Let's face it if not for the missing Chinese blimp this would have been just another dull repetitious middle of winter newsless weekend of the same old reposted stories with a few of the words and teaser lines changed. Sigh, booorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnggggg. Snooze.
At least we could celebrate 'National Ice Cream for breakfast day' on the first Saturday of February. Gotta hand it the ingenuity of the marketeers of Amuricka, they have filled up our calendar (365 *2) with celebratory meaningful days that make jobs, encourage mindless consumption, keep Hallmarks bottom line steady with increasing revenues, etc. Say, was wondering, does it seem a bit strange to eat ice cream for breakfast in early February along the northern tier of states? 🍦🍨🥶❄️
Ha! California is sucking you in and you might not even know it.
When you really retire from the Ohio halls of justice and are still a remote writer you can upgrade from rural remote to small town remote, there's even a hint in this post today from a guy that got into my daily medium feed.
Apparently he says there are some desperate small towns in Ohio that would do much even to attract remote workers, it ain't small town California chic, well, because, Ohio, duh, but it is a thought in today's pandemic ridden decaying empire.
I think about this a lot. The biggest difference is monetization--you can break the 100-follower mark on Medium fairly easily and start making money (hey, money is money. It's better than nothing.). People will follow you for no real reason as long as you post. True, they may not speak English, but you can't be picky.
Medium has "publications" which, if you write for them, also gets more eyes on your work = more money. Publications are a big help when you're starting out, and then slowly become a nuisance as your grow (which is why I don't publish in Medium publications because, sorry, I'm not going to be edited by some stranger off the street who isn't paying me. If you're paying me, edit away. Chop to your heart's content.).
The biggest difference, of course, is that on Medium, subscribers are paying $50 a year for EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE ON THE PLATFORM. You feel like you're getting a lot of bang for your buck, even if you have to sift through dross and clickbait. It's still a cost-effective way to kill time and sometimes you even learn something.
And that's where the problem lies. On Substack, you're asking people to pay $50 a year just for the honor of reading whatever drivel you spew out. Therefore, substantial, meaningful monetization on Substack requires that you either (A) already be famous, or (B) provide some service or knowledge that people are willing to pay for and that you place behind a paywall, confident that people want what you have to offer and will pay $50/year for it. That's a big ask. You have to be able to give them something they can't get someplace else in a friendly format.
I don't have that. I think people will pay for ephemera like humor if you have a book out or you otherwise seem like a serious writer. But comedy comes here to die just like it does on Medium. The difference is that on Medium, I at least have a following that I can skim a few pennies from for every read. I make around $200/month on Medium posting 2-3 times a week. I make almost nothing on Substack, but I'm just starting out.
My posts do very differently here vs. Medium. Substack is a completely different audience and I'm trying to niche down to be more informative, and yet funny since I can't help it anyway.
I enjoy READING Substack much more because the level of writing talent is lightyears above Medium. Medium is basically the peanut gallery combined with a social network, while on Substack you can find "real" writers who aren't really all that interested in interacting with you.
I enjoy WRITING on Substack more because it's tolerant of long reads and serious subjects, and you can really stretch out. On Medium, I hit 500 words and I'm done. I can do that in my sleep, which is useful because I then reprint my Medium pieces to The Funny Times.
Medium is good for the exercise. I've really learned how to write there, and you can find markets. Substack, you really need to step up your game and focus.
Wow, I could've written this same comment practically verbatim. I am grappling with this as well and have reached a lot of the same conclusions.
Humor and pop culture are two sides of the same coin, and are practically impossible to monetize. There's so much of it on the Internet that's already free, why would someone pay you for it? Our "expertise" is our worldview and our writing voice. I don't know how to put a price tag on that. Especially when a Medium subscription seems like a better buy, from the reader's perspective. I mean, it definitely IS, unless you can offer some great incentive here. Which is where I'm stuck. Sending more email feels like I'm punishing my readers, not rewarding them. :D
Sometimes I wish I'd taken the easy route and wrote about writing, and sold courses to hopefully naïve newbies, and therefore could be sitting on a yacht in the Caribbean right now.
