I think one of the most important facets of your character that makes you a person of value in my life is that of owning your shit, saying it, growing from it and moving forward. Kudos. I applaud your asshole barrel moment and realizations. You ROCK.
Thanks for the reminder on multiple income streams! I’m sorry to hear that loss was so great, that’s enormous and immensely stressful. The 2nd book I’m publishing (all being well both will be out later this year) is a collection of blogs, posts and poems I wrote. Could you arrange your medium content into a book? I’m sure you’ve enough there to take readers on a journey of transformation. Just a thought. And another income stream.
That's an idea that several have offered, Amber. I already have two books out, and my next is going to be a compendium of my fave travel stories. Those stories are getting published here first so it's already underway. The other point is that there are some 2200 stories on Medium. The sheer bulk of them would require a lot of work to comb through and find the best. I'm working on it. And, frankly, my earlier Medium writings leave a lot to be desired. Thanks so kindly for the suggestions!
The material is out there, Amber, but whether or not it's book worthy is another issue entirely. That's another discussion, methinks. Right now I"m focused on telling new stories!
When we write for a living, and the field is constantly changing to suit the top vs. those who are doing the work at the base, it is damned near impossible to plan a life.
Oh, I can whine with the best of them, but not about Medium — which I've only ever seen as a platform that lets me write about whatever occurs to me since I can't seem to adhere to a niche. Also, neither Medium nor Substack appears to object when I crosspost, which I merrily do. That's why I fail to see the Medium/Substack binary. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but it's a blissful ignorance. And Linda Carroll's piece was, as always, skewering in its clarity.
Jan, the complaint on my part was solely about getting paid for what amounted to eighty hour workweeks writing and posting. I did the math once, and I made less than $2 an hour. Then when they changed the algorithm I went from a high of almost $4k a month to $27 a month. THAT was the issue. I had changed nothing. Imagine working like that., writing that much, for what was effectively thirty-three cents an hour. None of the other things were ever an issue. For those of us doing it for a living, it was devastating. The binary is very simple: on Medium, THEY own the email list, the readers pay Medium, and Medium has total control over both the email list and the money. On Substack, they have no control over your email or the income other than they get paid a percentage of your overall income from the readers. That's the difference. I hope that helps. I can't speak for anyone else's beef but that loss of income hit just after I had bought a house, and had qualified based in part on that income. So it put me at huge risk, and under enormous pressure. While I own the fact that I shouldn't have counted on them, I was using Medium as a base so that I could do other things. With that income gone, I nearly went bankrupt. If writing is a side hustle or a lark, and it isn't the primary income, then this most assuredly doesn't matter as much. That's all. Hard lessons learned on my part.
I salute you for having the bravery I never summoned: to regard Medium earnings as income rather than gravy. It says something about self-value, and I can easily feel the pain of what you went through when the Medium income arbitrarily crashed. Writing is absolutely stuffed with hard lessons.
I left Medium as a business decision. Too many platforms, and when the ROI fell, it just didn't make sense for me any more. I did not pull my content (though there's one article that keeps getting spam comments that I should probably nuke.)
My leaving substack was more of a statement, though. I didn't want people who supported me to indirectly support the NAZI content substack has elected to retain. They have the right to continue, and I have the right to move on. Whiney? I don't *think* so. Maybe? My leaving was more matter-of-fact than that. And sometimes ya gotta do something you believe in, even if it's just for yourself. (Have I mentioned my parents were in NAZI occupied Netherlands during the war? That's left some feels.)
I guess my point is that not all decisions are based in currently popular whine. Sometimes there are reasons.
In my case I had the benefit of having my own platform on which to publish. I've seen too many times that 3rd party platforms change, or go away, devastating many of those who chose to use them. Aside from the issue above, Substack is currently a great place to be a publisher. But I hope you (and others) are also posting on your own sites/blogs/whatever, in case that ever changes.
