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<ul><li>Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. </li><li>Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform. </li><li>The partnership with Times Bridge will help the company boost its presence in India and reach new users.</li></ul>The Toronto, Canada-based online publishing platform Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge*, the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group, to grow its presence in India and reach new users. Aside from offering the publishing platform like Amazon and Fictionpress.com, Wattpad has created a community for writers. There are forums and contests to engage with peers around the world. Winners of these contests have been known to find publishers. "My Life with the Walter Boys" by Ali Novak, "The Kissing Booth" by Beth Reekles, and "Nothing Left to Lose" by Kristy Moresely, found publishers for the paperback versions through Wattpad, according to a review on another online publishing platform Odyssey. Novak’s work, for instance, had 33 million reads even before it got published, <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Life-Walter-Boys-Ali-Novak/dp/1402297866">according</a> to Amazon. That was the reach of Wattpad in 2014. Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform, the company said in a statement. In 2018, it also tied up with Sony, online streaming service iflix, TV show producers Huayi Brothers Korea and Bavaria Fiction, and the US cable television channel SYFY to turn many of the stories into books, TV shows, films, and digital projects. Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. And its founder Allen Lau, an electrical engineer turned entrepreneur, wants more of the Indian pie. The India outreach will be led by country manager Devashish Sharma, who was <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devashishsharma/?originalSubdomain=in">part</a> of the founding team at CoHo, one of India’s co-living companies founded in 2015. Wattpad’s partnership with Times Group, one of the biggest media conglomerates in India, will also be an advantage. “Wattpad is a bold, proven idea that has changed how audiences around the world create and experience stories. Our investment will advance Wattpad’s mission, and original storytelling, across the Indian subcontinent, unlocking the creativity of many millions along the way,” Rishi Jaitly, the CEO of Times Bridge, said. Times Bridge’s previous investments include Uber, Airbnb, Coursera, Houzz, MUBI and Smule among others. In January 2018, Wattpad raised $51 million from Chinese investment giant Tencent, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, Canso, and existing investor Raine. *Times Bridge is also a partner in Business Insider India See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-will-groom-these-10-indian-startups-that-use-ai-and-machine-learning/articleshow/68384856.cms">Google will groom these 10 Indian startups that use AI and machine learning</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Spotify-got-a-million-Indians-to-try-its-app-in-a-week-but-they-will-only-stay-if-the-price-is-right/articleshow/68297160.cms">Spotify got a million Indians to try its app in a week — but they will only stay if the price is right</a>

Tencent-backed Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge to woo more Indian writers and readers

