Assessing the Current State of Medium and Substack

Where we are and what we can expect to see in the future

Hello Friends!

The above image is a collage I did based on a couple of drawings my daughter made for me. I do this all the time for my featured images. They’ll give me a picture. I’ll scan it. Then I erase the backgrounds and layer them on top of each other. PRESTO! It’s a way to give new life to the creations of your kids. It’s sort of like seeing their artwork in new and different ways.

If you have artwork from your kids still laying around, I suggest you do the same. Everybody is tired of seeing the same old photos recycled from Unsplash.

Next Q&A

First off, I’ve scheduled another question and answer session for:

Feb 21, 2025 12:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)

I haven’t done one of those in a while and I miss seeing you. Here’s the zoom link:

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/75669387323?pwd=pxLbfi5W19HWZaB4n1x7YROpYXoTzU.1

Bring your writing related questions and I’ll see if I can help you out. I understand that members of

Kristina God

’s group will be coming as well. Looking forward to seeing all of you!

What’s up on Medium?

Here’s how my last three stories have performed.

Incidentally, I just noticed that my Medium “birthdate” was November 11, 2016! Wow! That was the day I signed up for an account, but I didn’t really start writing there until 2020. Still, we’re coming up on a 10 year anniversary.

That thought actually gave me pause because, to be honest, I can’t remember a time in all my years on the platform that there wasn’t chatter about how all the great writers were leaving.

So… here’s the thing.

If I had looked at the stats for my last three stories like I am showing above in 2016, or in 2020 when I really started spending a lot of time there, I would have been ECSTATIC!

I remember the first story I wrote that made me $10 and I was over the moon. The only difference between then and now is that I’ve had some really big earning months on Medium. For February, I’ll likely be under $1,000 for the first time since February of 2023. Part of that is because I’ve only published 5 stories.

As you can see above, the “Reflections on Homelessness” story was featured in 30 over 50. This is the 3rd or 4th story of mine that’s been featured, and it does seem to increase your views:

You can see the little “featured” tag at the top of the trough of the second graph. Presumably the next spike is a result of being featured. It drops off after that, but the views were still coming in for day 3 when I took this screen shot.

All of my stories were nominated for a Boost, but none received a Boost. I didn’t really expect it for the one about the Constitution being “too woke,” but I thought the other two should have both been Boosted.

I have one more story sitting in draft so we’ll see how that one performs. That will be my topic for next Monday I suppose.

Essentially, getting $10 for a story isn’t enough, but it’s better than getting $2. We’ll see how these do after a month. For comparison sake, here’s how the stories I wrote did at the beginning of January:

Again, the featured story did the best. The others are still under $10 even after a month. So, we’ll see what my stories from February have earned a month from now and compare then.

This is a scientific evaluation. Don’t be so quick to say, “It’s all over.” I am hopeful that my stories from this month have already earned more than the stories from last month. A Boost could change everything.

I’ll be importing all of those stories to Substack soon, along with a voice performance.

I do appreciate chasing the Boost. That does help motivate me to polish off some really high quality work, and it always seems to be appreciated on Substack.

Speaking of Substack…

I’ve just reached 7K subscribers! Thanks for that, it’s truly awesome. We have to celebrate every milestone, and honestly, I feel just as good about hitting 7K as I did about hitting 100! Just keep stacking your wins.

Notes remain a great growth tool. Not all of them hit, but some of them bring you a lot of views:

Here’s another one:

Keep your eye on which notes are performing and write more on those subjects.

I’ve also been going over my notes on my podcast, which continues to find an audience:

Closing in on 50k downloads in 126 countries is pretty cool.

What’s coming?

I see no reason to radically change my strategy. Over the last week I’ve been adding in my free form podcasts (following the model of my friend and mentor

The Mouthy Renegade Writer

). It’s relaxing to wake up in the morning and talk through my thoughts. From there, I can decide what I’m going to polish off into more traditional articles.

I’ll continue to chase the Boost on Medium. Speaking of that, I have a lot of nominations left, so if you have something of quality please let me know (direct message or comment works). I have only nominated 5 articles, so I have 15 nominations. Make it your great work please!

Stay the course friends! We’re making progress and things are going to get better (even if they have to first get a little worse—It’s a rollercoaster, enjoy the ride).

What I’m reading:

• Zuri Stevens
  —What White People Didn’t Get About Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance

• Grace Hanna
  —How to Develop Your Intuition

• Will Fullwood
  —Boons and Burdens of Valuing Antiracism

• Arturo Dominguez
  —Tattoos, Gangs, and Deportations

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