Netflix’s Sweet Home and Hellbound both started on WEBTOON. But comics are more diverse than many people realize. We’ve seen comics about superheroes become the biggest film franchises in the world. They are the most exciting and diverse format in storytelling, and there is a comic for everyone. Because we all know that comics are for everyone. Bringing stories from the platform to bookshelves allows for a wider audience, who may have never even heard of a WEBTOON.
WEBTOON has such a devoted fan base that showed support for our recent publishing partnerships, like Hooky and Lore Olympus. GARDNER: I think it appeals to anyone who loves incredible storytelling.
THE BEAT: We’ve seen webcomics in print become bestsellers (Lore Olympus is a recent example) – do you think WEBTOON Unscrolled appeals mostly to existing fans of the webcomics, or is more about finding new audiences? We pioneered the model to bring globally famous authors online to new audiences and new formats, and we’ll continue to make creators our top priority at WEBTOON Unscrolled.
We also understand how to support creators through every phase of their publishing journey. We’re already part of the WEBTOON family, and we understand fandom better than anyone, so entering the comics world is a natural step for us. As home to thousands of creator-owned content with amazing, diverse visions from all over the world, WEBTOON is disrupting the comics market, and we’re excited to bring these stories into print and into the hands of fans and traditional comics readers.Įvery part of Wattpad WEBTOON Studios has the same goal: to adapt amazing stories from a combined audience of more than 166 million people, for new mediums, verticalizing IP across formats. WEBTOON Unscrolled adds to that incredible diversity of genres and talent, bringing some of the biggest names and undiscovered talent on WEBTOON to bookshelves. We have imprints for contemporary adult fiction, Young Adult stories, and a romance a co-publishing imprint that will be curated by author and entrepreneur Anna Todd. With the combined global IP from WEBTOON and Wattpad, imprints allow us to bring different segments of fans with different types of content they already love. Since launching the publishing group, imprints have been an important part of our strategy. When Wattpad Studios and WEBTOON Studios merged as Wattpad WEBTOON Studios earlier this year, the Wattpad WEBTOON Book Group was soon formed. After working with publishing partners for years to turn Wattpad hits into published sensations like Anna Todd’s best-selling After, we launched Wattpad Books to bring more stories with global, built-in audiences to bookshelves. THE BEAT: Can you tell us a little about Wattpad’s existing publishing programs and how WEBTOON Unscrolled fits into it? Are there any special challenges for publishing comics?ĪSHLEIGH GARDNER: Absolutely! It all started with Wattpad Books in 2019. To get a little more more information on Wattpad Webtoon’s launch into print, we sent a few questions to Ashleigh Gardner, SVP, Publishing at Wattpad WEBTOON Studios, who has long been in charge of Wattpad’s previous publishing efforts. Tower of God (part of Unscrolled’s initial line) has 4.5 billion reads globally and was adapted for a an anime available on Crunchyroll and HBO Max. Miriam Bonastre Tur’s Hooky was just published by Etch/Clarion Books on Sept.
Rachel Smythe’s Lore Olympus, the massive hit hosted on Webtoon, is a bestseller from PRH, and is in development as an animated series from Wattpad WEBTOON Studios and The Jim Henson Company. Webcomics to print is not a new thing, of course. Together the two platforms have a combined audience of more than 166 million people. The two entities merged into a content studio in June, with $100 million in funding from Korean parent company Naver. Wattpad is a user generated platform for prose that Webtoon acquired earlier this year.