Should I Self-Publish?
Pros, Cons and a Curveball for bypassing Publications and self-publishing on Medium
Considering the pros and cons of self-publishing on Medium just got much more exciting, thanks to the October 2020 desktop interface update. If you’re a writer of micro fiction or poetry you know what I mean…
The October 2020 desktop made two serious changes to the personal homepages of Medium Partner Program participants.
- “Infinite scroll” meaning that a writer’s work is displayed one right after the next on our homepages
- Personal URLs; which are not located behind the paywall
The two changes raised alarm bells for writers, especially producers of works that are less than 200 words, who feared that the interface was now giving away their words for free.
Medium has since clarified that the upgrade is programmed to track the “lingering” of members on parts of a home page as reads, even when they don’t click “read more.”
On the other hand, if a user is not logged into Medium and is not a paying member, they have access to home pages without interference of a paywall.
Pros and Cons of Publications
For those readers who are certain that “infinite scroll” and free previews are not in their best interest, there is a simple solution.
Publications.
When you publish your work with a publication, even a personal one, the story lives first and foremost on that publication’s wall. The share link you generate when promoting the post is to the publication, even though the story does still display on your own homepage as well.
Unlike personal profiles, Publications still have the option to opt out of the new interface and most (in my Medium Ecosystem at least…) still are. Therefore, for the time being, a writer who wants to prevent infinite scroll and free previews can create a personal publication and publish their work there, rather than on their home page, at least for a little while longer.
Pros
In the Suggestion Box, we talk a lot about how important good relationships with publications are in moving up the Medium food chain, from ecosystem to ecosystem, all the more so following the October 2020 upgrades.
Plain and Simple: If your reach is limited but the publication’s reach is broad, you extend your reach when your work is featured by a high traffic publication.
Cons
Self-published stories live ownerless on Medium. As a result, they are suggested by tag in the “More from Medium” footer when it displays, and I have a hunch (just a hunch!) that they are reviewed for curation (still happens, we’re just not told the categories) more expediently than those stories that are not granted immediate curation by publications (large ones can do this).
There are reasons to believe that some good stories can gain traction faster when they are self-published than when they are published on small pubs or pubs with disengaged readerships.
It is important that writers understand that Medium made these changes because they believe that they represent system upgrades that will improve the user experience of the platform over time. Indeed, though we may have panicked (prematurely…) about our compensation being impacted if readers don’t have to click into our stories, we have to acknowledge that Medium removing all barriers that stand between our readers and their desire to read more of our work is a good thing. Likewise, just as the music industry found with radio, often the very best way to gain new readers, users or followers is to give them a taste of our work for free.
A Curveball
My genre on Medium is personal essay, which means that my holy grail publication is Human Parts.
Human Parts has 255,000 followers.
It’s tagline is a “publication about humanity.”
It’s editors work with writers to improve their work prior to publication.
But most of all, unlike the Ascent, GEN, or Curious, great Medium publications, Human Parts welcomes embraces the genre that is personal essay. They welcome nuance. Their submission guidelines (back whey they had submission guidelines…) didn’t ask writers to do things like clearly list actionable take aways for their readers. Human Parts welcomes literature, and that’s what I’m really here to write.
In 2020, Human Parts shifted their editorial focus to center minority voices; a move that I celebrate. As a privileged white woman, albeit an expat, they haven’t been looking for me, and that’s okay. However, in 2019, before this pivot, Human Parts replaced their submission guidelines with a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” notice, and since the Oct 2020 upgrades, even that is now gone.
But, Human Parts is still putting out new work, and it’s no longer focused only on things like race and culture. No doubt hundreds of historic Medium writers still have the ability to directly submit to Human Parts, thereby sourcing some of the publication’s featured stories. I’m just not one of those lucky ducks.
Beyond those lucky few, Human Parts is doing what they promised in the submission guidelines that came down a few days ago (apologies that I don’t have it here to quote for you…). They are scouring Medium for great well-written, compelling personal essays, reaching out to those writers and inviting them to publish with Human Parts. In the last few weeks, I’ve messaged with a handful of writers like these who confirm that this has been their experience.
The Holy Grail for Personal Essays
While generally the best way for a writer with less than 1,000 followers to expand their reach is to publish with an active publication that has greater than 1,000 followers, the holy grail of Human Parts changes the calculation for personal essayists like me.
Whereas most personal essays that I self publish simple get pushed out to my followers and perhaps chosen for distribution, there is always a chance that a lucky, truly excellent essay could be picked-up and distributed by Human Parts.
