It’s Time To Part Ways Vocal

I’m sorry but although I’ve been a member here since May 2021 and I’ve now published 928 stories, I have made the hard decision to say goodbye.

When I first started with this site, I was impressed with all Vocal stood for and certainly impressed with how it encouraged and got behind its writers. But sadly that has all changed and most of those changes have not been positive.

So yes, I cancelled my V+ Membership again yesterday. To be honest I cancelled it some time ago but Vocal enticed me back with 4 months free membership — so I thought I’d give the site a second chance.

And I gave it a good chance — even when my free membership ran out a couple of months ago I paid my monthly fee — but I’m sorry it’s not the site for me anymore.

I have so many fond memories of Vocal, memories of the parts of Vocal that have now been lost.

Here’s a few of the memories I have of a once glorious and supportive site for writers :

Challenge Prize Pools

Once upon a time the challenges were worth entering. The prize funds were up there with the best of any of the competitions on the internet and the sponsorships and non monetary awards were thoughtful and educational to those who won.

I don’t say this because of greed on my part, because I’m well aware I don’t have the talent to ever have won one of these challenges, but some of the writers that did win the grand prizes of $25,000 or $15,000, were well deserving and I’m sure those wins would have given those talented writers the confidence in their talent, and the financial boost to help get their writing careers on track — hard enough for upcoming writers to do on their own these days.

Challenge Topics

The challenge topics used to be popular, and this wasn’t just because of the prize pools mentioned above. They would be topics that pushed us out of our comfort zone and helped us grow as writers.

This is certainly one area I miss the most of the old Vocal.

Summer Fiction Challenge

This was a challenge that was so popular on Vocal but for some reason it quickly disappeared. It was epic and again a great challenge to encourage us all to think and attempt to write outside the box. To write in a genre that most are not comfortable in (I say that because seriously, the bulk of writers on Vocal are Poets — you’ve only got to look at the Poet community to see that).

As a Poet myself, I loved this challenge because prior to Vocal I would never have had the confidence to even attempt to write a piece of Fiction.

It breaks my heart when I think of all the new members on Vocal that have missed out on this great challenge series.

Top Story

Now this one is definitely a sore point with me!

I remember back in the days when Top Story meant something. When I’d wake up in the morning and find an email from Vocal saying I had been rewarded a Top Story.

OMG the smile on my face would last for days. I’d rush to my boys and happily tell them I had been awarded a Top Story. Oh, I remember that feeling and how wonderful it made me feel to be recognised for my writing.

I would always log onto Vocal first thing in the morning, sit with my coffee and the first thing I’d do was click over to Top Story and read all the talent and their exceptional stories that had been awarded overnight.

But then sadly it all changed.

Now when I get that email from Vocal I think, ‘Oh nice, that’ll boost my wallet a little with the $5 bonus,’ and then I forget about it.

Now I rarely even click over to Top Story to see who was awarded overnight and I rarely bother to read those stories these days.

Why? Because Top Story has lost its meaning to me.

See, these days Top Story is not about good writing. No, it’s all about whether you’re one of the Vocal ‘IN’ crowd. It’s nothing more than a popularity contest these days.

Don’t get me wrong, as SOME of the Top Story picks deserve to be chosen because they are well written and the excellent work of some very talented writers……but other Top Story picks — mmmmmmm, I say no more!

I’ve even had a few Top Story awards myself and I’ve instantly thought, ‘How the hell did that make Top Story as it was seriously garbage’! Then there are many pieces I’ve written that have received comment after comment from other Vocal writers telling me that my piece was definitely going to get Top Story………and nada, nothing!!!

No, Top Story awards are meaningless on Vocal these days and again my heart breaks for those writers that are extremely talented but not part of the ‘IN’ crowd. To those writers I say :

“Hold your head high and believe in yourself, believe in your writing. Please don’t get discouraged when you don’t receive a Top Story but instead take pride that you’re not in that clique Vocal ‘IN’ crowd, but you are unique, you are worthy of more than a meaningless award that’s no more than a popularity contest. You’ve got this and you’re better than that!!!”

And there you have the memories of what was once great.

I could go into great detail on the things that I don’t like on Vocal. The bizarre changes, the exorbitant membership fees when compared to other sites, the low earnings potential— again when compared to other sites — etc etc etc but I won’t bother. Most people are already aware of these downfalls.

I will miss reading some great talent here on Vocal but I hope I’ll eventually see you on some of the other sites available out there.

I have made a handful of great friends on Vocal but again I hope I can still catch up with you on Facebook — you know who you are 😊

I will still post on Vocal as I’m writing for other sites anyway…..and why not, it’s now free for me to do so 😊. I don’t expect much interaction as I won’t be reading on Vocal anymore but you never know, one day, one person my find my work on Vocal and decide they like it enough to come find me and interact with me on the other sites, where I am active.

So Vocal, I’ll say goodbye here and wish you all the best. I hope you start making some better decisions. Decisions that attract new readers and support the writers you haven’t already lost.

One thing I do need to raise is Vocal’s lack of communication!

It is only because I have pieces sitting waiting for approval and they’ve been waiting over 24 hours now, that I asked a question of why on Facebook.

At first I thought it was Vocal punishing me for cancelling my membership — yes, sadly that’s how low I think of Vocal these days — but one Vocal Facebook Group Administrator let me know about the issues Vocal are currently facing, and the reason behind their unstable website and blown out article review times.

Vocal I’m seriously disappointed that you didn’t feel I was important enough as a Vocal+ Member to be informed of these issues!

That just reiterates to me that I’ve made the right decision to jump ship!

So long Vocal.

Please click the link below my name to read more of my work. I would also like to thank you for taking the time to read this today and for all your support.

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Please visit my website if you'd like more information on my newly published book, Battle Angel : The Ultimate She Warrior.

Originally published on Medium