Wattpad Books has just announced that Penguin Random House UK will be publishing Wattpad Books in the UK. This is a major update for Wattpad Books internationally, since until today, Wattpad Books were only distributed in North America. Wattpad Books had an existing sales and distribution partnership with Macmillan in the US and Raincoast Books in Canada, and with today’s news Wattpad Books will make their first move into Europe. That means millions of UK Wattpad fans will be able to find Wattpad Books titles on bookshelves this fall!
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TORONTO – Jan. 24, 2019 – Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company for original stories, today announced the launch of Wattpad Books, the company’s first direct publishing division that will bring Wattpad stories to bookshelves everywhere. Wattpad Books’ first list will appear in Fall 2019, with six titles launching this year. Ashleigh Gardner, Deputy General Manager at Wattpad Studios, Publishing, will lead the new division, with Deanna McFadden, Publishing Director for Wattpad Studios, managing operations.
Wattpad Books brings new technology and insights to the publishing industry. Combining human editorial expertise with Wattpad’s Story DNA Machine Learning technology, Wattpad Books will identify and publish stand-out stories from the more than 565 million story uploads on Wattpad. Using audience data from global reading trends, Wattpad Books will publish a mix of international Wattpad hits and hidden gems.
With billions of data points from Wattpad’s global audience of more than 70 million people, Wattpad Books will introduce diverse, new, and undiscovered voices to book lovers everywhere. Readers will find new genres, category-bending spins on traditional genres, narratives that tackle the experiences and struggles of marginalized communities, and stories that speak to the diversity of Wattpad’s global community online.
“We bring something completely unique to publishing: an engaged global community, the most diverse set of writers on the planet, and the technology to find every type of hit imaginable,” said Ashleigh Gardner, Deputy General Manager at Wattpad Studios, Publishing. “Wattpad Books is more than a new division for us, it’s a validation and celebration of the creativity, interests, and world-building that happens on Wattpad every day.”
Wattpad Books titles will be available in leading retailers across North America. Macmillan will be the official sales and distribution partner for Wattpad Books in the US, and Raincoast Books will distribute in Canada.
Wattpad has worked with publishing partners around the world to turn hundreds of Wattpad stories into best-selling books. Wattpad Books will continue to work with international publishing partners to bring Wattpad stories to bookshelves everywhere. To date, nearly one thousand Wattpad stories have been turned into books and adapted for TV, film, and digital projects.
Wattpad Books’ 2019 list features six young adult titles, spanning fantasy, romance, mystery, and other genres. Stories from Wattpad Books’ 2019 list are international hits on Wattpad, collectively accumulating more than 100 million reading minutes in 2018. Wattpad Books 2019 list will feature:
The QB Bad Boy & Me by Tay Marley (@tayxwriter)
Dallas Bryan has her sights set on a dance scholarship to CalArts, and nothing—or no one—is going to get in the way of her plans to escape Castle Rock, Colorado…until the star quarterback from the football team crashes (literally) into her life. Drayton Lahey, the bad-boy QB from football royalty, is completely wrong for Dallas—at least, that’s what she tells herself. Still, the longer Dallas tells herself she doesn’t need Dray, the quicker she realizes it might be time to forget what she needs and go after what she wants.
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More than 26.3 million reads
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Available August 13, 2019
Trapeze by Leigh Ansell (@leigh_)
A tragic accident compels seventeen-year-old trapeze artist Corey Ryder to leave her aunt’s circus behind. Forced to stand still when she’s used to flying high, Corey will have to find her place living with the mother she’s never met within the bubble that is Sherwood, California, as an unlikely friendship sparks between her and local golden boy Luke Everett.
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More than 2.5 million reads
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Available September 10, 2019
What Happened That Night by Deanna Cameron (@LyssFrom1996)
Clara Porterfield has always been in love with neighborhood golden boy Griffin Tomlin, so why did her older sister, Emily, kill him? No one can understand except for Clara, who blames herself for revealing a secret she swore she would never tell.
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More than 1 million reads
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Available September 17, 2019
Cupid’s Match by Lauren Palphreyman (@LEPalphreyman)
In a world where everyone has their perfect match, seventeen-year-old Lila Black learns that not only are cupids real, but that her match is the banished god of love, Cupid himself. As arrows fly and myths become real, Cupid and Lila must resist one another or risk waking one very angry goddess.
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More than 46.4 million reads
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Available October 1, 2019
Saving Everest by Sky Chase (@Teenagexnightmare)
High school senior Everest has it all, he’s a popular athlete from one of the wealthiest families in town. But inside, he’s suffering—both depressed and suicidal—and looking for a way out. Back at school after an attempt to end his life, and now in therapy, Everest meets Beverly, a quiet, shy student open in so many ways he didn’t expect. Friends first, they soon discover that true love, tenderness, and acceptance can change both of their lives forever.
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More than 17.2 million reads
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Available October 8, 2019
I’m a Gay Wizard by V.S. Santoni (@VSSantoni)
When gay angsty teen Johnny and his goth best friend, trans girl Alison, perform a vengeance spell against a group of bullies, they suddenly find themselves whisked away to the Marduk Institute, a school for wayward wizards. While there, they’ll battle the demons that show up in real life—and the ones you create yourself—to find love and acceptance. And unicorns.
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More than 404,000 reads
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Available October 29, 2019
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Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.