FastPencil vs Wattpad

2023. Wattpad Premium subscribers now have access to 5 free monthly Wattpad Originals



Imagine, if you will, a grand and slightly eccentric narrative experiment devised by Wattpad, now called "Premium Picks." Under the great umbrella of its freemium model, Wattpad offers Premium and Premium+ subscribers a rather splendid deal: five of their Wattpad Originals, gratis, each and every month. Gone are the days of individual content payments—this is a curated buffet, handpicked by Wattpad’s team of literary connoisseurs, blending celebrated blockbusters with unsung gems from both literary legends and bright-eyed up-and-comers. The catch? Well, not so much a catch as a clever ticking clock: these tales are freely available until the first of the next month. After that, should you wish to resume your journey through an unfinished story, your wallet may politely nudge you. To keep things lively, Wattpad has thoughtfully added a countdown timer to the Premium Picks screen and a system of cheery app nudges, lest you miss the arrival of the next story feast.


2023. Wattpad has launched Publishing Scheduler



If you happen to be an author on the Wattpad self-publishing platform—and let’s face it, statistically speaking, there’s a fairly decent chance you are—you may have pondered the idea of pre-scheduling your Story Parts, imagining a world where your readers blissfully glide from one chapter to the next without that nagging interval of suspense and impatience. Well, rejoice! The fine folks at Wattpad have engineered exactly that with their rather magnificently titled "Wattpad Publishing Scheduler." This sparkling new feature exists solely to alleviate the burden of manual uploads while ensuring your readers remain thoroughly hooked, even if you’re off on a much-deserved holiday or hopelessly lost in a spiraling subplot. Currently available only on the web version (the mobile app is eagerly catching up, apparently), this scheduler lives in your "My Stories" section, dutifully allowing you to set release dates with a flick of a finger. It's a cunning tool for authors to keep readers happily engaged while retaining just a bit more of that precious resource called ‘free time.'


2023. Wattpad improves its Creator Program for writers



In a universe where aspiring storytellers endlessly tap away at keyboards while dreaming of literary grandeur, Wattpad—that behemoth of online storytelling realms—has decided it’s time to recalibrate its creator-centric apparatus, making it a tad more welcoming for those who type in the shadows. Now, the Wattpad Creators program (in its second, somewhat heroic year), first hatched twelve months prior, exists to lavish writers with an array of small, often useful benefits, opportunities, and forms of practical aid—all tailored to coax outstanding tales from even the most hesitant of scribes. It’s all in the name of nurturing their uniquely baffling "Engaged Reader" metric and bestowing them with the sort of accolades they rightly imagine themselves deserving of. Formerly an exclusive club, accessible only by invitation, this revamped iteration promises a bit more democratic sparkle. Realizing that not every author can simply dash off to posh workshops or exotic retreats, Wattpad aims to replicate a similar experience in its virtual realm, delivering community, camaraderie, and a sprinkling of wisdom to boot.


2019. Wattpad launches book publishing platform



Social storytelling platform Wattpad has recently introduced a new publishing arm called Wattpad Books. The titles will not only be available as ebooks on a variety of online platforms, but they will also be stocked in physical bookstores such as Indigo Books and Music and Barnes & Noble. Wattpad Books’ first collection is set to debut in Fall 2019, with six titles being released this year. The 2019 Wattpad Books lineup features six young adult novels, covering genres like fantasy, romance, mystery and more. The stories on Wattpad Books’ 2019 list are already popular on Wattpad, together garnering over 100 million reading minutes in 2018.


2014. FastPencil integrates with Evernote so users can self-publish ebooks



Self-publishing platform FastPencil is providing all Evernote users with the capability to instantly self-publish their notes using the FastPencil platform for content ingestion, book creation, conversion to print and eBook formats, online distribution and sales of the completed book. Starting today, Evernote users can quickly take their notes and import them into FastPencil to create and publish an eBook or PDF within seconds. The finished work can then be shared online or distributed through FastPencil’s publishing packages.


2014. Wattpad will be free forever and make money from native ads



**Wattpad**, the social reading app that allows authors to share their stories with a community of readers, is experiencing notable user engagement — the company reports that 27 million of its 30 million users are active each month. However, Wattpad has done little to monetize this activity beyond trying out crowdfunded self-publishing. That’s changing now. The company has introduced its first native advertising campaign and is preparing more. Similar to ads on Twitter and other social platforms, Wattpad has integrated promotions for accounts and individual titles with its regular recommendations. The company is still in the “very early stages of ad experiments,” but CEO Allen Lau has already stated that Wattpad will never charge for the app itself: “It will remain a free app forever.”


2014. Wattpad raises $46 million to build a global literary community



Wattpad, an online community where writers and readers can share and discover engaging stories, announced that it has secured $46 million in funding to help Wattpad accelerate product development and user growth. "We have a very ambitious goal that one day this company could reach a billion users," said Allen Lau, cofounder and CEO of Wattpad. "That's precisely why we are raising this round of funding: to accelerate our progress toward that vision." Wattpad currently has around 25 million registered users, according to Lau, up from approximately 15 million at this time last year. While this is impressive for a reading-focused platform, it remains far from the billion-user target. "It's a very lofty goal," Lau acknowledges, noting that it likely won’t be achieved "this year, or the year after, or even in three or four years."


2013. Wattpad, the social network for aspiring writers, launches a crowdfunding feature



Wattpad is a social platform for budding writers, often referred to as the "YouTube of writing" because it enables amateur authors to share their work with a global audience and build a following around their writing. Wattpad has now introduced a crowdfunding feature similar to Kickstarter called “Fan Funding,” which simplifies the process for members to leverage their fan base to monetize their work — and could also assist the platform in monetizing its own user base, as it charges a fee for the service. Fan Funding allows you to support your favorite authors in new ways by helping them achieve their goals and receiving rewards in return. To support a project, select the reward level that appeals to you most and specify the amount you wish to contribute. A valid credit card is required to back a project.