Spending too long searching through sub-par Wattpad books to find something you actually want to read? Here are a few tips for finding great reads quickly and easily.
Find Good Reading Lists
The best place to start on Wattpad is with a well-curated list. All the Wattpad genre profiles have hand-curated lists of their favorite books on the platform. Start by browsing your favorite genre's page for their top picks.
Wattpad Genre Pages
Wattpad isn't the only one with curated reading lists. We post our own on Fanficable and sites like Bookriot and Fangirlish also sometimes post fandom-specific lists of their own.
Check Out the Award Winners
Wattpad's yearly Watty Awards celebrate top fiction on the platform, and their official Wattys profile keeps lists of winners. Peruse the shortlist and the winners for high-quality books.
Watty Winner Lists
The Open Novella Contest (ONC) is another yearly contest that awards shorter, novella-length stories. ONC winners can be found on the ONC Ambassadors profile.
Start With the Author
Found an author you like? Check out their profile for other books they've written. Authors whose books are in Paid Stories often have other books that are available for free. Wattpad Stars and Creators are also great starting points, since they were chosen for the programs by Wattpad HQ.
Look for These 3 Signs of a Quality Book
Once you're looking closer at a book, there are a few indicators that it will be good. First, the cover should be high-quality. Sure, we're not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but here at Fanficable we've found that better quality stories tend to have nicer covers. Authors who put in the effort to make a good book usually put in the same amount of effort into the cover.
Secondly, good books often have a completed description and at least 15 tags. It all comes down to that same thing—how much effort has gone into the story. Be wary of stories that have a really short description, none at all, or just use a scene from the book in place of the description. If the author has skimped at the beginning, things don't usually get better from there.
Lastly, watch for quality control issues, like errors in grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formatting. Early problems—in the description, cover, or the first chapter—can be a red flag. While not always a surefire indicator, fewer errors tend to mean that the author has done a round of edits, which is a good sign that they care about quality.
Have a Specific Search in Mind? Use Google
If you're looking for something niche, like Snape-Dumbledore slash fiction or a lacrosse themed romance, you're better off using Google than Wattpad's internal search. Add "site:wattpad.com"before the text of your search, which will focus your search on Wattpad stories.
Have a tip for finding great reads? Share it in the comments...