How many Wattpad refugees?

DasIstWunderblyat 2019-05-11 22:51:48 UTC #39

In Tapas, I'm abysmally more successful than Wattpad, yet my Tapas success is a huge fail.

In Wattpad, it's hard to get noticed even if you try to be active in their forums. People also more inclined to use others for their leverage (ah, the sweet "let's do read for read"). There is a very little moderation and works that are breaking rules (not using the mature filter, plagiarized) or simply problematic are let to be running rampant. Chance for self promotion and is very limited in the forum, while there are so many unsolicited self-promo messages on your wall and DM. I'm abandoning my work there because I have no audience

That doesn't meant my Tapas isn't a failure though. In Tapas I have 107 subscribers, but I only count 10 of them who are active. I have 10 subscribers, which is a very little number compared to my 3.2 k views. It's roughly 0.3%! You know you fail so hard when only 0.3% people actually like your works!

My general online presence is a big flop though, I can't flourish everywhere. I have tried WebNovel, Tablo, and RoyalRoad to no fucking avail. I'm just tired of uploading same shit everywhere for no fucking body to read, so I only focus on here (where also almost no fucking one read it). It just like nobody likes my work, only small minority does.

I realize I'm not good at writing let alone speak English, I desperately need to improve my work. I don't write things in a hip and likeable manner, or in a theme and characteristics that easily identified and loved to make things worse.

Then, there are works with very little care of it thrown to the folks and they flock to it. It does make me kind of discouraged and apathetic to my work, not feeling to continue or edit it. Sometimes I just wish I never started.

So here is it, I hope it stays longer here because I don't know what my limit is:

https://tapas.io/series/Karana

yansusu 2019-05-11 23:16:15 UTC #40

I think I saw you mention this before somewhere and there's still something that bugs me. Maybe I'm misunderstanding Tapas in general but:
You have 28 episodes (counting the Prolog and that Intermission) and each person looking at one of those episodes counts for one view. So if one person reads your whole series, that'd be 28 views you've gained.
So if everyone of your 107 subscribers read each of those episodes (which is unlikely since not everyone reads every episode as soon as it's published and not everyone will follow a series forever but let's just assume that for now) then that'd be 2996 views already. You have 3236 views overall, so the difference between that would be only 240 views. Naturally, you're the only one who can see how many people viewed each episode (I believe only Tapas people are counted? And wa that what you meant with "active" or do you only count people who like and comment as "active"?) but maybe the rate of people who read isn't as bad as you think?
Actually, even if it was, I think that's not too strange for a novel here on Tapas. We'll just have to live with the fact that comics are more sought after here (no offense to the artists, I myself am also mostly reading comics on Tapas, that's what I came here for) than novels and that most writers will do much worse than an artist with a similar story in the same genre would.

Edit: I just noticed that a reader can actually see how many people viewed an episode. That's definitely more than 10 so I guess that answers one of my questions.
In that regard: Honestly, I know how frustrating it is to have mostly silent readers but those are the majority in general. It's nothing strange. Counting those out of your subscribers is a little ... strange? I mean they do read the novel, after all. They just don't leave a comment because of whatever reason.

GalacticaGeorge 2019-05-12 07:21:06 UTC #41

Same here. I was a struggling writer myself and it was hard to push forward with the writing. Apart from that just fan fiction by itself was a crowd on its own. You can't exactly deny it's influence but the quality by itself put me down so badly. So, here I am for a fresh start in a different app after taking off to work on something solid. Hoping to meet similar minded novel writers.
Here's a link to my series and I'd like to know a lot more people and their series as well https://tapas.io/series/_Deathwish_

Cricketreadscomics 2019-05-12 08:02:24 UTC #42

oh my god

same

.
I just got suspended from the wattpad forums for sharing a screenchot of an ambassadors post that was explaining the CoC. Fun times.

Also it's lowkey homophobic of there so...

therealbereth 2019-05-12 14:36:40 UTC #43

Make that highkey lol; I don't know how anyone from the lgbt community can be an ambassador over there, with all the restrictions and random enforcements of rules however they seem fitting at any given time. >_>

I'm just glad people don't geek out about guns over here. Like... that's a thing. In a forum. Where 13-year-olds can gather.

bjwebb 2019-05-12 15:03:55 UTC #44

Yeah, I feel like I'm lucky to get a comment or like for every 1 in 50 views, or even 1 in 100. Not everyone who reads comments. That's just how people are. Doesn't mean they're not reading.

Maps 2019-05-12 22:20:26 UTC #45

No wonder my BL didn’t do well on Wattpas. Glad to have dodged a homophobic community.

mediocre-writer 2019-05-21 21:21:12 UTC #46

I'm from Wattpad and I still go on there. I was thinking about publishing my story on both sites. I found a lot of welcoming queer communities their forum, so the homophobia is a bit concerning and surprising.

