DISCLAIMER: I have no intention whatsoever of directing any form of h@te to a person or a group of people.

Recently, a lot of contests and awards are being hosted by Wattpad users (not official Wattpad profiles) and it's a really great thing that so many users are interested in helping other writers grow their audience and give them the exposure they deserve!

However, there are some really fishy peeps who use awards/contests as a means of self-gaining.

Mostly, to participate in such non-official contests, you have to follow the host(s), add the contest book to your reading list and give them a shoutout on your profile.

There might be some extra work you have to do like read the host(s) books and comment on them. This is also okay.

"Vote on 10 chapters of XYZ's book 'The Alphabets' to participate"- THIS, is not okay.

This is deemed as vote trading and if you check Wattpad guidelines it'll show you something like this ↓

VOTE TRADING IS PROHIBITED.

I've come across a few contests/awards that ask for "payments" like these to participate- PLS DON'T DO IT!

But Rose, this is just to appreciate the efforts... What's so wrong with that?

Have you noticed the tiny grey writings under a particular book when you view it on a writer's page?

It shows the ranking of the book under that particular tag and many more ranks under different tags can be seen when you tap/click on it. These ranks actually help boost your audience.

The higher your book is on a certain rank, the more likely it is that Wattpad's system will recommend it to other readers who read books related to that tag.

eg. If you've added a tag of 'mystery' to your book and it ranks with a one or two-digit number, it is most likely to appear on other Wattpad readers' homepages who read stories under the 'mystery' tag.

These ranks are usually determined by the reads : votes ratio of a book. The more the number of reads & votes, the higher the ranks. But, the ratio also matters. If your book has more reads but less than half the number of votes then it may be placed in the lower ranks.

That is why you might have seen (or you might have done it yourself) that writers often ask readers to vote on their books if they enjoyed the story. More often than not, readers tend to forget to vote on chapters of a book they enjoyed reading. (it hurts but ik you can sometimes miss it and it's okay but do go back and vote on the chapters you loved so much when you remember 😭👍)

This is why VOTES are so important. Now what is an easy way of asking for votes? Requesting for v0tes for v0tes, or asking for v0tes through means of awards/contests.

If you ask people to vote on chapters of the contest book so the host knows you've read those chapters, it is still okay.

But ppl often cross the line by asking for votes on fiction/graphic books unrelated to the particular contest because that is the exact definition of vote trading.

Participants who are unaware of vote trading, innocently vote on the chapters of an unrelated book as they want to participate and do not read the actual writing. This is one of the reasons why, often stories with bad grammar and not-so-good writing style have so many reads and votes & are popular on Wattpad.

If you wish to support the efforts of the host by voting on their fiction books then pls READ the book / SEE the graphics to judge yourself whether it is good and deserves the votes or not.

And if you are an award/contest host then PLEASE do not include such payments in the criteria for participating.

But Rose! We put so much effort into hosting them, we should also get something in return 'cause we can't ask for m0ney, now can we??

I get your point too. I've hosted Awards, Contests and a Graphic War in the past so I know about all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes.

But hey, think why you started your contest? Wasn't it to help Good Books get more exposure and the recognition they deserve? Or to help amateur Graphic Designers challenge themselves discover their style and get the recognition they deserve?

Then won't you be gaining happiness from knowing you helped so many people get the rewards they deserve for their talent? :)

In my opinion, a follow, adding the contest/awards book to the reading list and giving the contest a shoutout is enough. If you abandon this wrongful "tradition" of asking for votes, then you will be preventing other writers from getting robbed of the opportunity to have their writings noticed.

Plus, if the participants follow you, then most probably they'll also check out your works (if the topic interests them) when they see your updates through Wattpad notifications or your announcements! It's definitely a win-win situation that way when you play the game fair and square. Let your works be judged on your own merits alone!  That way, the appreciation you get from your loyal readers will make you even happier as it is not by the means of some unfair practices.

So pls do not participate in any form of vote trading! And spread the word because many people are still unaware of this!

Also, if you come across a user intentionally/unintentionally participating in v0te trading through v0te for v0te or awards and contests then do confront them without hesitation! And if the user(s) continue to be ignorant, simply report the book/message to Wattpad.

Remember, every small step counts!

to be continued with the backstory (the real tea) for this chapter...