Hello all! Welcome to the March Issue page of the SGM news column. We will be posting every two months. The essence of this column is to raise awareness of updates going on in Wattpad, types of resources available and also some of our community updates as well. You can add "News & Updates" by Wattpad into your private library as this is our main source of reference when it comes to updates in Wattpad. Otherwise, you can add SG Magazine into your private collection for more in-depth Wattpad tea 😉🧋.

Disclaimer: Please read at your own risk.
We are NOT affiliated with the Wattys or any part of the Wattpad Community, but our sources come from following these accounts. All works under SGM are made purely with 100% curiosity, passion, and well maybe blood sweat and tears.

We'll start off with updates in our community first!

- The Savant G. Community -

We have just posted the fourteenth pairings for Eunoia Book Club. That means three months and a week had passed since we had it back up, and we're happy to see more Eunoians joining us 🤗 Thank you to AnnamitaMuscaria for helping us to spread the word of our little book club <3 You have stolen the founder's heart.

A tiny checkpoint to celebrate is that we've also almost reached twenty reviews. Which means we have had posted around 270 reviews since we started out :-O Like whaaat. I cannot believe either.

Meanwhile, we have managed to send six of the coolest book covers in Opia Graphics via Wattpad delivery to their respective special owners. I'm of course joking. They requested from our graphic designers is why ha.

As for SG Magazine, something that we have yet to do, but planning to, is to update another issue on our Writing 101. This coming article is about how to create realistic protagonists, antagonists and deuteragonists to keep your readers staying to your book! I will be honest. You do not want to miss that out.

Next, we will move on to the Wattpad stuff.

- So far in Wattpad... -

There have not been any large updates since the previous few announcements about the Open Novella Contest and Wattpad Group Chat. So we have prepared something else– a small in-depth exploration of YONDER. Please note that the article is a neutral overall evaluation and I am not trying to bring down or throw shade to the app itself. However, I will be honest that the article below will be biased because humans have preferences. I cannot and will not guarantee that as a living breathing person, my analysis is a hundred percent unbiased. But I have tried to present the points objectively and as factual as possible.

↳ A More In-Depth Analysis on Yonder

To have some background of the previous points we have mentioned, you can refer to the November Issue of the news column. In this part we will break down some points and you can decide whether Yonder is something that you want or do not. Or perhaps dip your toe in.

: ̗̀➛ How does it stand out from the crowd?

Yonder stands out from other literature apps by creating a tailored experience for its users. How? When you download the app, it prompts you to select your favourite literary genres.

Genres are grouped into three large categories– "Romance", "Fantasy/Science Fiction" and "Mystery/Thriller/Horror", and then there will be a range of subsections to choose from e.g. High/Epic Fantasy, Reincarnation, Space Opera, Historical Mystery, Domestic, Slasher, etc.

Some very interesting choices, I would say, like Speculative Fiction (not sure what is that), Alternate Universe, Other Mystery (that's kinda vague), AI, Space Opera (space wars), Progression (think about Solo Leveling), LitRPG/GameLit, Folk (another that I'm not sure), Psychological and Legal/Political (this sounds interesting to me). These genres are niche and "hidden" from the popular choices, thus providing authors of these literary genres to reach larger audiences (big plus point but will be explained more later on).

Yet, some of the subgenres are hard to separate and we might not know the rationale of placing them this way or lumping them that way.

An example is that Fantasy was placed under "Romance" as a subgenre. Legal/Political was placed under "Mystery/Thriller/Horror". Alien was placed under "Romance" as a subgenre, so are Vampire and Werewolf/Shifter subgenres... (Biasness: I'm not a fan of the last three subgenres and as a Fantasy writer, it kind of hit me that there's a fantasy book for romance and a fantasy book for non-romance...um okay)

And what about Action/Adventure placed under "Mystery/Thriller/Horror"? Or that "Sports" (and I think it was "Foods") under Romance?

I believe there's a reason why there are at least ten genre tags in Wattpad, which may be too excessive, but still a reason for them (if you guys want a breakdown for that let me know).

: ̗̀➛ How does the app work?

Yonder allows users to read novels on a chapter-by-chapter basis (this is nothing different from OG Wattpad, so plus point), which means the word count would most likely be similar. If you're new on Wattpad, the base rule is 1.3-1.8K words per chapter for Romance/YA books, 1.5-2K words per chapter for Fantasy, 2-3K words for genres with heavy world building such as Steampunk/Apocalypse/Cyberpunk etc.

The rationale behind these ranges in Wattpad is to keep the reader's attention span by offering a digestible and readable format, allowing reactions and comments in each paragraph. This concept is a little different from Yonder, which is trying apply Webtoon UX to Wattpad novels (had to search up the difference between UI and UX xd).

Scrolling is fixed in the horizontal direction, which means you have to swipe to the left or tap your screen to read the next page in the chapter that you selected instead of scrolling down like OG Wattpad (a big minus point and let me say that their UI is a little bit similar to that of Libby's, but I won't cover about that in this article keke).

