Penguin Random House Joins Hands with Wattpad to Interact with 70 mn-Plus Readers & Writers

Penguin Random House India announces a new collaboration with Wattpad, an arm of Toronto-headquartered WP Technology Inc, the world’s largest social storytelling platform. In this partnership, authors of the publishing house will be featured on the storytelling platform, interacting with a global community of 70 million readers and writers.

Wattpad’s massive community of story-lovers will now have the opportunity to preview exclusive content from Penguin authors about their upcoming books. The publishing house will also bring their authors and editors for ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) sessions on Wattpad, where they will interact and answer questions posed by Wattpad followers.

Interestingly, Wattpad’s vision is to entertain and connect the world through stories. The global multiplatform entertainment company is unleashing the full potential of stories to the world -- in any format, using the power of community and technology. Its flagship app is the world’s leading social storytelling platform and home to a community of more than 70 million people. Interestingly these people spend over 22 billion minutes a month and are engaged in original stories. It has developed a Story DNA Machine Learning technology, that allows the company to understand and discover stories from among 565 million-plus uploads that have been shared on the platform.

Wattpad Studios and Wattpad Books are using data-backed insights to turn Wattpad stories into books, films, TV shows, and digital projects, thereby transforming entertainment and publishing. Wattpad Brand Partnership help brands build deep engagement with Millennial and Gen Z consumers, offering a full suite of advertising products. The company has a second storytelling product called Tap by Wattpad. And that offers immersive interactive entertainment experiences in over a dozen languages. 

Commenting on the association, Penguin Random House India spokesperson said that this is a symbiotic relationship where we join forces to inspire, inform and entertain. Wattpad is an excellent platform for their authors and editors to connect with a large and relevant audience base. They are looking forward to engaging with readers and writers; sharing exciting content and helping people discover new books, he said.

Devashish Sharma, India Country Manager, Wattpad said that all over the world, writers have built a massive community of followers on Wattpad. They are working every day to create opportunities for Indian writers, so it’s amazing to see prestigious names like star fantasy fiction writer Krishna Udayasankar, bestselling authors Durjoy Datta and Sudeep Nagarkar and debut writer Roshan Ali joining the Wattpad community.

Viral Jani, Sr VP, Operations at Times Bridge added that they are happy to see Wattpad welcoming writers from one of the world’s biggest publishing houses. By joining Wattpad, Penguin’s roster of literary trailblazers will be able to inspire and encourage published authors, budding writers and enthusiastic readers to interact and create a more vibrant literary community. Penguin’s enviable list of authors and content and Wattpad’s worldwide audience of literary enthusiasts makes for a perfect match. They are confident this will be a success and aim to bring more unique collaborations on the table for Wattpad this year, he said.

Times Bridge, a leading investment firm that brings global companies with bold ambitions to India, recently invested in Wattpad. Times Bridge is working alongside Wattpad to forge new publishing and entertainment partnerships that will increase Wattpad’s market footprint.