I change my mind. A LOT. (I’m working on that.)
In the meantime, let me tell you why I’m on the verge of removing 2 of my 3 writing platforms from my writing empire. (I like the sound of that).
A little caveat: In the last few weeks, I already deleted another two writing platforms from my routine (Hasnode and CloutPub), stopped using Quora, retired my Substack newsletter, and even ended my WordPress blog after 13+ years of blogging.
#1 Medium
My writing platform number 1 is Medium. I’ve been on this platform for almost 10 months now. And it has been nothing but a pleasure.
So, Medium, you’re safe. I won’t be leaving you anytime soon.
I found a wonderful community here, met friends, have a steadily increasing viewership and a consistently rising income. Nothing to complain about.
#2 Vocal Media
Ah, Vocal. There’s so much potential. But it’s sort of wasted.
I’ve mainly been using Vocal as a public backup drive for my long-form Medium stories. Anything over 600 words (the minimum on Vocal) that fits Vocal’s topics is going live on that platform after it went live on Medium.
With that, I made a few bucks. But that’s it basically. No great relationships because Vocal lacks community functions like comments. The recently added subscribe feature is not too useful either.
So, Vocal, I’m afraid you’ll have to go next.
#3 NewBreak
My newest horse in the race is NewsBreak and what seemed so promising in the beginning, has been a major letdown so far.
The positives:
- It’s easy to gain reach. Thousands of views on your first story? Not a problem.
- Repurposing Medium stories upward of 250 words is no problem.
The issues:
- NewsBreak’s striking system is… severely flawed. You get strikes for so many (truly unproblematic) things.
- Editorial kind of sucks. You have to be very careful with everything.
- Pay is abysmal compared to Medium. You’re lucky to earn a few bucks for tens of thousands of views. At least in my experience.
- And don’t get me started on the comments. It’s wild out there.
So, NewsBreak, unless you make a change (which you have done quite frequently in the past), you’re a no for me as well.
The bottom line
There you go. 2 of 3 writing platforms must go in 2022. I don’t kid around for long, I pull the trigger pretty quickly if I’m unhappy.
Moreover, I like to keep things minimal and that’s true for my digital life as well.
What’s the benefit of that strict approach? Two things:
- Fewer distractions (pretty vital for a father of 5 with a 9-to-5 and 3 side hustles)
- More focus on Medium (and what works for me).
What’s your plan for 2022?
