When writers want to get funding to write their next book, they often have to deal with Kickstarter or get a publishing deal. Wattpad is bucking this trend with a new project called Fan Funding. Wattpad is currently the world’s largest community for reading and sharing stories. They have just announced a new fan funding pilot project with six writers. This experiment gives readers the option of supporting their favorite writers to help them fund a story, an ebook, or the development of their work with a publishing partner, in return for a range of novel rewards. The diversity of projects is intended to showcase the nature of today’s publishing environment.
The first wave of Wattpad fan funding includes campaigns by Brittany Geragotelis, author of Life’s a Witch, which started as a story on Wattpad and was published by Simon and Schuster last year. Writer Tara Sampson, aka writer MercyRose, had a campaign to continue writing on Wattpad which has already been successfully funded, and Jordan aka XxSkater2Girl16xX, is on track to reach her goals in a thirty day period.
“The real goal for us is creating new options for writers to connect with their existing fan base on Wattpad,” said CEO Allen Lau. “We want to enhance the social exchange not create a transactional culture. Ever since Wattpad started offering readers and writers a place to share and engage in digital storytelling, we knew we wanted to share the power of the platform with them. This project explores that.”
Michael Kozlowski is the Editor in Chief of Good e-Reader. He has been writing about audiobooks and e-readers for the past ten years. His articles have been picked up by major and local news sources and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times.