<ul><li>In 2020, Wattpad is looking at increasing its brand partnerships.</li><li>2019 saw it partner with T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing and Teach for India.</li><li>For Wattpad, the future goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’.</li></ul>For global writing community and multiplatform entertainment company Wattpad, 2019 was a year of many innovations and landmarks. Last year, Wattpad’s global community touched the 80 million mark, and Apple recognized the platform for driving the Storytelling App Trend of 2019. Wattpad also made a move towards helping writers earn money on the platform by introducing several new monetization initiatives like Wattpad Premium and Wattpad Paid Stories. In entertainment, Wattpad’s film ‘After’ won a People's Choice Award for Best Drama Film, three Teen Choice Awards, and became one of the top-grossing indie films of the year. Their Hulu show, ‘Light as a Feather’ received four Daytime Emmy nominations and a second season order. The Wattpad Studios team also signed a dozen international entertainment deals, forming new partnerships and developing projects with the biggest studios across Europe, Latin America as well as in South Asia. Globally, the platform has been working with brand partners like JC Penny, National Geographic, and T-Mobile. Closer home as well, 2019 saw Wattpad bring brand partners like Universal Music India, T-series, Gaana.com, Graphic India, Big Bang Music, Penguin India and Harper India on board. Come 2020, the platform aims at working with more brands, to build a stronger community of storytellers, while also giving advertisers an opportunity to target an engaged community of writers and readers. Wattpad’s India story In India, Wattpad introduced the <keyword id="7098442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad-India">Wattpad India</keyword> Awards in December 2019. Modelled on The Wattys, Wattpad’s annual global writing competition, the initiative is aimed at engaging with Wattpad’s growing community of readers and writers in India. Speaking about some of the other highlights from India, Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India said, “2019 was all about educating the market about the offerings of Wattpad. We parterned with schools, colleges, publication houses, trade bodies, production houses, music labels etc. We showcased a new way of connecting with your fans/audience through storytelling. In addition to digital contests, we also ran Masterclasses, Wattpad Campus Talks etc. to reach out to new users.” The platform also partnered with various brands like T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing, Teach for India, etc and is on the lookout for bringing more partners on board this year. How brand partners benefitted When used right, storytelling can be an important tool in engaging with audiences. And as more and more brands open up to this power of storytelling, it is expected that Wattpad will see more brand partnerships. Speaking about the opportunities that the platform offers for advertisers, Sharma said, “We are already deeply engaged with brands in India and around the world. With our combination of technology, community, engagement, and a built-in network of influencers, we transform the way brands connect with their audiences - particularly Gen Z - through stories. From video with best-in-class completion rates to branded content and native programs with Wattpad influencers, we tailor brand campaigns to find the best way to reach the right audiences. Wattpad Brand Partnerships aligns brands with stories that are unique, diverse, and have a massive built-in audience so that they can always reach the right consumers with content that is perfectly tailored for them.” Using a new-age platform like Wattpad also means that one has to come up with innovative ways of engagement, and that’s what a few partners tried to do. Gaurav Wadhwa, Founder, Big Bang Music (a JV of Kwan and Sony Music) said, “We've successfully worked on campaigns with WattPad - to combine music and it's expression at a time when nobody seems to be doing it. It's about moving beyond traditional streaming apps, but finding audiences that are still music-centric. Each song that we release through Big Bang Music is unique and WattPad gives us that edge to market these songs to a new audience.” Moreover, publishing houses find a direct connect with a platform like Wattpad. Speaking about how they gained from their recent partnership with the platform, Niti Kumar, Senior VP – Marketing, Digital &amp; Communications, Penguin Random House India said, “It’s been about a year since we have been collaborating with Wattpad to drive discoverability for our books and authors. We started a little cautiously but over time have seen great value online and offline through initiatives like campus events, online chats, contests and excerpt posting. There’s still a lot of potential that Wattpad has and we look forward to newer and better initiatives in 2020!” Wattpad’s vision for the future For Wattpad, the goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’. Throwing light on their goals ahead, Sharma added, “We are investing in India, growing our business and community in the market, and creating global opportunities for Indian storytellers. We’re helping writers all over the world build an audience and get discovered. Wattpad writers are already bestsellers. When you turn on the TV, go to a movie, or log in to your favourite streaming services, Wattpad’s insights could be behind the decisions that led to that project being green-lit. Soon you’ll see even more Wattpad stories on screens everywhere. India is home to some of the most creative storytellers on the planet, with the most exciting literary and entertainment sectors anywhere. We want to help more India Wattpad writers build a global audience, telling their stories to people around the world.” -- Wattpad is backed in India by Times Bridge, an investment arm of the Times Group

