My stories used to be published anywhere from 10 minutes to 24 hours after submitting. Now they're taking 3 days on average. It drives me insane because I'm not a patient person. I'm guessing it's down to growing pains as they gain more and more members submitting to challenges.

I don't use Vocal now for anything but challenges, if I'm honest. I can't find a way to make money on reads, I just can't. It could be that I'm not a natural promoter, but even when I do promote on social media, I may get a whopping 20 reads. Yippee! That being said, I have won 2 challenges and gotten a couple to stories, and am hoping to win more (although I feel in some ways like I'm being ghosted for newer, shinier writers now), so I'm ahead of the game and have a free year to continue entering challenges. At the end of the free year, I'll have to reevaluate the relationship.