How to become successful on Wattpad: A beginners guide.

Notice: This guide is the exact same one in the new upload, except this one is 3 years older. Read the author's notes below and then skip directly ahead for version 2.0!! Thanks!

EDIT July 22, 2013: Wow, over 900 comments and 2,000 votes! I uploaded this guide... almost 2 years ago, but all this information is still relevant. Thank you for all your support and I'm happy I could help out so many people!

EDIT Feb 6, 2014: Just the other day, Wattpad messaged me to let me know that this guide was featured in their reading list, Wattpad 101! I was honored by their decision and decided to reread this guide after so much time had passed. And... Wow. It's almost embarrassing to read. 

However! I decided to keep this one up ANYWAY, and just upload a brand new, REVISED version. 

The revised version is about 2,500 words, almost 1,000 words longer than this one. I made it a little more complicated to read, but there's more content. However, the basic principals are still the same, so if you decide to read this one, there's no point in reading the revised version. Just a heads up!

EDIT Feb 24, 2014: If you liked this guide, I'm looking for critique on my story Parahuman. I'd love you for life if you could check it out and leave a comment on things I could do better on. I promise you won't hurt my feelings! Thank you!

How to become successful on Wattpad: A beginners guide.

The first thing to know is that you will not become successful right away. You will not get 1000 reads in your first week, you will not get 1000 votes in your first month.

Of course, there are those who will achieve those marks but they are few and far between. If you have achieved these benchmarks, good for you!

The thing to remember here is that it takes time and effort to become a Wattpad star, and if you’re not willing to put in the effort, it won’t happen.

The bottom line: become a Wattpad regular. Comment, read stories, make friends, post in the clubs.

The second thing to know is that you will not become successful without hard work. Your story might become famous with only a few pages but the odds are against you.

Most of the stories at the top of the Hot List are 60+ pages. This kind of writing takes a lot of effort and that effort pays off in votes, reads, and a spot on the Hot List.

The bottom line: keep writing your story. You might only have a few votes and fans right now but their number will increase if you keep adding on to your writings.

How long should a chapter be?

First off all, how long should a chapter not be? A chapter, in my personal opinion, should be longer than one Wattpad page, or about 750 – 800 words.

Also, think about your readers. If you upload only 600 words at a time, I will probably become disinterested and stop reading. You want enough so that it will keep your readers interested. Take my chapters for example.

My chapters are just under 2,000 words, usually around 1,800. I shoot for 2,000 but that usually doesn’t work out. At about 1,500 words I start looking for a suspenseful place to end the chapter and that comes in a few hundred more words.

But what about chapters that are really long?

I find that I cannot just write 7 Wattpad pages before uploading. I inevitably come to a perfect cliffhanger to cut the chapter short and end up stopping there.