Support for Indie Authors discussion

I've written a short story with the intention of giving it away for free. I had already decided to trial Wattpad to gain readers, and this seemed perfect! But I'm feeling like I'm having the same issue as being an unknown anywhere else, maybe even worse due to the fact I don't visibly have a full story available.

Just wondering if anyone here has had success building a reader base with Wattpad, and how you went about it. Any tips would be much appreciated!

Cheers in advance!

I've been on Wattpad for a few years now, mostly with posting fanfiction. It's definitely a viable option - however, the thing about Wattpad is being seen. There are tons of stories on there, with tons of writers trying to get someone to read their works. Also, Wattpad is a mixture of both original and fanfiction. You'll be fighting to be seen through the millions of reads on major fanfics. Unlike Fanfiction.net, which has easy search options, Wattpad doesn't really make it easy to find new stories. Lots of readers just stick to what they like.

If you want to post on Wattpad and get noticed, it's better to have a new complete novel that you're updating regularly. Most books don't get noticed until a number of chapters into the novel. Finished stories also get noticed better.

The huge flaw with Wattpad is there's a lot of young teen writers on there so it usually draws in a teen reading audience. However I am still on there writing away and I try to gain an audience and readers by just continuing to write and use tags. I suppose if your on there enough daily and weekly you may draw a fair amount of interest. Perhaps I'll take a crack at it for my next project.

Getting works featured makes a huge difference. But they have to be full-length, complete works. I post chapters weekly as well. There aren't a lot of readers who convert from free Wattpad reads to paid readers, but there are a few!

I've since gotten an alright number of readers, and definitely noticed traction increasing as extra chapters have been added (I'm at about 100 reads per chapter). Not incredible, but nothing to scoff at either. This is only my second series, but I've decided I'll release the first book of each new series through Wattpad as I write it.
It's almost like having an army of possible beta readers! From what I've heard, Wattpad folk aren't fond of paying for books though, but it could generate a decent advanced reader team, especially since you can see that they have enjoyed the first story.

All right. You've convinced me to give it a try. At least it's free.

I hope it goes well for you!
Currently I'm still averaging about 100 reads per chapter, and I'm pretty happy with that.
After tomorrow I will have 3 more weeks of release for this particular story. Not sure if I should add some bonus extras and put it all up as a retail permafree ASAP, or wait until I've almost finished the sequel and put it up on the retailers later.

On another board, someone who frequently uses Wattpad for books says she posts questions at the end of her chapters to try and "engage" readers more....your mileage may vary.

I need to use it more, get into a rhythm and hopefully see results.

I would go into the café. When I first joined Wattpad years ago, I noticed my followers/reads go up once I started engaging the other members in the forums. There are Post Your Story threads as well, where you can post your blurb and cover title. Write comments at the end of your chapters for readers to reply to in the comment section. Another way to get readers quick is to read someone else's story. People are more willing to take a look at your book and inform their followers about your book if you read theirs first. All in all, it takes a bit of time to get those reads up there. Good luck!

Wattpad is like any site you use and become a part of, you got to keep it up. I feel however that Wattpad tends to appeal more toward teens and amateur writers. This isn't to say you can't gain and build an audience but you need to figure out if your audience is there and if you can connect with people there. I'm no expert and I go on every now and then but I feel it's a process, the more time you apply the more your likely to have people read your stuff.