wattpad ads + monetisation

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by phantomchan

by phantomchan

4th September 2022
Book update: Chapter 11 written

WATTPAD ADS & MONETISATION

Okay. I hate to be boomer, but Wattpad used to be amazing in the early years of 2016. Those were my peak years on this platform, and lemme tell you, I was addicted.

I’d be reading on the tube to and from school, commenting everywhere, being that annoying little shit that’d comment ‘FTR!!!!’ and ‘OMFGJDJDJSS’ when someone died.

You know, the classic Wattpad reader.

And then. Boom. Now books weren’t free. Now you got pointless one minute ads (why tf are they so damn long?!). And Wattpad became this sort of money-hungry subscription service?!

I deleted the app. But my love for Wattpad remained. Hell, I love to read shitty fanfiction and that’s what brought me back onto the platform.

I started to write again. And as you’re older, you realise you need to make money. And so yes, I do agree that Wattpad needs to help its creator somehow. Because without you guys writing, Wattpad is a dead platform.

And that’s EXACTLY why I think Wattpad should either pay writers more, or LISTEN to the users more. And, part of Wattpad’s ecosystem lies in the readers, too. Wouldn’t it be nice if they could get paid?

So, regarding ads. They’re so annoying as readers, but I understood why it was needed, AS LONG AS THE WRITERS GET PAID. But guess what, Wattpad kept the ads and stopped paying the writers with it. People who’ve just started writing can’t make money—the barrier to entry is so high for monetisation. According to Wattpad, you need at least one book with 50,000 words and you must be a consistent writer.

Also, I might read a book, be super absorbed, and the ads just ruin my flow. So, I’ll just click off the book sometimes.

Because the ads are so DAMN LONG! At least with YouTube you can sometimes skip ads after 5 seconds. Why can’t you do something similar with Wattpad?!

I guess they need the money... BUT DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY WRITERS/READERS THERE ARE? Surely you don’t have to be this stingy.

Okay. Breathe.

Then, the writers paid programme seems good, in general. I’m not sure about the pay, but I think it’s still not a very sustainable way to get paid. And I don’t think you need to write 50,000 words to be able to earn 0.0001 cents. C’mon, that’s just mean.

Wattpad isn’t made up of just writers, too. As I’ve mentioned, there’s readers, community builders, graphic designers, contest organisers, video editors for trailers, translators etc etc. And MORE can join. For example, Wattpad has an AI that can read your story for you. Why not have actual people record their voice overs? And pay them?

Another idea is to have book reviewers. (Wattpad has wayyy to many books for one person to filter through). Maybe even book analysers, talking about why this book works well. People do read for reads! That’s a massive contribution to the platform.

All I’m saying is... Wattpad, you better pay these bitches.

Especially now that they’re growing with movie labels and stuff—they are damn rich. As soon as there’s another similar platform that pays fairly, you know this girl is gonna move her ass over there.

Right. So now you have some idea of how massive the Wattpad community is, why are we only paying writers? And paying them so stingily? Aaaandd, even if someone wrote a 50,000 word book, it might not be as good as someone with a 49,000 completed book.

Also, a 50,000 book can take MONTHS to write. Yes yes you can write for passion blah blah, but we are basically working for Wattpad at this point. Without us, Wattpad has no content. So, they have to listen to us... Right?

But I don’t see that, sadly. I wish we had more say in how the platform is going.

I WISH WE HAD MORE SAY IN WHICH BOOKS BECOME WATTPAD BOOKS, AND WHICH BOOKS BECOME MOVIES ETC.

Wattpad uses the number of reads/comments etc. Well, maybe more analytics, I don’t know. But can’t there be a voting system? Every month we can rank the books we read or something, or write a review on something, and we use that to actually choose the movie on Netflix?

Because I’m sorry. But, After was toxic. WHY ARE THEY PROMOTING ABUSE?!?(#(£+£9#+#(##

JJAJSJSJSJSKS

Right, sorry.

I love Wattpad, alright. This is why I’m PASSIONATE AF.

I just think, if Wattpad is wanting the time and money from the community, they can give us more back. At least pay more people, and make it easier to get paid. Maybe do something like YouTube, where after a certain threshold of views, you start getting paid. I don’t know. You guys figure it out.

But yeah, this is definitely an interesting topic. I’d love to hear you guys’ thoughts! I’m definitely going to do more rants about the Wattpad platform and my own vision for it.

Also, I want to work at Wattpad LMFAO, so if you know anyone who works there and you like my dumb ideas, plS hire meeee

Anyway, I’ll see you guys soon! Feel free to comment any topics you’d like me to explore :D