From Starting Five Years Ago To Now, This Is How I Look At Vocal

Do you all remember when you started using Vocal? It was the new and shiny toy you needed at that perfect moment in time. You needed Vocal, and it needed you! Vocal sometimes doesn't feel like it needs you, but without the writers, the users of the platform, there was never going to be the launch pad that Vocal became for some. Some, made their biggest moves and became authors. Others threw in the towel and walked away, never to be seen or heard form again, because they couldn't see what was possible.

It wasn't their fault, persay. The Vocal membership drives, five years ago, put up the possibillities of what was possible. They flooded social media like Instagram with images of a person writing, with the magic question, Want to get paid for telling your stories, and some numbers. Darn it if it wasn't enticing, particularly as the world slowed to the snails pace it crawled to as Covid-19 settled in and everybody was stuck at home 200 percent more than ever before. The price was 6,000.00 dollars for telling your stories. It didn't say, "If you can get a million reads!"

But it got you to sign up, to pay for Vocal, or to contribute at a lower read to pay ratio than on Vocal Plus.

Now, here we we were, learning about Vocal. We learned that you can win prizes if you're a vocal plus member. You can enter challenges and win upwards of 100.00 to 500.00, and there were those that were 1,000.00 dollar winners. That held you, because you could enter as many times as your fingers would handle you typing story after story. Some people wrote hundreds of stories for contests. Yes, I was one of them. Some won, some lost, repeatedly.

Dejected and frustrated, some departed after never getting into a runner up status, much less a win. Some never even got chosen by Vocal as a top story. How is that possible? There were so many people with some great imaginations, and some with some real talent for words.

The odds of winning were and remain a long shot. You have to have a great piece to be considered seriously, and since writing is an art, everything is very subjective. So, why, if it can't be won would a person stick around? Because some have never won the prize and are still here to this day.

There are multiple kinds of success, particularly here. For someone to make any form of money on Vocal they had to have had something. Either they wrote something that was going to be found and read by far more people than average, even going viral. Or, they managed to make money off of tips, top story bonuses, and earnings. Maybe they got lucky and one of their works was picked as runner up.

Im my case, I managed to get a runner up in the Time Capsule Haiku contest, and that was in 2023. I haven't gotten one in the past 3 years. But I'm still here.

Soon, though, I will have a personal win on Vocal and that is all thanks to you! Even if you're reading my stuff for the first time, it's still you! But, there are many others who have shown love, support, and advice at times and they've helped get me through the frustrations, the angst, and the leaner times on the platform.

So, I'd like to share that if you stick through the failures, keep getting better, and keep working at this, you can make something and enjoy wins.

A top story win is only five dollars, but it holds your story up on the main page, and many people do read things from their.

Once in a while, someone throws you a tip. I've gotten 17 tips in my time here. It's a great way to show appreciation for something you've read, if you're in a position to do something like that and feel it's right.

According to my Vocal Wallet, I've withdrawn 727.42 from vocal in my time. That came from 22 Withdrawals.

And my best and most read story on Vocal does have 22,191 reads. That's out of a total of 54,011 reads.

So, what's my next win?

It'll be seeing my earnings move across their next threashold. Sitting at 299.51, I'm only 49 cents from having earned 300.00 from reads alone!

Why am I self agrandizing? Sometimes you have to show pride in what you achieve, even if it's small. But, there's a better reason!

For each young person, or newer user to a platform like this, they're starting a journey. That journey will take them through some bumpy roads and frustrating nights. When that happens, they might benefit from knowing that, while it might not seem like much, it's good to take the time to recognize those smaller victories as you chase the bigger ones.

So, keep writing, keep reading, and keep growing as an artist. Only time and your effort will make this pay off for you!