The Perspective of a Digital Writer

As a writer who has only even written for the internet, I can say that it's not that hard. I mean, of course, the writing itself is hard, especially if you're putting in your utmost effort, but that's not what I'm saying. I'm talking about the creation of your own image in the digital world. It really is as simple as entering an email and password to begin your writing career, or any digital career at that.

I've been writing on Wattpad for four years and two on Radish and I still feel like such a newbie compared to other writers. I thought that I was like everyone else, but I wasn't. I wasn't an English major and I certainly didn't have my Masters. I was just a kid with a vision, and that was to one day physically hold a book that I wrote. Of course, I'm not even close to that point yet, but I like to think that I'm getting there. As soon as I finished writing my first book, I knew that I would have to do some serious reconstruction to the work because doing a simple revision and spell check just wouldn't cut it. I mean, I'm still editing it and I finished the book over a year ago. To be quite honest, I had absolutely no idea how to write a book, but I knew I had some good ideas, ideas that I knew would interest an audience. I decided to give it a shot. As I slowly got through writing my first book, I knew that I was a much better writer by the end of it, not even skill wise. I think that I became much better at dealing with hate, I mean it really doesn't bother me now. The phrase, "practice makes perfect" really is accurate in my case.

Throughout this whole process, I gained a follower count of almost twenty five thousand users on Wattpad and that's when I realized that it's easy to get exposure when you're writing online. Of course, I didn't write about unpopular topics because... Well, I'm a walking cliché, so immediately I went with Teen Fiction with a sprinkle of Romance. Well, it wasn't really a sprinkle, more like a six cups. What can I say? I love love. I wrote about what users wanted to read and more importantly, what I wanted to read. Wattpad is full of fourteen year old girls who appreciate a good love story with tons of turns. I knew I wanted to write a type of love story that I always wanted to read, but was never really written. In a place full with the same love for this genre, it wasn't hard to attract my target audience. With Wattpad being one of the most popular writing platforms out there with over sixty million users, I gained three million reads within that year. I was extremely pleased with myself because I certainly thought it would take a lot longer than that. After I built my platform of fans, I took my writing a little bit more seriously than I had been before. Eventually, I was approached by Radish and other corporations such as Episode Interactive and TaleAStory all because of my high popularity on Wattpad. It was miraculous, especially for me. Never in my life had I done something so important, so influential. I realized that I created stories that could possibly affect the people reading them in ways that are so much bigger than you and me.

With the internet being such an important tool in any person's life, for a writer, it is everything. You can get exposure from an audience in a country completely opposite than your own. It's the constant support from fans and help from critics that makes the internet so important to a writer. In the type of world we live nowadays, I believe that it is certainly a lot easier to get your work published. Before, you'd send you work away and you'd get a simple yes or no. But now? It almost seems like publishers are looking for books to publish.

With so many different platforms that are dedicated specifically to writing, such as, Wattpad, Radish, Vocal, and Goodreads, it's easy to get your name out there and be known for something. The best thing about it is that you can do it in the comfort of your own couch. I mean, that's what sold me.