Mapping the entertainment ecosystem of Wattpad: Platforms, publishing and adaptation

Abstract

Digital platforms have reshaped the creative industries and restructured relationships between media sectors. Creative writing and reading social media platforms like Wattpad are challenging what it means to publish fiction in the early 21st century, and digital streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu and others have begun looking to these platforms to source creative content for adaptation. Praxis on creative writing social media platforms is shaped by a complex and ongoing interplay between the technocultural and socio-economic conditions of platforms and their users. This article argues for an integration of publishing studies and platform studies by applying a media ecology framework to map behaviour on Wattpad, one of the largest creative writing social media platforms, and the relationships it has developed with other media companies. Specifically, it draws on and extends José van Dijck’s ((2013) The Culture of Connectivity: A Critical History of Social Media. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.) microsystem/ecosystem connective media model and proposes a broader conceptualisation of the entertainment ecosystem that incorporates adaptation of content across the book publishing and entertainment media sectors. Mapping these platforms alongside legacy media and publishing companies offers a productive framework for theorising contemporary entertainment media production within the platform media landscape.

Institutions, platforms and the production of debut success in contemporary book culture

“…Our case studies show that prizes, especially for unpublished work, remain important sources for the accumulation of symbolic capital, which is important in and transferable across both models of capitalism. Intensified connections between traditional and digital media products can also be seen in media and technology companies that trade in the commercialisation of intellectual property through adaptations and transmedia ecosystems, such as Wattpad, Webtoon and Tencent (Parnell, 2021a). Rather than being independent and competing modes of capitalism, conglomerate capitalism and digital platform capitalism are closely interwoven, as the discovery of these debut successes shows.…”

“…Publishing studies is attentive to the new economics of the book industry, including the rise of technology companies following the extensive digitisation of the industry (Parnell, 2021a; Ray Murray and Squires, 2013; Thompson, 2012). An important component of these debates is the power relations that shape a globalised industry (Casanova, 2004; Sapiro, 2010).…”

“…These professional connections are leveraged by international publishing houses in the exportation of books and other intellectual property into various territories, whether in translation or as original work (Steiner, 2018). Many of these market mechanisms have been transformed by digital technologies and platform capitalism (Parnell, 2021a; Ray Murray and Squires, 2013).…”

When is a Poet an Instapoet?

“…POET, AUTHOR, PRODUCER, CREATOR In The Death of the Artist: How Creators are Struggling to Survive in the Age of Billionaires and Big Tech, essayist and literary critic William Deresiewicz presents a well-researched argument for how we are now progressing with great speed into a fourth paradigm for the artist: the artist as producer (Deresiewicz 2020). This is supported by research done on artists' relation to social media and the internet (Marshall, Moore, & Barbour 2019;Marwick 2015;Parnell 2021;van Driel & Dumitrica 2021). Research related to the literary industry also points to two co-existing modes of capitalism making up the literary field: conglomerate capitalism and platform capitalism (Parnell & Driscoll 2021: 1).…”

Paths to transformation across contemporary reading practices: The role of motivations and genre preferences.

“…1While crowdfunding and the presence of multiple communities dedicated to digital fiction still retain a strong democratic valence, with its popularity heavily relying on the dedications of its users and writers, the case of Wattpad has become more problematic in this respect. A recent study by Parnell (2021) showed that heterogeneity and egalitarianism (proudly stated in Wattpad’s Code of Conduct), are not guaranteed by the platform’s relatively open system of publishing. Partnerships with external (Hulu and Netflix) and platform-specific forms of capital (Wattpad Premium and Wattpad Stars) significantly changed the platform since its launch.…”