One Way of Thinking Beyond Medium
Vanity publishing is still alive and well
Don’t get me wrong, I think Medium is a great site for writers. And I would never ever say don’t do Medium. Even if you don’t get curated or earn mega bucks, Medium is still worth every second.
There is so much even an old hand like me can learn from Medium. What’s more I have found other fellow writers, Like Danny Oaks, to be super supportive.
I must admit I struggled a bit with Medium, but Danny has bent over backwards to put me right, for which I am eternally grateful.
However, on Medium I am bound by their house rules, not that big a deal, but still….it’s their house rules.
What’s more I am a small fish in a big pond. There are so many really good writers on Medium and you will have to raise your game if you want to compete on a level playing field.
I would never walk away from Medium. I fully intend to continue to publish articles as and when I can. I am aiming for three to five articles a week. Nothing like the consistency I have demonstrated since I joined, but I will remain present.
Of course, there are all sorts of other publications where you can get your work published. But it can be a bit of a trawl. And you are still having to play to their rules and up against some serious players.
So instead what I chose to do was go somewhere where it’s my rules and no competition of any sort whatsoever. Somewhere I have total control over every aspect. Layout, graphics, etc, etc, it’s all under my control. And that is because I have set up my very own writing website.
I created the website, every single part of it. I am my own publisher, graphic designer, editor and marketing department. And that counts for a lot.
The chances are that it is highly unlikely my site will ever be anything like competition for Medium. Let’s face it, there’s only one of me. Although I might be tempted to have the odd guest writer submit a piece. But there will be no money in it, not even for me.
Like Medium there will be no advertising. However, I am not counting out the possibility of sponsorship to help pay the modest running costs of hosting the site.
But there is one thing. On Medium I have yet to get beyond double digits in terms of readership. And that is despite a lot of marketing in terms of trying to get my followers on various social platforms to go to Medium.
I have another website nothing to do with writing and I have easily surpassed the stats on Medium in a fraction of the time. I might be better served therefore to get people to click on a link from that non writing website of mine directly to my own writing website.
This thinking out of the box will of course pay off in other ways. For a start I have learnt how to build a website and have four others planned. That is what you call value added learning.
I could even be tempted to set up a business designing websites, for which I would do all the writing. And that my friends is what it is all about, making a living out of your writing. It may not be exactly what I had in mind at the start, but it is a viable way to be a writer and get published and paid a few sheckles to boot.
