My stats after writing for 2 months on Substack and Medium
And the lessons I learned while writing on both platforms simultaneously
Although I have been ghostwriting for over the past 10 years, it was only about two months ago that I decided to turn my skill into something substantial.
My first thought was to revive my old Medium account, where I had written one story in 2018 before disappearing forever.
And a few years back, I also wrote on Quora, religiously for a short period and received over 2.4 Million views but my personal life got in the way and I completely stopped writing online. Now in 2024, while reminiscing my long-lost love for writing, I was also considering Quora to start over.
My husband, on the other hand, asked me to start writing on Substack.
While navigating my life as a ghostwriter, graphic designer, and now a mom to a 15-month-old, I had lost touch with the online writing space. I had never heard of Substack, even though it’s been around for quite some time.
However, I was instantly fascinated by the platform and it felt like I finally found a safe space for writers. I joined the platform and started writing on it while also posting stories on Medium.
At the time of writing this story,
Below are my stats on Medium:
And Below are my stats on Substack:
Let me mention that I haven’t promoted my Medium or Substack account on any other platform and all the subscribers and followers are organic.
Here’s what I learned while simultaneously writing on both platforms.
· I found Medium to be more beginner-friendly and received more responses to my stories than on Substack. The claps, highlights, and comments from fellow writers and readers were quite encouraging.
· Substack was a bit difficult to navigate as a beginner writer and it is hard to gain subscribers, especially when you don’t have any following on any other social media. But there are so many writers doing amazing on Substack, and I know it has a lot of scope if one can show consistency and commitment.
· Substack offers a Twitter-like platform called Notes, to share your thoughts with the community which Medium doesn’t. While I received no response in my initial few days of posting Notes constantly, I did start receiving engagement after a week. It is important to genuinely engage with other writers and share your thoughts authentically to stand out on Notes.
· On Medium, it is important for writers who are just starting to publish their work through a publication. I connected with a lot of publications and received better responses to my stories.
· I read a lot of stories on Medium which I usually don’t on Substack. To read most of the stories, I just took a paid membership on Medium, but to read on Substack, especially the paywalled articles, you have to subscribe.
· For a writer, Medium offers great opportunities to earn money based on the reads. Some articles can make you a lot of money while others won’t at all. Substack, on the other hand, can be a great source of consistent income, once you have enough paid subscribers.
· One great thing about Substack is that it makes it easier to connect with fellow writers through Notes. I was able to learn a lot by reading Notes from successful writers on Substack and following their journeys.
To summarize, I’m enjoying writing on both platforms but so far, I’m a little biased towards Medium, perhaps because I’m receiving better responses to my stories here.
However, it’s still too early for me to choose one platform over another. Even though I’m trying not to be discouraged and be consistent on Substack to grow my audience.
When I decided to start writing online, my goal was to find a voice and be able to express my thoughts as freely and authentically as possible. And in the process, leave a positive impact on my audience and so far, it feels like a good start.
