Every writer gets frustrated when they keep writing great pieces, and no one notices. Not getting paid for what you love can lead to serious self-esteem issues for most writers. The truth is that writing is an art, and you deserve compensation for those knowledge bombs.
Substack and Medium solve this problem for bloggers by creating a platform where writers can publish their works and get paid for them.
What’s Medium?
Medium is a social media platform for bloggers. So it doesn’t matter if you write for leisure or professionally; Medium has an audience for you.
Journalists, bloggers, experts in various fields use Medium to connect with like minds and get paid for published works if they want to.
If you’re new to writing and would like to get feedback on your works, Medium is a great place to gain insights into the quality of your work. In addition, you can use it as a platform to connect with professional writers to improve the quality of your pieces.
Also, you don’t have to be a writer to enjoy Medium; you can become a Medium member by paying a monthly subscription fee of just $5 or $50 yearly. In addition, you have unlimited access to all Medium articles when you become a member.
You can only get three free articles on Medium monthly as a non-member. If you want access to more articles per month, you’ll have to become a paid member.
What’s Substack?
Substack is a platform for readers and writers to connect by subscribing to email newsletters. All you have to do as a writer on Substack is to submit your email list, and it will handle the rest.
Also, Substack doesn’t charge for membership; all you have to do is subscribe to your favorite writer’s newsletter. If your writer charges for their publication, you will have to pay the subscription fee. If it’s free, you don’t have to.
Substack doesn’t regulate its writers’ subscription fees but charges 10% of the profit you make.
Substack has a Stripe integration, all you have to do is create a Stripe account, and you don’t have to worry about your payment method.
As long as you’re writing great newsletters, you will keep getting paid, and as long as you’re paid, Substack is also paid. So everyone wins with this business model.
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Substack vs. Medium: Who’s the Better Publisher?
Publishing on Medium is simple; all you have to do is write your story in drafts or copy and paste from previously written documents.
Source: Medium
Writing on Medium is fun, to be honest. However, if you’re used to WordPress, you’ll have a smooth transition with Medium. It has a very similar interface to WordPress, but it is also easier to use.
Publishing Tools on Medium
You can add pictures directly from Unsplash; it’s a third-party website on Medium with free images.
Images add context to what you’re writing and help break up long texts so that readers don’t get bored reading plain text. It would help if you put a lot of thought into your illustrations because you are paid based on how long people read your published works. If people keep getting bored and leaving your page, it will hurt your earnings.
Also, posting an entire link address in your post is tacky; you can avoid this on Medium by simply embedding links. Even if the URL is not from a supported third-party website, Medium will display it as a preview card.
Publishing with Substack also has its perks. All you have to do is import your mailing lists or create a mailing list, and your subscribers will get your newsletters.
You can copy your written works from your document, paste it on Substack, and it will be published. What makes Substack so versatile is that you integrate with lots of third-party apps.
Also, you don’t have to bother about people reading your content for free; Substack will only distribute your paid newsletter to subscribers.
Medium is a fantastic platform for connecting with other writers and publishing your work. It also contains all of the tools you require on a single platform.
Medium is your best bet if you want to use the same Content Management System (CMS) as your publisher.
Substack, on the other hand, is more concerned with getting your work to the people you want to read it to than connecting with other writers.
Medium vs. Substack: How to Earn
Substack focuses on how many people want to read your content, while Medium focuses on how good your content is.
You don’t have to worry about how long your readers stay on your posts when you write on Substack. All you have to do is write well enough so that people believe your newsletter is worth the amount they are paying for it.
As a result, the more subscribers you have, the more money you will make. So SubStack is for you if you already have many devoted readers. If you don’t already have a loyal audience, create one before becoming a Substack writer, and then direct them to Substack to pay for premium content.
Profit-sharing on Substack is a symbiotic relationship; you make your readers happy, they subscribe, and you’re delighted, and Substack also gets their 10%. Everyone is satisfied.
Getting Paid on Medium
Earning money on Medium isn’t so simple. First, you must apply to become a member, and you must also meet specific criteria to be accepted. If you meet the requirements and become a member, you will be compensated for every person who reads your posts.
You must have at least 100 followers and publish a story at least twice a year to be a partner.
You can also make money on Medium by converting non-members into members. If you do this, you will be paid 50% of the membership fee paid by the person you referred.
Unlike Substack, you are paid based on how long someone reads your article. The more time your readers spend reading your posts, the more money you earn, and vice versa. So you can’t catfish people with catchy headlines; it’s just not going to work.
On the plus side, Medium handles SEO quite well, so your content gains authority on topics tailored to readers’ interests, which is fantastic. Furthermore, you don’t have to worry about SEO because Medium will handle it for you.
Substack vs. Medium: Recommendations
The substack algorithm is based on what’s popular, whereas the Medium algorithm is based on your interests. This is because Medium recommends articles based on your interests, not what’s trending.
If a topic is trending, it is likely that many people are interested in it and would read it. Most of the time, it’s a contentious issue or something that everyone finds relatable. So the Substack and Medium algorithm still does the same thing: it connects readers and writers.
Although recommendations on Medium are personalized, your content must be ranked high to be recommended to many people. Therefore, if your content is initially recommended to many people but then has a high bounce rate, your ranking suffers, and you receive fewer recommendations.
If you are not recommended to many people, it is almost certain that people will not visit your profile to read your works, which means you will not earn so much.
How Recommendations Work on Substack
For Substack, you write an article, your subscribers pay to read it, and you keep 90% of the profit, but what you need to understand is that no one will pay for your articles if they do not connect with it. So, for example, you started with free content and then started charging for exclusive content; if people don’t find your content interesting enough, they won’t pay.
Also, you have to continuously write great newsletters on Substack because people will unsubscribe if they notice a consistent decline in the quality of your newsletters.
Substack vs. Medium: Readers
Another thing to note is Substack will not hustle subscribers for you. If you do not, who will subscribe, and how will you be paid?
Medium is a little different in that you will get readers and be paid for what you write regardless of your fanbase. However, if your content does not pique the interest of your readers and you have a high bounce rate, your ranking will suffer, and you may not receive any readers at all.
However, as long as people are reading, you will be paid, so you do not need to have a large fanbase or community, but it does help to be honest if you already have one.
Substack vs. Medium: Simplicity and Sync
You could download the Medium app or use the web version across multiple devices. For example, you could be writing, taking a walk, and continuing on your mobile while on transit.
Medium also gives you the tools you need to keep your readers interested in your posts, such as illustrations and pictures. You can pique your readers’ interest to keep reading to end with funny or fascinating images.
Another advantage of using Medium to read articles is that it feels like the writer is speaking directly to you. The upside of conversational pieces is that you can engage your readers by asking questions or encouraging them to leave comments.
You can also sync your Substack account across multiple devices, but Medium offers more publishing options.
Substack vs. Medium: Which Is Better?
Medium is a better publisher and a more versatile content management system. So, if you want to do all of your writing, editing, and publishing in one place, Medium is a better option.
Substack is great if you already have readers; all you have to do is get them to subscribe, and you’ll get paid. Substack is for you if you’re already an established writer.
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