On the 20th Of January 2021, The Japanese tech giant Naver bought Wattpad for a cool $600 million.

What does that mean for users on Wattpad?

Well, if you're a reader, probably nothing. You'll still have access (at least for the moment) to all the books you love.

However, it could be a big potential change for creators. We've all seen the declining standards of Wattpad. The dropping of things like Newsfeeds for our readers and certain problems that are never addressed. A change of direction, especially by a new company whose Webtoon platform is renowned for searching out new and innovative talent would be more than welcome.

From what my research shows, Webtoon has both better algorithms (so no Bad boys Mean Girls zombie book apocalypse), and seems to value the role of its creators more than Wattpad.

On the other hand, the leveraged buyout might be for synergistic reasons, but it might also be a classic strip everything out and sell on the ravaged carcass type buyout or can eliminate the competition-style maneuver. I doubt it. I think it will be similar to Facebook's purchase of Whatsapp. There's a monopoly for digitally created fiction up for grabs and Netflicks has to get their script ideas from somewhere. It's more likely Naver wants that market.

If we look at last year's Wattys (sponsored by Webtoons, which is when rumors of a takeover began), maybe we have some kind of clue. That was the first time a focus was put on the age group of your target audience. It's also when poetry and short stories and non-fiction disappeared as categories. Was this market research for Webtoons? A culling of the weak?

I think we should watch very carefully the direction Wattpad will take. I hope it will be a change for the better.