VocalReviews of vocal.media

I published work on here when I discovered VM last year. I didn't get feedback or reads until I joined their Facebook groups, (there are many). You can share your VM published work on these groups then you may get more reads, and feedback. I even managed to get a Top Story, maybe because someone from the group liked one of my poems? I'm sure that wouldn't have happened if I hadn't joined their FB groups. Payments - I am not a paid Vocal member, so obviously I dont get paid hardly anything, however, I should have been paid bonuses for submitting over 10 articles and the Top Story I had. I didn't. I asked on the Facebook groups about this, I'm not the only VM contributer who had not been paid bonuses - I discovered its a common thing. I was told to email support, I did, several times but got no proper answer, even got suggested by someone on the Facebook group that I had used AI and that was the reason! No I don't use AI and never will. All my work is original. She clearly hadn't read any of my stories, otherwise she wouldn't have suggested it. I'm still waiting to be paid what I'm owed, and waiting for a proper explanation as to why I'm not receiving my bonuses. I think, like FB algorithms, not everyone sees your published work. When you go onto the FB vocal groups you see the same publishers all the time. They always get top stories and often win competitions, challenges, story of the day, week etc. I think many of these publishers who seem to do well are actually VM moderators who read each others work so they all get hundreds of reads in order to get paid. On a plus, it does get your work out there, your friends and others on Facebook can see it if you share it. You can also share your published work on Medium, Pinterest, Tumbler, Twitter etc in order to try and get more reads, but it's harder than it sounds. But making money and becoming an established writer through vocal.media? No

I'm giving them two stars for being a decent enough platform, and a star for their milestone bonus program. They lose three stars for an underdeveloped tech platform, poor customer service and censorship. To be fair, Vocal is best for people writing fiction and poetry - that seems to be their real bread and butter. Opinion or think pieces like mine are there, but they don't seem to do as well. I don't think Vocal does a good job of promoting new writers or writers that could use a little boost. I see the same names over and over. It's probably a money-driven decision, which I get, but very, very few people make any real money here. Their milestone bonus program is pretty nice. I don't know of any other blogging platform paying people for bonuses just for publishing, I don't remember what the milestones are, your 20th article, your 50th, whatever. And they're decent sums, I think I made more on 1.5 years on Vocal than I did in twice that time on Medium. I was a paying subscriber for awhile but the small monthly fee is more for those living outside the US because of the exchange rate. And I wasn't getting the views or the support - I got a featured story exactly once, and it was a fluffier piece about a celebrity. The tech platform isn't as developed as it could be - The downside of using Vocal is they don't have a version backup so that if you accidentally delete a chunk of content you're working on and you don't realize it before you save your work (which you have to do as Vocal also doesn't have autosave) you lose that work. You can't retrieve a previous version like on Substack. The platform is terrible when you're trying to highlight something to format it - it jumps around the project, highlights the wrong stuff, and often deletes stuff. You have to watch this platform with an eagle eye, and when I had to spend an evening re-creating an article I hadn't realized was missing two-thirds of it because I'd accidentally deleted something, I moved to creating on Substack, went back to being a free Vocal member, and used it only as a copy-and-paste for previously published work. One big warning: NEVER let Vocal be the only place for your content. Have a copy somewhere else, if just in your own storage, because they've got no backup system for your content the way Facebook, Twitter, and Medium have got. If you get shut down without warning - and I was - you lose it all. Since I publish my work in multiple places, I lost nothing. Vocal was extremely unprofessional in how it handled an issue with one or more of my stories. They suspended my account for 'hate speech', allegedly for a few articles but the only one they named was one critical of the trans movement and its abuse of the English language. So I assume it was 'woke' complaints, since I didn't call for harm, threats, violence, or 'genocide' against the trans movement - I am, however, quite critical of the misogynist, homophobic elements within it. I got no notice or any communication there was a problem with my account. One moment it was there, the next moment it wasn't - in fact I saw it disappear but I assumed it was a tech flake on Vocal's part. A few days later it was still down so I emailed tech support - three times - and got nothing. Finally, in response to a marketing email from info@, I replied back saying I had no account with them and no one seems to care. Got a response saying it had been escalated and sent to Vocal support, who didn't get back to me for a few days, only to tell me I was suspended for 'hate speech' by some kid who clearly doesn't know how to handle a customer her employer has unfairly treated. (I was polite; no abuse, no swearing). I had to push for more information and all I got out of her was one allegedly offending article. There was no opportunity to review the article or be offered the chance to rewrite it or delete it (I probably would have done the latter). I found it extremely unprofessional and for these reasons I don't recommend Vocal as anything more than a copy-and-paste platform (and not if your views are controversial, i.e., not 'woke' enough) unless your specialty is fiction and poetry, otherwise you might find it more successful. Just know that very, very people make much money off it, similar to other platforms that pay (Medium's truly successful writers, as of a few years ago, were <10%...OnlyFans, as I understand it, is largely the same). In the end it was no big deal as I was already thinking about abandoning Vocal altogether anyway. Even cutting & pasting an article is too much trouble as you lose all the formatting and have to add hyperlinks, bold, italic, quotes, etc. But it should be understood they censor content & have an autocratic system of handling problems. And their technology is still stuck in 2004.

