Terms

Photograph created by Lucas George Wendt on Unsplash

The newsletter and publishing platforms allow writers to consider earning money for their work in a meaningful manner. Instead of creating affiliate programs, or filling their sites with advertisements, they can spend their time doing what they love to do and writing.

It's a mutually beneficial exchange between members and creators. Authors get paid for their work, and readers are given an opportunity to browse the material they like and enjoy the best ad-free experiences. No matter if you're a journalist, writer or a student studying writing This comparison can aid you to make an educated decision on which platform for your requirements.

Substack

Substack's primary objective is to help writers by providing them with the tools they need to reach their goals. The platform offers various options that meet the needs of content creators who are independent. From monetization opportunities to audience ownership Substack lets writers have control over their process of creating art and develop a an ongoing career.

Price and features

Marketed as "a platform to allow writers to create their own content," Substack offers writers an possibility to design an online publication to create communities and generate income through subscriptions. They claim that zero tech knowledge is needed, and they plan to "take charge of everything, except for the hard part (the writing, of course)." The company claims to provide "true liberty" where the writer keeps the copyright to all their writing.

It's pretty simple. Writers can choose to importing content that they've written on different platforms like Mailchimp, WordPress, Tinyletter, Medium, Tumblr, or even custom-designed sites, or even building a new site completely starting from scratch within just a few minutes. After the site is live and the writer selects posts that are available at no cost, as well as those which are subject to the Substack paywall. Substack takes 10% from creators when the latter is monetizing their site, but until that point Substack is completely cost-free. Substack claims to offer a free service. Substack team claims it is possible to "start by registering with Substack with breakfast and start making money before lunchtime." Here's how to achieve this.

Dashboard/Posts

The Dashboard page will display any previously published material you've published, as well as some basic information about your current piece. This includes total views, number of email recipients and the rate of open.

You'll also find several buttons to help you to get started on the next masterpiece. These buttons let you make a post or podcast episode or new thread. From this page, you are able to see Subscribers' Stats, Subscribers, and Settings.

Within Substack newsletters, they are classified as "posts" and each is posted on the author's Substack profile page. Once an account is operational, Substack automatically creates a first draft post. The auto-message encourages people to join the newsletter's creator and post the announcement through social networks. It is possible to modify or delete this first pre-populated blog post. You can also begin creating your next blog piece.

Substack's posts on the homepage

The process of editing or writing starts by adding the title, subtitle as well as the name of the author -You can even request writers to write for guests. Afterwards, you'll have an advanced text editor that offers an option to add the text of a paragraph, headings and images as well as buttons that are bold or italic quotes, and bullet points.

If you press the Settings button, you'll be given the possibility of changing the visibility of your post. The blog is accessible or private. You can also choose whether or not to accept comments. This section allows you are able to edit the blog's date for publication along with the URL as well as an informal "draft URL" if you want to distribute the post to your friends or family members (even after the post has been posted). It is possible to send a test email, or alter the social media preview to verify that the photos are in order before sending it to your followers.

After you've published and scheduled your post, you can go back to the Posts page to find out how many readers were able to read your post.

Subscribers

The subscribers dashboard shows you the entire number of subscribers and customers who pay, as well as the annualized gross revenue as well as number of subscribers over the past thirty and 90 days as well as all time. You can see the email addresses of each subscriber as well as their type of subscription (free or paid) and the date they signed up, and how much revenue they earn per user.

To add more subscribers, you may manually add them by using their email address or you can export your existing mailing list from MailChimp, TinyLetter, Patreon or other similar platforms to an CSV file. Upload the file to Substack. The Substack upload tool Substack upload tool can import any email address it locates so, you should only upload addresses that have been added to your list.

Stats

The Stats page you can learn about the amount of people who visited your website and also the total number of emails you've sent out within a 90 or 30 day time period or from the time you launched your newsletter.

The Traffic tab displays the most recent month's number of web users and also the website that brought them there. This can be in the original post as well as your personal profile page on Substack as well as other social media platforms like Twitter.

The Email tabs will provide particular information on each post, including title, publication date, as well as the target audience (public or private) as well as statistics about delivery such as openings, opens rate and subscriptions that are either free or paid after 1 day, as well as engagement (likes as well as remarks).

Settings

In this section, you can alter your title of publication and the description. Additionally, you can alter discoverability options (such like tags) and customize your About page, which will explain the benefits of your magazine and becoming an subscriber.

Additionally, you have a variety of possibilities to personalize your blog's tone and design. your blog. This includes the logo, your cover image or email banner as well as your welcome email (which is sent to readers shortly after they sign up). Editing your email send options, such as your sender's name and whether you want to receive email notifications with responses to your blog posts, as well as your email address for RSS feeds, such as email protected[email [email protected[email protected]. There is also the option to disconnect and connect your social media channels in addition to Stripe for payment processing.

