26 Reasons I Love Vocal

As I turn 26 years' old, I want to say a huge thank you to Vocal Media for making writing book reviews my favourite thing to do alongside reading books and for giving me an audience to talk to. Through Vocal Media I actually feel like I'm really talking to you, yes you, on the other end. I want to thank Vocal Media for so many things and since it is my 26th birthday today, I have listed them in 26 points (yes, I have had to compress them because there were too many points!)

26 Reasons I Love Vocal

1) My writing has become a lot more fluent

As a student of literature, film and writing, I have always been concerned with fluency and I feel that Vocal has given me the drive I need to be able to practice as often as I possibly can. I mean, the progression from a couple of years' ago when I first opened my account to now has been pretty extreme.

2) I enjoy writing more

Thanks to Vocal, I finally see that there are thousands of things to enjoy about writing, not just academia and not just fiction/nonfiction stories. There are thousands of things to enjoy and thousands of things to practice. I can write about whatever I feel like and it feels a lot more creatively free for me.

3) I enjoy reading others' articles

Access to articles by people who aren't working for big media companies is often hard to find and thanks to Vocal, I have found tons of creators I really enjoy reading regularly. These range from film to cookery all the way through to wellness and femininity. Again, another score for Vocal for having all my favourite creators in one place.

4) It's simple to use

Vocal can basically be used by anyone who wants to write. An easy platform to write on and a simple-to-use interface, it can even be used by me! (Trust me, I'm bad with technology, I don't even know where to turn my laptop on and off - I'm being serious, it's a problem). Vocal makes everything user friendly and when you want to view an article, whether you're on a phone or a laptop, you can pick it up just as great anywhere. Highly recommended for reading articles on the train!

5) There is tons to choose from

The categories are endless to write for and Vocal are still adding new ones all the time. Personally, I love writing for the Geeks category, but I have also written on Beat and on Proof and even on Poets, Journal, Criminal and Psyche. Each one with its own piece of individuality, I think that this is a really clever and efficient way to organise everything and, when reading articles it comes in handy as well. (I tend to like browsing through Criminal when nobody is looking!) With the recent addition of Fiction there are tons of new writers who are really, really good at storytelling.

6) It's personal

With your own public page, your articles are shown across the board, you can edit it with your own personal tagline, your qualifications, your experience, where you work or which city you live in. I find these really extraordinary to see people from all over the world from all kinds of backgrounds flocking to Vocal to write their stories.

7) It's for everyone

I am a huge believer that everyone has a story to tell and that there is really no such thing as a 'wrong' way to tell a story. Vocal really nourishes the writer within by providing a great set of resources on boosting writing skills, making better content and provides really helpful advice on getting out there, being confident with your work and showing everyone what you can do. When I first started on Vocal, I had a read through them back then and they helped me so much.

8) The Moderators

The Moderators are people that I really want to thank because they are the backbone of this website and its content. Nowhere on Vocal will you see a ton of ads, ads disguised as content or the dreaded clickbait article. All the content that these moderators look at is moderated to make sure that there is a quality behind it that stops advertisements disguised as articles making their way through the 'Vocalverse'.

9) Making friends

I have made so many friends whilst being on Vocal. Fellow writers read my content and I read theirs. It's a really good and healthy friendship, some comment to me on Instagram that I got them to read a book that they wouldn't have normally looked at and I comment to others that I did something I wouldn't have thought of (my drinking of mint tea which is now my favourite originally came from my early days searching Vocal for a nice tea that would calm my anxiety issues).

10) Making more friends

Audience members are my friends. I consider you all my friends. If you are reading this then you are my friend. Why? Well, I think that anyone who takes the time to read someone else's article for whatever reason must be a human being who has taken their time out for that person. I want to thank Vocal for providing me a space to do that as well. I no longer have to search the depths of the internet for people, I can find my audience members through them contacting me on Instagram and I can find people to read quickly through Vocal. Vocal has allowed me to expand and expanding into the realms of others is something I never thought I would do.

11) Being a part of a group

I've never really felt like part of a group before, even if it sounds a bit cliché, I have never really had as many friends as I feel I have now. Growing up, I didn't really have social media - I had MSN where you could talk to people you knew and MySpace where all I did was customise my page. I didn't get Instagram until I was about twenty and I've never had SnapChat. When I started getting social media, my circles were small to about just under fifty people, most of those being family. Once I started Vocal though, I have vastly increased my friendship base and many of these people are people who read my articles. I definitely feel like Vocal is a group that I am proud to be a part of because of how it has encouraged me to grow.

12) Self-Expression

One of the biggest things I love about Vocal is the ability to express myself in a way where I can write things down and people will actually read them. Self-expression was really important to me whilst I was growing up, I went through it all: the scene/emo phase, the goth phase, the hello kitty grunge phase, the pink hair phase and now, I guess I'm just at my boring adult phase. But, self-expression in whatever form has been super important and through Vocal, I have been able to channel that by discussing something I have loved throughout all my phases and whatever they are: books and films.

