VocalReviews of vocal.media

I recently signed up for the Vocal+ account and aside from their formatting tools being useless, my stories do not share well on social media. Links are inconsistent and lead to their sign-up page instead of my stories. I have sent two messages to their help desk in the last 24 hours and have been ignored. Unless things change soon, I will not be renewing my membership and will share my experience with the world.

Android users beware. I signed up for Vocal because of an Ad I saw about a writing competition. I had to pay for the pro version to enter the competition. Within 2 seconds of signing up I was unable to use the service for writing as my device wasn't supported. This was not explained at any point in siginging up that android devices cannot use the service. I asked customer service for support and they said I have to go to the main site 'to keep banking information secure' but none was going to be exchanged as they had it already I just needed someone to authorise a refund for me. But as per terms they wont do that. I messaged probably 10 minutes after signing up and now I'm in a loop of being sent to the website which only offers answers to questions. Awful service, feels like a con for android users as you are not told that these devices are not supported through sign up and as soon as you try to use the service it doesn't let you create or submit stories. Disgusting level of service.

I love writing articles on Vocal Media. I am extreme grateful for the site and will continue to write as I am passionate about it. You have a chance to be picked for their ‘Weekly Five’ which will dramatically boost your views. Even though chances of this are slim. There are a number of downsides to this website: Firstly, what I find extremely annoying is that when you write it does not highlight any grammatical errors or punctuation mistakes. Secondly, you are able to view the number of times people have clicked on your article which is good. In agreement with the review below, it is extremely dodgy how a view is recorded and this is also unfair. Vocal Media need to review this and be more lenient with this. Thirdly, the fact you must pay a monthly fee to become a Vocal+ member does not sit right with me. You should be eligible to become a member when you have written a certain amount of articles or a certain amount of views maybe, just an idea. Furthermore, the chances of you winning a competition are very slim. But I must praise the generous amount of money that is given if you do win. Finally, the fact that Vocal Media use Stripe and not PayPal is very stupid and sly. I and many others have not heard of the Stripe app until we signed for Vocal Media. It limits the amounts of tips you get greatly as no one wants to fuss with downloading the app and uploading their debit/credit info. Everyone has PayPal, so why not use PayPal? Very tactical from this company.

Are Writers Being Competitive or Being Exploited? Vocal's selling point is "earn to write" on their platform via the number of views you receive on their platform and with today's algorithms you would never know if these platforms control this (like Instagram and Facebook now do). My bitly link connected to my social media page showed me over 200 clicks to my story but stats on their platform showed me only 40 something. When I asked them about this, they told me 200 clicks may be right but only 40 "read" my article/story. Vocal has now introduced contests where you can win thousands of dollars at a time but you have to become a monthly paying member to be able to participate vs pay to enter each individual contest that interests you. There is a new contest every month, of course and winners are informed via email at the end of each contest. These contests are sponsored and judged by authority figures in the journalism industry. Have you read Vocal's Glassdoor reviews (Jerrick Media Holdings)? Are these writing contest "winners" staged winners? Are these platforms dangling the metaphorical carrot that you'll never be able to reach? Are these platforms exploiting your creativity and your passion for writing to build their platform and prop up their own selves in a position of wealth and authority? Then weed out its best writers similar to what YouTube is doing and has done? Are these types of platforms akin to sweatshop labor? Are these platforms transparent with how they conduct their business? If a platform/business is looking to gain from your craft, time, energy, preparation and the publishing of your articles - they should pay you fairly... not pennies per 600 words an article/story. For a platform that now charges a monthly fee. They boast: A fee of an amount that would take how many views of your story/article to receive in earnings? Also, you can only withdraw earnings when you reach $20, minimum. The views on the platform are naturally very low. So, apparently, you would also have to bring your own readers to their platform. Over a year and several QUALITY 600 word articles, I haven't even made $2. Something just isn't right here. Your monthly subscription helps build their platform as a "publisher" not you as a fairly compensated writer. I would not recommend.