In 2016, I started writing on Medium.
I published five 300 word blog posts every week, focusing on lessons about relationships, travel, creativity, remote work, and more. None of these early posts did that well. I got 2,000-3,000 views monthly for the first half year or so.
But my writing back then was very pure.
There was an innocence to it.
Dare I say, there was some magic in it.
Over time I started understanding what made Medium tick. Personal development articles like “10 Reasons You Should Get Up At 5 AM” ruled the landscape, and it became clear that if I wanted views, I needed to replicate this style.
And this is where a big part of me creatively died.
I wrote my first article for The Mission, Medium’s biggest self-help publication, back in April of 2017. Its title was “6 Surprising Advantages Traveling Gave Me In The Job Market.”
What’s funny is I engineered that piece to look and sound like articles they typically published. Before crafting it, I studied 50 of the most recent articles from The Mission in depth. I studied the headlines so much that I found similar words and phrases in a few of them. Words like “surprising,” and “advantages,” and “job market.”
I crafted the article from the top down, headline first.
I studied the introductions, the structure, and the conclusions to give The Mission more of what it was looking for.
And it worked.
I became a writer there and was immediately catapulted into Medium’s best writing company. I felt great, and looking back I’m still proud of what I accomplished..
But what I created was half-real and half-engineered.
Sure, I wrote about my life truthfully in that article, but would I have written it if I wasn’t trying to get into The Mission?
The answer is no.
And so part of me creatively died in that moment.
One thing I’ve done is create a Google sheet of ALL my past Medium stories. There’s over 1,074 articles in there, which is something I’m damn proud of.
It’s shocked me how many articles from the last two years sound similar.
Similar headline. Similar angle. Similar everything.
Medium started dying about 3 years ago, and as the views began drying up, I started writing what I KNEW would get me views.
So I started blasting out the self-help content.
And, truthfully, it watered down my personal brand a bit. I’m still proud of what I wrote, but it’s clear I was getting desperate. In July of 2023, I quit Medium entirely to focus on Substack.
I can’t even begin to tell you how much of a GOOD decision that was.
I’ve started interviewing Substack writers as part of a new Substack podcast I’ve created, and after producing just two episodes, I’m starting to realize why Substack kicked Medium’s behind the last few years.
There’s actual writing here.
Substack is actually insightful and interesting because most Substackers create for the love of writing, not for the love of money.
And this is such a paradigm shift from Medium, where you can make a couple thousand dollars with one article (or at least, you could in the past).
Last month I had an epiphany..
The cocaine-like frenzy of growth you can experience on Medium is exhilarating, yet creatively unfulfilling. It doesn’t make you a better writer—it makes you a slave to views and money.
And my personal brand since 2017 has been “I’ll teach you how to grow your blog as a writer.”
But what about how to write better?
I’ve done that, too, but I’ve always focused more on growth.
I’m starting to wonder whether I need to step back from that.
I’m starting to wonder whether I need to get back to how it was before…
That’s why I’m announcing something big to kick off 2024. I’m doubling down on Substack, delivering at least two new podcast interviews with successful Substack writers every month at this newsletter. Those will ALWAYS be free.
I’ve also added benefits to paid subscribers.
If you go paid for $7 per month, you get access to my private Discord community, which will host one group writing session every Tuesday at 12 PM ET.
We’ll get together, talk for a bit, go muted, and write together for an hour.
It’ll be our own private accountability group for writers. Every week.
We also have one group call on the final Friday of every month at 2 PM ET. I want to eventually use these to interview great writers, but that’s maybe something for February. ;)
We’re starting off 2024 with a bang.
More support for you. More accountability. More community. More great writing minds to learn from.
Join me in Discord and become a paid subscriber using the “Subscribe now” button above.
I got big plans for this community in 2024, and I hope you can come join this new writing family I’m building.
I just quit Medium. I wasn’t making any money unless I changed what I wrote and I did that a few times and realized that’s not what I wanted to do at all because it wasn’t who I am. I quit for good in December. I might not make a lot here but at least it’s honest and what I want to write.
Keeping track of my articles in Google Sheet is something I need to do. Thanks for the idea.