Wattpad Launches ‘Story Widget’ So Users Can Read Wattpad Stories on Other Platforms
Toronto-based reading and writing community Wattpad has launched a new feature that allows its members’ content to be viewed on third-party platforms for free.
The Wattpad Story Widget gives users the ability to share stories by embedding the bidget on a blog, Tumblr, or website, which grants readers access to the first part of a Wattpad story. The widget is designed to make story sharing easier beyond the Wattpad platform, the Canadian company says.
“The widget is a win-win for both readers and writers: writers can exponentially expand their audience, and readers can ‘digitally recommend’ and connect others to their favourite Wattpad stories,” Wattpad says. “People have always passed along their favourite books to friends, the Wattpad Story Widget replicates this word of mouth behaviour in discovering digital stories.”
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The widget displays the details of the story including, title, cover art, writer, genre, tags as well as the number of reads, votes and comments the story has on Wattpad.
Last month, Wattpad and independent publisher Sourcebooks formed a partnership in the US that will see the publisher releasing popular Wattpad titles. The partnership, focusing on Young Adult titles, will see Sourcebooks editing and producing Wattpad-branded editions of stories in print and as e-books, as part of Wattpad’s Fan Funding scheme. The books will be distributed through Sourcebook Fire, the publisher’s Young Adult imprint.
“This partnership will create substantial value for writers by cross-promoting their work and exposing their stories to millions of young readers, while also satisfying the avid reader’s need for original content. It’s a natural fit, as both Wattpad and Sourcebooks believe in finding innovative models that evolve the digital publishing landscape,” said Wattpad CEO Allen Lau at the time.
In August 2013 18 million people spent 4.5 billion minutes on Wattpad. Wattpad was the winner of Best Overall Canadian Startup for 2011 and is funded by Khosla Ventures, Union Square Ventures, OMERS Ventures, W Media Ventures and Golden Venture Partners. They’re also hiring.