Leo, to your point, I still have Walkabout, but it just refuses to grow no matter what I do, and between Patreon and Ghost I have been bedeviled with tech issues especially around pay. So I'm trying to figure out what on earth to do there. What I was addressing was that I did indeed whine about Medium, and Linda's article invited me to look at how much I mouthed off about it. I could have been much more graceful in my exit; that's what I'm addressing here. You left matter-of-factly, I complained the whole way. Once's graceful, the other isn't. That's my only point here.
You bring up another issue. I was in Oslo, and visited the Nazi museum there. It's really something to understand from the inside how hard the Norwegians worked to communicate and to undermine the regime. Until you're much closer, and the museum's director was my host for the stay, and it becomes far more intimate, it's just a distant idea. Which is one reason that my parents had very different feelings about Israel that today's younger generations do. They are too many years from the worst the world had to offer, and I suspect are too easily convinced that much of it was hyperbole. Not if it happened in your family it isn't.
JC and I talk regularly about what's next. Walkabout never grew beyond 65 people, no matter what I did, and as a result, it ended up being a slew of work for very little income. I really care about that community but I also have to pay the bills. Someday I might want to have a long coffee with you and see what you think. I'm wide open. I find that people want to pay a very small fee and have access to a huge smorgasbord, which is why most of my followers stayed. Many didn't wish to support both my blog and Medium. I can't say I blame them one bit.
I still have the followers, just not the interaction. I left all my stories up. It's been quite the journey trying to start over and over and over and over again at this age. While I understand your point, Leo, sometimes I am bloody well exhausted.
I know a group of women who meet regularly for wine and whine. They are the JULIETS , Just Us Ladies In Extensive Therapy. They are the counterpart to a group I visit periodically, ROMEO - Retired Old Men Eating Out. From what I hear, many complaints are aired in both groups.
Thanks for the primer on Medium. I had no idea. And I don’t mind you bitching while you had out valuable info. Not even sure that educating folks counts as whining.
I think one of the most important facets of your character that makes you a person of value in my life is that of owning your shit, saying it, growing from it and moving forward. Kudos. I applaud your asshole barrel moment and realizations. You ROCK.
Love you back, Nurit. Holding a space. I have inhabited PLENTY of asshole barrels. More to come, surely!
Thanks for the reminder on multiple income streams! I’m sorry to hear that loss was so great, that’s enormous and immensely stressful. The 2nd book I’m publishing (all being well both will be out later this year) is a collection of blogs, posts and poems I wrote. Could you arrange your medium content into a book? I’m sure you’ve enough there to take readers on a journey of transformation. Just a thought. And another income stream.
That's an idea that several have offered, Amber. I already have two books out, and my next is going to be a compendium of my fave travel stories. Those stories are getting published here first so it's already underway. The other point is that there are some 2200 stories on Medium. The sheer bulk of them would require a lot of work to comb through and find the best. I'm working on it. And, frankly, my earlier Medium writings leave a lot to be desired. Thanks so kindly for the suggestions!
2200😲 wowzers. So a few dozen books in there then🙃
The material is out there, Amber, but whether or not it's book worthy is another issue entirely. That's another discussion, methinks. Right now I"m focused on telling new stories!
Well, I for one am a big fan! Love the insight you share, the wisdom of your stories and your powerful messages! 💙💜
True. It was a financial disaster when Amazon changed how they pay non-fiction authors.
When we write for a living, and the field is constantly changing to suit the top vs. those who are doing the work at the base, it is damned near impossible to plan a life.
Oh, I can whine with the best of them, but not about Medium — which I've only ever seen as a platform that lets me write about whatever occurs to me since I can't seem to adhere to a niche. Also, neither Medium nor Substack appears to object when I crosspost, which I merrily do. That's why I fail to see the Medium/Substack binary. Perhaps I'm missing something obvious, but it's a blissful ignorance. And Linda Carroll's piece was, as always, skewering in its clarity.
