Writing|Fiction Platforms
Licking the Flagpole
Go ahead, you know you want to.
You know how the nagging feeling of discontentment and dissatisfaction urges you to do things you don’t normally do?
Or you see your friends doing something out of the norm, outside your comfort zone, or things you haven’t tried and you feel compelled to join them?
I stepped out and tested Kindle Vella a couple of months ago (flagpole #2 with Medium being #1.) I did not publish much to it — only four stories, in fact. It was so difficult to find a specific author (even knowing they were publishing there!) that I wondered how I would ever be found.
I chalked them up as a stepping stone. A lesson learned.
Then I read about KathyK venturing into the unknown and trying her stories on Substack along with Zane Dickens (aka The Instigator.)
I like the organization of Substack as I have a tab where Gone Rogue publishes to, a tab for The Infinity Library Collection (a collection of mini fiction series and stand alone short fiction) and when I find time — Gluten-Free Never Tasted So Good. (As of this article, it only houses the best Banana Bread recipe. Ever. Husband says gluten-free tastes better than with regular flour!)
You ask what are my thoughts about Substack (flagpole #3)? It has potential for really good payout. As with anything, it is pretty hard to grow that audience. Currently all of my stories are free while I wait impatiently and work on this.
Some have been spreading their wings to Patreon. I looked at this but since you can’t actually look at all the tiers someone has set up for an example to see if it’s a good fit for you, I didn’t pursue this one.
Then Bradan Writes Stories shared about his Road to Success on Tapas.io along with a little info about it. I found this intriguing and took the bait (flagpole #4.)
While my numbers were plummeting on Medium for November and December, I found it very easy to gain reads on Tapas.
Granted most of my subscribers are Illuminati friends from Medium, you can pick up more via social media, actively sharing on Tapas for Discord, and other ways of sharing.
Tapas also seems to have great potential for success once you build your subscribing community enough to be paid. (My stories are free here also as I work on gaining subscribers.) I figure, I did it for Medium, it couldn’t hurt to give it a try.
Oh, why would I want to go through the effort, you ask? Substack and Tapas are free to publish to. There is no monthly subscription fee.
Free to publish and I can get paid — eventually? Score!
Maybe in time all of this will pay for my Midjourney addiction and all of the AI art articles I write!
So, what are you waiting for? Go ahead and lick the flagpole — you know you want to.
Find me at Gone Rogue on Tapas or The Infinity Library on Substack!
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