Hi everyone. I am Sarah Royal. I read and write as a hobby on Wattpad and Radish Fiction App. In addition, I will be publishing my first book, Her Heart His Obsession on Tapas before the end of this summer and I am also in process of making audio books with Castbox in upcoming months. My next project will be hopefully discovering oolipo.

Thank you so much KellyAnneBlount for sharing your passion and love for reading and writing by hosting this party. We are grateful to your dedication and hard work that you put into bringing book fans together and helping them meet up.

Now, let's make a start by saying I feel so honoured to be a guest at this party this year. I have been following this party for some time now. I have enjoyed reading posts by passionate and lovely authors over time. The party has given the wattpad community something to look forward to every August and February since its launch. It is amazing that this party brings us together as a community and I love how I get to discover new authors and books each time I check out the party which is all thanks to Kelly Anne as founder and organiser of this party

I love this party so much but I never had the courage to apply to take part at this party as an author thinking I would never get accepted. Last year I also didn't apply. In fact I was very lucky to win a spot which was a prize of the block party giveaway that Kelly Anne hosted which I am very thankful for.

In this post I decided to make a list of important aspects of my Wattpad journey as reader and writer who writes for fun and would like to share some ideas focusing mostly on creation of my first book. I also I thought I feature a deleted scene from my book Her Heart, His Obsession which would be hopefully published on TAPAS app by the end of the summer.

So here is my highlights of my journey on wattpad before Her Heart, His Obsession came to be and beyond;

********The Beginning********

I started reading on wattpad in 2012 after I purchased an iPhone and searched the term "free books" on the app store. Before that, I did not have the app.

I read books for about two years on Wattpad before I got a sudden idea for my book "Her Heart, His Obsession". The book had a different name back then. It was called "A Witch's Blood and A Warlock's Obsession." I chose the name because the plot focuses on a futuristic dystopian world where witches and warlocks rule. In this fantasy world, the mates are not called mates like in vampire or werewolf books. They are called "blood matches". I had requests from readers later on that they asked can they use the name "blood match" in their own books and I said sure, why not?

At the beginning, besides the name being different, the cover of my book was also a default cover with a picture of a castle. That was until I met an author, winchestered_ on Wattpad. I read their fan fiction books. As a thank you for checking their books they made me covers and suggested that I adjust the name of the book if possible to help with the cover becoming more catchy. I didn't mind. The reason I had the terms; "witch" and "warlock" in the title was because I wanted to help readers who were looking for books with witches and magic to find my book. As you know Wattpad has vampire or werewolf categories but no witches or magic category. So I changed the title to "Her Heart, His Obsession". I received a range of covers over the upcoming months and used them every few weeks to the delight of readers and my delight. It did help create conversations with readers as I changed covers. It also helped attract new readers because of the covers that were more catchy than a Wattpad default cover that was on thousands of other books.

Now tip number one here; read on Wattpad and be nice. You never know who you meet. I met a nice author and read their books. They had some spare time so they made beautiful covers for me without being asked and also helped me come up with a title for my book that I am more happy with now. I am not implying that every author who you meet on Wattpad should do a favour for their readers. What I am trying to say is that if you read someone's book they remember you. I remember my readers. If there is anything I can do for them at anytime and I have the time, I will totally do it if the task is within my ability. The author who made me covers had some free time and saw I needed covers so she helped me out. She is on hiatus busy with her studies right now and I haven't spoken to her in months. However, she did what she could when she could when I needed it. So always make friends with people on wattpad and when you least expect it the people may help you in ways they can. I met more people next.

Later on I came across another wattpad author, Shanteena . I checked their book and started talking about the scenes in their book via private message. She also made me covers but for my other books without me requesting as a thank you for checking their work. The problem is all her covers are amazing and I am spoilt for choice. I feel so lucky. I keep changing my covers and do get readers commenting.

Now, let's point out that the cover that is currently displayed on my first book "Her Heart, His Obsession" is a cover that I was lucky to win. After WattMag Magazine was formed, there was a promotion by Lucyface who ran a giveaway for her beautiful covers. I signed up. I didn't think I win one and she gave me a cover makeover. I feel so honoured to have one of her covers. I am a huge fan of Lucy as a professional cover maker and if you check the snow Anthology covers you can see her amazing work. Thats correct. She has made all those covers. It is mind blowing how some people on wattpad are so talented and you meet them accidentally to become their fan for life.

