For Writers: Another Look at Medium vs. Substack
My assessment of the two rival platforms hasn't changed, but my personal experiences cause me to decide one is more receptive for lesser known writers.
About two months ago, I published an article comparing Substack and Medium, the two leading writers platforms. I went into detail about their pay structures, the nature of the publications seen on each, and which would be better for particular writers. I concluded that Substack was of higher content quality, and a generally a better choice for more serious writers.
CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO PLATFORMS, IN PAYMENT AND AUDIENCE.)
Over the past two months, I’ve had extensive interaction with both platforms and their readership. I remain convinced that Substack caters to a more sophisticated and well informed audience, and accordingly, there is far less of the senseless screeds and pasting together of slogans repeated a billion times on the internet than on Medium. This is especially true on Medium with any post touching on the Middle East not parroting Iran’s useful idiots; if a postreaches enough people you’re guaranteed to get comments that simply repeat “river to the sea” or “free Palestine” endlessly, sometimes hundred lines in a row. If the trolls suspect the writer is Jewish, anticipate a slew of insults ranging from thinly-veiled “anti-Zionist” screeds and revisionist history to simple gutter level Jew hate. I’m sad to say it, but Medium has become a second home-after X-to rabid Jew haters. (I ditched X when horses’s ass Elon Musk took over.)
On Substack, you encounter far less of the crude and hateful garbage the antisemites and other crazies post on Medium about the Israel and Jews.
This does not mean that all Medium readers and writers are racists or out of touch with reality. Most by far are sensible, sane people, and the crazies and haters are just a disruptive minority.
Based on the above, you probably think I’m sticking with my original assessment that Substack is a better place for me, since I pride myself on being fact-based and logical.
Not exactly
Yes, in the sense of content and audience, on the surface, it seems like a writer in my style ought to avoid Medium and publish only on Substack. After all, why bear insults from Jew haters every time I write about the Middle East, no matter what I say, and why publish semi-scholarly articles about Constitutional Law, if so many Medium readers are ignorant of the Constitution and have little desire to learn?
The answer lies in the different business and pricing structures, which in one case benefits well-known and established figures, many of whom are not even writers. This puts the rest of us at an enormous disadvantage, and makes the other platform seem more attractive. Allow me to explain.
Both Substack and Medium are private, profit-seeking businesses. (As a capitalist, I’m all in favor.) They use two very different business models to earn money and to pay their writers.
Medium allows people to read some article that writers post for free, but most are available only to paid “partners” or members, who pay $5 a month for the privilege of reading anything on Medium. (Writers and readers must pay to have this access.) Writers who pay the small monthly fee earn money based on the number of paid members-and only paid members-who actually stay on and read. The rate of pay is absurdly low, literally pennies per article. It is extremely difficult, nearly impossible, to make any substantial earnings on Medium. (There are Medium superstars who write on topics I have no interest in or don’t even understand.)
Substack uses a very different and simpler business model. Anyone can post on the platform, anyone can read free articles, but if a writer opts to charge a subscription, of which Substack takes 10%, only paid subscribers have full access. (Writers usually allow a “tease” or part of the article to be visible, as an inducement.)
Neither platform is going out of their way to promote free newsletters or articles. Their algorithm promotes based on popularity with paying readers; neither platform will count as a read or a reaction ones that come from people who don’t pay. (So when you cross post on any other platform, be it Medium, Facebook, or LinkedIn, it doesn’t count on either Substack or Medium.) A free subscription has little to no chance of improving its readership on Substack, and non-members who post articles on Medium will get no promotional help from that platform.
To sum it up: on Substack, if you want to be promoted, noticed, and read, you must have a paid option. You can still offer some free posts, and make paid posts free after a while, but if you remain totally free, in the words of Bob Dylan, “You Ain’t going Nowhere.” Substack gets a cut of every subscription, and the more you get, the more they promote you. (They’ll will also promote articles from paying subscriptions even if not a huge name or draw, which is why I’ve actually seen them promote some of mine.)
On Medium, you’ll be promoted only by the number of people who read your post, unless you happen to catch the interest of one of their curators, who decide which articles to show on Medium’s opening page.
If I’m saying that Substack has a simpler and easy to understand payment method, and the content is better and the audience is more serious, then Substack must be the best place for me, right?
Not really.
You see, the fact that Substack allows writers to earn real money (writers can charge $5 and up per month, keeping almost all of it, based solely on paid subscribers, not who actually reads it) has drawn the biggest names in political, social, and legal commentary. When I’m on Substack, I’m competing against writers like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Moore, Robert Reich, and just about every talking head on MSNBC, CNN, and FOX, along with almost all columnists from major American newspapers.
I know I’m really good and have a lot to say that the others miss, but let’s get real: if someone is shelling out $5 a month for a half dozen or so of these big names, how likely are they to shell it out for someone they never heard of? Many go right to an inbox and read only the writer they subscribed to, not looking at any others. That is the big limitation on Substack.
Medium is more like the Wild West, where anything goes and anything might happen. There are still many top of the line writers, many well known and respected in the areas in which they write, but most are not well known at all.
I get countless times more comments and reactions on Medium than I do on Substack. This might be because anyone who pays a monthly fee of $5 can read all the posts they wish, as opposed to Substack, where every writer must be paid that $5. Maybe the Medium algorithm likes me. Maybe there are less people writing as I do, so the law of supply and demand kicks in. I’m not sure.
There is one saving grace that helps me on both platforms: I use them to sell my fiction books. I mention the books and include the links to them at the end of every post. When I began posting on the two platforms, that was my sole financial interest; I had no desire to try and earn any money from the posts themselves. It’s turned out to be a wise choice, as I’ve been selling books without spending any money on promotions.
In one sense, Substack has become more like the traditional publishing houses, relying on established names to make them a lot of money; the difference is that anyone can set up a Substack newsletter. It costs Substack nothing, and if the unknown takes off, Substack makes more money.
Medium is more like world of self-publishing on Amazon; you’re given the platform, and it’s up to you to promote yourself. Maybe my experience promoting my published writing makes me an easy fit for this model, warts and all.
I’m going to keep writing on both platforms. There are some posts that work for both, others for only one. Readers on both platforms are buying my books. I’m getting a lot more feedback and a lot more audience interaction on Medium, but I am convinced that sooner or later, I’ll take off more on Substack. One lesson I learned as a self-published fiction writer: it takes time. I’m doing at least as well on Substack as I did after one years promoting my fiction; though I’m doing better than that on Medium.
I hope that my readers will remain my readers on both platforms. I encourage everyone to sign up for a subscription to this Substack newsletter, at least try a free subscription.
And feel free to weigh in at any time!
THE TRUTH WILL WIN IF IT IS TOLD!
Stephen Shaiken is an attorney and author. He has written extensively on Constitutional issues. He has litigated scores of Constitutional questions in federal appellate courts and is a member of the United States Supreme Court Bar.
And please check out my fiction. You can visit the Amazon Series Page for the acclaimed NJA Club Series: CLICK HERE
You can visit the Amazon page for Queensborough Rock, set amidst the NYC rock ’n’ roll world circa 1970. CLICK HERE
Check out my author’s website at: www.stephenshaiken.com