We Can't Make People Read Our Work
Or Can We?
Introduction
This is more observations about our creations on Vocal. I am reasonably prolific and I certainly don't expect anyone to read all or even part of my work, but we all want a little recognition to confirm that we are moving in the right direction. I try to comment as much as I can to let people know that I have read their story and sometimes I find I am the only one in there, and think "Why has nobody else read this" and then if I have the option I share in one or more of the Facebook Groups.
So How Do We Hook A Read, A Top Story, Or Even A Challenge Win?
If I could answer that I probably wouldn't be writing this.. I can only say why I read stories, and it is mostly the title of the story and the subject and possibly the creator.
I am put off by people telling me to read their stories unless they are relevant to what is happening where they post it and when I see published story after published story by the same creator I get put off, even when they are friends of mine. The Haiku, Senryū (川柳) and the current Nonet is devilish for that. If I don't read your challenge entry it's not that I don't like your work it's just that it overwhelms me (I know that might seem like an excuse from me), but when I see something that grabs my interest I am in there.
It may be a word, a phrase, a title, or an image. It could be anything. Sometimes we write stories that we think are good but get very few reads yet have more hearts and comments than reads. Every story I share in the rest of this article has a maximum of two reads but has comments and five hearts or more, so they are liked, but Vocal doesn't see them as being read.
So the implication is that these are not pieces that catch people's attention, but then there are others that get lots of attention and I don't know why.
A recent one for a challenge was given a Top Story within hours of publication, but that does not mean it will even place in the challenge, but it gave me some recognition and therefore it was successful.
Conclusion
I have had over fifty thousand reads, hundreds of Top Stories and one Challenge placement. How do I do it? I don't know, but I engage with as many creators as I can and that generates reciprocity. I have a decent-sized audience and every so often one of my posts gets an unexpected number of reads, again I do not know why.
The music I included is "Don't You Want Me" by The Human League which is sort of appropriate.
About the Creator
Mike Singleton 💜 Mikeydred
A Weaver of Tales and Poetry
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Comments (8)
Great work that makes one and me think. I know I have many subscribers and I do read a lot of others work. I would like more people to read and comment on my work for I like to share and write about what I learned and read.
I sometimes get overwhelmed too so I totally understand how you feel. Sending you lots of love and hugs ❤️
Maybe if people got the ha'penny for reading as well as writing it would work out better. Only Leaderboard folks get paid for reading, among other things. And there are just not many spots open that can get them. Do the math on that. Who you are matters in the grand scheme of Vocal.
My strategy is just to keep writing, posting, and interacting as much as possible, To be in the game you have to stay in the game,
I think Gerard is on to something: if the primary objective is writing, reading what others create can be eclipsed by the desire to write more effectively and prodigiously oneself. It ought to be emphasized, however, that you are a generous, supportive and voracious reader, Mikeydred, and many, myself included, owe you a debt of gratitude as a result.
Don't you read me baby, don't you read me ohhh ohhhh. Love Human League. I just get tired of reading and commenting. I truly appreciate comments that are of some substance but honestly there is only so much one can write in comments a day in my opinion that is realistic. Over commenters must be on black beauties.
The problem is that Vocal is a platform for writers, but not readers. Sure, writers read, but the Vocal way isn't how writers really read. They primarily WRITE, regardless of whether it's read or not.
I suspect one of the challenges is that Vocal is primarily a platform for writers. It might seem that writing and reading go hand-in-hand, but that possibly isn't always the case. Some people are only interested in hearing their own voice (we meet these people IRL, so of course we'll find them online). Some people do most of their reading offline, perhaps because they don't much like reading off a screen. And it's easy to get overwhelmed with Vocal content, however carefully we filter. Probably the biggest difference I find between Vocal and blogging is that on a blog I can collate and arrange my work around a theme fairly easily. Here, unless I want to create multiple accounts, my thoughts on music, sport, running, beer, politics, and my attempts at fiction or creative writing all end up running together. That makes it hard for a reader to get a sense of what I'm about, or to get to the bits of my writing that interest them while avoiding the stuff that doesn't. Not sure how Vocal could fix that, unless it allowed writers to create multiple profiles for different communities.