So it is another note to make that it is important to enter giveaways and contests. I just entered into one and won. You never know. There are some opportunities on wattpad and you may not think much of them at the time of entering but it can introduce you to new people. Now I know if I ever publish a book one day, the first cover maker to call is Lucyface. I met someone new. I got a cover and I now follow their work.

You may ask how it is possible to find such opportunities like the cover giveaways or any contests? As we know Wattpad is massive. The answer is simple. Word of mouth. You can follow various authors on Wattpad and social media to get notifications.

I found the Wattmag contest advert on twitter. If you follow Wattpad users on twitter you are guaranteed to be kept up to date with the news. Personally, if I find opportunities I send a message to my followers and I encourage everyone to do the same. If you find something special, please do give a shout out and even tag people who you know like to find out about it and don't mind getting tagged on Wattpad. It's greatly appreciated. So in case if I wasn't direct enough ... please tag me too if there is anything you find interesting. I personally also don't mind being tagged on twitter or Facebook regarding anything Wattpad related or book related. Please feel free to get in touch.

In addition to social media, the wattpad forums are quite useful too. The trailer on top of this chapter for Her Heart His Obsession was made by DarkParadise321. I posted in the request a trailer forum and she kindly agreed to make me a trailer for my book. So there are opportunities to make talented artists who don't mind lending their expertise when they have time. I am so grateful to them and appreciate their beautiful work.

********Motivation********

I think it is important that if you start a book you don't stop writing. If only you run out of ideas and totally give up due to lack of response from readers then I understand the concept of giving up. But don't give up without trying.

When I first started writing Her Heart His Obsession, on Wattpad all I had were just a set of ideas for two chapters only; the beginning and the end. I also was sure of my character names to be Dante and Athena in my mind and the names of other characters were going to picked from name websites.

At the beginning, the only scene I could create to start with was when Athena saves Dante at the very beginning of the book. Also I had the ending formed in my mind but needless to say that ending ended up in the middle of the book somewhere. It took me a year and a half to finish writing 180+ chapters for this book that was my first work on Wattpad. I wrote one chapter per week mostly and I have no idea how. I can't certainly think of how those ideas came to my mind at all when now my mindset is on general fiction books and not fantasy books any more.

So I emphasise to everyone, even if you have no more than one paragraph for a book as the initial idea, please write it down. I hardly had two scenes in mind and two character names to start with. That was all and nothing else. I wrote the first chapter and as I went about my daily life, I got ideas for my next scene. This is the advantage of wattpad as an app that allows everyone to write and post serialised fiction. If it wasn't for wattpad I wouldn't have written 180+ chapters.

Now, let's take a note that even if inspiration doesn't come for a month, it is alright. After awhile you may come back and write better scenes. No one knows this but in addition to the 180+ chapters I posted in Her Heart, His Obsession, I also have some drafts or rather deleted scenes. Those scenes have never been published and I will share one of those scenes with you at the end of this post.

I wrote 180+ chapters but I did not have much motivation to keep writing. I know it is easy to say keep writing when you don't get reads and comments. I had one reader who commented at the beginning for a very long time; fiery_marisya. She found my book when I had the default cover with the image of a castle on it. She was the one who suggested my cover doesn't match my book so I tried to make new covers to get people to read but needless to say I was hopeless. Let's say the wattpad default cover was much better than ones I made.Back then in early days of writing on wattpad, I didn't want to request covers. I was shy. But luckily my cover makers made the covers without being asked.

Feedback was still important and for most of my chapters to this day I only have comments from one reader only. The one reader who commented suggested so many changes for my book. She discussed my book with me and I cherished every line of feedback. So here you go. If you even have one reader who comments make sure you show your appreciation and use their expertise. If someone chooses to read your book and is kind enough to share their view try to get tips. It's quality that counts and not quantity. When I started writing on Wattpad I actually didn't think about votes and comments at all. I was in a reader mindset. I was a reader for two years. I kept writing even when I had zero votes and comments.

Now, here is my issue with some authors who ask for more readers and comments. I always say "This is a two way street". If a user spent time commenting, then authors should try to take into account their feedback and accommodate the critique if possible. Many times I see readers point out certain aspects that can be changed to make the book better but the author is not willing to engage in any discussion and dismisses it as criticism. This is what puts off some users from commenting. Authors, be careful what you wish for. If you wish for comments, there maybe an influx when you write an emotional or key chapter then if you don't use the opportunity and take feedback on board. What would be the difference between when you had no comments and when you had some if you ignore the feedback totally? All chapters are not equal. We all know that. Some parts of the plot engage the readers more. If you get more comments on certain chapters then maybe extend those scenes since it shows that the readers loved it and please don't terminate characters because readers don't comment or comment too much. You break hearts.

