Our Mayfly Vocal Stories
Observations On Getting Our Stories Read
Introduction
I was spurred to write this because of what has happened to a couple of my stories, and I am not sure what the answer is to solve this. I have written in the past about getting what I call "The Creep", which is achieved by sharing with groups outside of Vocal and the Vocal Facebook Groups, and here are a couple of articles on the subject:
The music is PostModern Jukebox covering Radiohead's "Creep"
So What Is The Problem?
Firstly, this recent Challenge entry has not had a single read
It has been entered in a challenge and shared on my timeline and in several Facebook Vocal groups. It is not that bad, but it does stick out like a sore thumb in my stats. I am sure many Vocal Creators have unread stories, but this is unusual for me, especially with a challenge entry. It will be interesting to see if it is still at zero reads when Vocal announces the challenge winners.
The problem is that in all social media feeds the only thing that people see is what is there now. People seldom go back very far in the feeds, so after a few hours, your story usually sinks and unless people find it somewhere else, that may be the last time anyone but you sees it.
So your story's visibility in any social media feed is like a mayfly; it has a very brief life.
The other problem I have with is particular story is that is not something I can share with groups outside Vocal, so it is likely to stay on zero reads, c'est la vie.
Then there is this one, which got lots of comments and shares here:
I can't check the reads on this story because Vocal's Stats do not work properly, so I don't know if those shares and comments have turned into reads.
This is still the state of Vocal's STATS
I don't know what makes people outside of Vocal read our work instead of just liking and commenting on the image, but I know that some do work like this one, which gets a few reads every day:
Conclusion
Thank you so much for reading, and I am sorry that I have no real answers for you
About the Creator
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Comments (11)
Stats have been crazy lately for me
What kind of crazy person wouldn't give your work a read!! I love reading them you purely talented I wrote a new poem I hope you enjoy it 💖💖💖💓❤️
Great analogy, Mike. It is so true. Your story is current for a couple of hours at best, and then it is gone. I don't know if there is a solution with the volume of stories that come through on Vocal on a daily basis.
I'm guessing your stats are much better than mine, because you're so prolific! You have 11K+ pieces at the point I'm writing this, and I have 231. Anyway, I like reading your stuff!
I don't either, other than to say that we just got back from a long & arduous trip where I could not be on Vocal so am just beginning to work my way back through those stories I've missed over the last two weeks.
Mike, you are a great writer, and I try to read as many of your articles as I can.
Interesting and yes, our stories have short lives. This is partly to do with the nature of social nature, its immediacy, and partly our focus. For many of use, the focus is too much on Vocal and not enough on the outside world. Vocal has the same issues with longevity as other social media communities. If we are going to generate sustained interest in our work, we need to move the focus to somewhere other than Vocal. Vocal could help do this but currently has not interest in anything beyond the internal, mostly to do with tackling cyberdemons, it seems to me. On which basis we need to come up with an alternative to Vocal or a supplement to Vocal, or something like a half-way house between Vocal and KDP. Thanks for kicking off the discussion
Such a relatable reflection, Mike. Our stories deserve more than a mayfly's moment, and your transparency helps every creator feel less alone in the silence. Keep sharing—you’re seen
Ah the mysterious vocal stats and the wonders of what gets read or missed. Sometimes it is just the way it is. Other times it is a glitch. Whatever the reason it is frustrating
It is summer time and it's close to July 4th. Many people are on Vacation. I got a lot of reads when I post my stories on Instagram but I have not posted on Instagram like I used to. I am getting back to things. I have gotten 200 reads just on one story from posting it on Instagram.
It'll be nice if Vocal Stats had a search feature or some kinda filter