I have been writing on Medium since January 2023 and have found a lot of joy since then. Before becoming a writer, I was an active user of Medium. Until now, I still consume a lot of information on the platform because of its quality content that matches my interests and a good user interface.
Writing on Medium is a nice experience. It has many tools to support writers in producing content and tracking engagement on the platform. However, after much consideration, I decided to move to Substack.
Why?
I did consider Substack when I started writing but went for Medium instead since 1) I’m not a fan of the way users are asked to subscribe to a publication when they read an article on Substack, and 2) most of the stuff I read back then are on Medium.
Now, Substack has become more suitable for my needs. Here are the main reasons.
Email Newsletter vs. Blogging
Substack is designed to let writers engage with their audiences mainly via email newsletters, rather than prioritizing the readers coming to the platform. That’s why readers are always asked to put their mail in the subscription box.
On the other hand, Medium is more like a blogging platform. Although it sends summaries of trending and new articles from whom you follow to your email, you still need to go to the platform to read the articles. It’s also easier to manage a publication and to reach a wider range of audiences on Medium, which is the reason why tech companies (Netflix, Meta, etc.), communities (Towards Data Science), and famous people (Barack Obama, Tim O'Reilly, etc.) favor it.
Medium suited my needs when I started. Now, when I get a bit more audience and more time after graduation, an email newsletter becomes a better way for me to engage with my readers.
Shorter-form content
From January 2023 until now (May 2024), I published 7 articles on Medium with many thrown-away drafts. It takes me a lot of time and energy to write an article for Medium. Consequently, I’m happy with all the things I posted there (although the first few were not that good), and I got a lot of good feedback. Some people even recognize me in school because of my article.
Still, I think it needs to be changed. I want to write more regularly to engage with more people. Shorter content with less time and effort spent per article is a way to go, and I’m not comfortable posting those on Medium. Writing on Substack is like sending email updates to the people you know, which I feel a lot better. However, I will still invest in long-form articles once in a while.
Medium is banned in Vietnam
And Substack is not.
Since part of my audience is from Vietnam, I need to maintain another platform other than Medium. Although it does not take up a lot of my time, it’s inconvenient to send people different links to read my articles based on their location. It’s also harder to get new followers from Vietnam.
Better monetization
I want all of my content to be freely accessible while it might be more sustainable to get some money back if people are willing to pay.
On Medium, you need to become a partner (which requires you to become a paid member) to monetize your articles. The number of member-only articles on the platform is also increasing, and you can no longer read a limited number of articles of this kind but need to pay for them. Although this strategy makes sense for Medium’s business, I’m not a big fan of it.
Substack’s monetization is more flexible. You can have subscriber-only, paid subscriber-only content, and even hide parts of a free article after a paywall. For now, I will keep all my content free but you can still pay for it by choosing a paid monthly or yearly subscription plan.
How will it go?
I’m now available to write more frequently, aiming to publish at least once a week. My content is about technology, books, learning, and my take on what is going on in the world, especially in Southeast Asia. Some articles posted on my Medium will also be copied over here.
I will still keep posting long-form content on Medium. However, my self-maintained blog will eventually be shut down.
You can subscribe to my newsletter to get updates in your mailbox every week and follow me on LinkedIn and Medium.
Cheers!
Hi anh it's Tom here, learned about this platform from your LinkedIn sharing! Looking forward to your future content 😁