In my (perhaps ignorant) opinion, Substack is still in its infancy. I think many of us are lucky to be getting started on the platform so early on as it continues to grow into the mainstream.
The way I see it, besides the time it may take, there’s no downside to putting out consistent, quality content. Regardless of who engages or not.
In my (perhaps ignorant) opinion, Substack is still in its infancy. I think many of us are lucky to be getting started on the platform so early on as it continues to grow into the mainstream.
The way I see it, besides the time it may take, there’s no downside to putting out consistent, quality content. Regardless of who engages or not.
I hear the 'Stack name a lot in any given week. On some cable news networks, "our" Glenn Greenwald is a frequent guest, and the host will always intone, "whose work can be seen on Substack!" I'll scream at the TV (I'm probably doing that anyway), "Hey, I work there!"
Yep... I think we are very fortunate to be working on this platform... I have tried others and Substack is definitely my favourite... I love every aspect of it - newsletter/podcast/vids! Fabulous. And I am getting way more response (even though fairly small) compared to Medium, which I consider a lost cause at this point... my intention is to focus on producing regular content for my Substack newsletter from this point on...
Am curious why Medium is a lost cause? I'm pretty new to blogging in general, so there's a lot that's happened in development in terms of history from where things started to where they are now that has escaped my notice.
I just meant that Medium is a lost cause for me. I put up several posts on Medium starting several months back and they didn't show any views whatsoever. I signed up on Substack the second week of June and have put up about 12 posts - a combo of writing, podcasts and video - and they have all recorded action. As such, I truly believe that Substack is the best option for me to promote my creativity and get great feedback along the way.
I used Medium for two years and tried to build an audience there for my comics but the end result was disappointing. I think Medium has a tendency to bury content plus I think whatever algorithm or curating system they use seems targeted to a very limited demographic.
I was reading on another Substack about how one should post on Medium and Substack, but honestly, I think using Medium is more trouble than it is worth. Especially when it comes to comics such as I create.
Hi, ER Flynn, do you happen to know if anything will glitch if I switch out one illo for another? I mistakenly posted the wrong version of an image. Will anything go wonky or awry if I delete the wrong version and replace with the correct one? Thanks in advance if you can help.
In my experience it has been AOK to delete one image and replace it for another. I've done that plenty of times when I encounter a misspelling in my text or some other thing.
You just delete the image and put you cursor where that image is and then load in the new one. Easy peasy. Just make sure to add your ALT text or caption if you want one and you're good to go.
Thank you! Couldn't comment on your nanno-bot comic but loved it! Subscribed (sorry, for free). I also work with totalitarianism themes but because I'm a woman I'm not funny. Hoping that covid takes out Amy Schumer.
I started off on Medium and found the experience disappointing. The content ranking/algorithm-based approach is inscrutable, and nobody understands how it works. I confirmed that with a person who consulted for Medium. I wrote about the switch in my introductory Substack post here: https://agowani.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-party-pal, if you're interested.
Rachael, I just checked out your Substack presence... very cool! May I ask how you set up the formatting on your Home page... is that an option offered by Substack, or ?? It's really appealing!
Go into the "Settings" page for the specific newsletter you want -- it's on the far right tab on the page that provides you with stats information. Click "Edit Theme" under the "Style" section. In the left-hand column for "layout", you have "Default", "magazine", and "feed of posts". Select "magazine", make any other changes you want, and you're all set :)
Medium is definitely not a lost cause for me, though my earnings are quite low. I have almost 1000 followers there and 25 or so people who subscribe to get every article I publish via email. There are lots of keys to success on Medium, and different ways to define success, but I love writing there. Many of my articles get fewer than 50 views, but some have gotten several thousand, and I get more comments on my articles there than on my newsletter here. The main thing is not to have unrealistic expectations of gaining a huge following or making big bucks right away. You have to publish consistently, and in publications rather than on your own profile, to build a following.
More to the point Medium is very specific to opinion, culture and politics. Also requiring a paid account to view more than one or two articles a month prunes the readership a lot. It's fine if you write trending current affiars articles but not for other forms of writing.
Personally I'm rarely interested in opinion pieces or current affairs so that platform was never going to be a fit for me. Nothing I do ever had a chance of being curated into one of their established publications. It was an easy decision to make.
I don't know that Medium's a lost cause, but I definitely enjoy being here more. Substack's team is eager to roll things out & iterate, while Medium keeps giving writers (and editors) reasons to leave.
And the physics are different. Medium is very much a social media platform, where as Substack isn't. I see this platform as much more intentional & long form, where as Medium is a literary Facebook.
That said, there's some thriving publications over there. Ignore the old guard/gatekeepers. Find one you like and submit your work!
