Has anyone tried Vocal?

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   TessSchlesingerposted 2 years ago

   I joined a while ago but only wrote two articles on it.
   
   Here are the plusses:
   1. They offer incredible prizes every month - up to $25,000. These prizes are sponsored by other companies, so they're quite genuine.
   2. Money is paid into Stripe immediately as far as I can see.
   3. There aren't that many experienced writers there, so it's possible that more experienced writers would shoot to the top.
   4. There is a free membership option.
   5. People can donate to you.
   6. As far as I can see, your stuff is scrolled up as you publish it.
   7. It's passive income, but not even close to hubpages in its ability to produce passive income. That's because hubpages still ranks fairly highly (comparatively).
   
   
   Minuses.
   1. In order to enter the competitions, you have to pay $10 per month, which is outrageous.
   2. They have virtually no ranking on the Serps, so there is no traffic coming in other than readers on the platform, and it is very, very difficult to get followers/readers.
   3. There is a bunch of editing going on, and you have to wait for your stuff to be published.
   4. Stripe is only available to people in first world countries, so unless you have a first world country bank somewhere, it's impossible to be paid.
   
   While Newsbreak is paying a good whack to writers currently, it does have to be news, and it is really only open to Americans.
   
   So I'd be curious to know if anyone else is writing for Vocal? The only thing that interests me is the the prize challenges every month. I'm just loathe to pay the $99 for the year.

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      bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I've never heard of Vocal. But from what you've posted here, I wouldn't be interested. Why pay to post?

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Well, yes, exactly. The only reason I would be interested are the competitions. They are sponsored by some pretty serious people.

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            MizBejabbersposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Maybe so, but I'm not paying someone to publish my work. Maven may not have picked me up as a star writer, but they are paying me more than I ever made from the old HP.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               ++

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Tessa, right? I'm not interested, even if there's no competition. The stripes on the American flag is for their America. Lol!

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      EricFarmer8xposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I have recently just started to use Vocal. I only have one article so far.One thing I like is that they are very transparent about what your pay is.
      
      I write content for multiple places as well as my own website. I like to write.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Several people have told me that they take a long time to pay out. Also the people who keep winning the prizes are the same group of people, and the people who win aren't good writers. So it may be an inside job. Not sure.

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      yourrandombrotherposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I've heard about vocal and I've also played with the idea of posting articles there as well but after such an eye-opening insight from you, I think it is better to keep a distance from that site.

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      Jeevan Mariaposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I write on vocal and as a matter of fact, before I started on HubPages I was solely focused on vocal. I believe it is a clean ad-free content sharing hub but with less reach from google search and organic traffic, this was a bit turnoff for me cause it is hard solely depending if whether my article is gonna be staff picked or not.
      Even though I am not a vocal+ member I definitely believe the paid version is a much better game than the free and may join in the near future

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         Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Not interested. I think  I've already indicated that. No future for me in stripe or vocal.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 2 years ago

   Sounds like Bubblews 2.0. No thanx.

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      viryaboposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      

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   Kenna McHughposted 2 years ago

   I'd pass.

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Kenna, congratulations to you, and any Americans!

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   TessSchlesingerposted 2 years ago

   I've decided to join Vocal Media. I'll pay the $10 a month. It's nothing in the great scheme of things...
   
   

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Congratulations, Tessa. Loved the name.

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      bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I think I'll take a closer look. I've taken a cursory glance at the fiction category. The prizes are pretty impressive. I enjoy writing (and reading) fiction.
      
      Thanks for bringing Vocal Media to our attention, Tessa. It seems the potential earnings far outweigh the annual fee for Vocal +.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I'm sorry, this is wrong. It's someone else who posted but didn't clarify. The 14 cents was from vocal and the $454 was one article from Medium.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 2 years ago

   Guys, I misunderstood what someone else posted. The $454 was one article on Medium and the 14 cents was from Vocal, so no, I'm not going to join.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That's an important clarification! Hehe!

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Yup. It wasn't so clear on the original story I read. I asked just to make sure, so now I'm eating humble pie.

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            bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Thanks for the clarification, Tess. I was impressed by the prizes for competitions. Perhaps it's a gimmick? Don't know.
            
            Also, what is Stripes? I've not heard of that method of payment.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Sorry - Stripe.
               
               We've all noticed something - that the prizes repeatedly go to the same people - a group of about 10. None of them can write very well, and the people who can write aren't winning prizes.
               
               The companies who are sponsoring the prizes, though, are valid companies, like Unbound - a crowdsourcing publishing site. So that doesn't make sense either. 
               
               Stripe is a money payment company like paypal and others. It is generally used for crowdsourcing money. Amazon and KDP will pay money into it as do Medium.  And Vocal does, too, although they are very slow in their payments (which is also suspicious).

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                  MizBejabbersposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                  I don't enter fiction contests because I noticed that the winners write dry crap, while the losers submit the better stories. I don't know if it's the personal tastes of the judges or if the winners are favorites because they keep paying to submit entries. I think our friend Bill Holland who writes the Mailbag on HP has recommended entering contests for the experience. However, as a professional writer since I was 19, I don't find them advantageous to me.

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                     TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                     I've won a few. I've also noticed that people who knew the editors won although their stories were crap.
                     
                     It came out about a year ago that the people who sit on the Nobel prize winning board for literature have been there for half a century, know precious little about writing, and select people through the recomnendation of their mates.

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                        bravewarriorposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                        All good info. I'll go with my first instinct and pass.

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                           TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                           ++++

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Tessa, don't make that again.

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   Arensshiposted 2 years ago

   How about medium. com?
   I just heard about this site yesterday, are y'all writing there too?

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      EricFarmer8xposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I want to publish to Medium but I am not sure what I can write that would work well on there.
      
      Since to get paid you need to write posts that are popular among people who pay to read on Medium.

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      PaulGoodman67posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Arensshi - There were two lengthy forum threads about writing on Medium that were around on here for two weeks or more. You must've been on vacation.

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   emgeposted 2 years ago

   I Think Medium also pays only to first world countries so its not a global site like hubpages.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      That is correct. I was able to earn in South Africa, but only because I had a previous account at Stripe that was dormant and it was connected to my British Bank account which was active.

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