Wattpad is likely one of the breakout fan-fiction communities in the world and the Canadian company has just released new app for iOS that prioritizes erotica and romance.
Wattpad After Dark is a new effort to showcase erotica and romance titles that are self-published on their platform. This is an obvious effort to capitalize on the entire 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon. I think the aspect that is most compelling is that everything is free.
The app is highly curated and does not display everything that is adult rated on the Wattpad service. The content is being sorted by some interesting channels, such as “southern romance,” “urban,” and “panty droppers.” As on Wattpad itself, users can comment and vote through the app.
Publishers are really hoping that the next big novel stems from fan-fiction. There certainly is a market for it, as 40 million people have joined Wattpad and they cumulatively read 11 billion minutes of stories a month.
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.