The Help Book - Basic Wattpad Tips

Author's Notes: Do-s and Don't-s

I’ve mentioned Author Notes (A/N) in previous chapters but was asked by @faithfulshifter to write more so in this chapter I’ll do just that; I’ll give you tips on what to include in them and what not to. If you have ideas for future topics, comment below.

What are author notes?

Author’s notes are not a part of your story, but something else that you want to tell your readers so you write it in the chapter.

What to include and what not to?

Include:

~ Information about updates (when are you going to post the next chapter, are you taking a break and why, etc.)

~ Reminding people to vote on the chapter (sometimes the readers are in such a hurry, they forget to vote even if they enjoyed the chapter)

~ Asking for feedback in the comments (don’t do this if you can’t stand criticism)

~ “Thank you for reading”

Could also include:

~ Brief sneak peek of the next chapter

~ Brief information about how you felt when you wrote the chapter or what inspired it

~ “This chapter is dedicated to *user’s name*” (because the dedication option often doesn’t work, at least with me)

~ “So what do you think about *mention event or a character from this chapter*?”

~ “I wrote a new story called *title* with *character one* and *character two* from this story”

Don’t include:

~ Very detailed information on your personal life which has nothing to do with your writing such as a page long A/N of what you did with your boyfriend/girlfriend that day or how you and your best friend went to the movies to watch that film that’s so popular right now. You could mention something like “My friends and I watched *movie title* today and it was awesome; I totally recommend it/it gave me an idea for a story I might post soon”, but that’s pretty much as far as it should go

~ “If you don’t vote, I won’t post the next chapter”/“I won’t post the next chapter until I get *number of votes*”. Seriously? You are actually blackmailing your fans? You must be such a lovely person and appreciate them so much.

~ “If you don’t comment, I won’t post the next chapter”/“I won’t post the next chapter until I get *number of comments*”. Same as with the votes.

~ “I’ll vote on your book if you vote on mine.” Trading/exchanging votes is actually against the wattpad rules. People have the right to report you for it and then wattpad sends you a warning. If you keep this up, they will sanction you.

~ Begging. Not against the rules, but do you really want people to vote/comment on your work out of pity and not because they actually enjoy it?

Note: There’s a difference between bargaining and begging and asking/reminding people to vote.

Should you include all that in each chapter?

No. Actually, it is good to try and make them diverse instead of writing the same thing in each chapter if you decide to have an A/N in each chapter (which you don’t have to).

How long should A/N-s be?

Try not to make them longer than five, six, maybe seven sentences, especially if your chapters are short. Unless you have something important to say such as “I won’t be updating until *date* because of *reason(s)*. I’m really sorry for that but *reason(s)* is/are very important to me and it is a priority over my writing” and so on; even then, try to keep it short and to the point because the readers are more likely to read the A/N if it’s short.