HarperCollins Children’s Books has announced a new collaboration with Wattpad, the global multiplatform entertainment company and community for writers, in an effort to cultivate new voices in teen fiction.
This marks the latest partnership between Wattpad and a major entertainment company in bringing Wattpad stories to various media, including print, digital, film, and television. Wattpad also has a partnership with Sourcebooks Fire, to publish books for YA readers. To date, Wattpad has seen more than 375 million uploads of original content.
Sara Sargent, executive editor at HarperCollins Children’s Books, will work in selecting stories previously published on Wattpad for print publication. Sargent told PW, “When Wattpad approached us about the partnership it felt so natural.” She believes the collaboration will allow for greater discovery of new talent, saying: “I came over to HarperCollins two years ago to really focus on cutting-edge YA and children’s books. Being able to connect with as far-reaching a platform as Wattpad, which I consider more of a social media platform than anything else, felt perfect.”
Though the partnership is still in the early stages, Sargent said, “I’m in the middle of reviewing titles right now, but I do have my eye on a couple of things.” She hopes to find “the books that are speaking to young people and to give them things they can sink their teeth into and enjoy.”
Ashleigh Gardner, head of partnerships for Wattpad Studios, said in a statement, “In the last 30 days, people have spent the equivalent of 1,700 years reading YA stories on Wattpad. We have insights no other company has and are eager to help HarperCollins discover some of the best YA storytellers and the most viral content on the internet.”
