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Substack Vs Medium – It Doesn’t Need To Be Either Or…

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I’ve been writing on Medium and Substack for a while now. There is quite a lot of overlap in terms of content, but they are slightly different. Especially in the tone I use – Substack is a bit more conversational, while for Medium I tend to go full journalist.

I have bundled both under the brand ‘Intriguing Times,’ because having a brand is apparently important. I read that somewhere. This site features some of the same snippets of similar content, as well as whatever mad topic is occupying my mind each week. It can be hard to judge what story will best match which site and what tone to use. But all sites have their own thing going on. (I also have a science fiction website, but that is obviously pretty easy to differentiate.)

I’ve shifted focus sometimes, but there’s no need to cancel if you don’t want to.

For a while, I was focusing almost entirely on my Substack newsletter, Intriguing Times, where I write about weird history, odd phenomena, and occasionally, mass hysteria involving sheep. It’s been great fun, and I’ve built up a nice following there. The problem is, while I have plenty of free subscribers, I’ve only two paying ones. Which is, let’s be honest, not quite the dream of financial independence through creative genius I had hoped for.

So, I’ve also started writing more on Medium again. I’d taken a bit of a break, where months would go by with nothing written, but the beauty of Medium is that it actually pays regularly. Probably a pittance for most people, but something. Back during its heyday during covid, I had articles that made over $1000 each, but now I cheer when one makes more than $10. (The gorilla story I imported here a few weeks ago made over $1400.)

My best week ever. I dream of $10 a week now.

It’s possible that I wrote brilliantly back then, but I think I just occasionally pleased the algorithm. Plus, everyone was stuck at home, bored. I’ve not had an article crack $10 recently, but I only really got back to Medium in September, so maybe it needs to build again. Who knows, I will plug on with it.

The good thing about Medium, though, is that you don’t have to sell subscriptions; you just get paid based on how many people read and enjoy your work. It feels a bit more like traditional journalism, whereas Substack feels more like running your own little magazine from home.

The two platforms also have a different vibe

Substack feels a bit more community-based. You see the same faces in the Notes section, there’s a bit of banter, and the algorithm occasionally shoves new people your way. It is really nice to be able to promote your articles on their in-built social media. At least most people on it are readers and writers.

Medium, on the other hand, is more like writing for a magazine. It’s wide-reaching, and you might get noticed by someone completely random in another country. But it’s also less personal. You’re part of a bigger crowd. You publish and cross your fingers, hoping someone will find your stuff.

Both have issues in that a lot of your work ends up behind a paywall if you want to get paid. I write for a living, so I need the cash. But sometimes it feels a shame that I can’t easily share the piece elsewhere for free.

Which is why I’m going to start occasionally posting pieces from both Substack and Medium here on The Word of Ward. This site has always been my online home – a place where I can throw together banal/fascinating thoughts on technology, books, writing, travel, or whatever apocalypse is incoming.

It feels nice to have everything connected.

If you’d like to check out more of what I’ve been up to, you can find me and Intriguing Times through these handy links:

And of course, keep an eye on The Word of Ward. Some of those stories will appear here too – slightly tweaked, occasionally updated, but always (hopefully) fascinating.

I’m also going to compile a lot of these into a book, but I will be banging endlessly on about that later.

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