There are authors who edit their books and remove the most favourite scenes by their fans. So authors, if you get comments please pay attention to them. I understand it is an author's choice to when to terminate a character or delete certain scenes but if you remove the element that made millions of readers fall in love with your work, then you are not making effective use of the comments and feedback that you ask for in your author's notes. If you want more comments maybe act on the ones you get. That way people may get encouraged to comment more.

********Social Media********

I dont recommend Social media unless you are an adult. Unfortunately, not every feature of the social media is safe. If you are not an adult, some spammers sending indecent images and appalling content can really make you have a bad experience.

So please don't feel pressured to join social media. I have had ups and down. I only add writers and readers on social media as friends. I think this way I know the person has an author profile and I know a little bit about them already before adding them as a friend. Also don't give personal information to anyone unless you are willing to take the risk when it goes wrong. I discourage you from using a real picture on social media. I use a pixabay picture which has no copy right. Currently, all images found on the pixabay website are free for commercial use so you won't get sued. But keep an eye out. They may change their policy and also external link images are not free to use even if they appear on pixabay. So why am I so private? Its because of my day job. I don't write as a living. I do another job that involves so many people and I just write for fun or as a way to release pressure over the weekend. So I don't think putting too much information is wise because I keep my writing a secret.

So you may say, ok you have convinced me. I am joining facebook with zero personal information except for the wattpad information I have already on my profile. Where do you start? Firstly let me tell you about my experience. I joined twitter first before I joined facebook.

I only joined twitter because it was wattys choice voting time in August 2015. I had read so many books that year that were running for wattys, so I joined twitter only to vote for some of them as well as promoting my book Her heart, His Obsession that I had also entered for Wattys.

After I got tweeting with the wattys hashtag, I managed to find some new books and also met some new people. I didn't even want to stay on twitter. I wanted to delete my twitter account after the voting period for the Wattys Choice Awards was over but I managed to meet new wattpad people who convinced me to stay.

During the Wattys Choice voting time in 2015, not only did I discover twitter friends but i also met facebook friends too. Around that time, I saw a tweet by LaDameBlanche about the upcoming facebook event on 19th September 2015 by the name of "The First Annual Story Fair" and that was my start of interactions on Facebook.

I had never been to a book event on facebook before but I gave it a try. There was a form to sign up and I submitted a request to feature Her Heart His Obsession at the fair. I remember messaging LaDameBlanche and asking for more information. I found out the event was hosted by Malice_Authors. So I discovered some new books to read by just checking on the wattpad profiles of the hosts long before the party even began. Needless to mention that I still read the books by this syndicate of authors and follow them on social media. So here we go. Even by seeing a notice about an event you can discover new books and new people. At the end, I attended the event and it ran the following year too but I am not sure if it happens this year in september like the last two years. I haven't heard any news of a signup form this year yet.

When I attended the facebook party, I had no idea that in two years time I was going to be involved in creating a Facebook event myself with other wattpad authors and some Radish authors. In fact, I was part of the team who helped out with TamaraLush 's book release party on facebook a while ago on 3rd July of all the days the day before the American residents have major celebrations. So it was hard to spread the word about the party when the majority of wattpad people on my friends list were offline having their long weekend of holidays preparing for 4th July (Lucky people partying. I had to go to work... Europe sadly doesn't celebrate 4th July. Maybe we should all do it and have universal holidays). So you never know. You may get involved in groups and events on facebook that would motivate you to start your own events. By getting involved, you will meet new people and learn from others too.

********Other Platforms********

I know we all love wattpad but we are allowed to post on other platforms at the same time since wattpad does not ask for exclusive content. It's a personal choice and some authors who are published do post on Amazon as well as Wattpad but we all don't have the means to publish.

There are a number of writing platforms. I don't want to recommend a certain platform but I say this that you should try to ask around before starting using a new app. Some apps offer you opportunities and ask you to sign contracts. You can ask people in forums on wattpad regarding who uses certain apps but a social media search may be easier since some apps have their own fan groups and there are wattpad user groups where you can post such questions. So you need to find apps that work for you. Some apps may be enjoyed by many but may not be liked by you. 

