NOTE; This part is ONLY on walls/PM's. You can not do any of this in the clubs as that would be counted as advertising. Also, NEVER post a story link on another person's work. That's so rude, and you'll most likely end ALL chances of ever getting the person to read your work.
About promoting your story to friends and strangers
Do you know that feeling, when people ask you to do something that you don’t really seem to have the time to do? It’s that feeling where you sit there frantically, trying to come up with excuses for why you haven’t done it yet, and why you can’t do it now.
I used to get that feeling every-single-time my mom asked me to do the dishes, take out the trash, and clean my room, and I’ve been fairly creative with trying to avoid get out of my chores. I’ve been blatantly ignoring her, making sneaky plans to avoid it, messing with clocks, pretending to be asleep and even sit with headphones on so I can pretend I didn’t hear.
If you’ve ever tried to sneak out of chores, then you know what I’m talking about here.
This is basic social psychology – people don’t like to be bossed around.
So what does it have to do with promoting?
EVERYTHING!
There are the rare few who need to be told to do something. These people often don’t recognize a promotion even if it hit them in the head – Unless it’s cut out in cardboard letters. (Or in this case, posted to them in a direct request)
There’s a few ways to promote on Wattpad ranging from not-really-working to this-is-awesome-I’ll- go-check-that-out-now.
The most primitive and effortless way of promoting:
“Hi. Can you check out my story [LINK]”
^In my experience, that doesn’t work. Yes, you might get a few clicks, but people will generally go in there with negativity on their mind. It’s an impersonal way of plugging your story, which you can also do on Facebook, twitter, Tumblr etc.
What generally happen afterwards would be these two things:
1: The other person sees the advert and thinks “Yeah, not gonna bother.” Then they ignore it.
2: The other person will think, “How dare this person plug their story on my space. This better be a mind-orgasm of epic proportions.”
In the latter, they will have their negative-hat on. They won’t go in there with an open mind; rather they will be annoyed and critical towards your story. This is bad – Because, you are messing up a possibility of a potential fan. Your story could be the gem that the other person is looking for, but they won’t find out because you’ve already shown little respect for them as a person.
I highly suggest you avoid doing this. It won’t bring you readers.
The “Ask for help” way of promoting:
“Hi. I was wondering if you could check out my story and perhaps help me out by giving your thoughts? It would mean a lot. [LINK]”
^This is less primitive, because you admit that you aren’t perfect, and that you want to improve. This form of promotion is great for the people who want to be able to help others grow. However, this generally means that you can’t complain if they don’t go in there and praise your existence either. If people take the time to help you out, and you start to get defensive then the word will spread and others might not want to give you the time of their day.
