biggest, role you have to play. Otherwise, the whole independent publishing gig just isn't going to work out.

Finally, there are the Fans who, either out of shyness to release their own works or out of pure enjoyment of being a reader, are content to read, comment, like and follow. There's nothing wrong with this, don't get me wrong. In fact, without fans, there won't be any of the other types.

But please don't start going around stereotyping people on Wattpad because of what I said. Everything's incredibly fluid. A Fan can become either a Chronicler or a Rockstar, while a Time-traveler can, like me, be active one season and then disappear the next.

Wattpad itself is changing dynamically. You remember when they used to have the Share Your Story Club? I do. And of course everybody has their own opinion about the brand-new Paid Stories feature.

I'm going to be honest with you here. At first, I had my misgivings about the Paid Stories program, prolly like many Wattpad users. But then, as an author myself, I realized how hard it is for writers, whether amateur or self-published, to get recognition for their works or to find a dedicated group of readers who truly love and support them. And this is the reality for the average artist inside and outside Wattpad.

It's prolly the pervasive culture of the Internet that encouraged this attitude. Wattpad users like free content the same way that people rant on games that are blatantly pay-to-win or have a very steep price ceiling. But most of all, it's the natural feeling of anyone faced with a big change, to feel anxious of or uncomfortable with what's not familiar. But this is an attitude that everyone in this modern world of rapid and sweeping technological changes – whether author or reader, artist or pragmatist – must shake off.

Think of it this way: Paid Stories are also called Supported Stories because loyal readers support their favorite authors on their current work so they'd be able to craft even more awesome work. Both sides win. On the contrary, eternally free content would only lead to the vicious cycle of worse and worse stories. Everybody loses because it's not sustainable.

Even authors have the same mindset sometimes. It's a holdover of the "starving artist" stereotype. Sure, in Chapter 1, I cited a quote from the movie Rebel in the Rye:

"But here's the catch. You still may never publish... You may spend the rest of your life being rejected. And now, you have to ask yourself a question. Are you willing to devote your life to telling stories knowing that you may get nothing in return? And if the answer to that question is no well, then, you should go out there and find yourself something else to do with your life because you're not a true writer."

But you see, the Supported Stories feature isn't like what's mentioned in the quote above. Plus, the operative word in the quote is "may." It appeared 2 times: "You still may never publish... You may spend the rest of your life being rejected."

The authors signed into the Paid Stories program have already been screened by a qualified group of judges, no different from the panel of editors of a publishing house. They have already been approved, first by their growing readership and then by the people behind the program. In fact, removing the Paid Stories program would be tantamount to perpetuating the life of rejection that all authors fear.

Because it takes money to get published. Real-world money. And isn't getting published the dream of any author, whichever stage they are in their journey?

Up Next: I'm going to be up-close, personal, and detailed about my firsthand experience on Wattpad.

Stay Phenomenal!

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I'll try to update this story every day (whoa!)

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