If you’ve followed my writing journey thus far, you'd know I write on Wattpad and Inkitt, and I currently write more on Inkitt now.

I've been on Wattpad since September 2018 and first joined Inkitt in the summer of 2019. I left the Inkitt platform after a few months because it was too much work maintaining stories on two platforms.

I am currently back on Inkitt and have removed most of my works from Wattpad, and really got into a new story on Inkitt. I've also moved a previous work from Wattpad to Inkitt.

Wattpad is a great platform, with tons of engagement and if you're able and willing to engage consistently, you can build a large fan base for yourself. Having a very good story isn't enough, you need to grow your network and you need to be consistent with it, the same goes for Inkitt.

Here's what I love about Wattpad:

1. Their app is easy to use and user-friendly. Whether you're a reader or a writer, they have an app that fits all and works well. The newly rolled out dark mode sold it for me!
2. The tag ranking and how the views, likes and votes show up for all your stories on your page is great. Although it does serve as a constant reminder of how your story's performing and makes you very conscious of it, it also shows that readers do stumble onto your books and read.
3. You can add pictures, graphics and everything you need to make your story more alluring, there's even an option to include a YouTube video as your chapter banner. You can also tag other writers, add dedications and all that.
4. The book clubs, the communities and the community awards are very encouraging.
5. The reading lists of those verified accounts that help promote your stories. The submission process could be cut down though.
6. The new home is really stunning. My one drawback with the new home is that the stories featured are stories that are already doing well. Up and coming or new stories aren't featured.

Now I'll share some drawbacks with Wattpad that contributed to me taking my main stories down;

1. There's a mirror site that copies anything you upload on Wattpad.
2. There's another site that offers your work as a PDF download to others for a price, it's not very encouraging especially if you intend to publish later.
3. If you're a mobile reader, the ads between chapters are irksome. You're forced to watch ads that do not even benefit the author. Those ads work for Wattpad's pocket, not the current author you're reading.
4. Wattpad is a large platform with millions of writers, running the Wattys once a year to pick just one winner per genre isn't enough. As good a writer as you are, you may never win the Wattys, it's fact.
5. The premium version of Wattpad doesn't really provide much save, a customizable theme colour that's only visible to you, no ads and more offline reading space. That's all you get when you purchase their premium package.

While it's a good place to meet others, and join book clubs and communities, as a writer we need and require more recognition for our work. And you're able to get that with Wattpad if you're willing to, as I said before, network, join as many book clubs as you can, do read for read, comment for comment and stuff, invite friends and family to read, vote and comment and win the Wattys. Easy right?

Disclaimer: Just to clarify, this is my opinion based on my experience with both platforms. You may have experienced them differently, you're allowed to share your opinion. However, blatantly disagreeing with whatever I share here is moot, because like I stated earlier, this is my opinion from my experience. It's not subject to your approval. This is just me sharing my experience.

Lora Tia

I felt the need to stray there for a bit as some times readers tend to take what's been shared out of context. To continue, I'll share what works for me on the Inkitt platform and then share what doesn't.

While I like how the trending and recently updated stories in all the genres, as well as the top users and new users are on the landing page of the platform, I'm yet to understand how their algorithm works. According to what I've read about Inkitt, they curate reader engagement with your stories, but I truly don't know how it works. I've seen a couple of stories trending which are yet to be completed and haven't had any activity for months, how exactly is the algorithm rendering stories like that in the homepage? Do the reviews count? Views? Likes? Or is it everything? It's hard to tell.

With Wattpad, you can easily check the tags in your stories and see where you're ranking and what's ranking highest in terms of hot or new, however with Inkitt you've only got your story analytics to work with. I'd be great to know how my story is ranking in its specific genre and under the tags it's tagged to. Those stats would really help. I've tried to find out where my story ranks in its genre on the trending page, especially after I update and it never shows up.

I don't know if I'm remembering correctly but there was a time when Inkitt had this, that's when I first joined in 2019. That feature isn't there anymore. That particular feature showed your story's rank so you know how well your story's performing against others, and that was a really useful feature.

Here're the features I love about Inkitt;

1. You can schedule your posts!!! This is my favourite thing about Inkitt. Write, schedule and then work on putting your work out there.
2. Unless you share your profile and stories yourself, no one can get a hold of your work. It's 'steal' proof.
3. I believe they've put more effort into protecting the stories on their platforms as I haven't experienced any mirror sites or third party sites stealing the works there first hand. And if it does happen, their process for filing a DMCA is much more support friendly as they literally have one of their Inkitt support staff work alongside you until it's all sorted out.
4. They host monetary writing contests for their writers. WRITERS NEED THIS!
5. The story review. I love this feature... I might say I have a love-hate thing for it as sometimes you get reviews from random people that shocks you about your story, but we live, and we learn. With this, you're able to surmise how your readers feel about your story.

In terms of what I don't necessarily enjoy about Inkitt, keep reading;

1. Two apps. There's one Inkitt app for readers and one for writers. As both reader and writer, I had to download both. I would prefer it if both the reading and writing interface was integrated into one app. It'll be a lot easier that way.
2. I noticed Inkitt doesn't have the Private Message option. To contact a fellow writer, or reader you'd have to comment on their wall and all.
3. Inkitt is advertised as a readers platform, however it mostly writers swapping their books with each other, or family and friends promoting and reading your work. I wonder where the readers are. Save the random handful of reviews once in a while, I have no idea where these readers are.
4. The fancy page breaker only shows up on desktop, on mobile it's just an unflattering space.

Conclusion:

One glaring truth with both platforms is that you'd have to really promote yourself and your work to get any sort of engagement. To get the kind of readership we all want, be ready to build your fan base from the ground up!

With Wattpad, before the forum was shut down, it was a good place to really engage and grow your network. I guess now you'd have to form those networks through communities on the platform. There are countless amazing communities to join, and it's one of the reasons I've remained. You form friendships and genuine readership base through the communities.

In regard to Inkitt and communities, there aren't a lot. They have the groups, which is their forum and you can promote your stores shamelessly there. It is truly effective as other writers will respond in minutes with a 'review swap' request.

Book clubs and communities, as well as community awards aren't a thing on Inkitt, however they're rearing their heads now. The Aesthetics Awards 2020 is underway and it is the first of its kind on Inkitt, that isn't hosted by Inkitt. There's also the CoalitionCommunity now, with a reading room [Inkitt's book club] for members to join and swap books for critic. I believe more communities and community hosted awards will turn up and things within the Inkitt platform in regard to a sense of community will only get better.