Hey Veronica! For the course I use systeme.io. It's a little clunky sometimes, but it's like $300 per year for email marketing, funnel building, online course hosting, etc. It's a crazy deal. It's like 1/12th of the price of something like Clickfunnels. I've probably saved myself a few grand per year just using Systeme.io
You hit the nail on the head when you talked about curators determining what we write about. It's frustrating to feel like your work is only seen if it fits a certain mold. I've definitely fallen into the trap of writing what I think will get boosted, rather than what I'm truly passionate about. Substack's model seems like a breath of fresh air – a place where the relationship with your audience is more important than pleasing an algorithm.
Alexander I love to hear that. I sometimes wonder what my writing would look like today if it was never impeded by trying to please algorithms and curators on Medium. What would that evolution look like? I feel like social media platforms may be getting in the way of true creative growth instead of helping it.
I still like Medium, but my one major complaint is that I don't want curators dictating what I should read. 99% of the time, they promote articles that aren't interesting to me.
And while I did get 1 boost by some miracle, it feels like a system that's only for the "elite". I'm not a fan. (They've also been promoting some shady writers over there, and no one is sure why.)
I hope they see what Substack is doing and start taking some notes.
That's crazy that 99% of the time they don't promote articles that are interesting to you. Wouldn't it be in their best financial interest to make an algorithm that surfaces content that's interesting for each specific user instead of just blanket boost stories to everyone? What if I'm not interested in articles from Barack Obama? I just get excluded from their product and leave. That's not a great financial decision.
Exactly. I'm not interested in politics on there at all. Anytime I see it, I mute the author. (Including Barack.) I wish they had a better algorithm in place. Like YouTube. It knows exactly what content I want.
Totally agree. I still post on medium but a lot of it is just my free substack posts that I put in my publication.
So much of the content I see on my feed is garbage now. I used to be able to open medium and at least 50% of the articles would be something I’d want to read. Now I almost have to keyword search and look for the authors I like.
Funny I had this exact thought about Medium yesterday. It’s frustrating on medium constantly getting rejected on boosts and being pushed to write about topics you don’t want to write about. That’s literally how old school publishing used to be.
Medium has become so poor over the last year. They ruined the platform with boosts and curators. They say they do it because they want “good stories” but most of the articles I see now are not that good. The headlines are weird and I have no idea what the article is going to be about. Somehow those pieces get boosted 😂
The one problem I find with curators and boosters is they can have a bias towards some people and boost their articles more than others. Or boost articles that are not necessarily the taste a wide variety of people have.
Drew you hit the nail on the head in so many ways. It's just such a crappy message they're sending to their audience and their own internal team. To their audience they're saying, "We don't trust you to support articles that are actual quality, so we'll determine what's quality for you," which is condescending as hell, and to their internal team they're saying "We don't trust the team in charge of the algorithm to surface worthwhile content for people, so we'll hire a team of human beings to manually boost stories on the whole platform." It's just ridiculous.
I had some of those issues with their curators. I wrote an article on Sean Kernans pub The Corporate Underbelly. He gave me some good notes and tips for boost nomination. I made the adjustments and he nominated one of my pieces for a boost. They didn't give any reason why it was rejected.
It's bizarre to me when you see some writers with 20 followers getting like 50% of their pieces boosted when they're starting out and other people with thousands get zero. It's like their just helping friends out to tilt the scales in their favor.
Drew there's some people who are really good friends with the CEO who ended up getting hired by Medium. They definitely play favorites over there and it doesn't make for a fair experience. I'm so tired of playing that game. Happy I found Medium where actual merit reins supreme.
OMG. Tom...you said *fucking*! I'm snickering a bit over here - in all the good ways.
"Not clickbait. Not exactly interesting either. But they do well! How? Because the author built a relationship with their audience through weekly emails. There's trust, and love, and appreciation there. There's a relationship." -- and this is exactly why I love Substack. No clickbait. All relationship.
For anyone reading this comment, I highly recommend you go take Tom's 1000 Substack Course. It is FUCKING BLOODY BLOOMING BRILLIANT! Can I shout that any louder?
Tom is different than 95% of coaches and teachers out there. He breaks down lessons into bite-sized pieces. He walks you through step by step doing something. He MODELS it for you in ways you can relate. And most importantly, he makes sure you are actually learning what he is teaching so that you can reproduce what he's taught and do it by yourself with success!
I've been working with Tom since June, and everything about my Substack, my writing, my publication engagements has improved significantly. I've waited my entire writing career (30 years) for a mentor like Tom.
Teri it's funny because I really used to drop a lot of F bombs in my writing in the past. 😆 Now I try to save it for very special occasions. Thank you for the kind response. 🥹
I agree with everything you said. Though I don't use medium, I understand a bit of how the platform works. It foundation is the same as an atypical social media platform.
