Vocal Creator Chat: 8/8/2023

Very informational article https://ineedsjobs.com/

How do I grow my audience

Hi I’m wondering did the poet community change word count requirement for submission? It was 100 words last I knew?

Intresting post

How do I get more people to view my stories

Is there a way to change the category something was posted under? I have a fiction piece that I want to submit under the new community - Chapters. Would be nice for those short pieces that ended on a cliffhanger that we want to continue. :)

I have a concern about the withdrawal process. Initially, my withdrawals were processed within 10 working days. But currently, they take way longer. The last two withdrawals I requested stayed more than 5 weeks. I have also seen other creators complain about this. It would be nice if the cause of this delay is made known to the creators.

I'm obsessed with the communities. I will be hanging out in Writers and Critique a LOT! Thank you, Vocal for these lovely additions to the site.

I have a question about the Vocal Writing Awards, how is the community polling section going to take place? Does vocal support community polls as seen on Facebook, Instagram, etc?

Vocal Community - Sorry to take your time with this: So many have kindly asked if I'm getting out of my wheelchair; means so much that you care. Happy to say I'm getting out more as evidenced with new pic under story "Wheelchair Etiquette" Jay

I find many of the tags perplexing, especially under poetry. How to decide if a poem goes under "sad" or "heartbreak"? Are so many people writing poems about "celebrities" that it needs its own tag? How old do I have to be to select "vintage"? I've wrestled with what tag to use when I write a reflection on an experience that isn't about nature, isn't funny or sad, isn't really inspirational, just ... life. When in doubt I select "fact or fiction" because that seems to cover just about everything. I've tried to imagine a poem that would qualify as a "buyers guide" or "list". (I used to wonder about "book review", but then along came the book synopsis haiku challenge, which fit quite nicely!) Maybe we could start a challenge to come up with pieces to fit all the tags... :-)

I hesitate to even bring this up since it is the Vocal equivalent of a first-world problem, but… I had a story that got Top Story. Awesome. It later went on to win second place in a challenge. Double awesome! However, the banner that displays on the thumbnail is still for the Top Story versus the 2nd Place win. And while I was thrilled to get Top Story (my first-ever, actually), I don’t consider that *more noteworthy* than a challenge win. So if the logic could be updated to weight that higher when deciding what banner to display, that would be lovely. Hopefully I didn’t just anger everyone who reads this. I recognize the privilege I have to even have this problem, I swear!

Hello everyone! I raised this issue in the Discord server and Justin responded, but not everyone is there. The Latest Stories section is full of spam. Something must be done about what you allow to be published on Vocal, because the feed is currently clogged. I think it would be great if the team were finally transparent about the acceptance or rejection process. Also, creators need to be able to block spammy content and comments. I am tired of wasting time reporting stories, when I could spend that time reading great content. Further, I feel that we need more transparency regarding the Top Story selection process. With AI-generated stories being rewarded, it feels very unfair to all the serious creators out there who never or rarely get TS. Vocal, you need to be more diligent when it comes to AI-generated content. Spammers obviously don't want to label their content as such. Judey Kelchik has been fighting the good fight for you for a while (she shouldn't have to do that for you).

Great work by vocal team it will help a lot

Good work to the Vocal team; the new communities seem to be a hit so far.

Hi! Haven’t been on the chats for a while. Gonna be real here, but I was wondering if we’ll get an explanation for the Top Story selections some day. Currently, people who get top stories often, also end up winning the leaderboard rankings just as often. Maybe having different leaderboard rankings/categories that aren’t JUST tied to how popular your story is, would be beneficial. Maybe something like, silliest story, or story that pulled at my heart, something that’s unrelated to boosted popularity..

Hi Vocal, Cathy here. I was wondering if/when we will be getting more info on Community voting in the Awards. Do we have to be V+ members to vote? Is it one vote per category? Is it anonymous? I also had a couple of others that I can't think of right now, but I'm sure will come back to me later. If you're already posted something, please direct me to go to find it (be nice, Vocal). 😁

Hi. Vocal! I have yet to figure out what the criteria are for a story to qualify as a Top Story. I've written some stories that I thought were a shoo-in for TS and they hardly got a read. Other stories that I've done that were nothing special got picked. I'm confused!

Hi Mike from Vocal Social Society here , just out at the moment. Like the nex Communities though , Well done Vocal

Good afternoon, all. Hope everyone is having a great day. I was wondering if the purple banner that pops up for the Vocal writing awards will update to the current prize pool. I know it can be found elsewhere, but since the banner is automatic (on my phone at least) it would keep us excited about entering if we can watch the growth when we sign on. And again, thank you for all you do in keeping this platform a place I look forward to visiting every day.

I may enter the Great [American] Novel challenge but have been waiting for Vocal's article on what constitutes a proper first chapter. Any word on when this will be published to the site? Thank you. 🙂

Hi Vocal, Cindy here. I just wanted to ask about the challenge for first chapter of Great American Novel does it matter whether it is published in Fiction or Chapters communities? Thanks

Babs here! Was wondering. Could you add an option for Humor, Confessions, Viva, and other communities to include micro-stories that are under 600 words? Currently, we can select a community and subcategory, but if there were a dropdown for length, that would be fabulous! Thank you for all you do. You are appreciated.

Hey! I've got two suggestions. I would love to see a disability/Neurodivergent based community on here. I think it would generate interesting conversation and maybe diversify the types of stories we get to experience. I'd also love the ability to officially publish with another creator on here. I think the push for community building would be even stronger with collaboration. There's quite a few people on here I'd love to write something with! Thanks for all you do! Love that this platform takes consistent feedback.

Hey, just Paul, Scottish poet, writer, word abuser, children's tv show, and film maligner (yeah). I love the new communities, Team Vocal, so just wanted to say that. Have no questions, queries or suggestions that spring to mind right now! Keep up the good work and hi to everyone else too!