I’ve been running across a lot of ads from a website called Vocal that are targeted at freelance writers. You know I was curious and had to check it out! Vocal says that you can make up to $500 publishing your articles on their site. Another Medium wannabe, maybe? Here’s what I found out and my Vocal review.

What is Vocal?

Vocal is a site where you can post your articles and get paid. That sounds pretty good until you realize that you may put up 100 articles and never earn a cent. Unlike many sites, Vocal doesn’t pay a flat rate for articles. Your article, instead, earns money over time depending on different factors. We’ll get into that in a minute.

There are a few quality requirements that Vocal wants in an article. First, it shouldn’t have spelling and grammar errors (duh) and there are word limits. An article can’t be less than 600 words and poems can’t be less than 100 words. They also don’t like erotica, nudity, and some other topics. Here’s Vocal’s full guidelines.

Another one of Vocal’s ads.

How much does Vocal pay writers?

Your article can earn money from how many times your article is read, weekly contests, and tips given to you from readers. Let’s start by looking at the pay-per-read setup.

According to Vocal, writers earn $3.80 per 1,000 reads. If you subscribe to Vocal + (which is $10 per month with a 30-free trial), you’ll earn $6 per 1,000 reads. So, say you subscribe to Vocal+ and your article goes viral, snagging 1 million reads. That’s an earnings of $6,000. Not too shabby. I wonder if that’s ever happened on their platform, though.

Also, what constitutes a read? Do people have to scroll through the whole article before you get a “read” or do they have to stay on the page for a certain amount of time? I dug around their site until I found their FAQ. Here’s what they say about reads on their FAQ:

How are my reads calculated?
Reads are calculated by Vocal’s read algorithm, which takes into account things like time spent on the page, as well as how far down the page is scrolled. This is to make sure that your readers are actually reading your story, so that you’re earning on real engagement from your fans.

Screenshot from Vocal’s payment information page.

Vocal also has weekly contests. Some pay in cash, while others have different types of prizes. I had to laugh when I saw that some contests pay in “experience.” Freelancers just love that word! You also can’t enter the contests if you’re not a Vocal+ member.

Like I mentioned before, your readers can also give you tips if they like your article. This reminds me of the flash websites of the 90s and early 2000s with their gyrating tip jars. Fond memories. Tips are a great idea until you see that Vocal takes a 7% processing fee, unless you have Vocal+, and then it only takes a 2.9% processing fee. This site grabs money every way it can think of it seems.

For some insight, I took a look at the comments on one of their Facebook ads. Here’s what one writer had to say:

Leticia S. Diamond
You don't have to pay to publish. I've been a subscribing member for 3 months. The first month I only did the free part. I'm positive this company makes their money from the memberships, and the bonus of the membership for the members is the extra writing contests. Winning a contest can get you from $75-5000 depending on the award amount and if you place in the top 3. Beyond that, you get, like, a cent per read. So, if you've got a supportive family or fan base, you could make some cash on the clicks. If you do it, just write a LOT to increase how much you may be seen and clicked on.
Oh, people can tip you too, but I haven't had that happen for me yet. Good luck and blessings to you, whatever you do.

Here’s another interesting conversation:

And another…

Where the money comes from

There’s no ads on Vocal, so how do they make their money and how do they pay you? Here’s the answer from their website:

How does Vocal make money and pay creators if there are no ads?
We believe that creators like you are our partners, and that the stories you share should be free of distractions like annoying ads and popups. In order to create a sustainable ecosystem for everyone on Vocal, we earn money in the following ways:

1. We earn money when creators upgrade to Vocal+
2. We receive a small platform processing fee on Tips (7% for Vocal / 2.9% for Vocal+)
3. Our in-house content studio, Vocal for Brands, partners brands that share our values of quality and creativity with Vocal creators to produce branded content.

The catch

Besides charging membership fees and skimming tips, Vocal also has a payout threshold. You can only cash out if you make $35 or more or $20 or more with Vocal+. So, if your articles don’t make many tips or get many reads, you may not be able to cash out your earnings for a long time.

Does Vocal take your rights?

One good thing about Vocal is that they don’t get you to sign away your copyright when you post an article. They just use a limited license, which means you’re free to post your articles wherever you like since you still own them.

Vocal review: My thoughts

Okay, so Vocal seems like an interesting idea, but I’m not sure if most writers would ever make enough money to hit the payout. Since you get to keep your rights, I would say give it a try if you’re curious. If you get the Vocal+ 30-day free subscription, just make sure to cancel if you don’t make enough to cover the subscription plan in that first month. Here’s is their full intake process and how the site works, in detail.