For now I am focusing on building up my following here, as followers on Medium mean less than nothing. That way, when I have something to sell, I'll (presumably) have an audience to offer it to. I'm also planning on building my own website. More and more, I'm convinced the true value is in owning the platform. It'll be a long slog, but hopefully worth it in the end.
Anyway: This is really great commentary and insight, Bev. I bet this would do well on Medium. Just copy/paste and make $5!
Punishing your readers LOL ERIC, people want to hear you, you have actual expertise (in being a nerd, but still)!
God help me, I’ve actually considered starting a Medium course. Of course I’ll repost this, who am I kidding. But I feel like Medium probably squashes anything Substack related.
I'm going to put that on my resume.. Expertise: Nerd :D
The Substack articles I read on Medium (after starting my own Substack and wondering how to find readers) all had good numbers of claps. Not that that means much, but they were getting read. I'll probably write about Substack at some point, too. (Even if the piece is just a trojan horse back to my Substack, shhh).
Yeah, it's part of the whole subscription economy and annoying at times and doesn't pay much if anything, kind of like Medium.com.
Here's a link from yet another substacker (is that a noun or a verb, like go substack something, but I wouldn't know, I'm not a writer.) If you can get there:
So, Substack is also a networking device, duh. :-)
enjoy if you can, btw: Bev is a good example of reaching target audiences using online skills most importantly writing plus, she's got that mind, undefinably funny, so somewhere in there is the secret sauce.
We tried to make love to the balloon with a missile but the relationship exploded after that. The balloon didn’t understand that not all Americans are prudes, so it’s just another sad failed romance over cultural differences. Being half balloon and half missile would have been hard on their kids, so maybe this breakup was for the best.
Let's face it if not for the missing Chinese blimp this would have been just another dull repetitious middle of winter newsless weekend of the same old reposted stories with a few of the words and teaser lines changed. Sigh, booorrrrrriiiiiinnnnnnggggg. Snooze.
At least we could celebrate 'National Ice Cream for breakfast day' on the first Saturday of February. Gotta hand it the ingenuity of the marketeers of Amuricka, they have filled up our calendar (365 *2) with celebratory meaningful days that make jobs, encourage mindless consumption, keep Hallmarks bottom line steady with increasing revenues, etc. Say, was wondering, does it seem a bit strange to eat ice cream for breakfast in early February along the northern tier of states? 🍦🍨🥶❄️
Clearly marketed by a company in California.
Considering when Californians get out of bed, it's more like California brunch with brie. And bubbly of course, with a side of avocado toast.
There’s a new restaurant in town that actually sells avocado toast and I am morbidly curious about it.
Ha! California is sucking you in and you might not even know it.
When you really retire from the Ohio halls of justice and are still a remote writer you can upgrade from rural remote to small town remote, there's even a hint in this post today from a guy that got into my daily medium feed.
https://medium.com/illumination/can-remote-work-save-america-small-towns-4e1b562ef4b9
Apparently he says there are some desperate small towns in Ohio that would do much even to attract remote workers, it ain't small town California chic, well, because, Ohio, duh, but it is a thought in today's pandemic ridden decaying empire.
Bev, I know this is completely off topic but can you tell me the biggest differences between Medium and Substack? Thx
I think about this a lot. The biggest difference is monetization--you can break the 100-follower mark on Medium fairly easily and start making money (hey, money is money. It's better than nothing.). People will follow you for no real reason as long as you post. True, they may not speak English, but you can't be picky.
Medium has "publications" which, if you write for them, also gets more eyes on your work = more money. Publications are a big help when you're starting out, and then slowly become a nuisance as your grow (which is why I don't publish in Medium publications because, sorry, I'm not going to be edited by some stranger off the street who isn't paying me. If you're paying me, edit away. Chop to your heart's content.).
The biggest difference, of course, is that on Medium, subscribers are paying $50 a year for EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE ON THE PLATFORM. You feel like you're getting a lot of bang for your buck, even if you have to sift through dross and clickbait. It's still a cost-effective way to kill time and sometimes you even learn something.
And that's where the problem lies. On Substack, you're asking people to pay $50 a year just for the honor of reading whatever drivel you spew out. Therefore, substantial, meaningful monetization on Substack requires that you either (A) already be famous, or (B) provide some service or knowledge that people are willing to pay for and that you place behind a paywall, confident that people want what you have to offer and will pay $50/year for it. That's a big ask. You have to be able to give them something they can't get someplace else in a friendly format.
