Summary

The author shares their personal experience with Vocal Media, a writing platform distinct from Medium, offering insights into its pros and cons, and concludes that while it has room for growth, it is worthwhile, especially for young writers.

Abstract

The article "Vocal Media: Is It Good?" provides a reflective account of the author's journey with Vocal Media over eight months, contrasting it with their more recent one-month experience on Medium. The author highlights Vocal Media's unique features, such as its challenges with significant cash prizes, a more relaxed and creative writing environment, the ability to receive tips, and a pay-per-view model without the internal/external view distinction. However, the platform also has drawbacks, including a lower likelihood of curation, lack of article editing post-publication, limited writer interaction, a subscription fee for challenge entry, and a minimum word count requirement. Despite these cons, the author finds Vocal Media beneficial for personal growth and prefers it for its fun-filled and less serious approach to writing, though they maintain a serious writing presence on Medium.

Opinions

The author appreciates Vocal Media's challenges and the opportunity to win substantial cash prizes, which have contributed to their growth as a writer.
Vocal Media is perceived as a platform for creative, heartfelt, and less conventional writing, making it more appealing to younger writers.
The ability to receive tips through Stripe is seen as a positive feature, unique to Vocal Media compared to Medium.
Vocal Media's social media interaction, particularly on Instagram, is noted as being more engaging than Medium's.
The author criticizes the difficulty in getting curated on Vocal Media and suggests that there may be favoritism in the curation process.
The inability to edit articles after publication is a significant frustration for the author.
The lack of writer interaction on Vocal Media, such as messaging or following, is seen as a drawback compared to other platforms.
The cost of a Vocal + membership is considered double that of Medium, which may be a barrier for some writers.
The author points out the limited promotional opportunities for Vocal Media content compared to Medium.
The requirement for articles to be over 600 words (or 100 words for poetry) is seen as restrictive for those who prefer to write shorter pieces.
Despite its limitations, the author believes Vocal Media is worth it for their needs and enjoys the platform for its less serious nature, though they prioritize Medium for more serious writing.

Vocal Media: Is It Good?

You can sign up to Vocal Media for only $1 today via the link below:

https://vocal.media/vocal-plus?via=shamar

I started writing for Vocal Media eight months ago following the announcement of “Great” Britain going into lockdown. I had too much time on my hands and my inner child was calling every second.

I started writing for Medium one month ago exactly, following the announcement of “Great” Britain once again going into lockdown for the second time.

I had looked at Medium a few months ago but decided as I was finding my writing voice, it’s best to stick to one platform for now and just grow.

Following curation and two successive wins with their challenges on Vocal Media, I can say I’ve grown. So, here I am.

I’m not going to go into masses of detail and provide you with the background knowledge to Vocal Media. All you need to know is that it is a writing platform that can generate you money. I will, however, talk about my personal experience with it.

My First Month on Medium: 11 Tips for Others

Blunt and direct guidance from a new writer.

medium.com

What is Vocal Media?

Vocal Media is a writing platform that has been around for only four years. When I first started it was a very quiet platform and not many people had a hype about it.

Four years later, it’s drastically growing. There is now Facebook Groups you can join to share your work, similar to Medium. I’ve only found one though.

It is not the same as Medium in the slightest. You do not have to pitch to publications or ask to write for any. You just publish through one portal and then that’s your work on their website. It takes a few hours for your work to get published, not days like some publications on Medium.

They do, however, have different categories that you can submit your work to called Communities. Journal, Human, Blush, Science, Technology. There are loads.

Pros

I’ll start with the positives as that’s what you’re advised to do in life.

Challenges

These challenges can win you anything from $5,000 — $250. Bulk money. I’ve won two and still counting.

Money is always a plus, but I had only entered the competitions a few months after I started writing. I am not here for the money, I am here for the joy and freedoms of being a writer.

You are given one weekly challenge and a big challenge that goes on for about 40 days. You will be given a topic to write around and it will be specific. It won’t just be “Science” or “Psychology”.

How competitive are these challenges? I mean, there are some really good writers out there. I guess it just depends on how many people submit, which is a lot more than when I first started out, and how unique your piece is.

2. Wonderful, Weird and Wacky

If you write about politics, business, Apple stocks or anything that requires research-backed writing then Vocal Media is NOT the place for you.

It is a place for the weird and wacky. People who tend to write straight from the heart. It’s not serious the way Medium is in regards to topics and articles. It’s a lot more fun-filled which makes it a lot easier for someone young like me.

3. Tips

You can get tips via Stripe starting at $1. You can’t get tips on Medium. Some of you make enough money as it is!

4. Interactive on Social Sites

Unlike Medium, Vocal Media are very interactive on all their social sites, particularly Instagram. If you message them, it’s likely they will message you back.

If you get curated and win a challenge, your work will be promoted more than once on all their social sites. Which will probably boost your views dramatically.

5. Pay-Per-View

There is no division between external and internal views like here on Medium. On Vocal Media, a view is a view regardless of who it’s from.

Please be advised that it is hard to get a view. The reader has to be on your page for a set amount of time (unaware how long) and actually start from the top and reach the bottom. No midway drop out’s and not that cool if you’re only writing short poetry.

Cons

1. Curation

Curation is not likely. I have been curated once and never again.

Those who tend to get curated usually are speaking about something that no one has heard has never been done before or it’s about Vocal Media. Yes, Vocal Media curate stories about themselves.

I also notice that they tend to have their favourites. One particular writer gets curated for pretty much every piece she submits and she does write a lot. Not fair.

2. Articles themselves

You cannot go back and edit an article once it’s published, not even as much as changing the image. This annoys me SO much.

3. Interaction with Writers

Interaction with writers? There is no interaction. You cannot send a message, clap, highlight, tag another writer, respond or follow. The most you can do is “like” or send a tip. Both of which are anonymous.

This actually irritates me too as there are some brilliant writers out there that I just want to say “well done” to or even reach out to. If they are not giving away any social media sites in their bio then that’s it, no reaching out.

4. It’s not free

If you want to be a Vocal + member, which just means that you can enter challenges, then it’s $9.99 a month. Double the price of Medium.

You can, however, have a free account. All it means is that you get paid less per view and the number of challenges you can enter is restricted.

5. Hard to promote your work

As Vocal Media is new, there’s not a lot of places you can promote your work. Just one Facebook and Quora group I am in at the moment. This is highly contrasting to my ten Facebook groups, 1 Reddit group, 1 LinkedIn group and 2 Quora groups.

There is another point I would like to make about Vocal Media which I am not sure if it is a pro or a con.

They only accept pieces of work more than 600 words. If it is a poem, you must have written over 100 words.

For me, that’s fine because I always write around 1000–1300 words for an article. But for those who like to submit a short piece, unfortunately, you cannot join Vocal Media.

So, is Vocal Media worth it?

It’s been worth it for me so far. As a writing platform, it has a long way to go. If I had to choose which platform I prefer to work with I would say Medium but I won’t be giving up with Vocal Media anytime soon. I only use the platform now to enter challenges and put all my serious writing here.

In my personal opinion, I don’t think Vocal Media is for older generations. I think it’s for young, new aspiring writers who are trying to build a platform or just enjoy writing.

When I start seeing articles about Donald Trump, Technology and anything serious I will probably use it less often. Vocal Media is a place where you can get away from all that “seriousness” and just be yourself.