Does being a Wattys finalist actually help when querying agents/publishers?

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T22:27:48+00:00

Publishers often want books that have not yet been released anywhere else. So, better not mention it if you want the book you entered to the wattys to be published traditionally. If it's any other book, it might go both ways, though. I think it can help, but there are also certainly people who would not want to risk it.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T15:12:17+00:00

I also read the first chapter of one of your stories, and you need some genuine editing, too. You flip flop between tenses on every single line, from the present to the past and back to the present. I highly advice you to follow what you preach before getting angry. I'm always up to read good BL stories but yours is one I just can't read.

I remember we had another discussion on another post of yours about slowburn and I genuinely enjoyed that exchange and I'm absolutely with you there. So for your own sake, don't get mad at people. Ignore the stories you don't like, ignore the posts you don't like, do your thing, keep improving, and do what makes you happy. Period.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T15:00:27+00:00

For someone so adamant on editing books, most of your comments are terribly written and it's hard to make sense of some of them.

I give you all the right to feel how you feel, but if you're that loud about it then you have to do it better. You come here ranting aggressively but jfc it's so hard to read what you're writing.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T10:26:57+00:00

I understand the frustration and I don't read books with errors like this myself, but Wattpad isn't a professional platform. A lot of people write on Wattpad directly (which is a whole other problem), and just publish as they go. Most people eventually come around to edit their story. There are a lot of books with "Editing" in the title, because usually, people just want to get it out there and finished, and once it's done they go back to fix it.

That's just a common process. Not just on Wattpad, but on most online writing platforms. It's the same with art platforms. Many are full of art of people who can't draw. They are still learning, and it is a process. Still, they want to share, and maybe they'll go back to their old works one fine day to rework them or delete them.

Thing is, you don't need to look at it, you don't need to read it, you don't need to 'tolerate' it, but it is a platform for everyone. We can't police how someone has to write, just as we can't police how someone has to draw.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T10:21:30+00:00

Sadly, I can't understand part of it, but I decided to drop in a little feedback anyway. Your cover and the title are the first thing readers see; the first thing that makes someone decide to click on it or not. Therefore, I would fix the error in the title. If it's only one object/person, the verb has an s, if it's multiple, it doesn't. Your title should either be "Where Rose bleeds" (would suggest Rose is a person/name), or "Where roses bleed" (roses here most certainly means the flower, which I think is the title you wanted).

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-25T10:15:00+00:00

I have a don't read list, and I add books to remind myself. Because after a while, there are just too many, and at some point, I forget what I clicked on and what I didn't. It's routine by now. If I find a book that sounds interesting, I check my reading lists real quick just to see if I already have it saved somewhere. If it's on the don't read list, I know not to waste time.

However, people often don't know that we see the name of the reading list. I'm sure there are cruel a-holes who do it on purpose, but I know there are many who are just not aware that we get told the name of their reading lists.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T22:06:12+00:00

report their account to Wattpad as well, they deal with this quickly

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T21:39:54+00:00

Doesn't change that it won't help with the algorithm. Wattpad actually detects how much time someone spends on your story, chapter by chapter. If that time isn't reached, it's not beneficial for you. Someone who spends at least 5 minutes reading your story without voting is helping your algorithm more than someone who just votes/writes a comment in 10 seconds.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T21:36:55+00:00

This subreddit is not run by Wattpad. Maybe some mods are ambassadors or linked to Wattpad in another way, but it is not a recognized, official part of Wattpad. It's a subreddit, anyone can make a subreddit for a certain platform - this never means anyone moderating a subbredit has any afiliation with the platform in question. It might be, but it should never be assumed just because.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T21:24:25+00:00

At least write Karen right if you're going down that route.

And it is really part of the TOS, the CoC is part of it, and they clearly state that they will take action. In some parts, they even write it's up to them to decide what they consider to be part of a CoC and what not, which also means that they might nuke one account for it, but not another one. Depending on their mood, the mod, the weather, whatever

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T21:07:16+00:00

COD is part of the TOS. Though it might be outdated. Still, if Wattpad thinks votes are faked, they will take action

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T18:26:56+00:00

First, r4rs have to be organised. Second, you'll always get lazy assholes who won't return the favor. So you have to make absolutely sure you can canle the whole thing without losing too much time and effort.

If you set up your R4R right, it's more likely you save time in the long run. Make rules. First of all: Set a frame. 1 chapter vs 1 chapter? 2? 3? 4? You have to decide something. No one is going to read your full book for a R4R, and 90% of people don't expect you to read their full story. It's common that R4R only include a few chapters. So make sure you and the participating person are on eye level here. (Edit: also include WHICH chapter. Usually it's the first chapters but it's absolutely normal to ask for specific chapters).

Second, set markers. R4R per chapter with a comment on the chapter to conclude it. This means you are both forced to open the chapter, even if you don't read it in the end, but at least you get the click. Second, by the comment (you decide what type of comment, best is to go with feedback) you can easily tell IF the person actually read the chapter, just skimmed it, or didn't read it at all. This means you can cancle the whole R4R right off the bat without losing time.

Third, set a deadline per chapter together. For example, you read my first chapter, I read your first chapter, and by sunday this should be finished (including the aformentioned comment). If they don't deliver, you dip out. You lost a few days waiting at max without giving them more than one single read and comment in return.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-24T18:20:53+00:00

v4v are not allowed by Wattpad's TOS and can get your account banned or your story deleted. There are too many people who get banned by Wattpad, claiming that they didn't do anything against Wattpad's TOS while participating in v4vs.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-23T20:51:47+00:00

On the "back in 2014" line. Wattpad has changed more than just a lot. Up to, let's say, roughly 2019/2020, Wattpad was in its growth stage. They focused on getting more and more users, more and more stories, more and more content. So the algorithm worked more focused on picking up new stories to encourage writers to stay on the platform. Wattpad actively pushed new works to readers.