I don't have that. I think people will pay for ephemera like humor if you have a book out or you otherwise seem like a serious writer. But comedy comes here to die just like it does on Medium. The difference is that on Medium, I at least have a following that I can skim a few pennies from for every read. I make around $200/month on Medium posting 2-3 times a week. I make almost nothing on Substack, but I'm just starting out.
My posts do very differently here vs. Medium. Substack is a completely different audience and I'm trying to niche down to be more informative, and yet funny since I can't help it anyway.
I enjoy READING Substack much more because the level of writing talent is lightyears above Medium. Medium is basically the peanut gallery combined with a social network, while on Substack you can find "real" writers who aren't really all that interested in interacting with you.
I enjoy WRITING on Substack more because it's tolerant of long reads and serious subjects, and you can really stretch out. On Medium, I hit 500 words and I'm done. I can do that in my sleep, which is useful because I then reprint my Medium pieces to The Funny Times.
Medium is good for the exercise. I've really learned how to write there, and you can find markets. Substack, you really need to step up your game and focus.
This is probably 500 words. LOL
Wow, I could've written this same comment practically verbatim. I am grappling with this as well and have reached a lot of the same conclusions.
Humor and pop culture are two sides of the same coin, and are practically impossible to monetize. There's so much of it on the Internet that's already free, why would someone pay you for it? Our "expertise" is our worldview and our writing voice. I don't know how to put a price tag on that. Especially when a Medium subscription seems like a better buy, from the reader's perspective. I mean, it definitely IS, unless you can offer some great incentive here. Which is where I'm stuck. Sending more email feels like I'm punishing my readers, not rewarding them. :D
Sometimes I wish I'd taken the easy route and wrote about writing, and sold courses to hopefully naïve newbies, and therefore could be sitting on a yacht in the Caribbean right now.
For now I am focusing on building up my following here, as followers on Medium mean less than nothing. That way, when I have something to sell, I'll (presumably) have an audience to offer it to. I'm also planning on building my own website. More and more, I'm convinced the true value is in owning the platform. It'll be a long slog, but hopefully worth it in the end.
Anyway: This is really great commentary and insight, Bev. I bet this would do well on Medium. Just copy/paste and make $5!
Punishing your readers LOL ERIC, people want to hear you, you have actual expertise (in being a nerd, but still)!
God help me, I’ve actually considered starting a Medium course. Of course I’ll repost this, who am I kidding. But I feel like Medium probably squashes anything Substack related.
I'm going to put that on my resume.. Expertise: Nerd :D
The Substack articles I read on Medium (after starting my own Substack and wondering how to find readers) all had good numbers of claps. Not that that means much, but they were getting read. I'll probably write about Substack at some point, too. (Even if the piece is just a trojan horse back to my Substack, shhh).
Nice comments.
Keyword: Substack.
Yeah, it's part of the whole subscription economy and annoying at times and doesn't pay much if anything, kind of like Medium.com.
Here's a link from yet another substacker (is that a noun or a verb, like go substack something, but I wouldn't know, I'm not a writer.) If you can get there:
https://mikeelgan.substack.com/p/substack-isnt-a-social-network-its
So, Substack is also a networking device, duh. :-)
enjoy if you can, btw: Bev is a good example of reaching target audiences using online skills most importantly writing plus, she's got that mind, undefinably funny, so somewhere in there is the secret sauce.
"Go Substack yourself." dying
I'm fortunate to have an alternate career so I just write for fun, no charge. Less stress, too.
Thanks for the review of substack vs. Medium regarding writers.
Bev, you may or may not like my content but I welcome your follow. Hey, it’s free! 😉
Thank you so much Bev. ❤️
We tried to make love to the balloon with a missile but the relationship exploded after that. The balloon didn’t understand that not all Americans are prudes, so it’s just another sad failed romance over cultural differences. Being half balloon and half missile would have been hard on their kids, so maybe this breakup was for the best.
LOL
I've been completely jammed up for weeks and somehow missed this balloon nonsense. Seems like I lucked out this time.
It’s just political theater, which makes me crazy.