Followers vs Subscribers,

Which is better?

Stephen Sovie
Never Stop Writing

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Photo by Stephen Tafra on Unsplash

Anyone writing on Medium for a while remembers receiving advice, as newbie writers, that you must have a following to succeed on Medium. Some experienced writers have stated you should try to gain as many followers as possible, while others say the opposite. So many of us got to work following writers in hopes they would follow us back.

While many of us were publishing, highlighting, commenting, and following people, we didn’t give much thought to subscribers. Then came the departure to Substack, where writers could create and grow a subscriber list and charge a monthly fee to their subscribers. People who didn’t want to leave Medium to start all over on Substack began paying more attention to Medium’s subscriber option.

I was one of these writers who began subscribing to writers I enjoyed reading. I joined Substack for a while until I realized I could never accumulate enough subscribers to earn more money than I earned on Medium. I did not have much luck with Medium’s subscriber lists, though. A Medium glitch wiped out my list more than once, forcing me to find and resubscribe to my favorite writers. Many times, I didn’t get any notifications. I also got sick of receiving several email notifications daily from a couple of writers who published several times during the day.

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Stephen Sovie
Never Stop Writing

A liberal retiree who loves writing about politics, social issues, my pets and my life experiences. You can buy me coffee here, https://ko-fi.com/stephensovie