Wattpad Acquires Red Room Writers’ Site

The Red Room site will be subsumed into Wattpad and go offline.

Online writing and reading community Wattpad has acquired the Red Room, an online community originally described as a “Facebook for authors.” The Red Room site will be subsumed into Wattpad and go offline on July 8.

Former Red Room authors are invited to create new accounts at Wattpad. A spokesperson for Wattpad said Red Room authors will have to create a Wattpad account and "migrate their stories over themselves." She said that Wattpad has a “dedicated [person] on our Community Team who is helping Red Roomers with this transition."

Red Room was founded by Ivory Madison, a lawyer, entrepreneur, author and comics writer, who has written graphic novels for DC Comics. She launched Red Room in 2008 as a site where writers could set up their own pages, connect with fans and sell books.

Madison raised more than $2 million in investment capital. By 2009 the site claimed it had 20,000 members and 2,000 authors.

In a prepared statement, Madison noted that the acquisition will give Red Room authors access to the 30 million people that visit Wattpad each month. She wrote: "When I launched Red Room in 2008 I wanted to break down the walls between readers and writers. I’m thrilled Red Room authors have found a new home in a friendly and supportive global community."