What does Wattpad mean to you as a writer?Įverything. You're a huge part of the Wattpad community.

It’s humbling and I feel blessed to be a part of their debut lineup. There are millions of manuscripts to choose from, but they chose to put their faith in my story. When I first got the news that KCPLoft was interested in publishing my story I didn’t believe it. How does it feel be part of the launch of Kids Can's new YA imprint, KCP Loft? LS: Textrovert takes the best parts of The Cell Phone Swap and streamlines it into a cohesive novel. Some scenes were harder to cut than others but I’m happy with the results. I went from a hundred and twenty thousand words down to fifty thousand. Since I was serializing the story on Wattpad, there was a ton of content that didn’t make sense for the published version.

However, soon the story started picking up traction, and before I knew it, I was getting a publishing deal.Įditing the manuscript took a lot of work. It was a fun side project, but I didn’t think anything would come of it especially since it’s the first story I’ve ever written. Textrovert originally started as a story called The Cell Phone Swap on Wattpad. How did you originally envision the story's path? Lindsey Summers: Tell us about Textrovert's journey, from a Wattpad mega-hit to publication with Kids Can Press. We're thrilled to welcome Lindsey to Open Book today to talk about her Wattpad success (including the fact that The Cell Phone Swap was the first story she ever wrote!), adapting Textrovert for KidsCan, and what it means to belong to a community of online book lovers. Funny, absorbing, and full of unexpected revelations, it's a YA story with heart and style. Textrovert tells the story of how a simple cell phone mix up changes the lives of teens Keely and Talon. Showing that traditional publishing and new online methods can work in concert, KidsCan Press had Summers pare down her serialized WattPad mega-hit The Cell Phone Swap into a young adult novel, Textrovert, which was one of a handful of titles that launched the press's new YA imprint, KCP Loft. One of the most popular authors on Wattpad , the internet hotspot for sharing original stories, Summers' stories (published under her screen name, DoNotMicrowave) are read by tens of millions of people regularly. How many authors dream of having millions and millions of readers? For Lindsey Summers, that dream is real.

Textrovert by Lindsey Summers