I’ve written a few articles about my writing and how I want to publish a book one day on Wattpad. Considering how small our Her Campus chapter is, I was not expecting to receive an email that staff members from Wattpad have read my article.
My articles led to an incredible opportunity to talk with Wattpad’s Head of Content, Alessandra Ferreri! The interview took place around two weeks ago, and in addition to learning more about her, I discovered some interesting features of the platform that I hadn’t heard of before.
Alessandra, who’s a graduate from Concordia University with a creative writing degree, has been working at Wattpad since 2015. She began at the entry level within the community engagement team. She moved to the Wattpad Studios division, worked on film and television adaptations, and then returned to become the Head of Content last year.
The Wattpad content team focuses on trends with readers and writers alike, and they use data analytics to figure out what’s currently trending on the platform and within different genres. They also determine the moments in pop culture that are coming up that users may be interested in. The members of this team are experts in content who are passionate and love writing and fandoms.
The Wattpad team is fairly big and is split into different departments, such as product, data, content, and marketing. Alessandra said that every day is different. Sample tasks include check-ins on various projects, going deep into dashboards and analytics of different genres to get insights, talking to people, and even discussing people’s lives and projects. The content team even has book clubs and writing sprints!
Alessandra is a writer herself! She’s written short films, screenplays, and theater, along with fanfictions and novels on Wattpad. She likes to experiment with genres and challenge herself with her writing, which is something I want to try personally.
Her advice for writers is to just write, even though it can be daunting. Wattpad is a flexible space for writers at any stage of their journey because it’s a supportive, creative, fun, and open community. The platform is completely in the users’ control. People can post one chapter at a time, and make moodboards and playlists. They can also participate in the challenges that different ambassador accounts provide, such as JustWriteIt. These challenges include chapter challenges, writing contests, sprints, and materials and resources (how-tos).
Wattpad is evolving day by day. It blends the community-driven aspect with creative media and doesn’t discriminate by genre or style of writing. Alessandra said that she was impressed by how supportive the reading and writing community is. As a writer who wanted to join a community to one day publish my works, Wattpad has been an integral part of my journey, and I’m excited to try all the new features!