Wattpad Rolls Out Paid Content in Select Markets

Wattpad Next, currently in beta in four countries, offers a small, curated collection of paid content

Wattpad, a community of 65 million writers and readers—open and free to all—has been characterized as many things since its founding in 2006. Some call it a reading platform or a story-sharing app, while others consider it a home for aspiring authors. It’s chock full of fan fiction by teenage girls and a lot of writing that’s considered amateur (at best) by professionals in the business.

In the past couple years, Wattpad has become profitable. It has rolled out partnerships with a range of media and entertainment companies, including book publishers, giving Wattpad a cut of the action when its writers’ stories land deals. Wattpad has created a group of Wattpad Stars who get access to special paid opportunities, although these Stars represent a tiny percentage of overall contributors to the platform. Recently, Hayley Cuccinello at Forbes wrote about Wattpad’s ambition to become “your literary agent,” and we covered a BookExpo panel about how Wattpad works with Big Five publishers.

For a site that’s always offered 100 percent free content, Wattpad’s announcement last week of Wattpad Next—a premium content offering—was big news. Wattpad is following in the footsteps of some other players in the online writing and serialization space, especially Tapas (which we last covered in May 2017) and to a lesser extent Radish. Here’s how the beta version of Wattpad Next works:

• Readers purchase “coins” (virtual currency) in the Wattpad app using iTunes or a Google Play account. Coins can be redeemed in the Wattpad app or on the site to unlock chapters or full stories that are part of the Wattpad Next program.
• Wattpad shares the revenue with the writer, although Wattpad has not publicly disclosed what the author’s cut is. They do say, “All participants will earn the same amount for each story part published as part of the program.”
• All stories on Wattpad will be marked as either free or Next stories, so that readers can avoid getting invested in something they’ll have to pay for.

Wattpad Next is currently by invitation only. Stories and participants—only 50 at this time—are curated by Wattpad staff across four countries: Canada, the United Kingdom, the Philippines, and Mexico. Writers’ participation is voluntary.

The huge majority of Wattpad content—hundreds of millions of stories—will remain free. Wattpad stresses in its FAQ that Wattpad Next “was created in direct response to demand from the community for Wattpad to enable readers to support the writers who create the stories they love. With Wattpad Next beta, fans can now support their favorite writers, and writers are able to monetize their work.”

Bottom line: One of the Wattpad Stars, Benjamin Sobieck, tweeted the news with enthusiasm: “This is great news for writers and readers. Wattpad’s next model is proven out in other places with a lot of native content. When/if this opens up to accept more writers, expect more quality content. The trick will be to keep that pool of Wattpad Next writers curated so that the coin purchases are worth it, and to adjust pricing based on location.” Other writers (especially those who are not Stars) have smartly suggested that Wattpad ought to build in tipping functionality—whereby stories are freely offered, but readers can voluntarily pay or reward any writer they like—for all writers and readers. We hope Wattpad is listening. To learn what the active Wattpad community thinks of the initiative, check out this podcast episode from The Writers XL.