5 MORE Features That Would Make Vocal Even Better

Last year, I wrote an article that ended up influencing some great changes on this website. Titled 5 Features That Would Make Vocal Even Better, it proposed ideas I had regarding the future improvement of this big ol' writing hub we've come to know and love. Months later, I got a big fat 'thank you' from the Vocal gods and 3/5 of my ideas eventually made it onto the site! Manifestation is a real thing, folks.

Vocal's come a long way since I wrote that little article back in July 2020. In addition to followers, word count, and the Quick Edit feature, we now have 40 different categories to submit stories to, a thriving fiction community complete with short story challenges, and freaking BONUSES. Can you believe that? Bonuses!!! Take that, minimum Stripe payout requirement doubts!

The Vocal crew behind this growing site has kept their promise of expansion, and for us creators who have been writing on here for a while, it feels good to have some burdens from the past Vocal lifted off our shoulders.

In other words...Vocal. You're doing great, sweetie.

"So Katy, wait," you may be thinking. "If Vocal's already doing so well, why on earth are you making a part II of your '5 Features' list?"

Well, humble reader. Not only is it because I have nothing else better to write, but it's also because I believe there's no such thing as perfection. Sure, Vocal's come a long way from last year and the user-friendliness can't be beat. But with new features also come new challenges. Additionally, some dinosaur-old features of Vocal still haven't been updated since their first implementation years ago.

I'm not publishing this piece to criticize Vocal, because there's nothing much to criticize. I'm writing this to pick the community's brain a bit. Our biggest feature requests from last year have been met...but wouldn't it be nice to have more? To go the distance? To have more freedom and choices and fun?

I can hear you saying 'yes' from behind that screen of yours. Without further ado, here's another in-site proposal of 5 new features that would make Vocal an even better place to spend time on.

1. Searching for Stories in Stats

This point was recently brought up by Jide Okonjo in the story 10,000,000 Reads Later, Here Are My Thoughts on Everything VOCAL. When I read about this, I literally groaned and rolled my eyes like an edgy teenager. Why? Because I completely understood the frustration of this flaw.

When you get to a certain point in your Vocal writing career - or rather, when you publish a certain amount of pieces - your stats page gets so expansive that navigating through it is like paddling the tiniest rowboat across a stormy sea. If the stats for the story you're looking for aren't particularly high or low, just somewhere in the middle, you have to click on page through page through page until you can find it.

Heck, stories have periods of read spikes. You may have thought your well-written article about the importance of skin exfoliation was on page 6 when it's now on page 3! That's an awesome thing that just happened to you, but you don't know that yet. So now you have to click and scroll and click and scroll until you can finally find that story. It's like getting lost in a hedge maze, only on the internet.

You know what would make this all so much easier? A magic search bar in the middle of the stats page that would allow creators to type in the title of the story they're looking for, and voila! The story appears! It would save us all so much time, and of course, would make that digital hedge maze so much easier to walk through.

2. Organizing Stories on Your Profile Page

The great thing about having 40 communities on Vocal is that you can dip your author toes into several different genres! Sure, some people stick to certain niches. But it's nice being able to publish your spiked apple cider recipes alongside Bitcoin tips and funny stories from childhood. Having different categories gives writers the courage to try out publishing certain types of articles they didn't think they could write.

In some cases, this leads to great success. For example: I started making music playlist content on Vocal and it led to me being hired as a blogger for an online radio website. It's possible to use Vocal as a writing portfolio in order to show employers what literary strengths you have.

Therefore, I think it would be an awesome idea to have folders on your profile page that would allow readers to peruse specific types of articles you've written. It would be similar to having a themed playlist on a YouTube channel. Below the list of your latest articles, you could have a folder that contains all your stories relating to wildlife photography. And then another folder containing beauty and makeup hacks. The possibilities are endless!

With the new fiction community growing, I think folders would be particularly useful for authors looking to organize an ongoing series. Everything would be all in one place. That way, readers can easily turn through chapter after chapter of the series instead of having to return to their favorite writer's profile page and sort through all the content in the "recently published stories" section.

