Wattpad announced today “Premium Options,” a new offer that gives Premium and Premium+ subscribers monthly access to five free Wattpad originals — the recently launched freemium model where select authors can choose to monetize funds.
Instead of paying to unlock content, members now receive five Wattpad originals each month at no additional cost. The selection is curated by Wattpad’s team of experts, ranging from top hits and undiscovered gems to books written by up-and-coming authors. Some examples of Premium options include titles by the author “Perfect Addiction”. Claudia Tan“Gaslight” author. Rachel Rose and author of “The Girl He Never Noticed.” Neilani Alejandrino. Premium Picks will give authors a new platform to showcase their work and potentially gain more readers.
The selection of free stories will expire on the first day of each month, so subscribers will have to purchase the ones they missed out on. Wattpad included a countdown timer on the Premium Picks screen so readers know how much time they have left. They can also turn on app notifications to be notified when the next batch of stories is available.
A month doesn’t seem like enough time for subscribers to read all five stories. But we’re guessing Premium and Premium+ members are die-hard readers anyway, so maybe this won’t be a problem for most.
“Wattpad readers read a lot, and Premium subscribers are some of our most passionate fans,” Meghan MacDonald, head of strategy and business operations at Wattpad, told TechCrunch. “They subscribe to Wattpad Premium because they want to be able to read without interruption. And every reader enjoys stories at a different speed. While some may devour an entire book in one sitting, others may read a story over the course of a few days or weeks.”
Wattpad launched its $4.99/month Premium subscription in 2017, giving users an ad-free experience, offline stories, bonus coins with every purchase of a Wattpad Coin pack, and exclusive profile colors and reaction stickers.
“Wattpad Premium looked very different when we launched the first version of our subscription service in 2017… Our research and internal data on reading trends among subscribers made it clear that we can add significant value by giving access to a selection of Wattpad originals , some of the most compelling stories on Wattpad,” MacDonald added.
Meanwhile, Premium+ subscribers ($7.49/month) — Wattpad’s most loyal users — get an extra bonus: the choice of two additional Wattpad originals. They will also have unlimited access to any Wattpad Originals unlocked with their subscription and can re-read those titles as long as they remain part of the Wattpad Originals program.
