Empowering Authors to Write the Next Big Hit - Evolving the Wattpad Creators Program
Every author knows that writing is a journey. Going from an idea to a first line, first page, and first chapter can be daunting. When writers are just getting started, getting to a full draft of their story can feel nearly impossible.
And the journey doesn’t end with a first story. Writers evolve and change over time. They revise, edit, experiment, and take risks, all to hone their craft with every new work. Education and coaching are among the most important things writers tell us they want from Wattpad. Part of what has made Wattpad unique is the social experience it provides writers; people share tips, edit each other’s work, and support each other with helpful feedback.
Supporting writers at Wattpad has always included writer education. But this year, we’re making it a bigger focus than ever before, expanding the educational programming we provide writers, and evolving our Creators Program to make coaching and education more central. We want writers to be able to hone their craft, find their voice, reach and engage the biggest audience, and build their writing career on Wattpad. Writers want support developing their craft and understanding the business of writing.
Earlier this year we rolled out Story School, our latest educational series for writers, where we’ve tackled topics like dealing with writer’s block, and how to plan and publish a serialized story, among other topics. As we expand this writer development programming, we’ll delve into tips and tricks for writing, as well as how to succeed building a writing career and engaging an audience online.
In 2022, we launched the Wattpad Creators Program as part of our ongoing commitment to be the best place in the world for authors to hone their craft, cultivate a community of readers, and make money from their stories. In our first year, we were able to formalize and expand some of our long-standing writer perks, allowing us to support more authors than ever before. The program prioritized stipends to ensure authors could focus on writing. Since launching last year, we’ve paid out nearly $3.8M in stipends for the Wattpad Creators Program, and nearly $1M more planned for this year.
But the first iteration of the Wattpad Creators Program was limited in scale, and many writers weren’t able to access all program perks and benefits. That’s why we’re evolving the Wattpad Creators Program to provide a greater focus on writer education. Wattpad authors are some of the most diverse, innovative, and creative authors in the world! By focusing more on writer education and development, we’re setting them up for whatever kind of writing career they want, whether it’s building their fandoms, making money, or editing their latest webnovel.
Not everyone has the time, resources, and privilege to attend writing workshops and retreats, so we’re bringing that same kind of community, support, and insight to the Wattpad Creators Program. We don’t just want to be the place where writers start their career, we want them to grow and flourish on Wattpad and beyond, which is why we’re updating the program in three major ways:
#1 - Making the Wattpad Creators Program More Accessible
At launch, the Wattpad Creators Program featured different tiers based on a writer’s goals. We wanted to ensure writers could join the program and participate in a way that worked for them. But this made the program overly complicated. As a result, we’re shifting from program tiers with different requirements, to a single level and experience for everyone in the program. This will make it easier for writers to focus on writing, rather than which tier they should aim for.
To simplify the Wattpad Creators Program, any writer who meets the following criteria will be eligible to join:
Commit to writing a minimum of 500 words per week;
Have at least one completed novel-length story of 50,000 words or more in their catalog;
Have at least one story in an eligible genre that has achieved a minimum number of Engaged Readers
While the program will remain invite-only for now, the new criteria will enable us to add many more authors.
We also know that life happens, so the updated Wattpad Creators Program also gives authors the option to pause and resume participation.
# 2 - Making Tools and Resources Available to Everyone in the Program
Wattpad is in the business of helping authors succeed, which is why we want to ensure as many authors as possible have access to the tools and resources that will help develop their writing skills and style. We know that every writer is at a different stage in their writing journey. Our first iteration of the program made it easier for some writers to access perks if they were more experienced or had published more. But we want the program to be as community-focused as the Wattpad platform, so it’s important that everyone can benefit from program perks equally. All participating authors will now have access to:
Additional Story Support - Use of our editorial response tool, which allows authors to ask our in-house editorial team questions.
Educational Resources - Access to new tools and resources that will help authors take their writing career to the next level, including videos, writing guides, and more.
Writers Discord - Access to live editorial coaching during writing sprints, office hours, and AMAs with staff.
Creators Program ‘All Hands’ - Quarterly meetings where we share helpful information for building a writing career on Wattpad.
# 3 - Opportunities to Participate in Exclusive Paid Writing Initiatives
Wattpad proudly offers a number of monetization opportunities for writers: Paid Stories to enable on-platform earnings; Brand Partnership that allow authors to monetize their influence and profile; and TV, film, or publishing deal withs Wattpad WEBTOON Studios.
In addition to our existing monetization opportunities, the Wattpad Creators Program will offer limited-term writing initiatives to encourage new content in exciting genres we want to see more of on the platform. The first of these is a year-long Writing Intensive-style project, which will pay a stipend for publishing new chapters on a regular weekly schedule. By supporting writers and helping them publish on a regular schedule, we can help writers build a more engaged readership that knows when to come back for the next chapter of their favourite story.
Over the next year, the Wattpad Creators Program will pay out nearly $1M just to writers who participate in the Writing Intensive. And like every story written and shared on Wattpad, authors maintain ownership of their story.
Innovating for Writers
With an average of 85 million people who discover and share stories on Wattpad every month, we’ve already democratized storytelling for a new generation of diverse writers and their fans.
Our goal is to create the best place in the world for authors to find the support, resources and community they need to write their next story. We’re helping writers from around the world create their best work and can’t wait to see the great stories that will come from this program.
For more details on the improved Wattpad Creators Program, visit our Creators Portal.
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