Channel Your Inner Oprah

Alright, so we've all been there.

You're a burgeoning author trying to drum up a following on Vocal, and for whatever reason(s), you've just clicked on someone else's story.

Maybe you were genuinely interested, maybe you did it by accident, or maybe you were scoping out your competition in a challenge. The reason doesn't matter. What does matter is that the story is good. Really good. And . . . dare I say the unthinkable . . . it's so good, it's better than your own latest creation.

GASP!

You see the tip sign.

You see the heart sign. <3

Despite that tiny pang of jealously, you do the right thing and click the heart. (Or at least I hope you do!) But when it comes to tipping . . . that's really more of a "non-creator" thing.

Or is it?

The smallest amount you can tip on Vocal is $1. For an author like myself, who is new to Vocal and has yet to earn a whole dollar from her reads, that dollar feels like a lot of money. And why should I give up revenue I haven't yet earned?

Well, there are a few of reasons.

Like Begets Like.

The simplest one being: like begets like. The more we heart and tip each other, the more it will feel like, "Hey, I'm practically a nobody, but I'm getting a fair shake on here! Hmmm. You know what? I'm gonna pay that forward and be generous too!"

Or something to that effect, but in your own, less-cheesy inner monologue. I mainly write fiction for kids and teens, so cut me some slack on the cheese, please. :)

Essentially, think of tipping on Vocal as that time someone paid for your coffee in the drive-thru during the holiday season, and you kept it going by paying for the person behind you. It felt good knowing you made the world just a little kinder that day.

It's Big Picture to Someone's Else's Small Picture.

The second reason to consider tipping is that a dollar is a meagre token of appreciation when taken into the grand scheme of things. Realistically, it wouldn't even cover the cost of that stranger's coffee at McDonald's or Tim Horton's— not in Canada, anyways, which is where I live. Shout-out to my fellow Great White North authors!

For the vast majority of us out there, we routinely spend more than that dollar on frivolities for ourselves every single day. It's no big thing to shell out a buck to recognize someone else's hard work you sincerely liked. You've put a dollar in that super-cute—I mean, talented—busker's guitar case, haven't you? Well, writers don't have guitar cases—or if we do, we can't exactly pass them around online.

And let's face it, either you're a big-shot earning tons of money through Vocal, in which case you can afford to throw an up and coming, gifted newbie a bone; or you're like me: a dreamer with a day job who spends more on coffee and take-out every week than she needs to. For my waistline and my conscience, tipping a fellow creator on Vocal is a much better use of my pocket change.

Be Our Guest.

Finally, you should tip your fellow authors because being a patron is a "tale as old as time." (Yeah, I went there, and yes, I can see you anti-punsters un-hearting my story now!) Like artists and musicians, writers have always relied on the "kindness of strangers" to earn a living. Such is life. It may not be fair, but it's a reality. Genuine talent is frequently underpaid and undervalued until either you die, or you make it onto an English-teacher-who-secretly-wishes-she-was-a-literary-critic's reading list.

The days of becoming the next Carrie Bradshaw are looong gone. Getting a writing gig for any routine, physical-format—like a newspaper column—is as rare as a pair of vintage Louboutins or Manolo Blahniks, which if Carrie was a writer in today's world, she'd never be able to afford. The fact is, we are writing in the era of self-publishing, blogging, YouTubing and whatever-else-GenZ-comes-up-with in the near future.

Not to be too 'Atwood' about it, but we're staring into a future writers' dystopia, and, unlike here on Vocal, there won't be a nice, fat contest prize as a reward for successfully dipping our toes into the waters of that storyline. If we don't start meaningfully supporting each other, the writers of tomorrow could well be bots instead of people!

Ask yourself: What would O do?

So, next time you're reading someone else's work, step outside your comfort zone, and consider channeling your inner Oprah.

You getta dollar. And you getta dollar! And you getta . . . well, you get the jist of it.

Forget Insta-Famous. Aspire to be Vocal-Famous.

Vocal is For Everyone. Join Vocal+ today and start building your portfolio alongside thousands of other talented authors.

Meet the author: Lesley Leatherdale

Find Les on Facebook, LinkedIn or Instagram.

Cheers, folks!

And remember, it's always "better to be happy than dignified." - Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

Photo by Anna Rye from Pexels

Update: Thanks to the 'kindness of strangers', I finally hit the $1 mark in my reads. Much Love, Les