Jan, the complaint on my part was solely about getting paid for what amounted to eighty hour workweeks writing and posting. I did the math once, and I made less than $2 an hour. Then when they changed the algorithm I went from a high of almost $4k a month to $27 a month. THAT was the issue. I had changed nothing. Imagine working like that., writing that much, for what was effectively thirty-three cents an hour. None of the other things were ever an issue. For those of us doing it for a living, it was devastating. The binary is very simple: on Medium, THEY own the email list, the readers pay Medium, and Medium has total control over both the email list and the money. On Substack, they have no control over your email or the income other than they get paid a percentage of your overall income from the readers. That's the difference. I hope that helps. I can't speak for anyone else's beef but that loss of income hit just after I had bought a house, and had qualified based in part on that income. So it put me at huge risk, and under enormous pressure. While I own the fact that I shouldn't have counted on them, I was using Medium as a base so that I could do other things. With that income gone, I nearly went bankrupt. If writing is a side hustle or a lark, and it isn't the primary income, then this most assuredly doesn't matter as much. That's all. Hard lessons learned on my part.
I salute you for having the bravery I never summoned: to regard Medium earnings as income rather than gravy. It says something about self-value, and I can easily feel the pain of what you went through when the Medium income arbitrarily crashed. Writing is absolutely stuffed with hard lessons.
I'd like to bronze that last sentence and install it over my computer.
I left Medium as a business decision. Too many platforms, and when the ROI fell, it just didn't make sense for me any more. I did not pull my content (though there's one article that keeps getting spam comments that I should probably nuke.)
My leaving substack was more of a statement, though. I didn't want people who supported me to indirectly support the NAZI content substack has elected to retain. They have the right to continue, and I have the right to move on. Whiney? I don't *think* so. Maybe? My leaving was more matter-of-fact than that. And sometimes ya gotta do something you believe in, even if it's just for yourself. (Have I mentioned my parents were in NAZI occupied Netherlands during the war? That's left some feels.)
I guess my point is that not all decisions are based in currently popular whine. Sometimes there are reasons.
In my case I had the benefit of having my own platform on which to publish. I've seen too many times that 3rd party platforms change, or go away, devastating many of those who chose to use them. Aside from the issue above, Substack is currently a great place to be a publisher. But I hope you (and others) are also posting on your own sites/blogs/whatever, in case that ever changes.
Leo, to your point, I still have Walkabout, but it just refuses to grow no matter what I do, and between Patreon and Ghost I have been bedeviled with tech issues especially around pay. So I'm trying to figure out what on earth to do there. What I was addressing was that I did indeed whine about Medium, and Linda's article invited me to look at how much I mouthed off about it. I could have been much more graceful in my exit; that's what I'm addressing here. You left matter-of-factly, I complained the whole way. Once's graceful, the other isn't. That's my only point here.
You bring up another issue. I was in Oslo, and visited the Nazi museum there. It's really something to understand from the inside how hard the Norwegians worked to communicate and to undermine the regime. Until you're much closer, and the museum's director was my host for the stay, and it becomes far more intimate, it's just a distant idea. Which is one reason that my parents had very different feelings about Israel that today's younger generations do. They are too many years from the worst the world had to offer, and I suspect are too easily convinced that much of it was hyperbole. Not if it happened in your family it isn't.
JC and I talk regularly about what's next. Walkabout never grew beyond 65 people, no matter what I did, and as a result, it ended up being a slew of work for very little income. I really care about that community but I also have to pay the bills. Someday I might want to have a long coffee with you and see what you think. I'm wide open. I find that people want to pay a very small fee and have access to a huge smorgasbord, which is why most of my followers stayed. Many didn't wish to support both my blog and Medium. I can't say I blame them one bit.
I still have the followers, just not the interaction. I left all my stories up. It's been quite the journey trying to start over and over and over and over again at this age. While I understand your point, Leo, sometimes I am bloody well exhausted.
I know a group of women who meet regularly for wine and whine. They are the JULIETS , Just Us Ladies In Extensive Therapy. They are the counterpart to a group I visit periodically, ROMEO - Retired Old Men Eating Out. From what I hear, many complaints are aired in both groups.
Catharsis works wonders.
Thanks for the primer on Medium. I had no idea. And I don’t mind you bitching while you had out valuable info. Not even sure that educating folks counts as whining.
Hand, not had.