Ramadan Mubarak: Ramadan Greetings From Wattpad

June 27, 2014, 10:41 am

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≪ Previous: The Best of Stories, as judged by the community

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We first noticed Wattpad’s growing spiritual community when we stumbled on A Muslim’s Romantic Journey by KittyCrackers, a young writer based in London. Today this story, which tells of the religious courting of Safia by Yusuf, has almost 4.5 million reads. And it’s only one of almost 4,000 stories on Wattpad with Muslim themes.

AbdofRahman describes Wattpad’s Muslim community as “a wonderful big family” where “Despite the fact of our different nationalities, race, culture etc., we cheer, tease, critique, spam, go crazy about fictional characters, roll our eyes, guide, inspire, love.” Wattpadder how-about-no wants to help change the perception of Islam around the world:

It’s up to us – the Muslim community – to show what Islam really is, and how Muslims are just normal people. We come from all over the world, and we live in places all over the world; we study, we work, we have families, and we like to have fun, too. We might make different decisions, and do things differently based on our different beliefs, but, at the end of the day, we’re all human.

Check out the reading list Stories of My Ummah to learn more. Ramadan Kareem!

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Hugh Howey joins Wattpad

July 1, 2014, 7:00 am

≫ Next: Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize

≪ Previous: Ramadan Mubarak: Ramadan Greetings From Wattpad

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Hugh Howey, known for his blockbuster, self-published novel Wool, has joined Wattpad. Hugh has already shared some of his short stories and tips for writers with Wattpadders on his official Wattpad Profile.

Hugh Howey fans can also enter the Hugh Howey Booktrack & Wattpad Fan Fiction Contest. Fans are encouraged to write an original fan fiction story based on Howey’s novel Half Way Home. Those who post their story to Wattpad and create a soundtrack for the story on Booktrack will be entered for a chance to win from a $20,000 prize pool. Another way to win The Hugh Howey Booktrack Competition is through the Audio Contest, which gives fans the chance to create a  soundtrack for a chapter of Half Way Home. For more details and to enter, visit the contest page.

 

Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize

July 9, 2014, 6:52 am

≫ Next: Travel the world with stories

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The Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize is back for its third consecutive year, and this time, they are partnering with Wattpad to give one young writer a chance at a £10,000 worldwide publishing contract.

If you are an unagented, unpublished writer aged 18-25, and you love to write novels for teens, then submit your original work to the Wattpad Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize by tagging your Wattpad story #youngwritersprize. Submissions close August 16th, 2014.

The winner will be selected by a panel of talented judges, including: author Katie Coyle, journalist and author Tom Huddleston, BBC Radio 1 DJ and presenter Jameela Jamil, author Maureen Johnson, bookseller Rachael Wing, and Hot Key Books publisher Emily Thomas, as well as two high schools in England.

If you’re under the age of 18 – there’s still good news. Due to popular demand, the competition is now open to 13 to 17-year-olds. The Young Writers Short Story is just for writers in this age group. It’s not to win a publishing contract, but you’ll win books plus a consultation with a senior member of the Hot Key Books team.

Learn more about the submission details here. Good luck to all the participants!

Travel the world with stories

July 11, 2014, 7:50 am

≫ Next: RPF: Reimagining Reality

≪ Previous: Hot Key Books Young Writers Prize

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Need to escape this summer but you’re a little low on travel funds? Why not see the world without ever leaving your home with some of Wattpad’s favorite globe-trotting reads. Test the waters with a surfing safari down the coast of California in Can’t Get Enough. Find love in Paris, the capital of romance, with Sarah Mlynowski’s A Nice Fling is Hard to Find. Take a soul-searching journey on one of India’s most prestigious train lines, the Trivandrum Mail. Or try your hand at helping Leilani Leia unravel a magical mystery in Hawaii, in Kidnapping on Kaua’i.

Wherever your travels may take you this summer, the perfect story is just a click away. Check out our full list of Jet-setting Stories.

RPF: Reimagining Reality

July 18, 2014, 1:44 pm

≫ Next: Wattpad Updates to Creative Commons 4.0

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To celebrate Sherlock actor and British heartthrob Benedict Cumberbatch’s 38th birthday tomorrow, we’ve put together a reading list of stories for the Cumber Collective. Real Person Fanfics like these construct narratives that humanize a celebrity’s life, simultaneously celebrating and challenging popular culture. Boasting truly imaginative fics, RPF has indeed become one of the fastest-growing and most vibrant communities on Wattpad. For real person and traditional fanfic, follow the official Fanfic profile, where we will be hosting regular writing contests.