13) Academia

Vocal has allowed me not only to write in a self-expressive way but it has also allowed me to explore my love of academia. Writing essays is a real passion of mine, I love to research and piece together the research and then, finally draft something up. I have written essays on The Picture of Dorian Gray, Jane Eyre and many more - it has always been a love of mine to research and write. I especially loved the one I did on The Aeneid, that was a lot of fun.

14) My portfolio

As someone who has done degrees in writing, literature and film - it is important that I build up my portfolio of writing on those topics and Vocal has helped me in a way that very few, if any, other places have. Vocal has allowed me to collect my portfolio into one author's page and, with the newest first, people have no problem looking through my writings from start to finish.

15) Competitions

Taking part in Vocal competitions is pretty amazing even if you don't win, they are a great exercise to practice your writing. But, the one thing I like doing is going through them and reading the different stories (especially when there is fiction involved) because people have obviously worked so hard on these in order to win the competition, you see everyone's best writing come out.

16) A place for me and my books

Throughout my life, I haven't really had a place for me and my books, a place for me to talk to people about books or a place where I think I'll be heard when I talk about my books - Vocal has given me that. It's like a place where people come to me to listen to me talk about books, and that is a really amazing feeling.

17) Quick replies

Whenever I have contacted Vocal whether it be about a submission that I accidentally clicked or whether it be about something I would like changed on my submission whilst it is still in review - they have never failed to respond quickly and efficiently. I really do wonder how many people are sitting there responding to people's emails from time to time because of how quick it is.

18) Quick edits

If there is one thing on Vocal that is better than any social media site ever, it is the fact that Vocal has an edit button. The 'quick edit' button allows me to slightly change things about my reviews, normally this is just something simple like adding punctuation - or sometimes it can be deleting a sentence and replacing it with a new one. This can happen days after publication and I respect Vocal for allowing me to do this and putting it at the top of the article when I have done it. It is incredibly helpful.

19) The word count

I have used other blog sites in the past and it is really annoying when you have to type out your work on another document to see the word count and then copy and paste it over. This is mainly because I like my book reviews to be a certain count of words (or else I end up rambling and talking too much) because I know that people want book reviews that are efficient but tell them the good points and bad about a particular book. The good thing about Vocal is you get a word count at the bottom of the screen and that is something I have yet to see on some other blog sites I have used (I say 'have used' because when I discovered Vocal, I dropped the old ones).

20) The word count yet again!

I like the fact that articles have to be over a certain number of words because that encourages people to write good content. It also discourages time-wasters. But the one thing I really love about the fact that there is a minimum word count is that when writers who like writing are writing, you really get some passion out of them, you get the people who want to write bringing their best and their most specific. When I read other people's reviews on here, I see that the minimum word count has been not only surpassed but a lot of the time, people who like to write don't think about it too much. It is very enjoyable to witness.

21) Unsplash Photos

Unsplash Photos has really saved my life on Vocal. If you know me and if you've seen my Instagram, you'll know that I don't take pretty photos. When it comes to my articles, I normally have the corresponding Instagram photo as the cover but, when it comes to lists or special articles I do I don't want my photos on there. Vocal has allowed me to use Unsplash and honestly, there are some really, really gorgeous photos on that thing, it has really pushed my articles out there.

22) Embedding

Back when I started writing things online, I had no idea that there was a whole world of content creating out there. When I came to Vocal and dropped my metaphorical suitcases, I started to explore a lot more. I saw that I could embed videos and photos into the articles, I could take my own pictures and put them in and I could even set up links from my articles to other articles. Vocal has taught me more about technology in the last few years than I even hoped to learn.

23) Making Money

I think one of the really cool things about Vocal is that it allows the writer to make money of their own writing. I make quite a bit of money from Vocal and I am actually quite astounded that I do. This is mainly because I never for a second thought a few years' back that anyone would be interested in my writing. But, a few years' later and I'm making a fair amount of money. It is really quite extraordinary.

24) Vocal+

Vocal+ is a really great way to get access to more stuff on Vocal. Now, correct me if I'm wrong but you can only access the 'quick edit' button if you have Vocal+, right? Ah, but also, you can earn more money per read and join in on more competitions which have the exclusive 'V+' sign on them which your profile also gets. I love Vocal+ because it allows for that extra room for creative expansion and, when you can make more money per read - my V+ just pays for itself now.

25) Subscribers

Recently, Vocal introduced subscribers and I am already really loving it. This means I get to see my favourite content creators all on one page. I get to see what they've been writing and which ones are most recent. But this also means that people can subscribe to me (I would like to thank you if you do) as well. The subscription system has made it far easier for me to find my favourite creators on this site.

26) Purpose

I would like to finally thank Vocal for giving me a purpose. I always knew I wanted to write I just didn't know what. I love books and I love film and so, Vocal has given me a space where I can do that. I absolutely adore this site more than any other site on the internet.

Conclusion

I would like you and Vocal to spend my 26th Birthday with me and understand how much I appreciate Vocal, the audience members and its creators.