I try not to overthink the chapters, but I do a little more now. My publisher still lets me post the chapters on Wattpad first so I still get that sense of unedited posting. How have you been able to maintain the immediacy that you loved about writing for Wattpad-with very little re-tinkering or rethinking, giving it to readers the moment you’ve stopped typing-within your current editing process?ĪT: It’s a little different now that I have an editor, but not too much has changed. How have your writing rituals changed, now that you’re a published author in the traditional sense? Do you still write on a mobile phone?ĪT: I don’t use my phone as much anymore because of the typos haha. I had no way besides Instagram to promote myself and I knew zero about the publishing world. When I started writing, I couldn’t have imagined a lot of people reading it, I had zero followers on Wattpad and I didn’t even have Twitter. How do you look back on this experience now? Was it truly unexpected or did you always want to be a writer when you grew up?ĪT: Thank you! It was truly unexpected. Now that I know about book blogging, I would have loved that job! I love the modern way you became an author: first, posting your work for free on Wattpad, generating a following, then scoring a traditional publishing deal. I thought I wanted to work for the government, or maybe be a science teacher. Seriously, I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do for a career. If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?Īnna Todd: I have no idea. The two of us talked sex scenes, fandom, her new writing process, and Mr.

She does readings and tours, but also has her own app and a shop on her website that sells t-shirts, hoodies, and rings inspired by her characters. She works with an editor now, but still uploads her unedited writing to Wattpad for insight from fans. Today with six published books under her belt, and a seventh newly released– Nothing Less, the second book in her After spinoff series–Todd still straddles the line between the old-school and innovation. From there, she landed a four-book publishing deal with Simon & Schuster.

She uploaded them for free on the story-sharing app Wattpad, amassing over 300 million reads. Her first stories were fan fiction written on a mobile phone. If anyone has revamped the idea of “novelist” for the 21st Century it’s Anna Todd.

Annatodd