Step 5: Promote Your Story

Vocal provides the tools you need to create amazing stories and encourage connection and engagement, but you can take it even further with these tips and suggestions to promote your work. Some are simple, some require a bit more planning and effort, but all make it possible for you to increase the engagement, and earnings, your story receives.

Social, social, social

If you don’t yet have social accounts, now is a good time to start. Whether you have thousands of followers or just a few close friends, you should make Vocal and social media a two way street—use your Vocal author page and stories to promote your social media, and use these social accounts to promote your Vocal stories.

On your personal social accounts, be open and honest about your work—messages like “Check out my very first story!” or, “This is a topic that’s really important to me, so I decided to share my thoughts,” will encourage your friends and family to support you.

If you’re really trying to grow your audience your promotion shouldn’t end with your direct network. There are so many resources out there to help you connect with a larger audience—use them! Try out all of the following to see what works best for you:

• Share your story in applicable subreddits, Instagram, or Facebook pages.
• Consider creating your own LinkedIn newsletter if you write about topics of interest to LinkedIn members like work, leadership, management, and customer service.
• TikTok has driven sales of books, leverage it for your own reads. Find out more here.
• Use Pinterest or Flipboard to have your story curated and shared with other readers you might not normally reach.
• Twitter is still effective in reaching a wide audience.
• Use Linkin.Bio to link your latest story to an Instagram post (or, if you have over 10,000 followers, use your swipe up feature in IG Stories to direct readers to your story).
• Pin your latest story to your social feeds, or include it in your Instagram bio, so that it remains front and center.
• Discord, Mastodon, and Quora are excellent places to find people interested in your writing.
• If you mention a person or location in your story, be sure to tag them (and, of course, tag @Vocal so we don’t miss it!).
• It’s not for everyone, but if you have the budget, test out boosting some of your social posts. Even $1 a day towards a sponsored post can give you a lot of insight into what audience you’ll reach, or what platforms are most promising.

As you continue to create and promote stories, start using Vocal and social media as a two way street. Embed your social profiles at the end of your story to encourage people to follow you, and use social media to share and promote each of your stories.

Engage with other Vocal creators

Explore Vocal’s Top Stories to see recommended favorites from the curation team. Make note of and subscribe to creators whose stories you love, or whose interests align with yours. Read their work and leave thoughtful comments, share their stories on social media—or even send them a tip to show your support.

Pro Tip: It's important to leave a genuine comment and never just leave a link to your own stories!

Fostering communities of creators supporting creators encourages everyone to create, and it’s also a great way to help you build a dedicated fan base. Check out our guide on connecting with fellow writers here.

Engage with your readers

Do you see your audience liking or sharing your stories on Twitter of Facebook? Engage with your fans to keep them coming back for more. Like or comment on their social posts, follow back, share something of theirs in return, and say thanks.

Just as important as engaging on social media is engaging with the comments your readers leave on your stories. Make it a practice to respond to readers' comments within a day to encourage the connection. Find more details on engaging with readers and subscribers here.

Start keeping an eye on your Vocal stats

Monitor your Vocal Stats to see which stories are performing best. This will give you a great first indication of which stories your growing audience is drawn to, and what topics you should be focusing on in the future.

Reviewing your Stats page regularly, especially at the beginning, will be instrumental in figuring out what works and what doesn’t and improving your stories over time. If a story is performing particularly well, take note of what’s different about it and use that information going forward.

Don’t underestimate the Call to Action

Include a 'call to action' in your stories and social media sharing. Invite people to subscribe to you (It's FREE) so that they don't miss any of your writing. Depending on the audience let your readers know that they can support you through a pledge of just $2.99 a month.

Use the call to action to invite comments, and encourage readers to interact by adding a question for them to answer or asking them to share a suggestion.

Pro Tip: Readers may not know that they can share your stories. Enlist their help in spreading your work by letting them know they can share it, and remind them to tag you so you'll know.

Promoting your story will grow an engaged audience—and on Vocal, the more people that read your story, the more you earn. It's time to find out more about the way you can maximize your earnings.

Step 6: Maximize Your Earnings→