From the perspective of a fanfiction and original book writer, these are my tips and tricks for writing a good Wattpad book.
A short book that showcases ways that I found helpful to get your story views quickly and effectively. Some people think it'...
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The following is specific to Wattpad and engagement, rather than writing itself.
I've kept it short for you so it's more bearable despite it being a little boring.
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ TAG IT RIGHT!
Tags are so important and it's good to have a few different options when choosing them, as a general rule I keep:
📖 Tag the fandoms E.g #Harrypotter or #marvel
🫡 Tag a specific so yours will be the first if someone types that one thing in. Such as their hogwarts house, Percy Jackson God etc. E.g You can also tag things like #LGBTQ or #POCOC if relevant.
👨👩👧👦 Tag the OC relations - main ones E.g #Dracomalfoytwin or #tonystarkdaughter
🕣 Tag the time period/movies it takes place in E.g #Avengersageofultron or #F12018
❤️ Tag all love interests and the main best friends. E.g #DustinHenderson
🌿 Tag the main plot point E.G #Girlpower
🫠 Don't add tags that aren't relevant. You'll end up with more ghost readers who read it just to find the tag specific but have no engagement with you.
Any other tags are additional but if it's not relevant, don't tag it!
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ GET MORE COMMENTS:
Comments are a lot harder to get on books because a lot of people read on the go or maybe just aren't commenters (I'm a reader on the go, such as in the car, and it's harder to comment on bad wifi!). Here are some things you can do to help but nothing is guaranteed.
✨ Iconic moments get more comments, so you could try that if you're struggling for ideas! E.g "simply simply lovely" by Max Verstappen or "My father will hear about this" by Draco Malfoy.
🙌 Make things easier to comment on! This involves layout in a book which I'll talk about in later chapters but make sure you are using paragraphs. A chapter shouldn't be one big block of writing. Pull out a physical book and see what layouts they use! In terms of comments, people can aim them at specific paragraphs.
🙋♀️ Ask questions at the end of the chapter that might cause discussion E.G who is your favourite F1 driver or do you think Nick Fury is a bad guy?
🫣 At times, make your character be opinionated or have an unpopular opinion. People love to comment their disagreements and then other people will agree or disagree with them!
🎶 Add song lyrics each chapter before it starts (people love to finish them) or add a playlist!
SMALL POINTERS: 😪 Don't make the author note super long! If it's too long, people will just skip it, even if it has important info.
😮 Chapters under 1000 words are too quick of a read and if you're a slow updater, it may not seem worthwhile for someone to carry on with it but too long can be difficult for some people. 1000-3000 is a nice length for REGULAR UPDATERS.
😢 Updates at leat once every week do really well and once every two weeks still keeps people engaged. Any longer and you will lose readers but as long as you write a good book, people will still stick around for it! If it's over a month of updates, maybe drop a little explanation to show you haven't abandoned it.
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆ DON'T BE DISCOURAGED
☆ You cannot please everyone! So don't be discouraged to stop writing. I know it's hard when you feel like no one is reading your books but you should be writing because you enjoy it!
☆ Aim at a specific audience because you can't please anyone. Know your audience, whether you want to appeal to those who like dark horror FNAF fanfics or those who adore fluffy F1 romance. Try to please your group of people.
☆ Ignore horrible comments. People don't understand the concept of, 'don't like it, put it away'. I gave up with horrible comments a long time ago and now simply reply "Unless being constructive, if you don't like the book, don't read it :)'
