Here’s Why I Started to Write for NewsBreak Again in 2024
Reaching out to a broad audience in a well-managed and caring platform is an attractive value for writers.
On November 4, 2023, I published an original piece close to my heart on Medium, drawing upon my research and extensive experience. While I aimed for it to receive a boost, given its adherence to boost guidelines, it was not boosted, and its traction took an unexpected turn and made me make a new strategic decision that I want to share candidly in this post.
A mentor of mine, 78 years old, still working in the US, chanced upon this impactful article via LinkedIn on New Year’s Eve and lauded its potency for the aging male suffering from erectile dysfunction, giving hope to those living with this awful condition.
Despite sharing this impactful story across my social platforms, it reached only approximately a thousand readers on Medium, prompting my mentor to suggest posting it on NewsBreak as his content gained over 100 million views in the last three years. He does not write on Medium, as his best stories gained only around 50 views, and he stopped writing in 2021.
I told him in 2022 and 2023, I solely focused on writing on Medium. I hadn’t contributed to NewsBreak for over a year. However, acknowledging the potential impact, especially in aiding men dealing with erectile dysfunction, he urged me to share the story on the platform.
With a little hesitation due to past problems in 2022, I submitted the story, especially removing words like “sex” and replacing it with “intimacy.”
Astonishingly, it was swiftly published and garnered significant attention, amassing 337,000 views and 48,000 reads and being shared by 1162 discerning readers unacquainted with me, marking a notable success beyond my initial expectations.
If Viagra or Cialis Don’t Work, Here’s Another Option to Solve Erection Problems for Older Men [NewsBreak Version]
If Viagra and Cialis Don’t Work, Here’s Another Option to Solve Erection Problems for Men [Medium Version]
To acquaint my new audience, I currently have only around 3,000 followers on NewsBreak, while on Medium, my following stands at 88,000. Furthermore, the publication where this story was initially featured, ILLUMINATION, boasts a following of 76,800+ readers.
Insights into Ongoing Distribution Issues
Up until August 2023, my stories consistently garnered substantial views on Medium. For instance, boosted stories typically achieved around 20,000 views.
However, there has been a noticeable decline since August, with very few stories reaching 150 views and even boosted stories struggling to surpass 1,000 views, not reads.
In 2023, out of the 365 stories I posted, only 5% gained visibility. I explained the reasons and my strategic approach in a story titled My Top 20 Best Performing Stories (5%) in 2023 with Reasons. 95% of stories gained under 200 views. I’ll pen a story shedding light on this, sharing instances of impactful stories receiving minimal views, which can be truly disheartening.
While a glitch in the mailing system likely contributed to this issue, I appreciated the partial fix from the support team. However, the distribution of stories remains problematic. Currently, my stories primarily receive views through direct links via my platforms and social media channels. Almost nothing comes from Medium’s distribution system.
I brought this up with the support team, but it’s been over a month without any response. Moreover, the platform encountered severe issues when hackers cloned my account, causing distress among my loyal readers.
Spam is a big problem on topic pages. For example, Mike Broadly, DHSc checked some topics and identified significant spam issues.
I also wrote a story about why I preferred to send my story to NewsBreak instead of my favorite platform, Medium.
The decline in stats since August seems to be a broader issue, as I have reviewed 30+ publications to which I have editorial access and haven’t encountered any viral stories in 2023.
This contrasts with my observations in 2021, when I identified and analyzed over 100 viral stories, offering guidance to writers based on that analysis in 2022 as a New Year’s gift for the writing community.
My publications had several viral stories in 2022 but none in 2023.
My Honest Perspectives About Medium and NewsBreak from a Distribution Point of View
Since 2019, I have been writing, editing, curating, and publishing on Medium, and it has been an incredible platform for me. It has felt like home, where I have dedicated considerable time to building an audience and aiding thousands of writers in finding their voices through my publications.
Over the past four years, nearly 26,000 writers have contributed to my publications, and I’ve seen substantial audience growth by publishing over a million stories contributed to my publications.
However, starting in August 2023, I’ve been disappointed to see my content and the content of many writers I mentor no longer reach our broad audience as they once did.
I began writing on NewsBreak in 2020 with a lucrative contract, and it initially seemed like a fantastic platform in terms of virality and income. However, there was an issue with disturbing comments from certain readers, which I learned to handle by ignoring them.
Unfortunately, NewsBreak changed the contract and implemented new measures due to the platform being misused by some writers. While the rules made sense, their implementation didn’t work smoothly.
For instance, I received four strikes unfairly from their AI system, which couldn’t understand the value of my content and labeled it as harmful content.
On a positive note, when I appealed, human editors promptly removed all the strikes, which delighted me, as shown in the attached screen capture.
However, in 2022, I observed that stories I shared on NewsBreak received significantly fewer views than those on Medium. As a result, I directed my efforts towards writing on Medium and supporting writers within my publications in addition to my full-time consultancy job. So, I put NewsBreak on the back burner.
However, by November 2022, the statistics notably declined on Medium, prompting me to write a story about this issue. Although the initial six months of 2023 were promising, with several boosted stories, my stats and those of my publications' contributors hit rock bottom in August 2023. Despite a triple increase in my audience with the addition of well-crafted and high-impact 365 stories, I experienced an 80% decrease in views.
Thanks to the guidance of my mentor, I resumed posting on NewsBreak as of 1 January 2024 and noticed substantial improvements in their processes.
I posted around 20 articles that didn’t gain much traction on Medium recently, and they started trending on NewsBreak in a week.
