VocalReviews of vocal.media

I wrote a review when I first started and I am adding to that now. Vocal is a basic blog, it is how the writer utilizes it. You can gain followers and market your work easily on Vocal, which is their structure. It's not an advertising website or an employee - it is a professional b l o g for freelancers. They are marketing and encouraging beginners is why you see the choices they have for winners. All that being said, they have a serious problem with paying out. I got paid the first time without any trouble and when I changed the banking info it is now impossible to get my money - their issue is with Stripe. Stripe is awful to deal with! I think Vocal grew too big, too fast and while they are spending time developing their corporate culture they do not have front-line customer service that knows how to deal with issues, like payments, that should be easily resolved.

Clearly those who are leaving negative reviews did not read through all of the FAQs, nor are they familiar with how freelance works. Vocal is exactly what they claim to be. I've only been a member for two months, and have only posted 13 stories/poems thus far, but I've already made nearly $40. You need to network and promote your work or you won't get anywhere. If you'd taken the time to read through their how to guides you'd be aware that they do not offer advertising. If you google the title and name of any of your stories they'll pop up at the top of Google. Which is more than I can say for many other platforms. While I fully understand the disappointment of not winning their challenges, you need to realize that there are thousands, if not tens of thousands, of other entries into each challenge. For the record the recent winners most definitely are real people. They interact with the rest of us vocal creators who take the time to network on social media. Swallow your sour grapes and try again, or at least recognize that Vocal isn't a scam. It was just a matter of you not putting in the effort to make a go of things. Something tells me those of you claiming Vocal is a scam would say the same of Medium where self promotion is also a necessity.

A lot of the reviews here smack of sour grapes. Could Vocal be better? Of course, no hosting site is perfect, and there's always room for improvement. (Personally, I'd love the ability to leave gushing comments on other stories...) On the flip side, Vocal is at least willing to listen to its users, having recently sent out a survey, swiftly followed by introducing the ability to subscribe to writers. More improvements to follow. Vocal's big draw is undoubtably its Challenges, and the Winning Prize Money. Mostly limited to Vocal+ paid members, whose subscriptions pay for prize money, Challenges run on a monthly or fortnightly basis, with three winners and several thousand disappointed writers who didn't make the cut. Vocal's other draw is that you are paid per read, other members can leave tips, and there are a number of bonuses that will earn money on top of that. Being selected as a Top Story, featuring on Vocal's social media, and assorted milestone bonuses are how most Vocal writers make a lot of their money. The biggest drawback is that, outside of being a Top Story or winning a challenge or writing something good enough to have another member rave about you on Facebook, it's honestly up to you to generate your own traffic. Vocal doesn't do paid promotions or ads; you have to promote yourself and your work. Welcome to Indie life. A lot of people join Vocal with big dreams, then let disappointment get the better of them when they find themselves struggling. I entered for the Challenges, fantasised about winning, then moped when that didn't happen. Then I picked myself up and kept writing. Maybe I'll win one day, maybe I won't. If all I ever manage is the ability to take my partner out for dinner once a month, that's still better than I expected. Vocal never claimed that it would do the work for me, and I never expected it to.

I agree that Vocal has a lot to clean up with editing / profile management both on computers and definitely phones, but that doesn't make it a SCAM. They are gradually working things out, and have improved dramatically - even over the month I've been a user. Building websites takes time, especially for startups. Mechanics aside these reviews sound like a lot of bitter people who want everything to be free. It's a couple Starbucks visits not a month's worth of salary to join Vocal+, and a lot of people seem to be making conjecture about the review process without any direct knowledge just their personal opinion. I too joined to enter a competition, and I did win - with my first entry. I am proud of my entry and have expanded it since then. I took all my money out after my win but continue to get reads. I'm in my second month and have another $20 in there I can withdraw. I'm waiting for results on the competitions I've entered this month. If you're joining to get rich quick as a writer, you are in the wrong profession. Just enjoy the process. I really need money too, but that's not my main focus. Vocal is a nice outlet for my creative expression, and the prompts are helping me develop a style. I also take a lot of care in the mechanics of what I present, so acting like every winning story is a pile of garbage filled with grammatical errors is not accurate either. I go back numerous times to re-read and edit my entries prior to competition judging (they have added a quick edit feature) My second story also received hundreds of views and numerous likes. I've written 8 or 9 at this point and they all have reads and likes even if only a few. For those questioning tips, yes they happen, I've received 4 tips also. I've also received additional money from Vocal for Top Stories. I may tire of the platform, but for now it's more than paid for itself to me. It did take some times to get my winnings through Stripe, but I got them. I'd rather have them be careful, and it should go more smoothly now that I am verified. I was hacked right before judging so I was very happy to wait and make sure my money went to the right account. If you find the right approach and have a little patience Vocal can be a great outlet. I enjoy it more than Medium. Once they grow and develop a little more I think it will be a terrific outlet.

It seems that most of these reviews are about minor website issues that can easily be fixed if the problem is made known to Vocal. Not people who actually gave it a shot. Vocal is by no means a walmart manager that isn't taking your expired coupons. It's an up and coming platform attempting to give those with a passion to write a voice. Yes there is a small monthly cost that is no more than a spotify subscription. The funds for contest payouts have to come from somewhere? As far as areas of work goes: The most important thing to note is that this is a platform of writers. NOT readers. Writers will read others works in trade for them to read theirs back. It's not very genuine at times. There needs to be more work done in creating authentic reads. Perhaps a different side of Vocal made of people who want to read about specific topics as opposed to write, publish, and seek exposure. Maybe a penny paid for each paper read too? There are incentives for reading and hearting other peoples writings which is nice, but there is far too much supply of content than there is a demand for it to be consumed. Many writers wonder why their reads never skyrocket and this is why. Unless your writing isn't promoted heavily or picked in a contest, the read count might not go very high. It's sad to see people externalize their worth and creations into pennies, views, and hearts. That saps the passion away.

A lot of the negative reviews about vocal come from the fact you have to subscribe monthly. Since writers can get tips and Enter contests multiple times during a contest, They have a fee. Lots of platforms have fees to use them. I am not sure how their accuracy is for reads but the contests are not won by how many reads you have, they are judged by a panel. Vocal increases your creativity. It is a really good platform for writers to be challenged, and to keep their skill strong and it opens up the chance to read what other people are doing.