I know firsthand that every read counts, and it can be tough to achieve a top story or win a challenge so that your work is highlighted.

For this reason, I have come up with a reading strategy which I think might be more helpful for creators on this platform. This is just how I’m going to do things—It’s not meant to be a pressure on anyone else.

At the same time, I don’t want to overwhelm or annoy anyone, so I thought I would make my intentions clear here.

Daily Strategy

I’m going to read as many pieces as possible by one writer at a time.

I think this might be helpful for the following reasons:

1. It’s always beneficial to have more eyeballs on your work on this platform.
2. Reads can lead to (some) money, and, since I can’t support anyone monetarily right now, I thought this might be a good way to go.
3. I like diving into one style of writing. I enjoy the consistency of it.

For the above reasons, I’m going to give this a go.

That said, I won’t be commenting on every piece because that would likely be either annoying, overwhelming, or both—If you don’t mind reading through a bunch of comments in one day or so, please let me know below, and I’ll share my thoughts on every piece I read of yours, if I can get to it.

Otherwise, I’ll stick to just liking stories and perhaps rating them as outstanding or nice, depending on how I feel about each one.

By the way, I don’t mind receiving a bunch of comments in a day—It’s not a pressure, but it’s just something I thought I might let everyone know.

I will say that a table of contents really helps.

I will also note that, sometimes, I have trouble actually finishing every single piece, especially for creators who are more prolific.

I generally dedicate about two hours per day to reading on Vocal, so I tend to get through quite a few stories, poems, articles, etc.

Official Challenges

For Vocal challenges, I’m only going to read pieces by the winners: I’m overwhelmed by the amount of contests open right now, and I couldn’t possibly get through each and every submission.

Unofficial Challenges

Moving forward, I will do my best to read every entry to unofficial challenges I enter which are hosted by other writers.

Up to this point, I have not always done that, so I think it’s an important adjustment moving forward.

Top Stories

I actually have a list of saved top stories I would like to get through, but I haven’t finished that list yet.

If I finish one creator’s stories in one day (which is usually unlikely) I will then move towards reading the top stories, where I will comment on every single one that allow me to do so.

The Vocal Bonus Leaderboard

I will do my best to read through every piece that lands on the Vocal Leaderboard, because these are the stories that receive a lot of engagement on the platform, and that means they must be powerful in one way or another.

The Reality

The reality is I probably won’t be able to read nearly as much as I’d like to, but it’s good to have goals, right?

I do often manage to dedicate two hours or so (almost) every day to reading other people’s work, so I’m pretty satisfied with that, even if I rarely get through my entire reading list.

Do you have a reading strategy here on Vocal?

Is there anything that writers do which helps you out if you decide to read their work?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.