A Winning Loser

Introduction

This is inspired by this piece by Kendall Defoe:

The music is "Loser" by Beck, a totally brilliant song with a brilliant chorus.

I Am A Winning Loser

As I am writing this piece, I have Nick Drake playing. Almost everyone knows of Nick Drake these days, and his three albums are ubiquitous (although a busker in Hebden Bridge had never heard of him, I told her to find his music), but while he was with us, his album sales hardly allowed him to eat, and he took his own life.

"Poor Boy" from "Bryter Later" is on my player at the moment.

The lesson is, no matter how good your work is, you still may not be recognised. Although I get the odd Top Story and Honourable Challenge Mention from Vocal, I know that I am little more than a cash cow to them, and if I left, it would mean nothing to them.

Remember, Vocal is a mechanism to make a profit, but it gives us a great and easy way to share our work. And it does keep getting better.

When I started, we waited days for story approvals, often getting rejected for no apparent reason, then having to resubmit and wait another few days.

Now, if our story isn't published within the hour, we think there is something wrong. Admittedly, sometimes stories get stuck and you need to raise a ticket, or Vocal has to deal with problems, and then things take a little longer, but we have a platform that gives us almost instant publishing, and if we have a good audience, that means we will get a lot of reads, even if they don't leave hearts and comments. That is my audience.

So, while as far as the entity that is Vocal is concerned, I am just a face in a crowd, but as far as my reads and positive comments from my audience are concerned, I am a definite winner.

I speak with a lot of creators who feel they are being ignored by Vocal, but Vocal gives us a community. We have to take part in that community to make things work, and if we do that, we can reap huge benefits.

Last week in Hebden Bridge, I found a great gallery/coffee shop which I wrote about here:

Then Caroline Jane, a fellow administrator in The Vocal Social Society, saw it and said she lived up the road (you can see the conversation in the story), so we met there for coffee and here is the proof.

These are the treasures of being on Vocal. It's not the Top Stories, Challenge Wins, and Money; it's the friendships we make. Meeting Caroline Jane in person was the first other Vocal Creator I have met and had coffee with, and that felt like a huge win for me, and I know Caroline enjoyed it.

We have committed to interviewing each other and sharing the interview on Vocal with you all, so you have that to look forward to.

Conclusion

My original image for this was a bit dark, but I thought the origami sloth really reflected how I feel about being where I am.

I know I am loved, respected and appreciated, and do make good coffee money as a bonus from being on Vocal.

I have never had a month where my earnings were less than my subscription (apart from the first month or so), so I definitely can't complain,

I remember Terry Pratchett complaining that he did not win awards, and I thought, "With your reader base, you don't need awards. They love you, buy your books, and made you a millionaire". I do see that attitude in myself.

Thank you so much for reading. I really do appreciate your support.