Wattpad is a company that provides users of their app with millions of free stories to read via mobile devices and tablets. They have just announced the addition of a crowdfunding service that will allow authors to ask the crowd to fund future works.
The service is called Fan Funding on Wattpad and it is a rewards-based fixed funding system. Campaigns run for 30 days and writers don’t get any of the money unless they hit their goal by the end of the campaign.
Fan funding is about bringing stories to life in a myriad of ways and giving writers the tools to engage with, acknowledge, thank and reward their loyal fans who have been there since the beginning. The millions of readers on Wattpad are fueling the next generation of writers, that’s always been the power of our community, so this program is also a unique way for readers to come along on the journey.
Two campaigns have launched during the rollout. One campaign is for a book entitled Ki$$ & $ell. Author Brittany Geragotelis explains how she has leveraged Wattpad to start her new career on her campaign page…
I always had dreams of becoming an author. But after nine years of rejection from the publishing world, I almost gave up on that dream. Luckily, I found Wattpad and decided to write an original novel called Life’s a Witch for all of you to read. This ended up changing my life, because after getting 18 million reads of the book, I ended up scoring a book deal with Simon & Schuster. My first published novel, What the Spell, launched in January and the new and improved version of Life’s a Witch just came out in bookstores everywhere!
A second campaign was launched for APR – A New Adventure. Rewards for the two campaigns include things like signed hard copies of the books, the ability to name a character and t-shirts.
This is an interesting play because Wattpad has a huge user base that isn’t necessarily participating for the purpose of funding novels and stories, but this additional value add for their writers could incentivize more writers to join in. That in turn also adds value to their growing user base. One hand feeds the other.