The Publication That Disappeared in a Minute
And it wasn’t an error.
You may have noticed that life has surprises in store for you.
One was unpacked recently, for many members and me here.
Late summer 2017, Kevin Writes opened a Medium publication — The WakeUp Call — adding all first contributors as editors. The publication was meant for Top Writers and inspirational content.
To be precise, it was The WakeUp Call 2.0. It seemed the 1.0 didn’t have a glorious end, but I didn’t know more. UPDATE: I read from Terijo that it was closed due to a breakdown of Kevin.
At the time I didn’t have much experience, here. Seemed a strange initiative, but I liked Kevin, and gave the publication a try.
The thing of so many people being an editor wasn’t exactly clear. They were free to publish, okay, but who could do what, outside publishing stories? What was the role of those editors?
Anyway, that was not The New York Times. Good intentions and work from Kevin made up for that.
With time, I added small contributions myself. I was maybe among the few (were there others?) who discussed with Kevin about improvements to the publication, being trusted by him.
As of stories, I contributed just with 7 of them. I’m not an “inspirational” guy and didn’t feel my stories much appropriate there.
Many other authors contributed with lot of stories.
At some point, Kevin decided to open the publication to all writers, not just Top Writers. Top Writer means nothing here. Still, it was a differentiation. Opening to all would have required an editorial line or a gathering theme, and time, in my opinion. I adviced Kevin, but he decided to go ahead. He was the chief editor, and he made his choice. Nothing right or wrong, there. All depends on how you carry it on.
From there, I didn’t pay much attention to the publication. I just individually followed some of the writers, but the publication itself was of no interest for me. In my eyes, a bunch of self-published stories with no connection. My name as editor just left there with no meaning, like many others.
I noticed Kevin made more work on it, and the publication grew to more than 2k followers.
Meanwhile, the stories from Kevin became rarer.
I remember him trying to get some feedback on the publication (I remember just one letter at the end of February), but he didn’t get much enthusiasm back for that isolated attempt.
At some point, the publication accepted no more submissions. Evidently, Kevin was short of time or in difficulties. Or was maybe deluded. I don’t know.
I already shared my opinion with him in the past, and I was on a different path, so I didn’t offer help, nor bothered him.
Maybe, he expected some editors to help — I don’t know — , but the “management” of the publication was obviously not clear from the beginning. I believe many were confused about their role, or maybe weren’t just interested in contributing.
At some point, I noticed the owner of the publication had changed, and Kevin’s account disappeared.
I already disapproved the new course, so I didn’t pay much attention. No one seemed to care or, at least, I just didn’t notice they did. Stories were still being published on there. So, not my business.
I discovered later that Terijo, in these days, already wrote about issues and discontent with TWUC, then offered a new home for editors and writers from TWUC.
Quick check, and the new owner — Pain and Presence — had the same followers Kevin had before. A clean account with 2.8k followers. Also, I was following that new account on Twitter, but I had never decided to follow it. It was obviously Kevin’s account. The new Pain and Presence inherited Twitter followers plus the publication followers.
Other members spoke, outraged, and Pain and Presence (introducing itself as an organization, like it was not Kevin) gave an explanation about an “independent publication”, so no need for letters on the change of ownership. That story is gone, so I cannot link.
Now, any organization needs… an organization. When independent means no organization, I start to wonder. Without mentioning that it’s quite difficult to be independent on Medium, given that you are on their platform and you may discover tomorrow morning that nothing is there. Like it may happen to editors and writers of “independent” publications.
And we are on a social network. An editor has to explain what’s happening there. You can’t do tricks with accounts and ownership of publications. People committed their work to that publication and had the tag “editor of The Wakeup Call” on their profile. Change of identities or ownership should be explained.
Nobody likes to be fooled.
Hours later, the account of Pain and Presence was gone and… the publication gone itself.
As if nothing had been there for months. Luckily, stories remain on Medium.
From the little I know of Kevin — or whoever is behind this name — , I consider him a good guy, and a promising writer. I’m sure the thing slipped out of his hands. He probably pushed too hard in the previous months and had another breakdown.
I’m not angry, with Kevin, and he gave me an opportunity, with that publication. I’m also sorry for him, and all his work, that he has trashed.
But he made a mess.
By the way, I didn’t use the actual account names here to hurt, but just for the records, those names having had a public role here. Like I put my real name on this story, as usual. I own my words.
I’m usually more discrete — with the exception of well-known names — , but this thing was public, and wrong. There was a publication with 2k followers, and many writers who published on it. Gone, in a minute.
I felt that this lesson had to be recorded.
All that seems to remain of the home page, the logo, and Kevin’s stories, is a Web archive (thanks J M Jackson for the tip).
Someway, that publication is part of my memories. I remember so many good words, exchanged with Kevin, and other authors connected with TWUC.
And I’m sure the many contributors will remember too.
