The Creep

Introduction

The title may make you think that this is about some dodgy character, even me, but it isn't. It is a tiny treatise on getting a little reward for our Vocal Creations.

The music is Postmodern Jukebox's take on Radiohead's "Creep" because the title is my tongue firmly in cheek.

So How Does This Go?

Usually, our Vocal Stories get an initial slew of reads and then slope off into the Vocal background maybe to never be read again, unless we pull them out and try to share them again.

An issue is that once they have been read then Vocal does not credit repeat reads, no matter how old the story is. This is understandable but I think there is an issue where you may drop into a story, maybe heart it with the intention of reading it later then come back and read the piece. However I think Vocal records the first visit as not long enough to register as a read, but when the return visit comes the story is already marked as read so the creator does not get paid for the read. I have no proof of this and may be wrong, but it would explain the many stories I have where the hearts majorly outweigh the reads. I am sure Vocal will tell me that it is working perfecty, like they do every time that I try to raise an issue with them.

So What Is The Creep I Am Referring To?

What we would really like is for people to keep reading our stories once they have been published and shared.

Our story appears on Vocal, and if we are lucky it is picked as a Top Story or even a Challenge Placement and therefore gleans a few more reads. The Facebook Vocal Groups are a good place to drop your stories for your initial reads (check them in my list poem after this), but reads seldom continue after the initial drop.

People eulogise SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to get reads, but I am no expert in that and sometimes clickbait can bring you reads. My most-read story was a clickbait experiment but is now virtually dead in the water.

In my top ten most-read stories three stories illustrate "The Creep" that I am talking about. They are marked in yellow here, and each day they get two or three reads each.

These stories were shared on Twitter, Threads, and in some related Facebook groups. I am sorry I can't tell you which ones because we cannot see where our Vocal reads come from. Wherever I have posted them, they have found the holy grail of daily reads.

The thing is, these were not even immediate successes, but have just kept creeping up my charts, and I am hoping those three will one day overtake that clickbait story and become my most-read pieces.

In order to get "The Creep" you need some hard work, some good luck, and something worth reading that is going to capture people's attention. Remember these readers will not be your Vocal audience. Look at the Vocal Hearts on that screenshot, they are less than 2% of the read total whereas usually you hit 10% to 25% or more for a normal story.

Conclusion

When I see one of my stories get "The Creep" it does cheer me up because it makes me feel that I am doing something right. The hard work is to find a group that is likely to have a lot of members who then spend some time reading your creation.

Thank you for reading, I hope I have given you an idea or two.

This is the poem that contains my favourite Vocal Groups, all of them can be used to increase exposure for your creations.