Sin and Wattpad

Available here

The amazing Shaun Allan is visiting today with a guest blog about his experiences on Wattpad. Have a cup of tea and a biscuit, Shaun, and tell us what you have done on the site:

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Wattpad.

Whopad?

Wherepad?

WHYpad?

Hmmm...  I have to profess that, until not too long ago, I’d not really heard of Wattpad – or at least realised its significance.  I’d seen reference to the site in a blog somewhere and decided to set up an account and post a couple of stories.  Then I did nothing.  There are sooo many author/social sites to keep up with, you can make yourself dizzy – and I was.  As such, Wattpad became a casualty of my life.  Little time to write and less time to meet, market and network.

Plus, it was just another site, wasn’t it?

Well, actually, it’s not.  Not just another site.  Wattpad has been described as the Youtube of books, and I can see why.  There are oodles of members (14 million unique monthly visitors) and countless stories, books and poems.  It’s so easy to find something – anything – to read on there, you’ll never be at a loss for a good story.  When I discovered this, I thought I should take Wattpad a little more seriously.  As such, I posted some stories, poems, and snippets from Sin and his blog.

On Amazon here

I had a few reads, some great comments (especially on The Hunger), and even some votes.

I was delighted, therefore, when they asked if I’d like Sin to be a Featured Book.  Surprised, too.  I mean, Sin?  It’s just a little story I wrote.  I didn’t expect it to be noticed like this.

Part of being a Featured Book meant that I’d have to put Sin on Wattpad in its entirety.  Now that was a scary idea.  I want people to buy my book, don’t I?  I want them to throw their money at me and scamper away with my novel clutched in their sweaty palms.

No, I didn’t.  Well, I did, of course, but that wasn’t the reason I wrote Sin, nor Dark Places, nor anything else.  I wrote it because the words would dribble out of my ears if I didn’t.  I wrote it because the characters had voices that needed to be heard.  I wanted people to read it.  And enjoy it.

The number of people who have sent messages to say how much they’re enjoying Sin has astounded me.  Not because I don’t think Sin has merit or is any good, I hope it IS.  But readers, and Sin has had hundreds of thousands thanks to Wattpad’s promotion (and, I hope, the fact that it’s quite good), are taking the time to say that the book is ‘a masterpiece’ and ‘unique’.  Not much can beat that particular warm fuzzy feeling right there.  I appreciate (and reply to) every single one.  If that person goes on to buy the book, fantastic, if they don’t, that’s up to them.

They’ve still reached out and touched me.  I like that.

Buy it here

Apart from anything else, I have other works on Wattpad too.  I have a couple of stories and poems from my Dark Places collection.  There’s some from Zits’n’Bits and Rudolph Saves Christmas (my children’s books).  I’ve also added some stories that are not published anywhere else.  The Hunger, Creature and Sin – Prelude, a sort of prequel story to the novel itself.  Being a Featured Book has, hopefully, opened up all my work to the eyes of readers who might, otherwise, not happen by.  I welcome them all.

So.  Wattpad.  It can be viewed online and they have an app.  It’s a truly portable library, in various ways like kindle, but it gives you many avenues to interact with readers and authors and the books themselves.

Thank you Wattpad, Maria and Pamela in particular, for the opportunity to showcase my book.  And thank you to everyone who has read it, whether you’ve commented, voted or not.  Sin, and all my books, are for you.

You can find Shaun Allan on Wattpad here.