Caught on Camera - Free Summer Read on Wattpad

by Madelle Morgan

Caught on Camera, my 55,000 word New Adult romantic comedy, was discovered by thousands of readers worldwide pre-publication. 

Wattpad.com, the social media site for aspiring and published writers, is the reason.

An unknown indie romance author has a very difficult time getting her books noticed in this new age of self-publishing. 

Building an e-mail list and followers can be a difficult, time-consuming and often expensive process. 

In this post, I'll describe how I went from four followers to over a hundred thousand followers on Wattpad, and why my awesome free read experience is one I will repeat with the second book in the Hollywood in Muskoka series.

I signed up on Wattpad.com in August, 2015 and started posting pre-copyedited scenes of Caught on Camera. Five months later, I had a grand total of four Wattpad followers. My book was ranked so low among thousands of stories it didn't even merit a number. No one could find it. 

Sound familiar?

Wattpad has three curated lists under each Discover/category tab: Hot, Featured, and Undiscovered. In January I submitted an on-line application to have Caught on Camera featured in the Discover/Romance category. It was featured starting mid-February, after I had posted approximately half the book.

As a condition of having my book featured, I agreed to leave the complete novel on the site for six months. "What do I have to lose?" I thought. My debut romantic suspense, Diamond Hunter, was never discovered despite good reviews, promo via KDP Select, deal sites, and Facebook ads, and eventually a permanent price of $0.99 USD. I crossed my fingers that I might gain a few readers via the Wattpad feature. Maybe a hundred followers. Optimistically two hundred.

Well, to my amazement, as of July I have more than 112,000 Wattpad followers from around the world! 

Granted, most followers wait until a story is complete to start reading. Over two thousand did read my chapters as they were posted weekly this spring, briefly pushing the book to #19 in Romance. Many readers commented with much appreciated feedback that made Caught on Camera a better story. I even added a sex scene due to popular demand!

Will many of those 112,000 followers buy the book when it's published, given that they had the opportunity to read it for free? That remains to be seen. I will advertise a special feature that is not in the final draft posted on Wattpad. However, having thousands of readers who can't wait to read Sex and the Screenwriter, Book 2 in the series, is a long way from four followers status!

I'll begin posting Book 2 scenes on Wattpad in the fall.


Caught on Camera Back Cover Copy

To achieve her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, star struck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she's asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star's wedding, it's her big chance to secretly take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment media. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey cynically believes everyone in show business is out for what they can get. When he falls hard for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he's finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays the wedding party's privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Caught on Camera is complete on Wattpad.com. I sent it to a copy editor last week, and it will be available on Amazon, Kobo, and iBooks in September. Meanwhile, treat yourself to a fun, sexy summer read. Sign up on Wattpad.com, follow Madelle Morgan, and read Caught on Camera for free.

Have a wonderful summer!

Madelle

Subscribe to MadelleMorgan.com and receive a free copy of her sexy short story, The Next Big Thing.

Madelle tweets and posts about Hollywood, filmmaking, the settings for her stories, and of course, writing. 

Follow Madelle on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad.