Vocal Vs. Medium

If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have said I preferred Vocal. I had been writing for Vocal longer, and I was having trouble picking up traction on Medium. To be honest, I didn’t know how to use Medium. I was confused about publications and unsure of if I should submit my articles to them. I was also annoyed at the thought of having to pay five dollars a month for a subscription. I didn’t see the benefits until I realized that there were so many stories I wanted to read and couldn’t.

Vocal wasn’t free either, but it allowed you to read the stories featured on its website for free. If you paid 9.99 you got to enter more contests and get paid a little bit more for the views you earned. You also get to cash out at twenty dollars, which is the main reason I’ve seen people pay for the service. I’m currently paying for the service, but after my membership is over I’m going to cancel and never look back. Why? I realized today that I’ll never win a contest or have a top story on Vocal, so I’m not going to invest in a company that doesn’t support me.

On Medium, however, the same content that Vocal doesn’t acknowledge gets chosen for further distribution regularly. The stories available to read on Medium are more interesting than the ones selected as top stories on Vocal. That’s probably because Medium considers my reading history. Vocal prefers to promote its contest winners or people who get a lot of views, but Medium will promote anyone who creates great content.

The submission process on Medium is easier as well. If you’re not submitting to a publication, you can publish your story instantly. If you are submitting to a publication, it’ll take a little while longer. The longest I’ve had to wait was a day or so, but the publication got in touch with me to let me know that I was next in the queue. At Vocal, they seem to prioritize getting stories out from their preferred writers. I have two stories waiting to be reviewed that have been submitted days ago, while other writers are having their stories approved within an hour of submission. How did I end up in Vocal’s slush pile, and how do I get out of it?

Vocal recently decided to roll out bonuses, but most of my milestones were met before the unveiling of the feature. Following the advice of an author who’d emailed them and asked about the bonuses, I decided to email them as well. While they helped her, they told me that I was out of luck. I can’t help but wonder if my email is the thing that landed me in their slush pile.

Medium doesn’t offer bonuses, but I’ve already made more this month than I’ve ever made with Vocal. I don’t have a large reach but utilizing the membership as an opportunity to interact with other writers is the best thing I could have done. I can read more stories, and leave comments engaging with other writers. These writers sometimes check out my writing as well. Vocal doesn’t have any option besides tipping to interact with other writers, which is a missed opportunity for them. It would create more engagement amongst the writers. It would also allow writers who don’t earn many views the chance to gain them by building relationships.

Although I’ve been writing for Vocal for longer, I must admit that Medium is the superior site. It gives writers all that they need to succeed while Vocal only promotes writers who they favor. Medium also has the advantage of being easier to use, and more forgiving for new writers.