WHAT’S UP WITH
WATTPAD Sara Harkins
Fanfictions have become a huge part of our world — or rather, provided an escape into another one. From “imagines” of your favorite boy band, to retold stories of a world where Bella ended up with Jacob, in a quick write or search, you can have the unexplored storyline you wanted. Wattpad, one of the largest online reading and writing platforms for user-generated stories, has always housed fanfictions. But recently, the app has evolved into something more, opening possibilities for new authors to create other kinds of stories with promise for bigger projects. No one knows of this possibility better than Anna Steffey, author of the hit “Falling Series” on Wattpad. Combined, her series has over 4 million reads and has become part of the Paid Stories program, Wattpad’s footprint into monetized works. But Anna never planned for this success — she only began to post her first installment of her series, “Falling Helplessly,” in 2016 after seeing the interactions other authors her age were getting. “The coolest part was that a lot of these people whose stories I was reading were my age ... it seemed like something that was tangible — like I could do it, too,” Steffey says. “I was seeing the kinds of interactions they were getting with the community and it was pretty insane.” With over 90 million users, Wattpad has taken the book community by storm by providing a new way to digest stories. From a writing perspective, it’s self-disciplining. There are no deadlines for posting chapters of a book, which Anna says makes it great for young writers since it’s not too strenuous. “You get that instant gratification when you post a chapter because people will flock to read it — which is another great thing about Wattpad because it’s very motivating,” Steffey says. But more importantly, it’s fun and interactive. You can upload photos or videos, or create your own covers, playlists or graphics, and do it all while interacting
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with readers. From a reading perspective, nothing is gatekept; therefore, the work on the app is raw. Essentially, you see everyone’s first drafts and how it evolves over the years.” At its best, Wattpad provides new opportunities and communities. At its worst, authors may run into copyright issues. As a writer on Wattpad, you must file your own copyright claim, which makes it hard for young writers to create true ownership over their work — especially on an app that thrives on tropes, tags and genres. Even then, there are no guarantees with posting your work online. Anna’s work is currently being posted onto a mirror site, which copies her chapters from Wattpad to another site called NovelHD. “Every time I post a book on Wattpad, I hesitate because of those fears of it getting stolen,”’ Steffey says. “I never post an idea until it’s set in stone, even if Wattpad is thorough with copyright investigations.”’ But it’s a give and take. “If you’re sharing your work online, you never know who could see it, or who could publish it,” Steffey says. Wattpad itself, could even choose to publish it. The app almost operates as an indie publishing company now, and one of the ways it’s evolving is through their Wattpad Stars program, which Anna became a part of in August of 2020. The selective program highlights promising authors on the app who Wattpad wants to further assist. Being a star is like being verified on a writing platform with extra perks. Their work as authors gets first pick for exclusive opportunities within Wattpad’s reach. Star’s works will be pitched to different Wattpad sectors like Wattpad Paid Stories, which is the monetary component on the site, Wattpad Books, the publishing sector, or Wattpad Studios, where they share books with other publishing companies and film studios like Netflix. It’s where movies like the popular “After” series on Netflix originated from. Because Anna’s work has become a part of the paid program, she gets monetary benefits while her work sits on the Wattpad homepage, driving traffic. She also got to work with the Wattpad team to create a digital cover design and notes of other perks such as editing services and editorial coaches. “You start off writing online for fun and now you have possible TV and movie deals at your fingertips which is absolutely insane,” Steffey says. Naomi Black, a student at Penn State and author of the hit “PSU Series” on Wattpad, would know of this too, having never expected the success of her series. She started “Even The Playing Field,” her first book in “The