Wattpad, a social network for sharing and discovering stories, has launched a new service that helps authors receive funding for their next book. Called “Fan Funding,” authors can create Kickstarter-esque campaigns for their next project.
Like Kickstarter, each campaign runs for 30 days, and if the project doesn’t hit its goal, it will not be funded.
Users can show their support starting at a minimum $1 pledge, and successfully funded projects will be published on Wattpad for free.
This is the social network’s first attempt at monetizing, and it receives five percent of all transactions. On top of that, Swipe, its payments processor, takes 2.9 percent plus 30 cents per transaction.
“Fan Funding” shows much promise for established writers with books like “Catch My Breath” by Tara Sampson surpassing its $5000 goal.
Still in the early stages, “Fan Funding” is only open to select authors. However, given the early success, that could change very soon.
According to CEO Allen Lau, readers spend around four billion minutes per month, and the site receives over 16 million monthly unique views.
Over 70 percent of users access Wattpad through the iOS or Android app, and thanks to such an active community, over 500 writers have had their stories read more than one million times.
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