When I checked my stats, my new stories gained 4 million impressions, 282K views, and 5,783 likes. Views on NewsBreak equate to reads of Medium. Unlike Medium, views on NewsBreak bring income to writers.
So, the problem of visibility of my stories on Medium does not seem to be related to quality, as NewsBreak only distributes quality stories to keep their readers happy, as Medium does.
Moreover, the strike issues on NewsBreak have vanished, and the support team now mirrors the efficiency of Medium’s team, responding promptly to inquiries and aiding in my success. For example, yesterday, there was a minor editorial issue, and the support team resolved it amicably and with kindness in less than 24 hours, increasing my trust and confidence in NewsBreak.
Witnessing this warm human touch on NewsBreak has shifted my perspective, and I now view it as my new writing home.
Two days ago, I published an article on Medium, posting it to ILLUMINATION-Curated, which is a boosting nominating publication, as this story holds significant personal value to me, hoping it would gain traction or possibly be boosted.
As a Scientist / Former Prediabetic, I Optimistically Believe Type II Diabetes Is Preventable and Reversible [Medium Version]
While financial gain isn’t my primary focus, my intent is to impact the world, particularly the 442 million people affected by diabetes. Moreover, the story was shared by 210 readers, indicating the potential for it to become viral in the near future.
Opinion: As a Scientist/Former Prediabetic, I Optimistically Believe Type II Diabetes Is Reversible [NewsBreak Version]
I’d like to candidly and briefly share my thoughts with you, as trust and integrity are my core values.
My Writing, Publishing, and Content Marketing Plans
As I have previously mentioned, Medium remains a fantastic platform to which I have dedicated considerable time. I am immensely grateful for the audience I have built and the incredible connections I have made here.
Personally, I don’t plan on leaving Medium, nor do I advise others to do so, considering the array of intangible benefits it offers writers.
Additionally, I strongly advocate for the new Friends of Medium initiative and encourage all our readers to support this outstanding program, which empowers our writers.
Similar to Medium, as an avid reader, I also appreciate exploring curated content on NewsBreak, which is accessible to all Internet users. You can download the free app and read stories without limitations and without needing a friend link. It is a great platform to access diverse content from journalists and creators freely.
Given the current distribution challenges where my and my proteges’ content struggles to reach our audience on Medium, I have decided to adjust my approach. Until these distribution issues are resolved, I will dedicate less time to posting high-impact content on Medium.
Instead, I will focus on sharing my premium content on NewsBreak, which appears to offer better visibility for my work to a much larger audience, as evidenced within a week.
While I will dearly continue to support my subscribers and followers with valuable content on Medium, I won’t exclusively rely on it as my primary publishing platform until these distribution issues are addressed.
I know that Medium has implemented substantial changes and introduced great initiatives like the Boost program, which I genuinely appreciate, endorse, and support as a publisher and boost nominator.
I understand that changes can have their impact and initial challenges. That’s why I’ll maintain patience until the end of 2024 and continue supporting Medium, as I have been doing for a long time.
However, if the distribution issues persist without resolution, I plan to offer my content to my audience on Substack through an accessible subscription model anyone can afford and benefit from.
I will also migrate and transfer my personal publication, EUPHORIA, including over 2000 well-researched health and well-being stories, to my own website for free as the old stories, including boosted ones, hardly get any views on Medium.
Additionally, I’ll consider shifting the curated content of my publications to Substack and/or my business website, following a subscription revenue share model to better support creative and influential writers and delight a broader audience. I am pleased that my publications now have 100K+ subscribers across multiple platforms, including Substack, Convertkit, and WordPress.
I firmly believe that honesty and transparency form the cornerstone of strong relationships and mutual success.
As I referred Medium to my audience when the referral system was available and brought many subscribers to the platform, now, I want to refer to NewsBreak in the same using my network.
Those interested in contributing to NewsBreak are welcome to join through my referral link, and I will be happy to mentor you to succeed on Newsbreak, which is an exciting platform now, as I do on Medium.
Additionally, you can freely share story links from both Medium and NewsBreak within my Slack workspace with 20,000+ members and tailored social media platforms with over 100,000 followers. Your contributions and insights are greatly valued.
Conclusions
Ultimately, writers invest their passion and effort into crafting stories to captivate and engage readers. However, if an algorithm fails to distribute these stories to their deserving audience, it questions the purpose of dedicating precious time and effort to a platform.
Having said that, Here’s an Example of What a Good Story on Medium Can Do for Writers.
Let me clarify my standpoint:
I have no reservations about Medium beyond the distribution issue. I greatly admire the platform’s innovations and supportive environment, and I wholeheartedly recommend it to new writers and readers and will continue promoting the Friends of Medium subscription which brings hope to the platform.
There appear to be some distribution issues. I have been observing them for a long time but here is what Mike Broadly, DHSc found and documented properly.
Here is a sample of how the latest stories on the writing show. As you may know, topics are followed by millions of internal and external readers. So spam accounts are like wild horses on the platform. I did not see this on NewsBreak or other platforms. I love the diversity and inclusion of Medium, but unfortunately, these accounts abuse this wonderful platform.
If you are a writer for Medium or NewsBreak, I’d love to obtain your feedback.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
To inform my new readers, I wrote numerous articles that might inform and inspire you. My topics include brain and cognitive function, significant health conditions, longevity, nutrition/food, valuable nutrients, ketogenic lifestyle, self-healing, weight management, writing/reading, and humor.
I publish my health and wellness stories on EUPHORIA. My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness. 100+ Insightful Life Lessons from My Circles for the Last 50+ Years
If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 26K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. I also have another profile to write and curate tech stories.
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