Ashleigh Gardner on Wattpad as a Powerful Platform and Tool for Authors

Ashleigh Gardner is the Deputy General Manager, Wattpad Studios, Publishing. She works with Wattpad writers and publishers around the world to turn Wattpad stories into books. Ashleigh creates meaningful promotional and editorial partnerships with the publishing industry by leveraging the data and insights from the more than 400 million story uploads on Wattpad. This also helps publishers everywhere find exciting new voices and transform their business with data-driven decision-making.

In today’s episode, we get into the nitty gritty about all things Wattpad and how it benefits the writers and readers in our community. We dig deep into Ashleigh’s role at Wattpad and her personal journey that led her there and she shares advice on how to begin a career in the publishing world.

We continue to discuss how Wattpad builds readerships and audiences for their writers, how it’s a space for authors to instantly interact with your audience and receive feedback, how to use Wattpad to help the research and editing process as an author, and how its features can help our community virtually connect with writing groups to share ideas and encourage one another.

Ashleigh unpacks the relationships Wattpad has with publishers to connect users with the publishing world and we discuss the most popular current trends that she sees at the company and how they’re able to discover these trends. She also walks us through the steps you can take to increase your story’s popularity on Wattpad and we discuss the kinds of questions you should ask a publisher when they approach you and your story.

Happy listening!

Xo,

Yin

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“You don’t need to wait for anyone to do this with you, you can go out and do it on your own.”

-Ashleigh Gardner

“As soon as you get it out and post it, you can go back and change it. Just plowing through that first draft, not spending a lot of time re-editing things you’ve written already, that would be my biggest piece of advice.”

-Ashleigh Gardner

What You’ll Learn From This Episode:

A look into Ashleigh’s role at Wattpad and the journey that led her there
Advice on how to begin a career in the publishing world
How Wattpad builds readerships and audiences for their writers
How Wattpad is a space for authors to instantly interact with your audience and receive feedback
How Wattpad’s technology and data helps publishers identify new stories and emerging voices
Insight into the relationships Wattpad has with publishers to connect users with the publishing world
How to use Wattpad to help your research and editing process as an author
The most popular current trends Ashleigh sees on Wattpad and how they discover these trends
The steps you can take to increase your story’s popularity on Wattpad
How Wattpad’s features can help you virtually connect with your writing group to share ideas and encourage one another
What questions you should ask a publisher when they approach you and your story

Learn More About Ashleigh Gardner

Ashleigh Gardner, Deputy General Manager, Wattpad Studios, Publishing

As Deputy General Manager, Wattpad Studios, Publishing, Ashleigh Gardner works with Wattpad writers and publishers around the world to turn Wattpad stories into books. Leveraging the data and insights from more the more than 400 million story uploads on Wattpad, Ashleigh creates meaningful promotional and editorial partnerships with the publishing industry, helping publishers everywhere find exciting new voices and transform their business with data-driven decision-making.

Ashleigh has spent her entire career at the forefront of technology and publishing. Before joining Wattpad, she was director of content management at Kobo, where she focused on expanding Kobo’s existing catalogue, while developing new ebook stores in international markets. Prior to Kobo, she was manager of digital development at Dundurn Press.

Ashleigh graduated from York University with a Philosophy and Law degree.