KRWright 2019-05-21 21:33:42 UTC #47

I'm over there, and a lot of my writer friends are also on there. Nearly all of them write queer content, and some of them have had mainstream Wattpad success with it (part of the Paid Stories programs, winning or Short-listed for Watty's etc.). There are homophobic elements to the community, and the forums aren't cracked down on nearly hard enough, but Wattpad is different from Tapas simply because it's the largest fiction site in the world - there's just no way they can police it adequately at all without hiring a whole host of people.

Myself and a few others just tend to 'keep in our lane' with Wattpad, and have avoided the homophobia/transphobia that way. Wattpad has also always sided with me whenever I've made reports about anything I've seen in the forums as well, so there's that for what it's worth.

It's nothing like Tapas for community though, and I do prefer it here even if some of my novels are more successful on Wattpad.

ShadowGypsy 2019-05-25 03:13:31 UTC #48

Yep, defiantly a wattpad refugee. I still semi post there, but I don't expect anything from it at all. also here is a bit of shameless promoting.

therealbereth 2019-05-25 07:44:33 UTC #49

Eh, there's still a difference between not being able to crack down on harmful behavior as much as you want and showing time and again that you simply don't care enough.

Since I joined Wattpad, and that wasn't even too long ago, I've recognized a dissonance between what the team and ambassadors TELL US they are doing—and what they are actually SHOWING us. Which is the cold shoulder when shit hits the fan. Not to mention an ambassador being kicked out quite recently after she criticized Paid Stories for having a story (or stories) in it that emphasized stereotypes against the Irish. I don't know if her critique was the reason for that, mind, but the timing was conspicuous, to say the least. And that's just one case of very weird telling/showing-discrepancy.

It could still all be miscommunication. Or them not having enough people. Or other reasons we don't know about. But if you keep your community in the dark about these things, you risk people feeling unwelcome, shunned, silenced. Transparency is key, and Wattpad fails on that front. If I feel the same there as I felt in the last highly toxic/abusive community I frequented, something is very, very wrong.

I'm really much happier here already.

enamnoeki 2019-06-05 16:26:56 UTC #50

I may be one pretty soon.

Psychobott 2019-06-07 09:48:53 UTC #51

I'm one right now. I feel more comfortable in Tapas than WP. Yes, Watty might be the major platform for literary compositions, but it is also the biggest platform for the ultimate bs, fake views, fake subscribers, overshadowing, and a playground for 13-year-old kids who gets more views than the actual quality stuff. I love it, but it's just a battlefield in there. Plus, what I noticed in Tapas is that the queer content is completely welcome and loved in here, which is a total thumbs up for me.

I also meant to shamelessly promote as well, lol.

TheHermit_Crab 2019-06-07 13:01:58 UTC #52

I'm from Wattpad! I guess I'm just trying everything to find success online before I graduate highschool so I can a) move back to america and b) get out of studying something I don't want to.

Wattpad is amazing and I've found some of the best people on there (i've never been one to talk about my writing in the forums, but just kind of whatever so i've ran across people who don't exactly write similar things to me, but have been equally as kind and supportive). But the problem with Wattpad for me is discovery and success. You need hundreds of thousands of reads to really get something out of your writing other than just 'reads'. I know that my writing isn't great, but I want to start taking it more seriously and Wattpad may not be that for me, but who knows. I guess I'm just testing all out till I find something that works.

But I'm not putting my serious work on here until I'm done editing it so wattpad has been a good 'share as you go' apportunity to get feedback as I write.

Mar.Fu 2019-06-08 01:53:38 UTC #53

I'm also from Wattpad, but then i stopped for some time because of school work. When i came back, it was completely changed that i dont even recognize it anymore. so yeah, i got disheartened, and i discovered tapas

sevannah_storm 2019-06-08 15:23:43 UTC #54

I'm still on WP, but then I'm also on Tumblr, FB and Twitter. I believe in keeping all my options open. The grass may be greener on another platform but it just might mean a different kind of fertilizer is present.
I can't expect any of the platforms to be perfect and to meet my needs exactly. But I do agree that WP does not focus on talent and that, for the most part, it's a popularity contest.
That implies I have no control, that I cannot improve my craft to impact my viewership. I don't like that because then what's the point.
Tapas still has a long way to go to have literary impact. As an artwork platform, it's brilliant and I must admit, I do enjoy reading my subscribers work.

sevannah_storm 2019-06-08 15:29:08 UTC #55

I agree. I joined WP to get feedback on my first novel. Everyone loved it but no agent/publisher did. I needed honest feedback. It took me many frogs before I found an honest prince. Now it's with a publisher.

TheHermit_Crab 2019-06-08 15:56:16 UTC #56

The forums are good for feedback, but the comments are far from that. And even in the forums it's hard to find someone who will commit. I'm glad you found someone though! And goof luck publishing <3 i know it can be a difficult proccess, but you've got this!!

Clare_Cassidy 2019-07-31 08:54:56 UTC #57

I'm from Wattpad and my BL stories seem to be doing better here so...here you go!

Clare_Cassidy 2019-07-31 08:55:32 UTC #58

Your analogy was super cute!