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NAPERVILLE, IL (, Thursday, September 5, 2013)—Wattpad, the world’s largest online community for discovering and sharing stories, and Sourcebooks, a leading independent book publisher, have announced a partnership that will create new opportunities across multiple publishing platforms for Wattpad writers and Sourcebooks authors.
Indicative of the new models and new relationships emerging in publishing, Wattpad and Sourcebooks are partnering in three ways to cross-promote and develop complementary strategies to make their content broadly available to all types of readers.
First, Sourcebooks will edit and produce select new Wattpad-branded editions of young adult stories into print and e-book platforms, as part of Wattpad’s recently announced Fan Funding experiments where writers have an opportunity to enlist their fans and the Wattpad community to help fund their dreams. The original e-narratives will remain a part of Wattpad. This partnership will bring successful Wattpad authors and their books to a new readership, with distribution throughout national and international retail channels. The books will live under Sourcebooks Fire, the company’s YA imprint.
The initiative will also let digital readers and fans participate in the publishing process by naming characters and voting on the cover jacket designs. The Fan Funding projects will drive pre-orders for two titles scheduled for release in Winter/Spring 2014: My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak, a contemporary romance that has garnered over 22 million reads on Wattpad; and The Cellar by Natasha Preston, a mystery-thriller that has been read over 6 million times.
“This partnership will create substantial value for writers by cross-promoting their work and exposing their stories to millions of young readers, while also satisfying the avid reader’s need for original content,” said Wattpad CEO Allen Lau. “It’s a natural fit, as both Wattpad and Sourcebooks believe in finding innovative models that evolve the digital publishing landscape.”
“Wattpad is a remarkably innovative organization, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with them,” says Dominique Raccah, CEO and publisher of Sourcebooks. “We are incredibly excited about bringing Wattpad writers into the Sourcebooks family and providing new opportunities for our existing authors to engage with new audiences. This partnership is all about helping connect talented authors with readers.”
In the second collaboration, Sourcebooks will be a presenting prize sponsor for Wattpad’s 2013 Watty Awards, a program that showcases the community’s most popular content as voted by Wattpad’s thriving community of active young adult readers. As part of this search to find the “next big thing” in YA fiction, Sourcebooks will be developing channels for top Wattpad writers to have their stories secure traditional retail distribution in print and e-book formats.
And finally, several notable Sourcebooks writers including CJ Lyons, Miranda Kenneally, Janet Gurtler, and Zoraida Cordova, among others, will be making exciting new stories available for free and engaging with readers on Wattpad as part of their social media marketing strategies. This promotional channel includes featured content slots and algorithmic targeting and will allow Sourcebooks authors to build a fanbase of highly-engaged readers around their books and series.
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Key Points:
- Sourcebooks will edit and produce select new Wattpad-branded editions of YA stores into print and e-book platforms. All of these new books will live under Sourcebooks Fire, our YA imprint.
- Two titles scheduled for release in Winter/Spring 2014: My Life with the Walter Boys by Ali Novak, a contemporary romance that has garnered over 22 million reads on Wattpad; and The Cellar by Natasha Preston, a mystery-thriller that has been read over 6 million times.
- Sourcebooks will be a prize sponsor for Wattpad’s 2013 Watty Awards and we’ll be developing channels for top Wattpad writers to have their stories be distributed into traditional retail outlets both in print and digitally
- Sourcebooks writers including CJ Lyons, Miranda Kenneally, Janet Gurtler, and Zoraida Cordova, among others, will be making exciting new stories available for free and engaging with readers on Wattpad! (Dates to come on their Wattpad debuts!)