This is yet another site where creators are treated like garbage. Basically you crete content, bring traffic and earn close to nothing, or you even pay for being there! The amount of views you need to start earning some pocket money really is not worth the effort. Also, before you can request a payment you've to reach $35, or $20 if you pay the monthly fee. This is not so easy given how you need 1000 views to earn 3.80$ (free membership) or 6$ (paid membership). With the amount of writers and the algorithm that doesn't help, unless you're not already a known writer, you can see how this is not going to work. You can still choose to pay a monthly fee that's supposed to give you more visibility and the chance to enter contests that I've been told are quite shady. So basically it's a useless effort, unless you already have many followers, in which case I'd consider self publishing, so even if one reader (not 1000!) buys one book from you, you'll earn more than 6$.

Vocal Media is a BLOG not a magazine that pays per story. Before you call it a scam - know the difference. VM is exactly as it says it is - an opportunity to write. Writers like blogs for various reasons. Vocal consists yes, of amateurs, newer writers, experienced ones, journalists, novelists etc. We work our a** off because we love writing. The idea is to drive readers to our published work and our other platforms. Get it? I have worked as a contract writer to Vocal for over a year and yes I have gotten paid. It's peanuts but they do pay. So stop listening to the whiners out there who think their top notch quality writing that no one is reading is better. Vocal writers are also readers. It's called support.

I signed up for Vocal+ to enter a contest. I had the worst time trying to submit the darn thing. There was no submit button after I had done everything. That was a telltale sign that this site was not worth it. Canceled today.

They say they don't allow multiple submissions to contests when clearly they do, and usually those people have won, in my experience. It is a popularity contest and a mediocre writitng platform, nothing like what anyone who wants to be a writer would value, in my opinion. Snarky customer service people. Also, I am suspicious that the judges don't even have access to half of the entries to contests because not a single human being that works for Vocal has EVER given feedback, or anything. I think it's rigged. I deleted my account.

I’ve come to understand that Vocal Media is a story telling platform and not a place for writers. They do not value grammar, punctuation, proper story telling elements, etc. Instead, they chose Top Stories and contest winners based off of personal preferences. They seem to also chose the same winners repeatedly. I honestly think many of them are friends of friends of the judges. Vocal basically believes: “if you can afford an education, you’re too privileged to win a contest.” It has absolutely nothing to do with talent. I would normally love seeing an advantage go to the underdog, except in this case, I don’t. As an underdog myself, I’ve spent a decade teaching myself what I’ve missed by not being able to afford college—to only then be judged as someone who writes too well. After writing on Vocal for years, this is what I’ve learned. Even look at their “contest rules.” They are so flimsy. “Should be within 600-5,000 words,” and winners have gone over by HUNDREDS. “Must include the prompt:” but then winners don’t always have the prompt and STILL win. It truly makes no sense. Their judging is Willy Nilly at best. Do not use Vocal if you’re a writer. If you’re a story teller who doesn’t care about grammar, this place is for you. I will be leaving this month, which is a shame because the IDEA of Vocal is great. The reality is not.

I have really enjoyed using the Vocal platform. I have not had the time to be as consistent as I would like with my writing, but I have definitely seen an improvement in my work with the limited time I have. Connecting with some truly great (and seasoned) members of the Vocal community has definitely helped my journey. I love reading, so the encouragement to interact with others and their work is a great feature that I've enjoyed! I was actually surprised by the bonuses when I started receiving them. I'm certainly not getting rich, but I would be lying if I said the income wasn't helpful at times. Many of the negative reviews I'm seeing here appear to be from people who are angry that they didn't win a contest. To them I would say that they are missing the point of the platform entirely, particularly when they are disparaging the work of others. One of the things I love most about Vocal is that elitism isn't encouraged there. I love seeing pieces from hobbyists and novice writers. I love to watch their growth while I, myself, am learning from members of the community. If you are a serious writer or just love the craft, I would definitely encourage you to look into Vocal. If you are just looking to win contests and look down on others, I would say to look for a different platform.