Substack is a community, a haven. It allows writers to connect on a personalized level with readers. Another thing I love about Substack is that writers can set their prices. Medium pays you based on how well your article does.
Substack's feature gives writers a sense of autonomy.
Substack is the cabin in the woods, I agree! But sometimes I still go into town though, because life is lived both ways. I say that, as someone living in a cabin in the woods who goes into town to work 😀
Substack is the place for intellectuals and enjoying writing itself, as compared to X who wish to take sales and personal development, to another level.
I so appreciate your insights Tom. I never created anything on Medium, and? Believe it or not, I hadn’t even heard of it until I joined Substack (I know, the whole living under a rock image comes to mind).
I’m delighted to be writing on Substack, and building a network of people who are connecting with me as well. Thank you for continuing to inspire.
I loved your cabin in the woods analogy. You're speaking my language.
And 1000 in six months is TOTALLY doable, let me be the first to cosign on that because I did it effortlessly. And my one year anniversary is coming right up and I've crossed over the 5K mark with all 3 pubs combined.
Good luck with your course, Tom! I know writers will love the content.
I have never written on Medium but every time I find a "Good" article, tech ones usually, I often hit the paywall problem. Now I don't mind paying for work of others, I think all artists should be paid, but I don't agree by the design of Medium. Worse, I really don't like the fact that I have to pay to write, if I am making content to make Medium money, why do I have to pay to start? When I read about this design, all desires to start on Medium to make money evaporated with the vapours of the vapid articles that get curation. ;)
Yeah I think Medium's move to make writers pay to publish on the partner program was kind of dirty as hell. It struck me as just a cash grab move that penalized the people who were making them money in the first place.
It should be linked in the post where I talk about the interview. If not, just search Substack Campfire Hamish McKenzie on Google and it will show up for you
I liked Medium a lot when it started, and I was looking for community then, and still am but never found it there, not long term. Hoping Substack will be better!
I love the cabin feeling of Substack too and I relate to everything you say about Medium too.
There are more and more but writers from medium trying to get their own cabin too.
Good luck with the course, it looks amazing!
PS: what platform do you use?
Hey Veronica! For the course I use systeme.io. It's a little clunky sometimes, but it's like $300 per year for email marketing, funnel building, online course hosting, etc. It's a crazy deal. It's like 1/12th of the price of something like Clickfunnels. I've probably saved myself a few grand per year just using Systeme.io
You hit the nail on the head when you talked about curators determining what we write about. It's frustrating to feel like your work is only seen if it fits a certain mold. I've definitely fallen into the trap of writing what I think will get boosted, rather than what I'm truly passionate about. Substack's model seems like a breath of fresh air – a place where the relationship with your audience is more important than pleasing an algorithm.
Alexander I love to hear that. I sometimes wonder what my writing would look like today if it was never impeded by trying to please algorithms and curators on Medium. What would that evolution look like? I feel like social media platforms may be getting in the way of true creative growth instead of helping it.
I still like Medium, but my one major complaint is that I don't want curators dictating what I should read. 99% of the time, they promote articles that aren't interesting to me.
And while I did get 1 boost by some miracle, it feels like a system that's only for the "elite". I'm not a fan. (They've also been promoting some shady writers over there, and no one is sure why.)
I hope they see what Substack is doing and start taking some notes.
That's crazy that 99% of the time they don't promote articles that are interesting to you. Wouldn't it be in their best financial interest to make an algorithm that surfaces content that's interesting for each specific user instead of just blanket boost stories to everyone? What if I'm not interested in articles from Barack Obama? I just get excluded from their product and leave. That's not a great financial decision.
Exactly. I'm not interested in politics on there at all. Anytime I see it, I mute the author. (Including Barack.) I wish they had a better algorithm in place. Like YouTube. It knows exactly what content I want.
Totally agree. I still post on medium but a lot of it is just my free substack posts that I put in my publication.
So much of the content I see on my feed is garbage now. I used to be able to open medium and at least 50% of the articles would be something I’d want to read. Now I almost have to keyword search and look for the authors I like.
Funny I had this exact thought about Medium yesterday. It’s frustrating on medium constantly getting rejected on boosts and being pushed to write about topics you don’t want to write about. That’s literally how old school publishing used to be.
Medium has become so poor over the last year. They ruined the platform with boosts and curators. They say they do it because they want “good stories” but most of the articles I see now are not that good. The headlines are weird and I have no idea what the article is going to be about. Somehow those pieces get boosted 😂
The one problem I find with curators and boosters is they can have a bias towards some people and boost their articles more than others. Or boost articles that are not necessarily the taste a wide variety of people have.
Drew you hit the nail on the head in so many ways. It's just such a crappy message they're sending to their audience and their own internal team. To their audience they're saying, "We don't trust you to support articles that are actual quality, so we'll determine what's quality for you," which is condescending as hell, and to their internal team they're saying "We don't trust the team in charge of the algorithm to surface worthwhile content for people, so we'll hire a team of human beings to manually boost stories on the whole platform." It's just ridiculous.
