Wattpad: The Platform That Raised Millions of Readers

From late night binge reading sessions to searching for Reader X Character fanfictions and devouring it in a single night, Wattpad has always been a huge part of every book lover growing up. The recent updated Content Guidelines however has the entire Wattpad community in shambles, me included.

Wattpad is a publishing platform which was launched in 2006 by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen. It was a free platform where authors could publish their works. Works ranging from Novels, short stories, anime inspired works, one shots and fan fictions ( including Character X Character or Reader X Character) dominated the platform. After its launch Wattpad slowly grew into a place where both writers and readers connected. It was a close-knit community where fans would patiently wait for the authors to publish each chapter even if it meant waiting for months or years. Wattpad became a birthplace for many writers, including me. Writers would update stories at the crack of dawn or even as late as 2 am and still the stories would be delivered perfectly. Also expect a mind blowing piece of art when the author's first language was not English.

The photo feature in Wattpad still stands out to this day. Authors would include photos of outfits for the reader to get an idea as to what the character or the reader (Y/N) was wearing in the story. Pictures of jewelry, food items, outfit inspo were all posted as pictures in different chapters. Another feature was the music feature. The moment you opened a chapter, a song which set the mood would start playing, allowing the reader to fully immerse themselves in the story. Wattpad allowed you to download as many works as possible which you could read without the internet whenever you wanted, which unfortunately is not available now. The comments were the cherry on top. They were unfiltered, hilarious and relatable.

The golden age of Wattpad began in 2011. Novels, one shots and fanfictions including Smut (Sexually Explicit Fiction) of various Pop groups emerged. Fanfictions where One Direction would adopt you (Yes you read that right) or stories in which Justin Bieber or members of One Direction would notice you (Y/N) in the concert out of every fan because you were different. You were the girl reading a novel not paying any attention to the heart throbs in front of you, because you were "different from the other girls". This made us actually think we had a chance with the Pop singers. Jackson Wang from GOT7 would always be throwing parties in every story you read. Y/N based stories or Character X Character stories were all the rage back then and even now. Stories were not only confined to Pop singers or Actors but even Anime characters (2D). I remember reading or should I say devouring any Lucy Heartfilia and Natsu Dragneel (Fairy Tail) fanfiction when I was 11 years old. Naruto and Attack on Titan fanfictions were very popular as well. It was a period of messy buns, hoodies and Y/N based stories.

Fanfictions dominated Wattpad with stories generating millions of views. In 2019 Wattpad introduced the Paid Stories feature. Users would now have to pay using coins to unlock chapters meaning Authors could earn money for their works. Wattpad also saw the potential of the novels on its platform. This led to many books, especially fanfictions being adapted into movies. The movie "After" was actually a Harry Styles Fanfiction written and published by Anna Todd on the website in 2013. A twilight fanfiction titled "Master of the Universe" by Snowqueens Icedragon aka E.L. James was adapted into the movie "Fifty Shades of Grey". Naturally the names of the male lead in the fanfictions would later be changed for the movies in order to avoid any copyright issues. Other famous works adapted into movies include He's into Her, My Life with the Walter Boys, My Fault , The Kissing Booth and many more. While works on Wattpad definitely seem to lack proper grammar structure and a believable plot, the authors did deliver some really well written stories which at the end of the day were enough for teenagers, who needed something exciting and thrilling to keep us up all night even when we had school the very next day.

With advertisements between chapters introduced, chapters locked away behind a paywall and AI generated stories and covers, Wattpad slowly started going downhill and this brings us to 2026 with Wattpad rolling out its revised Content Guidelines. The initial reaction to the Guidelines led to many users choosing to leave Wattpad and migrating to another reading platform called AO3 (Archive of Our Own). AO3 is a platform that is free and anti-censorship. It has an intricate tagging system allowing the users to search and read works they like and to filter out things one may dislike.

Due to the sudden frenzy Wattpad came out in order to clarify that Smut had not been banned and it still is a platform where romantic, steamy and complicated stories are welcome and celebrated. Only works depicting pornographic content that are created primarily for sexual arousal without a proper plot would be restricted. This unfortunately may affect some lemons/smut based One shot  stories which generally focus more on the Smut content rather than the plot since they are written to be read in one sitting.

While Wattpad still remains a very dear place for many readers, it chooses to prioritize profit. It refuses to take down AI generated slop on a platform where creativity thrives. Writing has always been a creative process. Novels, one shots, fanfiction every piece of writing comes to life when a writer pours their soul into it. While Wattpad may not be a popular platform today, it still remains a place where Teenagers and Young Adults were given a free Platform to express creativity and consume stories they liked without being shunned.

Written by, Rhea Nayanika Dasari