Wattpad: Empowering writers and connecting the world, one story at a time

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Canadian <keyword id="11538972" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="relationship-app">relationship app</keyword> <keyword id="11538971" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="couply">Couply</keyword> won the 2021 pitch competition hosted by Collision, a Toronto-based technology conference attended by thousands of industry giants. </li><li>Insider spoke to its founders, <keyword id="216113" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Tim-Johnson">Tim Johnson</keyword> and <keyword id="11538970" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="denesh-raymond">Denesh Raymond</keyword>, to learn more about their vision for Couply and the events leading up to its inception. </li></ul>Imagine this. You finally met that special someone-whether it be on a <keyword id="6367193" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="dating">dating</keyword> app or in real life-and everything is going great until you hit that post-honeymoon-phase slump. Naturally, you turn to the app store for some guidance, only to find that the selection of relationship apps is rather slim in comparison to <keyword id="1557997" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="dating-apps">dating apps</keyword>. That was the ideation process behind Canadian startup Couply, founded by Tim Johnson and Denesh Raymond. It's a free relationship app designed to inspire couples to deepen their connection with fun features like personality quizzes, which then help aid the process of planning dates that are mutually enjoyable.<div type="image" title="screen_3" height="2532" width="1170" msid="83972177" hostid="261"></div>Couply's vision was so successful that it won Collision 2021's startup competition, PITCH, this past April. The bootstrapped company was one of 50 up-and-coming startups to pitch in front of a panel of judges, consisting of venture capitalists from B Capital Group, Salesforce Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners, to name a few. The two founders crossed paths when they both worked at Wattpad, an online storytelling platform for writers. Johnson stills works on the business development side of Wattpad and is a published author with a strong background in the nonprofit sector. Raymond was a software engineer at Wattpad, where he specialized in iOS and Android development and was a member of the Wattpad Monetization team. When Johnson came to Raymond with the idea for the app, Raymond was working as a tech lead at a product development company, building apps for companies like Bose and Peloton.At first, Raymond had his doubts. "I'm sort of taking it with a grain of salt because, being in the tech space, I've worked with different apps like this before," Raymond told Insider.Once Raymond came home that day and did his research, he realized that there weren't any big players to compete with, aside from the Bumbles and Tinders in the dating space. From that point on, the duo "just got into a room and started cracking at it," Raymond said. Since its launch in December of 2020, Couply has grown from a few downloads a day to 1,000 downloads a week, with its daily download rate doubling each month as a result of word of mouth, Johnson told Insider. He and Raymond hope to grow their user base from their current total of 10,000+ to an audience of one million in a year from now. Despite being developed in Canada, the app sees its biggest opportunity in the U.S. market, and this is where Johnson and Raymond plan to focus their efforts. Couply is also available for download globally and will eventually be accessible in different languages. The foundation of Couply is rooted in its creators' belief in the power of technology when used for good. Through research-based quizzes that are linked across both partners' accounts, couples can better understand each other's similarities and differences, as well as their own way of looking at the world. <div type="image" title="IMG_9820.PNG" height="2436" width="1125" msid="83972180" hostid="261"></div>This information guides Couply in providing personalized date ideas, gift suggestions, and relationship advice. In addition, the app's integrated calendar allows users to set reminders for important relationship milestones and book thoughtful dates, which is Couply's ultimate end goal for its users. "This kind of drills into that core sentiment of Couply, which is to get out there and do things with your partner in the real world," Johnson told Insider.Even in the heat of the pandemic, Couply has fared well among its users with the help of the in-app feedback system. Through this feature, the creators are able to directly communicate with their audience and gauge the kinds of dates they're interested in at a given time-not surprisingly, innovative ideas for a romantic night in have been highly requested. The app also boasts a daily conversation starter tool, which is designed to help the flow of meaningful interaction beyond simple check-ins. "You can use it as a fun thing at lunch or dinner," Johnson said. "Or even just text it to your partner during the day to keep that journey going, so that you're not only doing transactional conversations, you're actually learning about each other and your internal maps of the world." Johnson added that he and Raymond were lucky to be able to tap into a diverse set of perspectives in Toronto's tech community for feedback on their user experience and its accessibility for all members.

