iCONFESS

Published Books Dilemma

"I'm really against commercialization of Wattpad stories. Nung unang beses na may mapublish na Wattpad book, sobrang naexcite ako at natuwa para sa author na yun. Nakakaamaze kasi na mapansin ng publishers yung mga stories na kinakakiligan natin sa Wattpad. But now? Nakakadisappoint.

One of the stories have been published already if given the chance, sana pala hindi na lang ako pumayag. Sa tingin ko kasi, these publishers are taking advantage of aspiring authors from Wattpad. Yung mga istoryang yan (kahit pa puno ng emoticons from the 'jeje' days of Wattpad like one confession here said), pinagpaguran yan ng mga authors, binuhos nila yung efforts nila diyan and during those times, wala namang nag-eexpect na mapapapublish sila, hindi ba?

Pero sa tingin ko, hindi yun naaappreciate ng publishers at nangongolekta lang sila ng sikat na stories at authors (regardless of the quality of the stories) para lang sa profit nila. In return, they give both readers and authors low quality books (in terms of the physical book and the editing) na produkto ng mass production while not treating the authors with the respect that they deserve pag natapos na ang pirmahan ng mga kontrata, naoobserve ko yan sa mga status ng published authors at sa sarili kong experience.

I would admit that most published stories are not really up to the standards of what should be published as books. Aminado akong maging yung kwento kong napublish ay hindi pa umaabot sa standards na yun. Kaya hindi na rin nakakapagtaka na maraming nagccriticize sa published Wattpad books ngayon. But I don't think that's the fault of the authors, na ngayon ay tumatanggap ng bashes.

Kung offeran ka ng publishing contract, mahirap tumanggi, kahit pa alam mong hindi ka pa ganun kadeserving. Kasi isang step yan para matupad yung mga pangarap mo. But sana naman, yung publishers din, tulungan maggrow yung authors tutal pinagkakakitaan na nila. Sana mas maging mapili sa pagpupublish, I don't even care if I don't get another chance to publish another story, at least alam kong yung tunay na deserving lang yung mga nakakarating sa bookstores, hindi yung nag-uumapaw lang sila sa shelves ng bookstores na mahihirapan ka nang maghanap ng isang istoryang gusto mong bilhin.

They're used to be glory and pride in getting published but now? It doesn't feel any special. All you have to do is getting enough number of reads and votes and you get published, regardless if your story need major editing because of your plot holes, the publisher wouldn't care, they would just edit on the surface (grammar, spellings, etc.) and let you wait for months for a book that you don't even have any idea on what's the status regarding its publishing (read statuses of published authors, ano mang publishing company sila kabilang, they have the same problem). And all the while, you're being mocked by other people who call themselves 'educated' or 'book critics'.

Wattpad being mainstream is dazzling and all. But let's not forget what we really loved about this site and let's not be fooled by profit-hungry capitalists. Thank you."

-K