Integrations and compatibility

One of the most important advantages of Substack's services is its ability to import content from different platforms. This saves you time since there is no need to manually copy and paste content of every platform you use. Substack offers import capabilities for these platforms, including Mailchimp, WordPress, TinyLetter, Tumblr Web RSS feed RSS feeds for podcasts and Stripe and many others.

But, the majority of Substack's attention to integrations is data and tracking which allows you to add these: Facebook Pixel ID, Twitter Pixel ID, Parse.ly Pixel ID, Google Analytics Pixel ID, Google Tag Manager ID Google Site Verification, and Facebook site Verification.

These pixels allow for monitoring your readership/engagement levels and some create an integration with advertising platforms. As an example when you link the Facebook Pixel ID (found on your Facebook Business Page) to your Substack, Facebook can track the audience for ads that are relevant to them.

Medium

Medium, on the other hand, is a content creation and publishing platform that houses a variety of content written by a variety of authors. It serves as a community-driven search engine that allows authors can reach a large crowd and connect with readers and publications on the web using the same style of interaction. Medium has a user-friendly interface and a variety of social functions and an integrated distribution system.

Features and pricing

Medium.com offers a range of features and functions for readers and content creators. It has become a go-to website for individuals and businesses to share their thoughts along with stories as well as information to the global public.

The program lets you easily write and format articles by using an easy and user-friendly editor. Medium provides a quiet editing space that includes all essential formatting choices, including lists, headings pictures, embedding multimedia content. Once you've finished your piece and are ready to publish it to open it to everyone or limit the audience to a specific group of people.

Access to unlimited access is $5 USD/month if paid monthly, or $50 USD for a year is paid in advance.

Dashboard/Home

Like social media platforms, Medium offers an extensive following of readers and followers that are always looking for interesting content. Because of the algorithm and curation mechanism, which includes an editor's choice' newsletter, articles can gain exposure and be seen by a huge number of people. This exposure can help writers and authors reach out to their the public, establish an audience and increase the impact they exert in their field.

Medium's audience is large, providing authors the chance to interact with a larger audience and get exposure for their writing. Its wide reach means that your work is able to be read by people interested to the topic.

The platform's curated sections help expose your material to those who are interested, and boost the likelihood of engagement as well as the visibility of your content. With these tools for discovery, you are able to benefit from Medium's distribution networks and boost the exposure of your articles.

Post editor

Medium offers a wide range of tools to create media that includes advanced formatting options as in addition to embedding media that supports images and videos, and the ability to incorporate specific code snippets. The platform enables writers to create visually appealing content with rich media components, making it suitable for those who write content with digital media, and want to use an approach that is more visual.

With Medium's editor for posts, which is flexible authors can modify the style and look of their articles to align with their individual brand. Media integration is supported by the platform, which allows for the seamless inclusion of pictures alongside videos as well as other interactive elements. If you're looking to show off your talents as a photographer or share information through visuals Media lets you make stunning videos.

Network effect

Medium creates a sense community through features such as comment, highlights along with suggestions that allow writers to interact with their the readers. These engagement tools facilitate meaningful discussion and help create the conditions for authors to engage with their readers.

The network effect of Medium plays a important role in extending the reach of writers' articles. As readers engage with articles through claps, comments and shares, the algorithms on Medium examine the conversation and present the content to a wider readership. The effect of this network helps authors gain reach beyond their current followers and draw new followers interested in the subject matter that they cover.

How to monetize: Medium's Partner Program

Medium is based on a distinct monetization model called the Medium Partner Program. Authors can sign up to the program and earn income according to how much engagement their content receives, including applauds (Medium's equivalent to likings) and time spent reading. (While there is a chance to earn money at Medium, earning is less certain compared to Substack's subscription model.)

The medium Partner Program encourages authors to create interesting and stimulating articles that are a hit with users. Through rewarding content based on reader comments and interaction with the article, Medium promotes the development of quality content that is engaging and excites its readers. It's a fantastic opportunity to make income by maintaining a completely free and accessible publishing platform.

Conclusion: Medium vs Substack

Substack and Medium offer different things to cater to different creators -- the best way to choose the platform for you is to consider what you want to get out of your newsletter/publishing platform. Substack provides independent authors with the option of monetizing their content, ownership of audience as well as a straightforward but targeted publishing experience. However, Medium offers a vast readership, discoverability tools, and a strong sense of belonging.

Through providing unique and valuable information to your readers You can earn money as well in sustaining your artistic efforts. Each option has a distinct purpose, and it's your decision to choose the best option for you and your audience. Write with passion!

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