(The Verge) – A brief look at Wattpad, a trendy reading outlet…
The website, Wattpad, allows users to upload short stories, novels and poems for others to read and critique for free. Its platform is generally used by a generation of readers that prefer to read on mobile devices. This includes all forms of genres: mystery, romance, Sci-fi and fan fiction. The literary works go chapter by chapter, so readers can anticipate new developments and often write comments to the author for plot shifts or new characters.
According to the Wattpad website, more than 500,000 new stories go up on Wattpad each month. Thousands of writers use Wattpad to connect and engage with a monthly audience of 10 million readers to share their work, build a fan base, and receive feedback on their stories. More than 500 writers have published pieces that have been read more than a million times. Readers spend over 2 billion minutes on Wattpad every month and connect more than 10,000 readers with a new story from some of the thousands that are being added to our library each day.
Wattpad is a Toronto, Ontario-based start-up that recently raised $17 million from a group of venture backers including Khosla Ventures and Yahoo founder Jerry Yang. Khosla Ventures partner, Andrew Chung points out after the firm financed the company, the kind of interactive model that Wattpad is based on is very different from more traditional self-publishing services.
Instead of just uploading books, many members of Wattpad’s community upload unfinished chapters that are still in development, or pieces of poetry they need feedback on, and then get comments and advice from other users of the service– both other writers and readers.
Wattpad, launched in 2006 and had a slow start noting the adoption rate was, “very, very slow.” Eventually, the critical mass of users were uploading stories and spreading the word to their friends. Now, Wattpad has more than 3 million users and over 5 million pieces of content uploaded to the network.
As a writer or reader, Wattpad is sure to have you hooked the minute you download the App from the iTunes Store as you discover and share new stories with your friends and family.