The format is designed to fit your screen, which means every page is as long as your screen, so there is totally no scrolling down at all. So if you're an average reader, you will be swiping or clicking your phone every ten to twenty seconds. And if you're faster, probably eight to ten seconds. This is pretty bad, because your thumb gets tired (you can try it out because mine did and I'm an average to slow reader).

The story I opened to take a look was The Secret Bedroom of The Abandoned Princess categorized under "Korean Favourites", which was not at all part of the initial selection (there there 23 pages in chapter 1).

I also noticed it was under Fantasy. Now, if you're a manga/webtoon reader like me, you will know that searching up korean webtoons centered on romance with a fantasy setting, which are my jam, have the tag "Fantasy" as the main category. Some examples: Who Made Me A Princess, The Princess Imprints A Traitor, The Villianess Reverses The Hourglass

This means if you search webtoons by clicking the "Romance" tag, the above mentioned webtoons will not appear like ever. You have to click the "Fantasy" tag and poof they appear. This is a big big plus point because the reader base for these literary genres is massive, and this allows readers to read legalized copies of korean raws instead of going to illegal sites.

Unlike OG Wattpad, Yonder only allows comments per page... So we're talking about reactionary comments. A big indication that this is for published curated Wattpad authors, as mentioned in the launch that Yonder was "designed as a platform for binge-reading serialized fiction of premium writers" (aka WP Stars or those popular works featured on our Wattpad main page whenever we log in). So the underrated writers continue to get pushed further into the backlog while the more well-known continues amassing their fan base (big minus point). However, it does bring well deserved revenue to these very talented writers, whom I respect deeply from the bottom of my heart and this brings me to my next point...

: ̗̀➛ What are coins, daily passes and promos?

As the word revenue mentioned above, it basically means you have to pay for coins. According to a Reddit post, the owner of that post claimed that the rate was 15 coins per chapter, and the post dated back four months ago. This person also mentioned that chapters of novels, to some extent, are free, but the number of free chapters ranges from novel to novel. Another important thing highlighted was that the number of chapters available to read for free is not consistent. For example, a flagship novel like Regina Rena, only has five chapters of free read.

This was also backed up by what I found: A Contract Marriage with the Maid (featured under Korean Favourites) had a green rectangular tag with "NEW", has only five chapters free available. But, The Nevaris Chronicles –featured under Space Opera with the new tag– has ten chapters free available. The Devourer's Core – featured under Yonder Originals with the new tag – has eight chapters of free reading.

Except for the last three chapters – chapters are arranged with the latest ones above – the rest of the locked chapters can be unlocked by Daily Unlock Passes, which must be used within 24 hours (they can't be stacked), and the chapters unlocked are only available for free for three days. Every day, Yonder gives you three Daily Unlock Passes. The last three chapters, however, cannot be unlocked this way, and can only be read by paying 29 coins.

And then we have the Editor's Choice, where I looked through True North and Dirty Lying Faeries (these are Wattpad Editor's Choice books, and both were something I would have read if they were free on WP). These books have only three free chapters, and the rest can't be unlocked by Daily Unlock Passes but are paid with 27 coins (yes two coins cheaper than flagship books I checked four times). This is a small plus point since it helps support the flagship authors by boosting their pouches a little bit.

Another book that I went to check out was A Different Virus. This was a book I was also intrigued by and would have read if it was free in WP. A Different Virus was featured under the "So Hot Right Now" which means it was under the promos and deals. It is free for up to 14 chapters, and then the rest of the chapters can be unlocked by Daily Unlock Passes. There's no indication when this deal will end, however.

: ̗̀➛ So what is the conclusion?

IMO, the intentions of Yonder are good. But the app was executed not in the best way. There are many things I hoped could be changed as the years pass, if Webnovel would like to take this as feedback to improve their app. I am very glad authors could finally make a livelihood with Yonder as they are getting paid for their hard work. However, let me post a question to you, my dear reader, what then is the difference between Yonder and Patreon?

Someone or the developers of the app would definitely be shouting "How is it the same? They are totally different!". But if only Wattpad Premium writers could post their works in Yonder, then how would the option of having free will over your own pricing, which is available on Patreon, sound? Remember both platforms have to pay membership fees.

At the end of the day, it boils down to how we reach greater audiences and how we build our fanbase. Of course, the reader experience is one of the greatest key to drawing more readers (I'm referring to the UX here), and goes hand in hand with the quality of books available. As you all know, the content available in WP is leaning towards randy fiction. It has a notorious reputation and it is challenging to sway public opinion.

Disclaimer: There may be slight differences in pricing values as all research was performed and conducted before this post dated in April. I am also not a Patreon user, but am well aware of its platform having taken a look at it two years ago, and am sure that its main purpose will remain the same. I am, however, unsure of Patreon's pricing values.

Thank you for reading this article. Any questions you can post em here →

Written by: devianmisfit