Vocal Media 6 Month Review: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I’ve been writing for Vocal Media since January of this year.

Now that it’s August, I figured I would provide my 6-month assessment of the writing platform.

I initially signed up as a means to publish my non-fanfiction writing from Wattpad. I posted a few chapters of Elite & Tawdry to Vocal Media, but abandoned that endeavour when I realized that my chapters could not be linked in a way that would make the reading experience easy for the user.

I then learned about the Writing Challenges — contests held by Vocal Media where the winners would receive a cash prize or a free membership to the platform’s paid tier, Vocal+.

I — like many others –was enticed by Moleskine’s Little Black Book Challenge held in March of this year. So, I found a promo code for one free month and entered the competition.

During my time on the platform, I began posting my writing simultaneously on my Vocal Media as well as my own website and on Medium. I also entered a few more Writing Challenges and paid for two months worth of Vocal+ membership.

Despite not winning any of the Challenges I entered, I decided to continue to use the platform

Here is the good the bad and the ugly of Vocal Media:

The Good

Vocal Media is Free to Join

Vocal Media has a free option that allows writers to post an unlimited amount of times on their platform. As long as a post satisfies the 600-word limit (more on that later) and steers clear of certain topics outlined in the Community Guidelines, the content will be accepted and published on the site.

Regular Writing Challenges

For those interested in testing their writing mettle, Vocal Media offers Challenges — writing competitions that award cash prizes or free memberships. Whether fiction or non-fiction, the Challenges provide an opportunity to write within the confines of a designated prompt or theme.

You Can Make Money from Writing

Perhaps the biggest draw for Vocal Media is its potential for writers to earn an income. The amount you earn is calculated based on page views. A writer can attach their profile to a Stripe account in order to receive payment.

The Bad

Poor Reach

While it’s easy to post on Vocal Media, getting views on your writing? Not so much. Unless the curation team at Vocal puts your post on the front page as a Top Story, or it gets selected as a finalist in a Challenge, expect your posts to garner less than 100 views without aggressive promotion.

Payment Threshold

Unlike with Medium, a writer can’t redeem their earnings until they reach a certain payment threshold. For Vocal+ members, writers must earn a minimum of $20 before they can redeem funds; writers with a free account must earn $35. And on that note…

Vocal+ Membership

In order to be a member and to gain access to exclusive features, writers must pay $9.99 a month. While not mandatory, it is the only way to be eligible for Vocal Media’s Writing Challenges.

Another questionable feature made available only to Vocal+ members was the Quick Edit. This feature allows users to edit their writing after publishing on the platform, rather than having to request permission for revision by email.

The Ugly

Lack of Publishing Control

Every post that’s submitted to Vocal Media must go through a vetting process where an editing team will review the content to determine if it’s suitable to be published on the platform.

The time it takes for a piece to get accepted can vary; sometimes approval is given within a few hours, other times (usually when a deadline for a Challenge is approaching), it can take several days.

This lack of control in publishing schedule can prove very frustrating, especially when publishing time-sensitive content that loses its impact when posted late.

Lack of Community

Vocal Media does not provide a comment section for its content. While recent steps have been made to improve engagement (ie like button, the ability to subscribe to favourite writers), there is no community on the platform in order to exchange ideas with fellow writers. It’s so bad that even thanking an individual for a tip proves difficult because there is no private message feature on the platform.

Travel off the site and peruse Facebook, and you’ll find groups consisting of Vocal Media writers, such as The Vocal Creators Lounge and The Vocal Media Creators Hub. While these groups generally foster a supportive environment, they tend to descend into the hypercritical when discussing winners of Writing Challenges.

Lack of Transparency with How Challenges Are Run

The biggest black mark on Vocal Media’s reputation is its lack of transparency with writers.

Recently, an employee from the Vocal Media wrote a long-form piece detailing the selection process for Challenge winners:

While the post does offer insight on how to better position one’s writing for success, the gesture is too little, too late.

The Little Black Book Challenge can be forgiven for its chosen winner; it may not have been to everyone’s liking who was suggested, ultimately the piece was selected based on its creative merits and strengths. That cannot be debated.

The real issue came with the winner of the Old Barn Challenge, the first of many as part of the Summer Fiction Series Challenges.

Do you remember the word count limit of 600 highlighted above? On top of satisfying that minimum, candidates were encouraged to write a story that did not exceed 2000 words.

Lo and behold, when the winners of the Old Barn Challenge were announced, it was quickly discovered that the second-place winner exceeded the limit by 870 words.

When questioned about this egregious disregard to the word limit, Vocal Media responded back stating that if a piece was considered exceptional, the 2000 word maximum could be ignored.

And to Vocal Media’s credit, the maximum limit is not included in the Official Rules of the Challenge. But the fact that the company waited months to address concerns about its legitimacy just goes to highlight Vocal Media’s sweeping issues with transparency.

Verdict

I’ve recently hit my $35 payment threshold and can cash out my earnings from Vocal Media. I posed the question to the Vocal Creators Lounge on whether they would continue to use the platform after receiving their first payout; here are the responses I got:

For sure. It’s a decent platform, it’s just still in its infancy.

Why not? I like Vocal, regardless of how much money you make, is the only place I found where I can publish my articles without them demanding cash. I feel that without an audience it is hard to make money anywhere you are, but at least Vocal gives you cents for every read.

I did, and there are some wonderful people I’ve met on here as well.

I’ve been writing here for 4+ years. Hitting payment is just part of my end-of-month record keeping at this point.

Yes, indeed. I would rather develop my skills and growth in content in this platform.

Yes. If I had quit after my first withdrawal I never would’ve got my second for $89 or my third for $131 or my fourth and now this will make my 5th which once it finally upticks the last $6.86 to make $200.

So as you can see, then general consensus — and what I’ve maintained about the platform since the beginning — is that Vocal Media is a good place for writers who are just starting out on their journey. For some, the prospect of making money is irrelevant; they are content to practice their craft and share their writing with the world.

Therefore, as I’ve said at the beginning of my time on Vocal Media, I think it’s an excellent platform for novice writers, but I would not spend money for a Vocal+ membership or join any of the Writing Challenges.

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Sylvie is a dual American/Canadian citizen living in Toronto, Canada. She has written for numerous sites, including Screen Rant, The Spool and Midnight & Indigo. Sylvie is currently writing her first YA novel; follow her writing journey at https://sylviesoul.com and @sylvsoulwriter on Twitter.