Vocal, you are such a Tool!

Since becoming a member of the Vocal community, I have regularly seen articles published and shared, touting the various pros and cons of writing on the platform.

There have been more than a few about making money from the platform: be it a how-to or a warning against thinking it will make a Creator a bucket load of cash. There have been warnings against the thinking that Plagiaristic Software (a.k.a. A.I.) is a good way to quickly compile a Creator’s catalogue in the hopes of making a quick buck. We have all been there, that feeling of desperation to increase story numbers when our pages consisted of a measly-seeming 3 stories published. But it takes time to build up a catalogue and it is supposed to take time.

Pro Tip: the Challenges on Vocal Media are fantastic for helping build up the number and variety of stories on your Creator’s Page.

Some Creators have shared how much they have enjoyed the platform and grown their skills, balanced by what is not working for them.

I really enjoy the articles that share resources Authors may find useful. There are many people who jealously guard any knowledge and resources they have, it is so refreshing to see people sharing what can help others improve their writing. Bearing in mind people hone skills at different rates, finding the right advice can help a writer advance in leaps and bounds. However, it is important to keep in mind that writing is not a career that pays the bills initially. Writing may never turn into a career. And there are plenty of writers perfectly content with it remaining a hobby that earns some pocket money from platforms like Vocal.

What about those of us who really want it to eventuate into something bigger, something more substantial than a hobby?

Writing is a slow burn passion. Sometimes the fire is brighter and burns hotter. At others, it is a smouldering ember, awaiting fuel.

That slow burn can sometimes leave us feeling like we are not getting any where. Unfortunately, that is the nature of the Literary Beast. We have all heard the stories of how amazing now-household-name authors were rejected time and again by publishing companies. We know they refused to give up, sometimes taking unconventional paths and worked incredibly hard to arrive at the success they enjoy today. But do we know what they did in the mean time, in that space in between making a start and becoming a household name?

Believe it or not, many of them have novellas or anthologies of short stories. George Martin has a number of short story anthologies and novellas published. Colleen Hoover, who is currently experiencing immense popularity and success despite controversy, published one of her novels chapter by chapter on Watt Pad before she was picked up by a publishing company. Bram Stoker has an anthology of short stories that were published. The book, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson is actually an anthology of horror short stories, only one of which carries the name and was made into a movie starring Will Smith.

The most valuable tools a writer has is their imagination and curiosity. Everything else, skills and experience, will follow. Of course, the exogenous tools we have access to help us along with gaining that skill and experience.

Vocal Media and similar platforms are fantastic writer’s tools. Used well, they can be very beneficial. Vocal gives us writing prompts in the form of Challenges and informal Creator-to-Creator challenges, we receive support and feedback from a niche social network and we can find inspiration if we are open to it, in each other and the different Community themes.

And what’s more, by the time a Creator has published a few stories in similar genres, without realising it, they have followed in the foot steps of some of the most successful authors and created a catalogue that amounts to an anthology. There are a number of Vocal Creators who have published books consisting of their work originally published on the platform.

It may not seem like it, but thousands of Creators have already set their feet on the path to success using the valuable tool that is Vocal Media.

The value of Vocal is not in the potential financial gain. It is in the support, encouragement, feedback and most of all, in the catalogue of work Authors are developing.

Success is not measured in the dollars in your stripe wallet, the number of Top Stories you’ve had, the number of reads, hearts or comments stories have accumulated. It isn’t even in winning or placing in a Challenge. These are all great achievements of value that help us stay motivated.

But your success does not start and finish with these things.

Use Vocal to your greatest advantage and remember:

a sledge hammer can be a powerful tool, but only when swung the right way.