Understanding your story analytics on Wattpad

Story Statistics is a feature built to help you analyze your story’s performance. This resource will help you gain a better understanding of the Engaged Readers metric on Wattpad. 

Story Statistics and Engaged Readers FAQs

What is the difference between Total Reads, Unique Readers, and Engaged Readers?

Total Reads are the total number of times your story parts have been viewed or read to any extent since they were published (all-time). As an example, if a single reader views or reads 10 parts of your story, this will count as 10 Total Reads. If a reader reads or views Part 1 of your story 4 times in multiple sessions, this will count as 4 Total Reads. Reads are thus the broadest measure of interest in your story and accumulate since the day you publish your first story part.

Unique Readers are the number of unique daily viewers or readers of your story, with each individual reader being counted once. 

Engaged Readers goes one level deeper than Unique Readers, by narrowing in on unique readers with 5+ minutes of time spent reading your story in the last 365 days. Of your total story viewers during the same period, these readers were most interested in exploring your content. This is a more recent measure of the depth of interest in your story (compared to Reads) and speaks to how well your writing is keeping readers hooked on your story. 

These metrics will reset roughly every 24 hours.   

Why do Engaged Readers matter?

Engaged Readers are an indication of the recency and depth of readership on your story. This metric shows unique readers with 5+ minutes of time spent reading your story in the last 365 days. This is important for keeping a pulse on whether unique readers with a deeper interest in your content are decreasing, sustained, or growing in a recent time period. A growing number of Engaged Readers indicates that your story continues to meaningfully engage the readers who view it. To build a successful and rewarding writing career on Wattpad, you, your story, and your audience should be both active and engaging, and Engaged Readers are one reflection of that. 

Why are my Engaged Readers lower than my Total Reads? 

Total Reads capture the all-time views and reads of all your story parts, and are not unique, thus capturing multiple reads from the same reader. Engaged Readers measure unique readers who read your story for at least 5 minutes in the last 365 days. One reason your Engaged Readers are lower than Total Reads is due to the difference in the time period for which they are measured (Total Reads are all-time, Engaged Readers are from the last year only). Another is that Engaged Readers drills into the depth of readership among your total readers—showing the number of unique readers who enjoyed what they read and continued reading for a significant amount of time. Both metrics provide valuable insights into your story’s performance. 

How often should I check my story’s performance? 

We recommend reviewing your story’s performance at least once a week to understand how many readers it is attracting and if they are engaging with your content. For example, if you are releasing new story parts weekly, you can identify how well each new part is retaining your readers, whether the content is inspiring a lot of comments and conversation, etc. You can also compare statistics for all your stories to get a sense of factors like demographic differences in the audiences they are drawing in and how this lines up with the audience you intended to write for. 

What makes the Engaged Readers data-point change when it’s supposed to be reflecting a year's worth of data?

Engaged Readers are a rolling total for the last 365 days of unique readers who spent a minimum of 5 minutes on your story. Updated daily, the changes you see in this metric are due to the removal of the 366th day of historical data and the inclusion of yesterday’s data. Owing to the moving time window, Engaged Readers may increase, decrease, or remain static depending on the depth of readership on your story within the most recent year of data.   

Let’s say you published a story in 2018. On April 1, 2022, you check your statistics and see that you have 300 Engaged Readers. This means that 300 people read it for at least 5 minutes in a day between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. 

The next day, your Engaged Readers increase to 315. Yesterday you gained 20 Engaged Readers, which got added to the 365-day total. On April 1, 2021, you had 5 Engaged Readers, which got subtracted from the 365-day total. Therefore, you had 315 Engaged Readers between April 2, 2021, and April 1, 2022 (300+20-5). 

While your Engaged Readers are constantly changing based on historical readership data from the last 365 days, your Total Reads will never decrease over time as they accumulate over time from the day you publish the first part of your story.  

How can I grow or maintain my Reads and Engaged Readers? 

As a first step, you should optimize your Story Details to the best of your ability, including creating a cover that beautifully represents the story and genre, adding a well-crafted synopsis that hooks your viewers, having a good opening line, thoughtfully editing your writing, and carefully selecting tags that best represent your story.  

You can grow your Reads by promoting your story on Wattpad (e.g. by posting a new message to all your followers each time you publish a story or part, following and interacting with other Wattpadders), and on other platforms (e.g. posting about your story on social media). Your Reads will also grow the more your story is added to Reading Lists, shared by other Wattpadders, and surfaced on the website and app—actions that ultimately improve the visibility of your story. 

Engaged Readers can be improved by taking actions that make your story an engaging reading experience by, for example, updating the story at a regular frequency until it is completed (perhaps even letting your followers know in advance when you intend to release new parts), using good spelling and grammar, a consistent writing style, balanced word count per part, etc. Listening to constructive feedback from your readers to improve the story/writing, and also engaging with readers by responding to their comments will keep them coming back to your story and spending more time reading your work.

Do my Engaged Readers influence my story’s tag rankings? 

There is no relationship between your story’s Engaged Readers and tag rankings. 

What does engagement mean?

Engagement can generally be defined as any active reader interaction with your story, including reading the story, commenting, voting, etc. The Engaged Readers metric, however, only measures the number of unique readers who spent 5+ minutes on your story in the last 365 days.  

How can I drive more engagement on my stories? 

You can drive more engagement on your stories by interacting with your readers through the comments feature. You can also spark conversations with and among your readers by asking questions, creating a playlist for your story to set the scene and connect with readers over music, including and celebrating fan art, introducing character sketches to bring your story to life, etc. At the core of it all, however, a well-written story alone can drive both reader interest and interaction.  

How should I use the demographic information available to me? 

Demographic information can help you better understand your audience with variables including reported age, gender, and country. For example, if you find that 80% of your readers reside in Latin America and skew younger (e.g. 13-18 years old), you may choose to publish new parts or posts at a time (and timezone) when this audience is most likely to be interested in reading, such as in the evenings after school. If your writing is attracting a certain type of reader, you can learn more about them and their genre preferences through the comments to adapt your writing style or choose what to write next.  

When will Wattpad give me more ways to track my story’s performance? 

Engaged Readers is a great new metric that will provide more insights into how your story is performing. We’re constantly looking at making improvements to Story Statistics and will notify you when any changes are being rolled out. 

Which of these metrics is most important to be eligible for Wattpad’s programs and opportunities?

No single metric alone determines your eligibility for Wattpad’s programs and opportunities. The team at Wattpad HQ is constantly evaluating opportunities for thousands of writers and their stories, taking into account factors such as the quality of the content and response from readers (tracked by trends in reads, Engaged Readers, and story engagement), suitability and appeal for readers who are willing to pay for content on Wattpad (earning potential), interest from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and other external partners, etc.  

When will I have access to Story Statistics on the app?

At this time, story statistics are only available on the web and will not be rolling out on the app.  Rest assured, this feature is on our radar and we’ll inform you when it becomes available via our app notifications.