Founders of Canadian relationship app Couply talk gaining traction after winning Collision 2021 pitch competition

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>When Anna Todd started posting&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5095707-after">fan fiction stories online</a>, she never expected that her love of boy band One Direction would turn her into a sensation with a reported&#xa0;<a href="http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Anna-Todd/474410587">six-figure publishing deal.</a>&#xa0;But it did.Now, Todd is a bona fide best-selling author thanks to a story&#xa0;she wrote mostly&#xa0;on her iPhone.Her&#xa0;five-book "After" series has been published in 29 countries&#xa0;and read over a billion times on <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>, the digital reading platform where she originally published it. Paramount <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/one-direction-inspired-fan-fic-800189">even recently purchased the rights</a> to turn "<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5095707-after">After</a>" into a movie.Todd's fanfic success story is far from a fluke. Publishing houses and movie studios are increasingly looking online for fresh stories that have a built-in fan base. "Fifty Shades of Grey"&#xa0;was first published&#xa0;online, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-started-as-twilight-fan-fiction-2015-6">presented as fan fiction based on the "Twilight" books</a>. As writer E.L. James'&#xa0;audience ballooned online, mainstream publishers and movie studios took note. She became a best-selling author and&#xa0;her story was then adapted for the big screen, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-at-the-box-office-2015-2">making millions at the box office</a>.And now, Todd is&#xa0;following in her footsteps. The main difference between their trajectories, though, is that Todd had the added benefit of the digital publishing platform&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>&#xa0;accelerating the&#xa0;process. So how'd she do it?A few years ago, Todd was working odd jobs and waiting tables after having taken&#xa0;some classes at&#xa0;college but never graduating. She'd married her high school boyfriend at 18 and moved to Texas to follow his Army career.&#xa0;After becoming obsessed with One Direction, she&#xa0;started writing standalone fan fiction short stories about the boy band on an unlikely medium: the photo-sharing app Instagram. "I had no intention of [formally] publishing them," she said of her stories. "I just wrote what I wanted to be reading."Even when restricted to writing her stories as lengthy&#xa0;Instagram captions, though, she started gaining a following. A fellow fan took notice and turned her on to the much more writer-friendly&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/home">Wattpad</a>.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_left"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Starting in April 2013, she wrote and published "After" one chapter at a time on Wattpad, without any&#xa0;outlining or planning&#xa0;for the plot. "After" reimagines One Direction's Harry Styles as a bad boy college student with a girlfriend named Tessa Young. And yes, its sex scenes are just as bodice-ripping as those found in any romance novel."After"&#xa0;was&#xa0;written almost entirely from Todd's cell phone.&#xa0;Often, she'd write while standing in line at Target or the grocery store.She dedicated five hours a day to writing "After" and another three hours to promoting it within Wattpad and on social media. Soon, it turned into a 100-chapter, one-million-word juggernaut that was rapidly attracting a fan base in the hundreds of thousands. Todd become famous on Wattpad.The only issue: Wattpad and its writers don't have much name recognition beyond the site's&#xa0;rabid fan base.Wattpad is a platform for reading and self-publishing, and its reach is quietly enormous. The Toronto-based free digital reading site&#xa0;has more than 40 million users, <a href="http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/140926/dq140926b-eng.htm">more than the entire population of Canada</a>. These numbers are constantly increasing, with over 24 hours of new reading content being uploaded every minute, Wattpad CEO Allen Lau told <keyword id="72550" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="TI">TI</keyword>. So while Todd's fame on Wattpad was growing, her life continued normally. She kept waiting tables in her Texas town.&#xa0;But soon, all that would change.Wattpad had noticed how popular she was. They&#xa0;reached out to Todd&#xa0;and, within six months, helped&#xa0;her score a book deal with Simon and Schuster in April 2014. This was just one year after Todd had shared her first "After" chapter on Wattpad.The&#xa0;"After" now available in stores&#xa0;is an edited version&#xa0;based on Todd's Wattpad writings. The 100-chapter saga has been broken down across <a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-The-Series-Anna-Todd/dp/1476792488">four books</a>, while the&#xa0;original version is still available on Wattpad.&#xa0;When she got the book deal,&#xa0;Todd had&#xa0;to change her character's name from Harry Styles to Hardin Scott&#xa0;for legal reasons. This is a common practice when online fan fiction is adapted for print. Since&#xa0;<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/fifty-shades-of-grey-started-out-as-twilight-fan-fiction-2015-2">"Fifty Shades of Grey" started out as 'Twilight" fan fiction</a>, the character names and settings were also changed when the stories were published.&#xa0;Since <a href="http://www.amazon.com/After-The-Series-Anna-Todd/dp/1476792488">the first "After" book&#xa0;was published</a> in October 2014, her audience has only continued to grow."At [book] signings, I'll have everyone from 15-year-old girls to 45-year-old women coming up to me," Todd explained.<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>Todd's&#xa0;success has&#xa0;opened the door&#xa0;for other fanfic authors. Wattpad writers like&#xa0;<a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/5449917-body-rock">Doeneseya Bates</a>&#xa0;and <a href="https://www.wattpad.com/story/1333719-backfire-niall-horan">Bel Watson</a> have gained millions of reads on the platform for stories featuring&#xa0;characters like Justin Bieber and, of course, members of One Direction.&#xa0;Despite their fan fiction origins, there's still one major difference between&#xa0;"Fifty Shades of Grey" and "After."&#xa0;While Todd's&#xa0;books have plenty of sex scenes,&#xa0;the couple isn't suspending each other from the ceiling with&#xa0;rope."If you read 'After,' you won't find any BDSM stuff," Todd said of her characters' sexual encounters.&#xa0;"After" is also&#xa0;inspiring a new generation of readers."A lot of parents have said, 'My daughter never read before your books and now she loves reading," Todd told TI.Not everyone is a huge fan of Todd's writing style. Critics&#xa0;have been brutal, calling her work "<a href="http://jezebel.com/book-is-supposedly-new-50-shades-but-is-really-just-sl-1564444771">sloppy</a>," "<a href="http://www.sheknows.com/entertainment/articles/1055203/anna-todds-after-is-an-insult-to-intelligent-readers-everywhere">lacking in style</a>," and a "<a href="http://www.sugarscape.com/bookclub/reviews/a1072004/book-review-after-anna-todds-one-direction-fan-fic-turned-novel/">letdown</a>," but Todd and her loyal readers remain unfazed."Love fanfic or hate it, it's getting thousands of people to read and write who otherwise would not have," she told TI. "Reading and writing isn't supposed to be this exclusive club, it's just supposed to be entertaining." <div class="margin-top"> <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-ashley-madison-client-information-2015-7">Here's the type of info hackers have after breaking into the extramarital hookup site Ashley Madison</a></h3> <div> <div> <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ViaDFkdjqYAnmokhNuwEhJWAd8e5-lu0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div> </div> </div> </div>

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Tencent-backed Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge to woo more Indian writers and readers

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Wattpad: Empowering writers and connecting the world, one story at a time

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Founders of Canadian relationship app Couply talk gaining traction after winning Collision 2021 pitch competition

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This woman wrote One Direction fanfic on her phone and ended up with a massive six-figure book deal

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