I Quit Medium-Here's 5 Crazy Things That Happened Since

A few weeks ago I wrote about how I was quitting Medium forever.

To be honest, I was expecting a mass-exodus of people from my email list. I mean, I’m the Medium guy, right?

Why stay with me if I quit Medium?

Well, what happened next shocked me, and in this newsletter I want to break down all of it.

1. This Newsletter Grew By 130 Subscribers

Look at this.

Before the announcement, this newsletter had 933 subscribers.

The morning of me telling everybody I was leaving Medium, we shot up to 1,020 subscribers. We grew by 90 subscribers in the span of a couple hours. I could hardly believe it!

Honestly, stepping out into the unknown here is SCARY.

Medium’s one of my big cash cows, and I’m going out on a massive limb coming to Substack, but to get support like this from YOU ALL was incredible.

So thank you.

2. You Told Me You Felt The Same Way About Medium

My favorite part of the announcement was reading your comments. For the longest time, I thought Medium just might make it through the storm seeing how Tony Stubblebine was the new captain and all.

Instead, Tony decided to turn the ship around and steer directly back into the hurricane.

Some of my favorite comments came from a variety of awesome Substack creators. Here’s what Leah from

A Word with Leah

had to say:

“I haven’t posted in months though I used to make decent money there and have 10K followers. My big turnoff was the blue check marks too.”

Here’s what Jameson Steward from

Centered on Christ

had to say:

“I started writing on Medium in July 2021 and then started also writing regularly on Substack in October 2021. I'm so glad I did because today on Substack I have over 1,200 subscribers and get over 1,000 views every single day. Those same articles get me 3,000 to 4,000 views a month republished on Medium. Building your own audience is the much better idea - and Substack helps us do that.”

Tara from

Minimalist Solopreneur

said that she published recently in “The Startup” and got 0 views, which never used to happen for her.

I’ve spoken with so many creators from around Medium and many are reporting the same thing: Their views are tanking.

It’s sad to see it happening, but it’s also been nice to hear I’m not crazy in thinking there’s something seriously wrong with Medium’s algorithm.

3. You Quit Medium With Me

As if I didn’t feel supported enough by you all, I opened my inbox to find messages like these:

You go

Renee Baude

!

The water’s warm over here on Substack. Come join me.

4. Substack Welcomed Me

Linda @ Substack

quoted my article announcing my departure from Medium in a note recently.

Linda works at Substack, and actually quoted one of my articles in the past as well.

This one simple action is all I need to know, 100%, that I made the right decision leaving Medium and coming here.

Substack actually wants me here.

On Medium, it feels like you have to jump through hoops to sit at the cool kids table. You have to do X, Y, and Z to get “boosted,” which is your one and only shot at making actual money on the platform. It used to be that we could write whatever we wanted on Medium and get boatloads of views.

Now you have to fit your blog post within the ever-shifting parameters that a bunch of big wigs set inside the company.

On Substack, though?

You don’t.

Just write.

Let the market decide what’s good and what isn’t.

I must say, it’s a breath of fresh air to be here.

5. My Newsletter Is Growing Organically

Guess what else? Recently I’m getting a bunch of subscribers from Substack’s “Your Weekly Stack” feature, which you can read more about here.

Since the flood of new subscribers came in a few weeks ago, we’ve been growing at a pretty decent clip every single day (5-6 new subs per day).

I’m stoked at these numbers.

My whole fear coming to Substack was discoverability. I didn’t know what Substack had to offer in terms of allowing new readers to “discover” my newsletter.

But lately I’m getting more and more subscribers from Substack’s network.

Here’s the three primary ways, I think, I’m getting new subscribers.

• Through the “explore” tab, which I wrote about here.

• Through “my weekly stack”

• Through recommendations by other publications

Recommendations is the biggest contributor.

Apparently I’ve gotten 193 subscribers from recommendations and 30 publications are recommending me.

And like I said before, Substack’s “weekly stack” feature is very new, too. Apparently they opened this promotional feature up this summer around June. My post about quitting Medium and moving to Substack was probably the post featured in some people’s weekly stack, seeing how it got more likes and views than any post I’ve ever written in this newsletter.

Is this what the high life feels like on Substack? Write a post that gets a good amount of likes, views, and comments, and you start getting recommended more in people’s “weekly stack?”

I don’t know. All I know is, I don’t remember being in people’s “weekly stack” that much before. I looked at my history, and it only generated one subscriber for me in the past. Just the past few days it’s generated more than a dozen.

I’m thrilled to see this.

Where Do We Go From Here?

I’m running all the possibilities through my head.

Soon I’ll be creating REAL rewards for paid subscribers (instead of it just being a kind way to support me financially).

I’ll be writing more about my journey on Substack here, and how I’m navigating post-Medium life.

I’ve even thought about starting a podcast where I interview some of the best Substack creators I know to get their tips and tricks, and to share those with you all.

The possibilities are endless. For the first time in a long time, I actually have hope that my writing will be valued again and I’ll be able to meaningfully grow and make a decent income from a platform.

This platform.

Substack.

If you want to follow along on the journey, subscribe down below.