This chapter honestly really annoyed me. I wanted to link everything of interest in wattpad, but I'm restricted in what I can do, which is frustrating. So instead, we're getting a slightly different chapter.

If you're an author, and you're using wattpad, I've often referred to many various things on the website, Getting critics. Getting editors. Posting. However, wattpad is stupidly convoluted in how it allows you to access these things, and there are many people, especially those prone to using the app, that really have no clue how to navigate the site.

How do you get a critic? How do you get an editor? How do you get a companion writer? Wait? You can find companion writers? What else can you do on Wattpad?

Well, the answers to most of these questions take place in the Community tab under Clubs, located here:

Clubs isn't actually clubs. It's a messaging board. Why do they call it clubs instead of a messaging board? I have no clue. It's really stupid. I complain about it in depth in my chapter on five complaints about wattpad. However, after clicking that, on you right, you will see a list of 'clubs'. Clubs are really just forums. There are four specialty forums, and a wooping 20 genre specific (categories) forums.

If you click on the tab, you will enter the forum and see a list. However, before you can do anything with that list, you need to become a member of the forum. To do that, you have to click that little tiny link that is really hard to see in the upper right. Not that one. This one:

Now that you're a member, you can respond and start discussions and do all the forum-like things you always wanted. For our purposes, we need to enter the Improve your Writing club. I'm going to click on the most important one for you. It's the last pinned thread. It's called the Help Desk.

This link is what actually matters to you. Here, you can get writing advice, find critics, editors, beta readers, book clubs, mentors, or other writers to cowrite with. Isn't that so convoluted? Anyway, I digress. The links are all here. Each link takes you to its respective thread. There, you can find people who are advertising.

Please note that these threads are for people advertising their wiliness to edit/critique/ or beta read. This not where you beg for critics, editors, or beta readers. There is NO spot where you beg for them. It's against the website rules to beg. You will instead look for who is offering, and then you will contact them (mostly by private message), and they will get back to you in time.

There is no reason you can't message 5-10 people. Half of them probably won't get back to you for various reasons. It just happens that way. Just make sure you don't book more than you can handle.

If you do decide to advertise, also keep a watch on it. On good days, you can get 10-20 people an hour asking for your edits/critiques. Make sure to "close" your post by editing it if the number of pms starts to grow too much. Also, if you do get too many contacts, just pm and tell people you're sorry but you're over booked. A polite response is better than no response.

There are people who will contact you that just want a free hand out. The best thing to do is require people who contact you to fill out a form of your choosing, giving out information that helps you do your job. You'll notice when you read other critics post, but it might be something like:

PM me with

Your name:

The Book You Want Critiqued:

How Many Chapters:

Ect...

This is a good way to weed out the lazy people. A second good thing to do is to make sure that the pair of you are in agreement before you fulfill a payment. Payments are usually a read for a read, so you read and make a 'meaningful comment' on their chapter, and then they'll read and 'critique' your chapter, although a bad critique won't offer anything more than a 'meaningful comment'. So, you might end up needing to play pm tag with them for a few days to make sure you're on the same page. Don't assume they're on board just because you paid, but I would recommend that you at least treat people how you want to be treated.

As a payer, you can quickly influence people by what you say. If your payment involved brutal honesty, then the critique is most likely going to respond with brutal honesty (more like passive aggressive insults). If you are polite and inflate their ego, then they will response by being polite and inflating your ego. So, if you want a meaningful critique, you probably need to deliver a meaningful critique, and if you just want to inflate your own ego, then you can try inflating their ego.

I wish I could say that the critics here were made of sturdier stuff, but alas, they're just people, and most of them don't really care about critiquing your work, they just want more comments on their own books. If you do find someone who is really willing to help, appreciate them the most, because they are rare and few in between.

This chapter only lets me use one external link, so I linked it to the Help Desk Page. If you're interested in getting help or being involved in the wattpad writing community, this is the number one spot to be just ahead of the club for your genre. (This is the page I just showed you how to get to)

One last thing... although getting tons of comments is fun, space things out. Having your work properly criticized can quickly weigh you down. As much as I love a good critic, when every chapter they are pointing out every flaw your story has, it can quickly make you feel depressed, even when they have the best intentions. Just don't put yourself in a situation where you're getting slammed every chapter until you're crying and wanting to quit writing forever. In other words, don't ask me to critique your work. I'm just the worst.