So I signed up recently for a site called Wattpad, which is basically like Deviantart for writers. Once you have a profile, you can post stories or chapters or excerpts, and other members can read your stuff, comment on it, or vote it up. It’s designed especially for smartphones, so if you have one, that’s probably the best way to access it.
You can find my Wattpad profile here. I’m still kind of a beginner at this, so it’s going to take me a while to figure out how it works. It seems like the kind of thing I would have become obsessive about back in high school, kind of like how my sister was obsessive about AOL Instant Messaging. I’m not a teenager anymore, but hopefully I’m not too old to still have fun with it!
The most interesting thing about the site is how it allows you to release a book serially, by chapter or scene. Right now, I’m posting Star Wanderers: Outworlder (Part I), with updates on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. If there’s interest, I may post a few more Star Wanderers stories as well.
My curiosity about Wattpad got started when I read this guest post on Lindsay Buroker’s blog. The concept of serializing a book like a webcomic seemed kind of cool to me, and the idea of a reading community seemed pretty neat as well. At first, I was a little leery because it would basically mean giving away my books for free, but then I thought about it and figured why not? It’s worth giving it a try. I’m pretty sure it won’t cost me sales, and if it gives me a chance to interact with people who love my books, awesome!
So yeah, if you’re on Wattpad, check me out! And if you’re not, check the site out! Like Deviantart, there’s a lot of fanfic and teen angst, but that’s to be expected–and actually, I think it’s kind of cool. Anyone can post a story, and anything can take off. It’s all a big community where there is no line between writers and readers, which seems like a really exciting concept. So yeah, check it out!