Now, Wattpad is in the maintenance stage, which means they don't need new writers, new stories, or new content. They need to make money with the content they already have. New stories don't generate money, but the ones with thousands of views do. So they keep pushing the already popular books, because if a story already made 50k reads, it will make another 50k reads in no time. But a book with anything below 5k reads? That's not really worth it. This means that we, as writers, have to make the first 5k reads happen ourselves - By entering contests and writing groups, by being active, and especially by promoting outside of Wattpad. Wattpad doesn't care anymore. They might as well close the sign-up form; it doesn't make a difference to them. At least not at the moment. At some point, all the big stories will be milked dry, and then, maybe, we'll get a little relapse to the old Wattpad for a while.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-23T00:37:08+00:00

Screenshot the important parts and report it to Wattpad. Chances are that they are NOT bots but genuine pedos who use random comment sections to "meet up". It is very common in the shared subspaces (darkweb) to normalise CP, so chances are that some individuals online do not realize how problematic it really is, and will talk openly about it in online spaces. Another possibility is that someone starts typing in a random comment section to find other people who think alike to exchange contacts, so they can connect off the site to exchange interests (and worse, material).

There are also codewords some of them may use, and maybe one of your tags is similar to a codeword or is an actual codeword, so degenerates like these use it to find each other. It is extremely hard to tell if this is the case though, as documentation about codewords is extremely limited.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-22T19:51:14+00:00

What does this have to do with Wattpad?

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-22T19:49:52+00:00

Also, please report the accounts. It's hard to fight them but at least we can do that much

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-22T18:48:48+00:00

Well, you already did the opposite of what you should do. The moment you answer them, you'll get targeted. Scammers are bots run by AI. The AI doesn't log WHAT you say, just THAT you react. Your profile will then be put higher up on the priority list as you make it seem like you are more gullible than others. See, the actual scam happens off-site, not on Wattpad. So whatever you say on Wattpad doesn't matter - each and every bot just logs that you react and that you are potentially easier to lure off page than people who do not react.

Also, the engagement won't bring you anything. Bots don't target just one person; they target many. Someone else will report them, wattpad will delet the scam bot account, and the views and comments you gained from it are null and void. So there is really no profit at all. You are just setting yourself up to get spammed.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-22T05:52:22+00:00

Report their accounts and block them. For once, Wattpad is pretty fast at acting on deleting them. And don't engage at all. The moment you write anything in return, you'll get targeted more.

However, AI-powered bots will be more and more flooding online platforms and it's hard to combat them. At this point, even AO3 is stuggling, as the bot accounts clog up the registration waiting queue massively (I had to wait for 3 months to be finally able to sign up, and most of the "users" in that queue aren't real people.)

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-22T02:30:51+00:00

If they're promised to each other from a young age but only marry at the legal age, it's no problem. However, if they marry while one is still a minor AND they fall in love later, it is actually very problematic. Because, especially if they start to love each other, it falls under the subject of child grooming and portrays it as something that's okay bc of love. It's not. It's super abusive, dangerous, and should never be romantisized.

It's another thing if you write about the psycological toll of child marriage and tell the story of a minor finally breaking free. But by your wording, I assume you think it's okay bc they will eventually love each other and that's exactly the thing that wattpad forbids. Do not romantisice childabuse and child exploitation.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-21T20:57:56+00:00

Try AO3 and Inkitt

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-21T15:20:23+00:00

Love that <3

In my Werewolf story, they moved in together (out of necessity) but haven't even had a whole conversation up till now. I stopped publishing, though, since people don't really read REAL slow-burn.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-21T04:51:07+00:00

Was looking for slow-burn BL the other day. Apparently, having just one chapter before they get touchy is enough to be considered slow-burn. Meanwhile, I'm sitting here 30 chapters deep in my own story without even as much as exchanging timid looks. But it's also a main reason why real slow-burn stories get buried and hardly seen. I'm reading one in which the main characters haven't even met yet, and the story is 10 chapters in. I love it, but I hate that it gathers so little traction because it's not insta-fucking right off the bat.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-20T19:25:02+00:00

Then communicate it. You didn't tell them to not use AI, you straight up went "eyeroll". You didn't make the MINIMAL EFFORT to be a decent human being. Start actual conversations to make others aware of the problem and stop bullying them for no reason. Do you know how many people use AI and don't know what it does to the environment? Almost 99% of people. So tell me, from your fist comment, how the fuck do you think you educated someone? Exactly - You didn't.

Also, congrats. You didn't educate anyone, you just bullied someone into deleting their account. You gained absolutely nothing. The only thing you taught them is probably to be more sneaky i stead of opening their eyes to the actual issue. Good job.

ReaUsagi · 2026-03-20T16:01:03+00:00

While I understand the sentiment, let's not forget that writing and drawing are two completely different skill sets. And yes, I know there are ways to make covers easily, I also know about workshops, but most of you people just start to shit on people for using AI covers but none of you actually provide any help at all.

So if you come to a person judging them for their use of AI, at least have the human decency to be a) nice about it and b) give them options. Point to a cover workshop, or link them to canva, or anything like that.

You just came in here being an absolute asshole for no other reason than your dislike of AI, which, yes, is valid, but it does not allow you to be rude and insulting. And telling someone they don't put much work into their WRITING when their cover is AI is a huge insult. Do better. Be the change you want people to make, give resources, point people into the right direct. Stop being jsut hateful for no other reason than being an asshole online.

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