Like my previous proposal, folders would save us all so much time in the long run!

3. Categorizing Liked Stories

Okay, I'm sorry - I just really love organization. I can't help it. I was raised by two Capricorns!

Similar to categorizing published stories on your profile page, making folders for liked stories would also be a-freaking-mazing. Recently, I've been liking a bunch of stories in the 'Feast' community that contain recipes I feel would work well for Thanksgiving. At the same time, I'm also liking well-written fiction stories, self-help articles, Vocal publications that Instagram followers send me, and of course, every story by the ever-talented Lindsay Rae Brown.

Unfortunately, I am a voracious Vocal reader. This means that when I go back into my liked stories tab, all the recipe stories I gave hearts to are interspersed with all that other stuff! I'd save lots of time on Thanksgiving day by being able to pull up a folder only filled with the recipes I liked. If Vocal wants to keep adapting in a productive direction, giving its readers more shortcuts would be a smart decision.

4. Tipping Any Amount

Perhaps this isn't the most important suggestion on my list, but boy, this would be cool! Giving and receiving tips is one of the best parts of being on Vocal. On the giving end, it's a thoughtful way to show appreciation. On the receiving end, it's an incentive to keep writing.

So far, Vocal only allows readers to tip $1, $2, $5, $10, and $20. If you want to tip more than that, you have to re-click the "sent tip" button. What if I want to easily give someone $3? Or $4? Or $15? Or maybe even $100! Who knows...maybe someday I will become a Vocal tipping philanthropist.

So my solution? Being able to enter any amount you'd like to tip a creator. Why waste time going back to the article and having to enter in more money? This article is all about the shortcuts, folks.

The only downside I can see to this suggestion is that it might discourage people from tipping higher amounts, unless the other five amount suggestions are shown first before displaying a blank bar at the bottom where tippers can enter their desired number.

And of course, we shouldn't be letting people tip only pennies. That's Mr. Krabs-level cheap! "Tipping any amount" would have to be by the dollar.

5. A Vocal App!

Picture this: you're riding the bus to work and you're looking for something to do to pass the time. You pull out your phone, swipe through your applications until you find a square containing a circle and five loveable lines on the inside. You tap on it, leading you to...

...that's right, a shiny new Vocal app!

Maybe it's just me, but I'm sick and tired of having to log onto my Google Chrome mobile browser and typing "vocal.media" into the search bar every time I want to check my stats while away from my laptop. Like Medium or Wattpad, I think Vocal has enough credibility these days to deserve its own app. This site certainly has enough traffic for one.

Just think about it...a swanky new mobile design! More reading comfortability! An easier time writing stories while away from your desk! And maybe some other cool features the Vocal team could throw in. I'd probably spend all day reading stories on it.

And from a reputation standpoint, having an app would also give this platform more acceptability. Why? Because every time I recommend someone check out Vocal, they always ask, "why is it vocal.media instead of vocal.com?" I'll admit, it's a bit odd. And maybe even a turn-off for some folks. Perhaps it's the simple .media domain name that makes many doubters say this site is a scam.

Not to be like Justin Timberlake's character from The Social Network, but it needs to just be Vocal - not Vocal.media. So if there were an app for Vocal, it would just be Vocal, because there's no browser attached! No one would see that weird .media at the end. The .media on a browser would be a little less relevant than it is now.

Ultimately, a Vocal app would allow for more accessibility. It would be available to find in app stores internationally, thus increasing this platform's traffic and maybe even giving that Vocal team a little extra cash in their pockets. And with Vocal making more money, that gives the platform the power to craft bigger and better things for us creators...and so on and so forth.

That's about it for my list. Perhaps I'll make a Part III of this series next year! (Hopefully with a folder on my profile page I can put it in!)

Got any ideas you'd like to share for what you want to see on Vocal next? Send them my way @katyisaladybug on Insta and I'll save them for another article.

Likes, tips, and subscriptions are always appreciated. Until next time, happy writing! :)

-katy