There’s still time to enter this week’s Oneshot Contest, so try your hand at a one chapter, standalone story!

Wattpad Updates to Creative Commons 4.0

July 21, 2014, 7:42 am

≫ Next: Meet the Wattpad4

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On Wattpad, fans remix work, write fanfiction, translate Wattpad stories into other languages, and make anything from story trailers to story covers for their favorite writers.That’s why over 300,000 Wattpad writers have already licensed their work under Creative Commons; a non-profit that enables the sharing and use of creativity and knowledge through free legal tools. This includes Cory Doctorow’s Little Brother, and Jordan’s (XxSkater2Girl16xX)A Proscriptive Relationship. There are many types of Creative Commons licenses, but every license helps other creators promote digital creativity, sharing, or innovation.

Today we are happy to announce that we’ve updated the licensing options on Wattpad to Creative Commons to 4.0. This means you now have more options when creating and more freedom to share and remix your work.

There are several Creative Commons licenses to suit your needs:

• Attribution: others can use and distribute your work, but they must attribute the work to you
• Share Alike: others can use your work, but whatever they use it for must be shared too
• No Derivative: your work can be used, word for word, but you can’t remix or change it
• Non Commercial: people can use your work, but can’t make money from it

If you are interested in Creative Commons (CC) Licenses, learn more at http://creativecommons.org/. If you would like to update the licensing on your Wattpad stories, you can find licensing under your story settings.

Meet the Wattpad4

July 25, 2014, 6:38 am

≫ Next: Fandoms Assemble: Wattpad @ Comic-Con

≪ Previous: Wattpad Updates to Creative Commons 4.0

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When you know, you know. That’s what writers Rebecca Sky, Erin Latimer, Leah Crichton, and Monica Sanz  thought when they first discovered each other’s stories on Wattpad. The four bonded quickly over their love of reading and writing, as well as a mutual quirky sense of humor, and they now share a unique friendship.

“It’s funny how we have never met face-to-face, but they are some of my dearest and closest friends now,” says Leah. “I truly cannot imagine a day without them in it.”

Hundreds of comments and inbox messages later, the writers decided to officially form The Wattpad4, a group dedicated to giving back to their supportive Wattpad communities through weekly Twitter chats, monthly contests, and more.

 

“We formed the Wattpad4 to fully support each other’s dreams and to give back to the community that helped us get to where we are,” says Rebecca Sky.

The Wattpad4 hosts Twitter Chats every Monday at 8PM EST, covering all kinds of topics, from World-Building to How to Write a Believable Romance. Join the conversation every Monday by following #Wattpad4 on Twitter.

What’s next for these intrepid  writers? Videos, naturally. “We’re going to be vlogging soon in addition to our weekly Twitter chats,” says Monica. “We’re also discussing attending a few conferences together to spread our love of writing and Wattpad.”

Stay tuned for future updates about the Wattpad4.

Fandoms Assemble: Wattpad @ Comic-Con

August 1, 2014, 6:28 am

≫ Next: Covering The Classics

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When you are the Internet’s largest community for readers and writers, it’s important to have a presence at the world’s largest fandom con. It’s for that reason that the Wattpad team journeyed to the hot San Diego to catch up with fandoms of all kinds. From TinTin and Spiderman, to Nyan Cat and Minions, we could not escape Comic Con’s thousands of Cosplayers. It felt as though the thousands of fandoms that have stories on Wattpad all jumped out of our phones and filled a convention center.

Wattpad-related highlights were book signings, Wattpad’s panelist Aron Levitz fangirling about the power of transformative works on a panel with Mischa Collins, and the announcement of the prequel for DIG (USA Network’s upcoming Event Series) being released exclusively on Wattpad (which you can read right here).

Best of all, Wattpad celebrated Fandoms of all kinds with an FYeahCopyRight and Creative Commons party. It was an event that Batman, who turned 75 this year, would have been proud of.

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Covering The Classics

August 15, 2014, 11:11 am

≫ Next: Introducing: #WattpadBookClub

≪ Previous: Fandoms Assemble: Wattpad @ Comic-Con

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We’ve previously posted the work of Wattpad’s talented community of cover creators, and today we wanted to highlight how they’ve reimagined covers for classic novels on Wattpad from authors like Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be holding a contest to see who can create the best covers for five more classic novels, from Mary Shelley, to Melville, and H.G. Wells.

If you’re not sure how to create a cover, try out the new iOS Wattpad Cover Creator app, free in the app store. If you’d rather work on web, you can also try free websites like PicMonkey, or resize a cover you have already made here.

