Okay.
There is a new Wattpad competitor called Dreame.
I suspect a lot of people here read stories on Wattpad.
Dreame is similar in concept.
BUT.
Dreame has been attempting to headhunt writers from Wattpad. Sounds good, right?
Nope.
One writer was offered a $60 advance…to sign over the RIGHTS to his book. They’ll license the print book rights back for 30%.
Please do not sign with these people as a writer.
And please do not give them money as a reader…they are either a scam or just completely clueless. Either way, you’re better off sticking to Wattpad and tracking down writers you think deserve money to pay them directly ;).
Dreame also tried this on AO3. They got an account, posted what looked perfunctorily like a fanfic but was actually a recruitment pitch, and then ran around on high-volume fanfics making comments asking writers to join up and directing them to their recruitment post, in violation of AO3’s TOS. I had a comment from them and AO3 took down the post after I reported it.
Although I will say if you check out their site there’s some real fun badfic reading amongst their paid authors.
They’re doing it on Fictionpress as well. I got an email from them back in December & ignored it, figuring there was something off in the offer, but I didn’t realize just how scammy it was in its terms.
You’re smart.
They are claiming for one of their “contests” that they will “invite professional book reviewers” to review your books. No professional book reviewer is going to review a web series.
Some more gems, because I went to their site so you don’t have to:
To get the reward for daily updates, you have to update DAILY. You get two days off a month.
They are allowing fanfic authors to claim that they have the rights to their work.
And yeah, I’m sure there’s fun badfic reading, but let’s not give them too much traffic, okay? 😛
This is the first I’ve heard of Dreame, but that all sounds at least a little shifty.
I’d encourage any writer – regardless of whether they plan to publish – to do some research on how legitimate publishing works and what the red flags are.
Here are a few articles on red flags and publishing scams, which can help writers make a more informed and safer choice:
Publishing Companies To Avoid And Nasty New Author Scams
Best and Worst Self-Publishing Services Reviewed & Rated by the Alliance of Independent Authors
Guys, seriously beware! I used to write on Wattpad and had a short story on there called “Molly, Molly” anyways a Dreame “Editor” pm’d me asking to me to switch over there and that I’d get paid. Right off the bat I said no, and they still pressed and pressed. I SAID NO 3 TIMES before they finally got the message.
The Copyright License Agreement is here and it looks dodgy as hell.
In case y’all didn’t hear/believe me the first six times^^^
They’re back.
In bold are names/sites you should avoid:
“Dear Author, [you guys know my name by now, gimme a break]
This is Monnie, an editor from STARY PTE. LTD, which is
based in Singapore and owns two fast-developing fiction-reading platforms:
FicFun, focusing on presenting thrilling stories for male readers while Dreame,
a community featuring romance stories for girls. […] You can learn more about us by visiting
our website, or joining the FB Group “Online Fiction Writers & Readers
Union”.Fifth time’s the charm, eh creeps?
no seriously, this is the fifth time I’ve literally told them to “fuck off” and they won’t