Substack sent out a message a couple of weeks back mentioning that they were setting up a beta test for video. I applied and they set me up so that I can now upload video directly to the platform (no Youtube links...). So far, it's been great! I would just contact them directly and request that you be a beta video tester!
This. In 2 weeks on here my stories have received more reads than if they had been sitting on my blog for a year. Sometimes you just want to share what you do and there aren't viable commercial outlets for it. The short story format is something I completely overlooked as a writer, but it's incredibly fun to write. You can change up the theme, subject and characters week by week to keep your own engagement high.
Right after sending this as a “naked” comment, my mind cleared a bit and I found the original reply that I was basing my comment on:
Amran Gowani
Writes Field Research by Amran Gowani1 hr ago
"Slowly, then all at once."
Amran said all that needs to be said, but I can never pass up a chance to make something more complex…
I just returned home from a “rescue” mission, and started to reply to someone who posted something like, “it will start slow, then suddenly grow.” Now, I can’t find my way back to that and it is past 1 pm CDT again, but…
I had already located this old blog post. I’m not convinced that it will link to that entire post, but here are the first two paragraphs and you *might* be able to follow this link to the rest:
In the business world, there is something called a “Hockey Stick Graph” that tracks the typical income stream when a successful new business starts up. First, the business goes in the hole due to start-up expenses, then slowly begins to see money coming in, a process that can be discouraging.
A hockey stick has a “blade” that briefy slants down from the tip and then turns sharply upwards at the “elbow.” If the numbers along the bottom represent time and the numbers along the side represent profits for a new business, the graph line will come to resemble a hockey stick, if the business has a good idea, a good plan and the owner puts forth a good effort.
In my (perhaps ignorant) opinion, Substack is still in its infancy. I think many of us are lucky to be getting started on the platform so early on as it continues to grow into the mainstream.
The way I see it, besides the time it may take, there’s no downside to putting out consistent, quality content. Regardless of who engages or not.
Not so much in its infancy. Great platform and I'm happy to be part of it. You may be interested in this article; https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/substacks-founders-dive-headfirst-into-the-culture-wars
Thank you!!!
Good point, Jan. And thanks for the link!
Yes, this is a super article.
Thanks for sharing this, Jan!
Thank you for the link
Read that just the other week!
I hear the 'Stack name a lot in any given week. On some cable news networks, "our" Glenn Greenwald is a frequent guest, and the host will always intone, "whose work can be seen on Substack!" I'll scream at the TV (I'm probably doing that anyway), "Hey, I work there!"
I was trying to figure out how many people total are on this platform....it’s so big but so small at the same time
Right - I always see familiar names, which is a really nice feeling for community. And at the same time, there's always more to find!
Starting to feel a bit like this for me, too.
Yes! I just found a couple new good ones on the discover page...
You were one of my first people I subscribed to I think 🥲
Oh wow! Thank you - that means a lot :). I hope you're enjoying it :).
More than!!! Thanks for co creating :)
Yep... I think we are very fortunate to be working on this platform... I have tried others and Substack is definitely my favourite... I love every aspect of it - newsletter/podcast/vids! Fabulous. And I am getting way more response (even though fairly small) compared to Medium, which I consider a lost cause at this point... my intention is to focus on producing regular content for my Substack newsletter from this point on...
Am curious why Medium is a lost cause? I'm pretty new to blogging in general, so there's a lot that's happened in development in terms of history from where things started to where they are now that has escaped my notice.
I just meant that Medium is a lost cause for me. I put up several posts on Medium starting several months back and they didn't show any views whatsoever. I signed up on Substack the second week of June and have put up about 12 posts - a combo of writing, podcasts and video - and they have all recorded action. As such, I truly believe that Substack is the best option for me to promote my creativity and get great feedback along the way.
I used Medium for two years and tried to build an audience there for my comics but the end result was disappointing. I think Medium has a tendency to bury content plus I think whatever algorithm or curating system they use seems targeted to a very limited demographic.
I was reading on another Substack about how one should post on Medium and Substack, but honestly, I think using Medium is more trouble than it is worth. Especially when it comes to comics such as I create.
Hi, ER Flynn, do you happen to know if anything will glitch if I switch out one illo for another? I mistakenly posted the wrong version of an image. Will anything go wonky or awry if I delete the wrong version and replace with the correct one? Thanks in advance if you can help.
In my experience it has been AOK to delete one image and replace it for another. I've done that plenty of times when I encounter a misspelling in my text or some other thing.
You just delete the image and put you cursor where that image is and then load in the new one. Easy peasy. Just make sure to add your ALT text or caption if you want one and you're good to go.
Thank you! Couldn't comment on your nanno-bot comic but loved it! Subscribed (sorry, for free). I also work with totalitarianism themes but because I'm a woman I'm not funny. Hoping that covid takes out Amy Schumer.