Cover Contest Details:

1. Pick one of the following stories:

• Frankenstein
• Oliver Twist
• Three Musketeers
• Anne of Green Gables
• Moby Dick

2. How to submit – choose one of the following:

• Tweet it @Wattpad with the hashtag #WattpadCoverOff
• Post a link to it on the Wattpad profile in this chapter
• Post it in the Multimedia Club thread on classic covers

3. Dates & Prizes

• Submit your cover by August 29th.
• We’ll announce the winners in early September, and the winners will have a chapter of their classics dedicated to them.

Most importantly, have fun, and best of luck creating!

Introducing: #WattpadBookClub

August 21, 2014, 6:10 am

≫ Next: Want To Meet Wattpadders In Your Area?

≪ Previous: Covering The Classics

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What better way the celebrate the world’s largest community of readers and writers than with an official Wattpad Book Club? This book club will give users a chance to come together every week on Twitter to talk about the one thing all Wattpadders love: stories.

For the launch of #WattpadBookClub, we’ll be discussing Daniel Garcia’s The Succubus in a Red Dress. It is a paranormal adventure starring nerdy coffee clerk, Delilah, whose mundane life takes a turn when she causes one of her customers to collapse by touching them. The story is an exciting ride that ranges from demon hunters to witches, so make sure you add The Succubus in a Red Dress to your Wattpad library and get reading!

#WattpadBookClub uses a Q&A format; here’s how to participate:

1. 1. Sign in to Twitter and make sure you are following @Wattpad
2. 2. Search for the hashtag #WattpadBookClub (or use TweetChat.com) to follow the conversation
3. 3. When the chat begins, @Wattpad will ask the first question, beginning the Tweet with “Q1”.
4. 4. Tweet your answers, and be sure to begin them with “A1” and include the hashtag #WattpadBookClub every time you Tweet
5. 5. Have fun and and connect with Wattpadders from around the world

Here is the schedule for the first #WattpadBookClub:

• Thursday, August 28 – 9 PM EST – Prologue – Chapter 3
• Thursday, September 4 – 9 PM EST – Chapter 4 – 7
• Thursday, September 11 – 9 PM EST – Chapter 8 – 11
• Thursday, September 18 – 9 PM EST – Chapter 11 – Epilogue

See you Thursday!

Want To Meet Wattpadders In Your Area?

August 27, 2014, 11:52 am

≫ Next: We Support Your Secret Identity

≪ Previous: Introducing: #WattpadBookClub

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Last weekend, Wattpad HQ welcomed its first writer’s meetup in Toronto. Wattpad writer Takatsu met with other writers to discuss writing and reading. The focus, as Takatsu explained it, was to explore how “we can be a movement of connected 21st century high-tech social literature lovers and inspire one another.”

Takatsu described the evening as a huge success:

I believe, though we can connect online via Wattpad or social media, it is so nurturing and helpful to meet in person and realize that, wow, there really is someone in real life, living and breathing, totally friendly, enthusiastic and passionate about the same things you are. It anchors our passions and dreams to reality. It makes pursuing life as a writer or an avid reader more possible. These are the kinds of people you can pour your heart out to because you know they understand and in turn, these are the people you will be inspired by.

If you think it might be cool to host a meetup for fellow Wattpadders in your area, here’s your chance. To get started, read these FAQs, then tell us about the meetup you want to host by filling out this questionnaire. We’re going to read all submissions, so be sure to give your meetup some thought, and include as much detail as you can.

Also, be sure to keep an eye out for updates.

We Support Your Secret Identity

August 28, 2014, 4:35 pm

≫ Next: Gennifer Albin’s Crewel: Free on Wattpad

≪ Previous: Want To Meet Wattpadders In Your Area?

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Wattpad prides itself in being a home for free expression. We host a wide variety of stories, and our writers are free to write under their own names, or to use pseudonyms and pen names to become anyone they like.

At this weekend’s Dragon Con in Atlanta, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) will Project Secret Identity. The goal of this campaign is to raise awareness of how anonymity and privacy are key to free expression online. Wattpad is happy to support EFF and Project Secret Identity alongside organizations like io9.com, Southeastern Brown Coats, Harry Potter Alliance, Baker Street Babes, and the Organization for Transformative Works.

For more information on the EFF and Project Secret Identity, visit projectsecretidentity.org.

Gennifer Albin’s Crewel: Free on Wattpad

August 29, 2014, 7:00 am

≫ Next: The New Profile is Here

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Welcome to Arras, where sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has been gifted with the ability weave time with matter. The ability assures her success and prowess in her society, but it is a gift she neither asked for nor wanted. Join author Gennifer Albin as she shares the first book of the dystopian Crewel World Series on Wattpad. Albin is leading a read-along for the book and answering fan questions on her Wattpad Profile.

