The Good, the Bad & the Unexpected

This article marks my 100th story posted to Vocal. With 52 days on this site, so far, that comes out to just over 2 posts per day. I don't anticipate that pace continuing, but it sets a good foundation for moving forward.

Most of the material I have shared here was written before joining Vocal. Thirty pieces were first published in various literary journals, or in my first chapbook. The majority, however, were pieces I've written over the past several years that have not been published, or submitted, elsewhere.

Here is the breakdown of what was written exclusively for Vocal, previously written and previously unpublished.

Written for Vocal: 25

Previously unpublished: 45

Previously published: 30

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The Vocal system of breaking topics into "communities" is a bit convoluted, in my opinion. There is some redundancy, as well as arguably odd choices. That means that a creator's work doesn't always fit neatly into one of Vocal's categories. Here I have broken down my 100 articles/stories/poems into broad categories of my choosing.

Poetry: 66

Fiction: 16

Reviews: 1

Essays: 9

Unofficial Challenges: 3

Miscellaneous: 6

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One thing I had not anticipated when I joined Vocal was that I would be hosting unofficial writing challenges. This has turned out to be one of the more enjoyable aspects of being on this platform and has been fairly popular with my fellow Vocal creators. As of now, I have conducted two writing challenges, under the moniker of "Prompted".

The first challenge was for poetry and the second was for short story fiction. There were 37 entries for the first challenge which was a pleasant surprise. The second challenge had much higher word count criteria, so unsurprisingly, there were fewer entrants.

My two most-read articles on Vocal are the posts for my Prompted Writer's Challenges. The post announcing the winners of the first challenge is also in my Top 10 most-read articles. This is something I plan to continue as long as the participation remains high. You can learn more about the challenge series and read the entries for each at the following links.

Prompted #1

Winner's Circle: Prompted #1

Prompted #2

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I have received a few Top Story awards on Vocal. One thing that is clear is that getting a nod for Top Story gives a noticeable boost to the number of reads on a story. Four of my top five most-read stories were selected for Top Story.

Here are my Top 10 most-read stories, excluding those related to challenges and the like.

1. 7
2. Holding On
3. The Breakers Motel
4. Oh, Pomegranate!
5. Ghost Writer
6. Zero
7. Spellbound
8. Night Falls on St. Andrew
9. It Lurks in Shadows
10. Salt of the Earth

Of my Top 10 most read, all but one is a poem. The exception is the microfiction, "Ghost Writer". When it comes to nonfiction, my most-read piece comes in at #39 on the overall list. That is a review of the poetry collection "Archipelagos" by Geoffrey Philp [Geoffrey also happens to be a member of Vocal].

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Another thing worth mentioning is that Vocal pays based on number of reads. This makes sense from the standpoint of their business model. A website's relative success is measured in clicks/impressions/reads. Since the number of reads is directly related to compensation from Vocal, the read count is, arguably, the most important metric for a Vocal creator.

Still, I think it bears mentioning that number of reads does not equate directly to the most popular. As a writer, of course, I want to be compensated for my work. However, as a writer, I want to know what resonates with my audience.

The number of reads for any given story, or poem, is just one of the relevant measurements. I plan to publish a follow-up article soon dealing with the simple metrics I use to determine the relative popularity of my stories on Vocal.

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As I move on to the next 100 published stories, I look forward to seeing what new milestones present themselves. If you are interested in joining me on the journey, feel free to subscribe to my content. Your support is appreciated.