Wattpad gave authors a boost. TikTok launches them to new heights. – The Washington Post

Even though her books had millions of reads, Ariana Godoy was hardly a household name — her fan base predominantly consisted of 13-to-24-year-old romance readers with a thing for vampire stories. The year was 2009, and niche internet communities were having their heyday. Think Tumblr, Myspace and, Godoy’s website of choice, Wattpad.Wattpad, the effervescent, cultish book-sharing platform, was where authors donned online personae, escaped their day jobs and brought readers along on a journey of whimsy, love and the occasional typo. One of Godoy’s first novels, “Through My Window,” or “A Traves De Mi Ventana,” went viral there — and landed her a book and movie deal.Then 12 years and 950 million reads later, Godoy’s writing went viral again. But this time was different: It went viral off a post she didn’t make or even know about. It went viral on TikTok.Book internet culture has changed wildly in the past decade. Wattpad could (and still does) get amateur authors book deals, but TikTok is sending established authors into the stratosphere. There is a trade-off though: On Wattpad, authors retain a lot of the control, but on TikTok, it’s hard to know when and how a story will go viral, and…
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