Read Crewel, free on Wattpad, and be sure to watch out for the release of Unraveled, the final book in the series, on October 7th at major book retailers.

The New Profile is Here

September 3, 2014, 2:27 pm

≫ Next: We are as excited as you are about iOS 8

≪ Previous: Gennifer Albin’s Crewel: Free on Wattpad

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Starting today you’ll be noticing something new on Wattpad.com. We’re rolling out a redesigned profile on the Wattpad site. We’ve taken what Wattpadders like best about the current profiles, and we’ve updated them with a fresh look to showcase who you are and what you love to read. We’re still testing the profile, so it is definitely going to change, but we were so excited about it that we couldn’t wait to share it.

Show off your personality

Your works are right at the top of the new profile, and you can further personalize it with your own banner image.

Discover new users

Your Following and Follower lists are now more visual to help you find Wattpad connections.

Share what you love

Your activity feed quickly shows other Wattpadders the stories you love, the works you’ve posted, and comments left on your profile.

Stay Tuned

We will be rolling out the new profile to all users very soon. For now, check out the following updated profiles from Wattpad HQ  @samantha, @nicholasquill, @zoedinovi.

 

We are as excited as you are about iOS 8

September 18, 2014, 2:01 pm

≫ Next: Wattpad in the Philippines

≪ Previous: The New Profile is Here

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With the release of iOS 8, Wattpad is bringing two new features to iOS users: the Wattpad widget in your Notification Center, and a device Continuity feature. The Wattpad widget appears in the Today section of your Notification Center. This widget shows you the last story you read, as well as stories that have been recently updated in your library. It also lets you check in on how much your reads, comments, and votes have increased since you last opened the app. The device Continuity feature helps people who use Wattpad on more than one Apple device. Now you can put one device down, and pick up reading or writing where you left off with another device. The app will even highlight text to show you the last thing you read. Update your Wattpad App on iOS 8 to see these new features in action.

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Wattpad in the Philippines

September 18, 2014, 6:00 pm

≫ Next: Banned Books – Frankenstein

≪ Previous: We are as excited as you are about iOS 8

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Today we have a guest post from Wattpad CEO Allen Lau.

Kamusta! This week I will be spending some time in Manila. Wattpad has become a huge part of the entertainment industry in the Philippines. In August, Filipino Wattpadders spent nearly a billion minutes on Wattpad, which makes the Philippines one of the top countries on Wattpad. This love of Wattpad has spread beyond our app. Many bestselling books have had their start on Wattpad as almost 100 Wattpad stories have been printed by publishers in the Philippines. Wattpad has also produced blockbuster films. Eleven movies based on Wattpad stories have been released, are in production, or have been confirmed for production.

My next few days will be jam-packed with activities such as media interviews and meetings with publishers, movie studios, and TV networks. I will also be speaking at the Manila International Book Fair and hosting a massive wattpadder meetup at the event on Sunday September 21st. I am most looking forward to this meetup since last year’s event was such a huge success.

I can guarantee that this year’s meetup is going to be absolutely epic. I Look forward to having a great time with all the Pinoy Wattpadders!

Banned Books – Frankenstein

September 22, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Banned Books – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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In recognition of Banned Books Week, every day we’ll be featuring a once-banned book that you can now read on Wattpad for free. 

We’re starting off with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, which was once banned in South Africa. 

Read Frankenstein on Wattpad.

Banned Books – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

September 23, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Banned Books – Gulliver’s Travels

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In recognition of Banned Books Week, every day we’ll be featuring a once-banned book that you can now read on Wattpad for free. 

Today’s book is Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, which was once banned for including things like talking animals.

Read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland on Wattpad.

Banned Books – Gulliver’s Travels

September 24, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Banned Books – The Merchant of Venice

≪ Previous: Banned Books – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

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In recognition of Banned Books Week, every day we’ll be featuring a once-banned book that you can now read on Wattpad for free. 

Today’s book is Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, which was once banned for political reasons.

Read Gulliver’s Travels on Wattpad.

Banned Books – The Merchant of Venice

September 25, 2014, 9:00 am

≫ Next: Why Banned Books Week matters

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In recognition of Banned Books Week, every day we’ll be featuring a once-banned book that you can now read on Wattpad for free. 

Today’s book is actually a play: The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, which was once banned due to its racial stereotypes.

Read The Merchant of Venice on Wattpad.