Digital storytelling platforms like Wattpad, Dreame and Innovel have beomce a familiar sight, actively advertising their content on social media and browsing apps.

These platforms usually employ an algorithm that matches users’ individual tastes with one of its top-viewed novels, offering a tantalizing chapter or two. Many users eventually relent, installing the app and getting drawn into a seemingly endless list of titles on offer.

Kristiyawati has been an avid user of digital storytelling platforms for the last two years, a perfect escape for her free time as a migrant worker in Doha, Qatar.

“Goodnovel, Wattpadd and Dreame,” said the 38-year-old, listing the platforms she has tried so far. “But the only ones I keep installed on my mobile phone are Dreame and Innovel, I’ve deleted the others.”

For Kristiyawati, digital readers have replaced physical books.

"I purchased a lot of coins the first time I downloaded Innovel. I spent hundreds of thousands of rupiahs on my [credit] card," she said.

Like many sites that offer paid subscriptions, digital storytelling platforms offer a variety of payment options for users to buy virtual “coins” that they then exchange for a chapter.

But after her initial bulk purchase, Kristiyawati stopped buying coins "because Innovel and Dreamvinae always give free coins to their readers”. She stopped using Wattpad “because it is a bit hard to get [free] coins".

On subscribing to the platform, users usually receive a set number of free coins. Some platforms also give free coins every day a user logs in. Depending on a user’s reading speed, they could exhaust their cache of free coins quickly and have to purchase more to continue reading.

Innovel, for example, sells 30 coins for Rp 4,500 (31 US cents), with a single chapter costing 8-12 coins on average. The profits from coin sales are divided between the developer and the authors.

Write, publish, get paid (potentially)

Vina Andriyani, a writer based in Bali who also usesthe pen name Missrealitybites, or MRB, started writing when she was 12 but stopped when she started working.

"I stopped writing for over 16 years because I was busy making a living. Back then, writing was not an option," said Vina.

Started early: Vina started writing at an early age on her schoolbooks because she didn’t own any typewriter nor PC. (Courtesy of Vina Andriyani) (Personal collection/Courtesy of Vina Andriyani)

"Three years ago, I had depression and cooped up in my bedroom for weeks. I found solace in reading stories from an online platform I found through Facebook ads. It was Webnovel."

Vina eventually spent an outrageous amount of money to read a serial novel that had 2,165 chapters.

"It’s around four to five coins per chapter, and one coin costs 2 [US] cents. The first 65 chapters were available for free, and the rest were locked behind a paywall," she explained.

Vina later noticed a button saying "Write A Story", and learned that she could publish her own writing on Webnovel. So she created an account and started writing again.

"It's also very easy to write on this app. All you need is your phone – a smartphone, yes, but even the cheap ones will do,” advised Vina.

“I know some writers on Webnovel from Nigeria or Ghana who only have 10 hours of electricity every day. They can write on the platform and make money using their basic smartphone. So there really is no excuse not to be a writer nowadays."

Her account matches that of Risma, a single-named writer from Bekasi, West Java, who also goes by the pen name “sweet-stripes”.

"We can write anytime and anywhere. We have more freedom to be creative and many choices in platforms that offer tempting [rates] without having to be famous first," she said.

Getting ahead

After a long time as a reader, Kristyawati eventually became interested in being on the other side of the business.

"I'm actually interested in writing and am now in the process of submitting [a story]. God willing, Innovel [will publish it] if it passes the selection process," she said.

According to Risma, being a writer on a digital storytelling platform can be profitable, but it required hard work and endurance. "Most platforms that [...] pay a lot require a minimum of 150,000 words per story,” she said, noting that writers also needed to commit to “promoting [their] story to attract many readers".

Although she favored Indonesia’s Cabaca for its strict selection criteria to ensure quality, Risma said Dreame might be the most profitable app she had tried, since it paid writers in US dollars.

Vina, an English literature graduate who writes in English, has a different insight.

"Wattpad is currently the biggest free writing platform in the world," she said. "Wattpad has been around for a long time, and in my personal experience, it's difficult to gain an audience there now because they already have popular authors who started early. Many authors take a shortcut by publishing controversial content to gain an audience."

She had also tried Dreame and Goodnovel, but as her primary audience was on Webnovel, she decided to stick with the platform.

"Webnovel has the greatest variety of genres of all the platforms I have ever explored. It caters to both male and female [readers], whereas most platforms only cater to female romance stories," she said.

"Almost anyone can write whatever [they want], but before a story can go live [...] it needs to be vetted by the content editor to make sure the stories don’t have forbidden content or spam."

According to Vina, once a book reached 12,000 words and was good, the writer is invited to sign a contract.

"The system they have on Webnovel is very encouraging. They offer a minimum guarantee for all books they sign. If you publish daily after going premium, you will get a minimum income of $200 per month for four consecutive months, even if your book makes zero dollars," explained Vina, who often shares her knowledge at various webinars and writing boot camps.

These digital storytelling platforms allow writers to reach readers around the world, which could help writers of genres that are not popular in their home country.

"Anyone can be a writer. This is perfect if you have stories to share, and you want to hide behind your keyboard, you can just use a pen name," said Vina.

"Indonesians are kind of religious, so for example, talking about sex is frowned upon, especially if you look religious, too,” she said, referring to religious dress. “You want to write a hot steamy sex scene in your story? Do it. Just don't reveal who you are."

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