My Experiment with Vocal.media

You mightn't have noticed, but I love writing. I've been doing it since I was tiny, writing elaborate and embarrassing stories involving teenage vampires well before Twilight was even a twinkle in Stephanie Myer's eye. I never thought anything really of it until in my twenties I decided to try to give writing a shot again, as an aside to other jobs, and the happiness it brought me was immeasurable. Whether it was good or not, was not the point, and looking back most of it was most certainly not. However, over time I grew more confident and occasionally felt like I struck gold, with a few widely read blog posts and a couple of decent short stories and before I knew it I was a freelance writer.

Fast forward to last year, just before the pandemic hit and I was really making it work. I was still selling my first book, working with several publications regularly, and writing independently of that. Then, with the pandemic, most of that dried up, but not only because of the pandemic but because my motivation and inspiration had too. I wanted to write, or at least keep doing something I liked to earn a living, working for myself and feeling fulfilled and I was frightened that this would change. Stuck in a weird state of a combination of paralysis and writer’s block I had no idea where to go until I decided to start up trying to write my blog, even just as an exercise again.

In 2017 I set up an account with Vocal.media as another place to attempt to share some of my work. After posting three articles I had abandoned it, more than likely because I was distracted by a shiny object somewhere. However, recently, in March I got a jolt into productivity and remembered that I had that account. I began to post some articles and enjoy myself again, taking baby steps back towards being creative.

Now, I’m not going to tell you that Vocal is the best thing since sliced bread and that I now earn a fortune from it. That would be a lie. I did, however, on my tenth post, receive a tip for reaching a milestone from Vocal themselves, which I found weirdly rewarding, despite the fact that it would hardly buy me a coffee (I’m not being ungrateful here Vocal - it was fantastic) and that in itself spurred me on further. Within a couple of days after attempting to consistently post new articles, I received an anonymous tip as well. Things were definitely heating up. The final massive spur, which I think that made all the difference, was Vocal offering me a three discount month Vocal Plus membership for $1 a month. What did I have to lose?

I suppose I need to explain here that every read on Vocal is metered. For every 1000 reads that you get with a regular free Vocal account, you get $3. With Vocal Plus you get $6 per 1000. Unless you’ve got fantastic SEO skills (I don’t) and a knack for knowing when and where to post online, you, unfortunately, won’t break the bank. You can also get tips from people who read and like your work online which is weirdly creepy and lovely at the same time. You can get them on both types of accounts but you keep a larger percentage with a Vocal Plus account. Vocal also surprise tips you sometimes, for things like publishing a certain amount of pieces, liking other writers’ work, and getting a certain amount of reads, so that can give you an actual objective. And also, there are competitions with very large prizes that you can enter on both types of accounts but there are more, and arguably better ones on Vocal Plus. It has a lot going for it.

So I started an experiment - which I am currently still in the middle of - to see where I was at the end of June and whether when the subscription reverts to the original price of $10 a month. If I was happy to continue using the site, entered a few competitions, get a few reads and earn a little bit I would consider keeping the subscription on. I want to see if I can generate a little bit of a steady income with it and win a prize or two. At this point, I have reached several milestones and have a four-figure total of reads. I’m not going to break the bank by any stretch but I have amassed a decent amount of tips as well. There have been several days where my very deliberately placed posts were read by hundreds of people. If nothing else that gave me a bit of a tingle. There is definite potential to earn money on Vocal, but it may require the time and effort that I do not have as I need to pay my bills right now. I see it more as a means to creativity, an indulgence of my hobby, but Vocal could definitely prove to be quite lucrative for a writer in the right mindset. Is this indulgence worth $10 a month once my subscription is over? Only time will tell.

I have seen people talking about Vocal being a scam. It is definitely not. I’m probably not clever enough at the marketing side to make anything substantial from it, although it has played a pivotal role in motivating and encouraging me back into writing and looking for related work. The community of writers that I have come across here in various Facebook groups is incredibly supportive, sharing and helping each other with critiques and advice. I hate the word inspirational but it has definitely pulled me back to my creative side and reignited my love of writing. I got my focus back, which has made me the happiest that I have been in a long time and as this pandemic appears to be easing up, isn’t it about bloody time?