********Plagiarism of my book on Amazon********

My darkest hour on wattpad was when someone on Amazon copied my book , A Mob Boss's Family, (which is the 2nd book in my series of ongoing and completed books that I am currently writing). A wattpad user messaged me and let me know my book was being sold on Amazon under another author's name. I was so shaken up. Of course I did the only thing I could. I asked around about what to do. Overall, I had the most support regarding this issue on facebook from authors namely AnnaSantosAuthor. It was kind for Anna Santos and many other authors to provide me with support that I needed so much. So through facebook friends, I got in touch with authors who had experienced the same issue who had heard about my problem by shared posts around Facebook and also in author groups after I was supported by various authors in spreading the word that I needed advice regarding plagiarism. It was heartbreaking to speak to other authors who had been through the same experience. It is a devastating for any author to have their work stolen. I was lucky I got some good legal advice through friends but it is sad because I got advice from people who had their work stolen too. It was devastating to see how many people were affected.

In the end. I reported the issue to Amazon and filled out a DMCA form. I was lucky Amazon managed to delete the user and replied to me (within days) and so did goodreads (they took months but replied in the end). Sadly to my knowledge readers on Amazon and Goodreads still have that book in their library even though Amazon and Goodreads deleted the account and the book. The devastating part is the fact that the book was most likely stolen by a criminal ring. I say this because my friends on facebook pointed out that the book was ranked number one in the Romance-Erotica category most likely for all the marketing that had been done for the book. So the book that was plagiarized word for word from my book became a bestseller sadly and many people have the book. The author who stole my work didn't even bother changing the names of characters. I still have screenshots of the stolen book saved.

So another advice. After filling out a DMCA and reporting, always take screenshots when plagiarism happens. Keep calm and make sure if it is the last thing that you do, you take screenshots of everything. Take screenshots of the webpages where the book is mentioned on the web as well as the book itself. If you do not have the means to take screenshots of any pages then message friends on wattpad. Someone out there will do it for you. No respectable wattpad user is a fan of plagiarism on Wattpad. That is for sure. You may think it is only your problem if your work is stolen but it is beyond that. If a criminal gets away with plagiarising your work, they get encouraged to continue. What will stop them? They may come after other books on Wattpad too. So as a community we must defeat plagiarism by reporting the crime and not tolerating it as well as supporting authors who are affected as victims.

My situation was unique in some ways. The extent of plagiarism was so bad that you could not defend the user on Amazon who plagiarized my book. They copied the book 2 of a long series actually which I am still writing and updating. They had plagiarized everything in my book 2 which is part of a 7 book series of ongoing books posted on wattpad.The author did not even exist. They did not have an author page. They were not on wattpad and neither did they have author page on Amazon. They had a fake name or rather a name that was also plagiarized. They had the same name as another author who wrote non fiction books but the genuine author had an author page. The fake one didn't. Also the criminal author even had a fake cover. The cover of the book was a poster of a Movie. It makes me wonder why Amazon missed it? It makes no sense to allow plagiarized covers from big name film studios on Amazon books. The book must have slipped through the net unfortunately for me.

Amazon acknowledged the plagiarism and they deleted the user but I am pretty sure they will be back again. There is a criminal ring out there stealing books. My book is in some user libraries out there under a fake author's name. It was on kindle unlimited and had managed to by #1 in Romance Eroctia. So the thought of how many people have this fake book in their library really breaks my heart. But what can we do? We can report plagiarism. As I mentioned; take plenty screenshots just in case the author change their work after they find out you have reported them and it's good for your records. Also do fill a DMCA too and hopefully all will be resolved".

You are at risk of it because you post online. Anybody can copy the work and there are many victims out there who have had their books that they wrote night and day taken away from them and the guilty writers are getting 5 star reviews on Amazon right now. We all must keep our eyes open and report cheating so we can reduce occurrences of plagiarism. It can happen to all of us. Watty winners, watty Stars, authors with Amazon publishing contracts as well as undiscovered authors are amongst the list of people who reached out to me during my crisis time and told me about how it had happened to them. It doesn't matter how many reads you have. DMCA and screenshots can save you. No one is immune from plagiarism.

Also another thing. Some may say, but you have snowballing in hell's chance of ever publishing your work. Why would it matter if it is stolen? Well, it is not really about that. I think firstly every book can be loved out there by someone and also no matter what reviews a book get from critics, no one can deny that every author has worked hard on their books. I am a writer who writes for fun. I spent months writing my book. It is not about how much it is worth in terms of literature. It is about another author taking credit for property that does not belong to them.

