Hang In There, Self-Publication!

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Abstract

o — wait a day between writing and submitting</li><li>I can keep my British spelling, colloquialisms, <a href="https://readmedium.com/all-the-cool-kids-say-fuck-55fe769541e5">shites</a> and all the other little things that make my writing voice <a href="https://readmedium.com/i-reached-inside-the-brain-of-a-blogger-4ecff38d7505">sound like me</a></li><li>I can pretend I’m a world-class editor with no need of external critique</li><li>I can add whatever affiliate sleaze I want</li><li>I can send snippy emails to Medium support when they select something for distribution and it does worse than me after a night out on Pernod & Black — it would be rude to that from someone else’s publication!</li></ul><p id="3476">If I had a fluffy white cat on my knee (<a href="https://readmedium.com/its-not-racist-to-have-opinions-about-your-culture-71a8236bcf15">no offense tabbies</a>), I could rule the world.</p><h1 id="2a01">The cons make me wonder if I’ve hit a ceiling</h1><ul><li>The <a href="https://readmedium.com/the-5-people-you-meet-on-medium-a585c854415f">Medium Elite</a> seem to still publish in publications only — is that a habit from the past, or because they’ve built up a solid reader network or because publications are still the bees knees?</li><li>While falling reads are hitting everyone, having all my pies in one oven means I can’t tell if my oven’s broken</li><li>The follower count has plateaued and while followers don’t determine reads — we all know the algorithm is broken — it’s still kind of a marker, I just don’t know what it marks. I want to think it’s a seasonal thing and everyone’s in bed recovering from turkey, but it’s more likely my usual haunts need to be left fallow for a while and new lands need ploughing</li></ul><p id="9658">So how do I do this without

Options

losing control?</p><p id="ea01"><b>That is my question to you!</b></p><ul><li>Tell me where you publish</li><li>How do you stop editors changing your work?</li><li>Do you actually get more eyes on your work?</li><li>Is it all about being able to write “<i>words in mega-pub</i>” in your bio?</li><li>Does size matter?</li></ul><p id="33d7">AnInjusticemag asked if they could host <a href="https://aninjusticemag.com/hello-i-tick-your-diversity-box-2d3b509121bd">one of my articles</a>. I said yes, so long as they accept the article without changing a word. They’re lovely and they agreed — maybe I really am a world-class editor!</p><p id="fbb4">More likely I need to see a psychiatrist about my control issues… but that aside, let me know how publishing in publications is working out for you.</p><p id="7a2d"><a href="https://pireelua.medium.com/subscribe">Get my stories in your inbox!</a> <b>or</b> <a href="https://pireelua.medium.com/membership">Join Medium and write your own!</a></p><div id="8726" class="link-block"> <a href="https://pireelua.medium.com/membership"> <div> <div> <h2>Join Medium with my referral link — Piree Lua</h2> <div><h3>As a Medium member, a portion of your membership fee goes to writers you read, and you get full access to every story…</h3></div> <div><p>pireelua.medium.com</p></div> </div> <div> <div style="background-image: url(https://miro.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:320/0*qPjAkjT6Mxg2vfz_)"></div> </div> </div> </a> </div><p id="9e3a">If you like my work and want to support it, you can <a href="https://www.buymeacoffee.com/pireelua">buy me a cup of coffee!</a></p></article></body>

If it wasn’t for those pesky falling reads…

I arrived on Medium just as some of the big publications were shutting their doors and everyone was saying the new Medium is all about self-publishing.

I’m not sure if that’s true but I’ve been self-publishing everything so far and it’s been good having complete control over my work.

It’s all been going into The Pirella — a publication I started to keep things orderly and it’s even got followers!!

An unexpected benefit is that by putting everything into my own publication, I get better stats. Now I can see how much time people spend reading my stories… 3994 minutes since conception of the publication on 2nd November to right now on 28th Nov!

You beautiful people! I’m so happy to be your hobby! lol

There are pros and cons though.

The pros let me indulge as much as I want:

I amend my stories ALL the time after publication. I change titles, I change entire paragraphs, I mince and monce at my stories constantly because I’m too impatient to do what real writers do — wait a day between writing and submitting

I can keep my British spelling, colloquialisms, shites and all the other little things that make my writing voice sound like me

I can pretend I’m a world-class editor with no need of external critique

I can add whatever affiliate sleaze I want

I can send snippy emails to Medium support when they select something for distribution and it does worse than me after a night out on Pernod & Black — it would be rude to that from someone else’s publication!

If I had a fluffy white cat on my knee (no offense tabbies), I could rule the world.

The cons make me wonder if I’ve hit a ceiling

The Medium Elite seem to still publish in publications only — is that a habit from the past, or because they’ve built up a solid reader network or because publications are still the bees knees?

While falling reads are hitting everyone, having all my pies in one oven means I can’t tell if my oven’s broken

The follower count has plateaued and while followers don’t determine reads — we all know the algorithm is broken — it’s still kind of a marker, I just don’t know what it marks. I want to think it’s a seasonal thing and everyone’s in bed recovering from turkey, but it’s more likely my usual haunts need to be left fallow for a while and new lands need ploughing

So how do I do this without losing control?

That is my question to you!

Tell me where you publish

How do you stop editors changing your work?

Do you actually get more eyes on your work?

Is it all about being able to write “words in mega-pub” in your bio?

Does size matter?

AnInjusticemag asked if they could host one of my articles. I said yes, so long as they accept the article without changing a word. They’re lovely and they agreed — maybe I really am a world-class editor!

More likely I need to see a psychiatrist about my control issues… but that aside, let me know how publishing in publications is working out for you.

If you like my work and want to support it, you can buy me a cup of coffee!