25 Comments
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Yana Bostongirl's avatar

Thank you for reading and leaving a comment!

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Charisse Tyson's avatar

I've found that Substack is a tight-knit community compared to Medium. I'm seeing more like-minded people here. I still write on Medium, but I've made Substack my home. I currently have only two paid subscribers, but I don't have any additional content to offer yet. They love what I'm doing, so they subscribe to support me. I know when I write my ebooks and finish my novel, I will have a lot of fans who will support me by buying them. I'm not making enough on Medium since they changed things to cover my $5.00 membership fee. I know you have a much bigger presence there than I do. Enjoy them both and see where it takes you. 💖💗🥰💞

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Yana Bostongirl's avatar

I appreciate your feedback, Charisse - best wishes on your book!

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Charisse Tyson's avatar

Thanks. I still want to see you without the mask someday. Believe it or not, there is a couple at my church that is still wearing masks. It makes me crazy. I like seeing smiles. 😁

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Bella Smith ⭐'s avatar

Real talk huh😁

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Okwywrites's avatar

Did Yana...did...did she just say, sucking up like teacher's pet? 🤣🤣🤣🤣

This lady isn't holding back for no one!!! I love this dawn.

And if you have subscribers, please sell something, Yana. Your book for a start. And all these lessons you've been sharing from your writing journey. I bet someone wants a copy to "track" and see how they can too.

People are copying articles and titles? What the heck?!!!

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Dr. Preeti Singh's avatar

I am one of those subscribers who read your articles for free. I am not on Substack. I can barely manage Medium, which keeps me very busy.💖

That was a good honest review of people sucking up like teacher's [et and asking editors to boost their stories.

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Candy Kennedy's avatar

Thanks, Yana. Bottom line for me is I worked so hard to love the Medium community and work with various publishers there, only to feel it all fall apart with the influx of new writers in later 2024 and a change in staff philosophy. My enthusiasm went out the window and even editing for a publication lost its luster.

I was never about earning from my writing but when reduced views led to only pennies, it was demeaning.

Substack has given me a new lease on life and helped to redirect my frustration to something positive.

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Marcus Musick's avatar

You need the mile-long free subscriber list for whenever you launch your writing course!

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Yana Bostongirl's avatar

Yup - I can see the title already "How to Make Peanuts From Writing Online" and charge an arm and a leg for that course - isn't that how it's done? 😂 Thanks for stopping by :)

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Keanisha Johnson's avatar

At first Both platforms (Substack-medium) felt super slow. Now I’m seeing Substack growth is more faster especially for a newbie like myself) I’ve heard of people saying they have 20,000 followers on medium but it seems slow growth there.

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Badal Nirwan's avatar

If you write on random topics, that mile-long list will never be useful, but if these people are there for your thought process on a particular topic, they will be happy to buy advice or digital products from you in future. The catch in building a long list is that it should be the right audience. If it's right 100 is better than 1000

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Daniel Yee's avatar

I think the point of having a mile-long subscriber list is to build trust with them. They will recommend your content and help you grow exponentially. Eventually, you'll be able to convert 2% of that list to paid or sell them products if you have something valuable to sell.

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James M. Dakis's avatar

Yana, I was initially confused about the benefits of paid subscriptions on Substack, so I added something to entice people to pay. I also offer a video lesson (my articles are faith-based), so having an occasional opportunity to see or hear someone teach something rather than read it is a perk for my one paid subscriber. Consider offering something to paid subscribers if you wish. You may be pleasantly surprised. Your content and delivery are worth the effort.

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Raised By Shrinks's avatar

Hi Yana

Thank you for the honest post.

I cross-post on Medium but genuinely do not know how increase my current readership (virtually zero). People on Substack are more engaged and communicative, or perhaps they are on Medium too - I've just not used it long enough.

Siggy xx

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Zail Dugal's avatar

Your Substack subscriber list could be useful for you if you ever plan to write a book. You could promote the book directly to your subscribers.

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Sue Banerji's avatar

Yana, it's hard to divide my time equally to two platform. Unfortunately that has really damped my spirit and I cant find my groove for writing.

SO..I understand your frustration about both the places, membership, newbies, blatant disregard for intellectual properties –copy cats and pain of subscribers.

You speak the truth and thats why I connect

IMHO, greed in art is bad ...but that doesnt stop businesses. I am so torn.

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Kevin Alexander's avatar

“Then there are those who DM editors demanding boosts.”

I can’t think of a better way to NOT get boosted than this.

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Brian Lamacraft's avatar

We need to make money writing, so selling something is pretty important. The problem is that many writers here are all about selling and not providing any real value. Medium is now pennies, although a few do make money there. I don't see it improving much. We sell novels, so why not our thoughts? Substack seems like a good idea for a subscriber list that will perhaps pay for your work.

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