********Opportunities********

I gave up on editing Her Heart, His Obsession after I stopped updating the book. I didn't think I ever wanted to visit my first book because after 180+ chapters, due to time constraints I only could update my other books. So I didn't update the book for a year.

After a year I decided I should shorten the book and edit it. I unpublished the work and only left a few chapters. Just when I copy and pasted the chapters on word and got on editing the 1000+ pages of writing, I got an unexpected offer. Tapas discovered my work and contacted me through my facebook author page there. They offered me to publish my book on the app. I couldn't believe anyone was willing to give my book a chance. That was rare. So here we go. I get on editing with aim to release the book by end of summer 2017 on Tapas. So here is an opportunity I got out there.

Now, I would like to share this deleted scene called with you from Her Heart, His Obsession. (The cast are Ben Barnes as Dante, the warlock of the story in this dystopian setting where witches and warlocks rule the world and Taylor Swift is cast as Athena the witch who happens to be dante's blood match). The chapter is called "His Game, Her Battle".

Dante was sitting on his throne at the Castle of Spears where even the bricks obeyed him as he was of Ronas blood. He was shuffling cards in his hands. He threw the cards in the air and as they hovered above him, he conjured the kings and queens out of the cards. He played the kings and queens against each other. He loved playing games and battling for his love with his love. He watched as the figurines of the kings and queens fought mid air above him. He put his hands behind his neck and leaned back in his chair as he relaxed. He was waiting for Athena to wake up. He closed his eyes and felt his connection to his blood match who was sleeping peacefully in her room. He was losing patience waiting for her. He couldn't wait to see her wake up. He stood up and waved his hands watching the playing cards and figurines that were hovering above him disappear as Dante felt her waking up. He decided to surprise her. He cast a spell in his mind.

Just then Athena opened her eyes in her bedroom to the sunshine coming through her windows and gasped as she saw what was in front of her suddenly. It was a portal that took her to a room surrounded by musicians playing music that she found familiar even though she hadn't heard it before. She heard his voice in her mind " Athena, if you guess the music correctly, you may ask me for a favour."

Athena smiled and shook her head as she listened to the music. She couldn't tell what the significance of the music was. She closed her eyes as she heard the music thinking hard. She found it so familiar yet strange.

Dante conjured her in the throne room as he felt like her time was up. Athena instantly was pulled through a portal and ended up sitting on a chair on the floor of the throne room. She found Dante circling her. She asked " Why do you ask me to guess the music when I haven't heard of it?"

Dante stopped circling her as he was standing behind her and leaned close to whisper in her ear " Because my love, it is my favourite. I love the Seer's Call..."

Athena gasped " The music was the Seer's Call..."

Dante smiled and leaned down closer his breath touch her cheek "Oh, yes it wass. You must have heard it when you were a baby. But you must not remember it. It is our folk music before your parents took you away from Arkansas to Alaska."

Just then as Athena was about to comment, she ended up getting pulled into another portal as Dante teleported her away. She found herself seated at a breakfast table opposite Dante. He gave her a mischievous smile "Now for breakfast we have our meal while we play chess. This is your second chance to win a favour from me. Are you ready Athena to play chess in my castle?"

Athena was more impressed with the setting they were at. His Castle of Spears had no bounds. She didn't even know which room they were in. They were above the ground sitting at their table on a glass platform. She looked down and had a good view of what was beneath them. There was a massive life size chess board on the floor. She nodded her head "Okay. Let's play."

Just then Dante waved his hands and players entered the chess board. He smiled "I never lose in chess my love..."

Athena gave him a smile too " Neither do I Dante."

**************************************************************************

The edited version of Her Heart, His Obsession is available this summer on TAPAS. The book had 180+ chapters on wattpad before I decided to edit it. I tried to make it better before publishing. I hope you like it.

Please take part in my giveaway. I will be commenting my feedback on one chapter of a book for 10 winners and one winner in addition to the comment, also gets a surprise package in the post too! This giveaway is open (internationally).

Please after reading my post, do comment your own experiences on writing your first book on wattpad or if in the comments on this chapter. I would love to read them and discuss. I love learning. I am here to learn from you more than just posting content.

**************************************************************************

***********

Enter the #WattpadBlockParty Giveaways for Your Chance to Win Amazon Gift Cards, Signed Paperbacks, E-Books, Shoutouts from Your Favorite Wattpad Authors, and Much More!

Link: https://goo.gl/2x2anC