I had some of those issues with their curators. I wrote an article on Sean Kernans pub The Corporate Underbelly. He gave me some good notes and tips for boost nomination. I made the adjustments and he nominated one of my pieces for a boost. They didn't give any reason why it was rejected.
It's bizarre to me when you see some writers with 20 followers getting like 50% of their pieces boosted when they're starting out and other people with thousands get zero. It's like their just helping friends out to tilt the scales in their favor.
Drew there's some people who are really good friends with the CEO who ended up getting hired by Medium. They definitely play favorites over there and it doesn't make for a fair experience. I'm so tired of playing that game. Happy I found Medium where actual merit reins supreme.
OMG. Tom...you said *fucking*! I'm snickering a bit over here - in all the good ways.
"Not clickbait. Not exactly interesting either. But they do well! How? Because the author built a relationship with their audience through weekly emails. There's trust, and love, and appreciation there. There's a relationship." -- and this is exactly why I love Substack. No clickbait. All relationship.
For anyone reading this comment, I highly recommend you go take Tom's 1000 Substack Course. It is FUCKING BLOODY BLOOMING BRILLIANT! Can I shout that any louder?
Tom is different than 95% of coaches and teachers out there. He breaks down lessons into bite-sized pieces. He walks you through step by step doing something. He MODELS it for you in ways you can relate. And most importantly, he makes sure you are actually learning what he is teaching so that you can reproduce what he's taught and do it by yourself with success!
I've been working with Tom since June, and everything about my Substack, my writing, my publication engagements has improved significantly. I've waited my entire writing career (30 years) for a mentor like Tom.
Teri it's funny because I really used to drop a lot of F bombs in my writing in the past. 😆 Now I try to save it for very special occasions. Thank you for the kind response. 🥹
it worked. random and sporadic use. well done.
I agree with everything you said. Though I don't use medium, I understand a bit of how the platform works. It foundation is the same as an atypical social media platform.
Substack is a community, a haven. It allows writers to connect on a personalized level with readers. Another thing I love about Substack is that writers can set their prices. Medium pays you based on how well your article does.
Substack's feature gives writers a sense of autonomy.
I never thought of that before Ebere about how Substack gives writers a sense of autonomy. I agree!!
Substack is the cabin in the woods, I agree! But sometimes I still go into town though, because life is lived both ways. I say that, as someone living in a cabin in the woods who goes into town to work 😀
Hey Sophie! For sure. I live in Mexico City. I really love the energy of this city a lot!! :)
Substack is the place for intellectuals and enjoying writing itself, as compared to X who wish to take sales and personal development, to another level.
I so appreciate your insights Tom. I never created anything on Medium, and? Believe it or not, I hadn’t even heard of it until I joined Substack (I know, the whole living under a rock image comes to mind).
I’m delighted to be writing on Substack, and building a network of people who are connecting with me as well. Thank you for continuing to inspire.
Teyani consider yourself lucky. Medium is a train wreck and a half as far as I'm concerned. Just stay focused on Substack! :)
This is really what social media should be about.
It's crazy how many of the other platforms got corrupted by trying to make money for their investors.
Will take a look at your community, looks legit.
Awesome Yuan! Let me know if you have any questions about it.
I loved your cabin in the woods analogy. You're speaking my language.
And 1000 in six months is TOTALLY doable, let me be the first to cosign on that because I did it effortlessly. And my one year anniversary is coming right up and I've crossed over the 5K mark with all 3 pubs combined.
Good luck with your course, Tom! I know writers will love the content.
Thanks Kristi! That's incredible growth for you. Like, life changing stuff!! I can only imagine where you'll be one year from now.
Here's to another year 🍻 Happy vacationing Tom.
I ❤️ this:
Substack is to social media what Tesla is to the automotive industry. (Hamish McKenzie)
That’s exactly how it feels.
Yours was the first Substack I subscribed to - and still one of my very favorites. Thank you for everything you do!
Thanks Courtney! :)
I have never written on Medium but every time I find a "Good" article, tech ones usually, I often hit the paywall problem. Now I don't mind paying for work of others, I think all artists should be paid, but I don't agree by the design of Medium. Worse, I really don't like the fact that I have to pay to write, if I am making content to make Medium money, why do I have to pay to start? When I read about this design, all desires to start on Medium to make money evaporated with the vapours of the vapid articles that get curation. ;)
Yeah I think Medium's move to make writers pay to publish on the partner program was kind of dirty as hell. It struck me as just a cash grab move that penalized the people who were making them money in the first place.
Where can I find that interview of substake co founder interview?
It should be linked in the post where I talk about the interview. If not, just search Substack Campfire Hamish McKenzie on Google and it will show up for you
I liked Medium a lot when it started, and I was looking for community then, and still am but never found it there, not long term. Hoping Substack will be better!