Introducing Subscribe

The single most requested and anticipated feature to date is finally here, and we couldn’t be more excited. We’ve been working to determine the best way to help your fans follow along with your stories and keep up to date with their favorite creators.

We’ve heard of all sorts of creative solutions you've come up with: some readers used apps like Pocket to save your stories for later; some readers joined your Facebook groups or followed you on Instagram in the hopes that you’d be sharing links to your new stories; some readers even had your profiles bookmarked in their browsers because they loved your stories so much. This has undoubtedly been a learning experience, ensuring that your fans were able to find your newest Vocal stories through social media platforms, through email lists, and more, and so many of you have gotten great at building your audiences off Vocal and bringing them back to read your stories, time and again. But we’re happy to tell you that those days are over.

Now, your fans can subscribe to your profile, and you can subscribe to the creators you love, right on Vocal. This means you can control the stories you’re seeing in your Feed, making it easier to read new content from the creators you love. It also means that you’re more likely to capture recurring readers on your stories, since they have a simpler time keeping up when you publish. And the best part is, it’s just the beginning.

Meet Subscribe

You’ll see the option to Subscribe to a creator front and center in their profile. Just hit “Subscribe” to add their stories to your Feed—you can unsubscribe any time by just clicking that same “Subscribed” button once more.

To access the creators and stories you’re subscribed to, click the drop-down on your profile icon, the same way you access your Settings or Profile. There, you’ll see a new option that reads “Subscriptions.” That page will take you to your subscriptions, where you can view and manage the profiles of creators you’re subscribed to.

You’ll also be able to toggle over to your Feed, where all the stories from the creators you’re subscribed to will feed in as they’re published, and you’ll be able to see all past published stories, too.

That’s right—we believe in the chronological feed. No algorithms serving you content that they think you might want to see, and no updates from creators you follow that never make their way to your timeline. It’s the same layout of Vocal’s home page and Communities that you already know and love; no ads, no algorithm, just the stories you opt-in to seeing, from the creators you’re subscribed to, in the order that they’re published. This way, you know where the content is that you want to see when you want to see it, and you know that you’re supporting the creators you follow just by engaging with their stories, helping them earn from reads and giving them encouragement.

Your Stats page has also received a slight makeover. Now, you’ll see that your Subscriber count is displayed prominently on that page, so you can easily keep track of your subscribers and how they compare to your read count. Currently, you’ll only be able to see how many readers are subscribed to your content, not any identifying info about them, but in future updates and iterations of Subscribe you’ll be able to see details about who your subscribers are.

What’s next

This version of Subscribe is just the first of many updates planned for Vocal. In the upcoming months, we’ll be releasing an exclusive version of Subscribe, available only to Vocal+ members. This new version of Subscribe will offer a paid subscription option, as opposed to this free subscription, meaning Vocal+ members will soon be able to offer paid subscriptions to their content. This update will include features that give Vocal+ creators the opportunity to communicate directly with their paid subscribers, create exclusive members-only stories, as well as a more robust, reliable way to earn from your stories each month.

Subscribe, and the coming-soon versions of paid subscriptions, are the first in a series of updates meant to enhance not only your experience as a content creator, but as a content consumer. A more well-rounded storytelling experience includes community-building and connection—and now, as a creator and a subscriber, you can offer your community more support than ever before.