Welcome to my profile! Add this book to your library for profile updates beyond what I announce:
❖ Progress reports on my ongoing projects
❖ Announcements of new things I'm writing behind the scenes
❖ Rambling about anything from queer rep to c...
As I write this, my stats-tracking spreadsheet stands at 31 tabs. Just over half of them are raw data; the rest are manipulations of it. I recently split off eight additional tabs into a separate sheet because they could stand alone, and my main spreadsheet was lagging. When people ask if I track stats, I laugh in a slightly hysterical manner.
I record stats for all my books on a weekly basis, and have been doing so on the same day of the week since about a month after I joined Wattpad in late 2017. When I've tried out other sites (like Tapas, or any social media) I've tracked stats there, too.
Things I record raw on a weekly basis include:
❖ Read count
❖ Vote count
❖ Comment count
❖ Unique readers (for the last week)
❖ Unique engaged readers
❖ Chapter read counts (any intro chapters, narrative chapters 1-4, and the "end" of each book, aka a few chapters from the end because people reread endings)
❖ Read counts on any promo chapters
❖ Follower count
❖ Notes for each book on anything that was going on that week. Promo, awards, a good tag rank, a cover change, a major edit, activity on other books, etc.
My spreadsheet calculates the following for me on each book, also weekly:
❖ Total new reads that week
❖ New first-chapter reads that week
❖ Total read-vote and read-comment ratios
❖ New reads per unique reader
❖ Ratio of unique engaged readers to a) unique readers, and b) readers who finished the book, both over the same timespan (one year)
❖ Reader retention (across each early chapter, and start to end)
My other spreadsheet tabs include (but are not limited to):
❖ A full-profile summation of key stats, both per week and overall
❖ Ratio and retention comparisons across books
❖ Automatic read-count milestone calculators
❖ A comparison of early growth between books
❖ A ranking table of the top one-week read jumps for each book
Why so many stats, you ask? The short answer is, I'm a nerd 😂
The longer answer is that I like having an unbiased view of how my profile is doing, and I like using data to help me make decisions so they're not exclusively based on gut feelings. The data I collect underpins the order of books on my profile, what covers I stick with or switch, and what books I choose to focus my promo on (because when you have as many as I do, you have to pick). It tells me what kind of promo is most effective, whether it stays effective over time, and whether it has the same impact across different genres, book lengths, and more. It gives me hints when the algorithm finds a new way to break. Individual data points from individual weeks are subject to a lot of chance, but when compiled across 20+ books over however many years have passed since 2017, trends do start to emerge.
Data tracking on my current book count takes about an hour a week. Wednesdays are always stats days, and I make it easier for myself by keeping the stats pages of all my books compiled in a bookmarks folder for easy reference. For most people, it would be far less work! I also track a lot of things that others wouldn't find as useful; some of my data-nerd friends only track the major stats like read/vote count, read increase, and follower count, and they're quite content with that.
With all that said, it does take a particular mindset to be able to keep collecting this data in a way that's healthy for my writing process. It's easy to get hung up on the numbers, especially if new books aren't doing as well as old ones, or old books aren't doing as well as they used to, or a book launch flops spectacularly because the algorithm is broken and Wattpad ate your launch notification. Or if you're prone to comparing yourself to other writers. I'm not immune to any of that, but I have reached a point where I've got enough books, writing experience, life experience, and love of writing for writing's sake that I'm short on fucks to give and can watch a book fly or tank without it impacting my writing motivation. If you don't think you're at that point yet (or don't have the mental energy to keep up with tracking), then this kind of data collection is probably not for you!
And because I couldn't drop a chapter about stats without sharing some of the things I've learned from them, here are a few:
❖ Early-chapter reader retention is best (by a long shot) on books that have a hint of Romance in the first chapter. This is likely negated if the book is advertised as Romance, which I've never written!
❖ The top three spots on a Wattpad profile are prime real estate, and the very top spot is the most important of all. Put a book there for maximum visibility.
❖ Completing a book only boosts its readership IF it has a steady source of readers—ex. if it's discoverable in the algorithm by then, or involved in a cross-promo for a big event like the ONC. Without that, completion is likely to kill growth.
❖ Internal promo works. If you advertise your books at the ends of your other books, readers will follow the book-chain across your profile.
❖ If you have a complete, edited book with a good cover, blurb, tags, etc., there are very few promotional methods that remain effective on Wattpad today. A front-page feature, shout-out from a big author in your genre, or big cross-promo where you advertise in each other's books can still move the needle. Don't count on a Watty, social media (unless you're huge on whatever social media platform you use), or promotion on Wattpad genre profiles.
❖ Read-vote ratios can give a hint of a book's appeal with readers, but this number always falls as a book grows. Like comments, it's also genre-dependent! Some books just have very silent readers, and that's okay.
❖ Horror fans are voracious. Not quite as rabid as Romance ones, but pretty intense nonetheless.
I could go on for hours, but I'll stop there. If you want to hear more, or have a particular data area you're interested in, I'm always happy to nerd out if you ask me! 😝
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If you're a writer, do you track any stats relevant to the books you're posting? If so, which ones? If not, why not?
If you're a reader, what (if any) stats do you look at when picking a book to read next? Does overall read count matter? Read-vote ratios? Number of comments on any given chapter?
Any stats-related questions to ask me? As per my note above, I'll answer anything if I have the data!