Oh ok that makes sense. Hey you've got to go where it works, and if Medium isn't it, then onto greener pastures.
I started off on Medium and found the experience disappointing. The content ranking/algorithm-based approach is inscrutable, and nobody understands how it works. I confirmed that with a person who consulted for Medium. I wrote about the switch in my introductory Substack post here: https://agowani.substack.com/p/welcome-to-the-party-pal, if you're interested.
Rachael, I just checked out your Substack presence... very cool! May I ask how you set up the formatting on your Home page... is that an option offered by Substack, or ?? It's really appealing!
Hello, yes.
Go into the "Settings" page for the specific newsletter you want -- it's on the far right tab on the page that provides you with stats information. Click "Edit Theme" under the "Style" section. In the left-hand column for "layout", you have "Default", "magazine", and "feed of posts". Select "magazine", make any other changes you want, and you're all set :)
What I do is I republish my substack on medium and basically cover both sides at the same time for some extra exposure.
Medium is definitely not a lost cause for me, though my earnings are quite low. I have almost 1000 followers there and 25 or so people who subscribe to get every article I publish via email. There are lots of keys to success on Medium, and different ways to define success, but I love writing there. Many of my articles get fewer than 50 views, but some have gotten several thousand, and I get more comments on my articles there than on my newsletter here. The main thing is not to have unrealistic expectations of gaining a huge following or making big bucks right away. You have to publish consistently, and in publications rather than on your own profile, to build a following.
That is very wise and true :)
More to the point Medium is very specific to opinion, culture and politics. Also requiring a paid account to view more than one or two articles a month prunes the readership a lot. It's fine if you write trending current affiars articles but not for other forms of writing.
Personally I'm rarely interested in opinion pieces or current affairs so that platform was never going to be a fit for me. Nothing I do ever had a chance of being curated into one of their established publications. It was an easy decision to make.
I don't know that Medium's a lost cause, but I definitely enjoy being here more. Substack's team is eager to roll things out & iterate, while Medium keeps giving writers (and editors) reasons to leave.
And the physics are different. Medium is very much a social media platform, where as Substack isn't. I see this platform as much more intentional & long form, where as Medium is a literary Facebook.
That said, there's some thriving publications over there. Ignore the old guard/gatekeepers. Find one you like and submit your work!
HOW DO YOU UPLOAD VIDEOS!!! I’ve been trying to figure this out
Substack sent out a message a couple of weeks back mentioning that they were setting up a beta test for video. I applied and they set me up so that I can now upload video directly to the platform (no Youtube links...). So far, it's been great! I would just contact them directly and request that you be a beta video tester!
Thanks Boz📎❣️
This is pretty much how I see it, too. I’m here to focus on my writing. If anyone else wants to engage, that’s just a welcome bonus.
This. In 2 weeks on here my stories have received more reads than if they had been sitting on my blog for a year. Sometimes you just want to share what you do and there aren't viable commercial outlets for it. The short story format is something I completely overlooked as a writer, but it's incredibly fun to write. You can change up the theme, subject and characters week by week to keep your own engagement high.
Exactly 💯
Definitely still feels fresh. And I feel lucky to be getting started at such an exciting stage.
I completely agree Matt - there is no downside to putting out consistent, quality content...perfectly stated.
It feels like you create to a point where you might gain a critical mass and then the thing takes a life of its own. Hoping so anyway!
Slowly, then all at once.
Right after sending this as a “naked” comment, my mind cleared a bit and I found the original reply that I was basing my comment on:
Amran Gowani
Writes Field Research by Amran Gowani1 hr ago
"Slowly, then all at once."
Amran said all that needs to be said, but I can never pass up a chance to make something more complex…
I just returned home from a “rescue” mission, and started to reply to someone who posted something like, “it will start slow, then suddenly grow.” Now, I can’t find my way back to that and it is past 1 pm CDT again, but…
I had already located this old blog post. I’m not convinced that it will link to that entire post, but here are the first two paragraphs and you *might* be able to follow this link to the rest:
Hockey Stick Graph
https://draft.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/6402357994430594268/3415113712359865088
In the business world, there is something called a “Hockey Stick Graph” that tracks the typical income stream when a successful new business starts up. First, the business goes in the hole due to start-up expenses, then slowly begins to see money coming in, a process that can be discouraging.
A hockey stick has a “blade” that briefy slants down from the tip and then turns sharply upwards at the “elbow.” If the numbers along the bottom represent time and the numbers along the side represent profits for a new business, the graph line will come to resemble a hockey stick, if the business has a good idea, a good plan and the owner puts forth a good effort.
Thanks matt!!! It’s not ignorant! Highly valued and reasonable