Hey,
As you may see in the comments of my story, I got contacted by somebody at a company called “Stary.” I did some research on them, and they seem to be a scam. If you move your writing to their platform, you have to write a contract and never publish anywhere else. Your benefits aren’t great, and readers cannot access your full story without paying. When I was emailing the employee questions about the site/app, they ignored them as they pushed me to join a competition. I’m not done researching what their deal is, but I recommend doing some yourself. Here’s where I’ve started:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ADulWhSqbw4
This isn’t the first time I’ve been in this situation. I think scammers like this are common on Wattpad—and that makes sense, now that I think about it. Most of us are young and/or inexperienced with writing, in general or professionally. We all have one thing in common: we don’t know what to expect when going pro. We don’t know what a fair contract looks like, the difference between a trustworthy and a shady publisher, how much our stories are worth, or even our rights as creators. I don’t want anybody to learn the consequences of that the hard way. To give you an idea, though: people have lost their stories and characters to bad contracts. While you’re growing, don’t just focus on developing your craft. Learn how to stay safe and protect your creations, too. Be careful, everyone
— Wen Hainal
