How Reddit Became My Most Useful Promoting Tool

Ah, the front page of the internet. I was never big on Reddit until recently. Like myself, I imagine many of you are reading various articles on Vocal trying to gain inspiration to write that compelling article in order to draw people in and get those views. While there are many resources you can utilize throughout the world wide web to promote yourself as a writer, I've had the most success thus far with the radical realm of Reddit. I'm here today to share my Vocal journey (so far), and hopefully, leave a few helpful tips as to how you can get your published works seen on this incredible collective.

Getting Started on Vocal

I've always been interested in writing as a hobby, but could never figure out a way to monetize it. One day, as I was scrolling through Instagram, I came across this ad stating that I could get paid writing about whatever I wanted. Initially, I'd decided it was too good to be true and chose not to click on it and waste my time. However, that was one persistent advertisement, always showing up on my feed. Finally, I decided to check it out and see what the conditions were. Much to my surprise, there weren't any! All I had to do was sign up to start creating my very own content.

As I researched further, I found that you're paid based on how many views your work gets, kinda like YouTube. That didn't seem too hard, or so I thought. I'd decided to get my toes wet with a couple of poems because, after all, I can spout out poetry like nobody's business. After publishing my first two pieces, it was time to start promoting on other media sites. In my mind, the obvious choice was Twitter, because I would be able to post my content as well as connect with other writers. After a week or so with not so many views, I'd realized it was time to start seeking other options.

My next decision was to seek help through Vocal itself. Utilizing the search feature, I came across probably one of the most helpful articles on the entire website, written by the Vocal staff itself. In short, this article gives you all of the social media tools necessary to promote your stories and stand out in these various communities. After trying all of the websites listed (except for one, of course), I found that a considerable increase in the amount of views. However, it still wasn't enough. There was only one thing to do...

Discovering the Front Page...

After broadening my horizons to topics other than poetry, I had written my third story (my most successful so far). I decided to finally try using Reddit to promote my collection. At this point, I'd expected to go there and see nothing but memes and trolls, though I'm not sure why I associated those two things with Reddit without experiencing them first-hand. What I'd come across was vastly different.

I was surprised to find a limitless array of opportunity. With the magic of Subreddits, I found I was now able to appeal to an audience that was one-hundred percent specific to each type of story. Cynically, I posted links to my stories across multiple subreddits, expecting similar results to the ones I'd been receiving from previous social media websites.

To my shock, after an hour or so, I'd had hundreds of new views! This was crazy! I was finally getting somewhere! After calming down, I thought about it. When you post something on Reddit, it's seen by everyone in that particular subreddit as opposed to just your circle of connections.

I'm by no means a professional on the subject, but if you are having trouble getting yourself out there, I'd highly recommend signing up for Reddit.