I Unsubscribed from Several of My Favorite Authors
Are you among them? Here’s who’s likely to get cut and why.
I’ve done it several times now.
Like many of you, I got tired of trying to navigate my follower feed. Because I’d been such an enthusiastic follower from early on, I follow thousands of writers. The obvious consequence is seeing hundreds of new stories every day. What’s a reader to do?
After a while, I made it a point to subscribe to my favorite authors to ensure their words wouldn’t be swallowed up in the maelstrom.
If you want support for why this is a good approach, read Roz Warren, Writing Coach’s recent piece about subscribing.
Here’s where I take a slightly different approach to Roz. I discovered that subscribing to my favorite authors has downsides I didn’t initially appreciate:
- The best authors have experience, which comes from writing. Some of them write — a lot.
- Subscribees’ works already fill my Inbox and reading them fills my days. I no longer have the same joy at the serendipitous discoveries of new writers that made Medium so fun.
- I like to comment on stories I enjoy. In reading a lot, I comment a lot, and becoming a comment machine generated its own woes.
I may genuinely love your work, but if you publish two articles every day, you are overwhelming me.
My solution, admittedly imperfect, has been to unsubscribe from the most prolific of my favorite authors.
Am I Overwhelming You?
I started two publications myself, and I’ve got a third in the wings. In each of the two active ones (A Little Stoic Wisdom and Career Paths), I publish two articles a week.
Yikes, I’m already up to four articles a week, not counting the spontaneous stories that bubble up out of me every time I face the screen. This week I published five articles in 24 hours, a coincidence that several articles got accepted at the same time.
Is it too much for some of you?
Please let me know. I’d rather adjust my publishing schedule than put you off as a reader.
How Do You Deal With Medium Overload?
I see people get Medium burnout and quit. Others focus on just their own work, writing but not engaging with the community.
Yet others seem to manage the dynamic nicely. How do they do it?
Roz’s approach is to subscribe widely and just ignore the notifications of stories that don’t interest her.
How do you do it? Please share what you’ve learned and what you do.
Be well.
I will get the rhythm of publishing just right, I promise. When I do, you won’t want to miss a single story.