What No One Tells You About NewsBreak

I wish someone had told me about these things before I joined

I’ve been writing on NewsBreak since October. I recently got monetized with them.

I joined NewsBreak with many unanswered questions. If someone had told me what I’m going to share today, it would have made things easier. And based on some stories I’ve read on Medium, many other writers here are as clueless as I was.

I will share some practical things about NewsBreak few people talk about. I hope this information will help you!

You Don’t Need to Live in the United States to Join NewsBreak, But You Need a U.S. Phone Number

I wish someone had told me if non-U.S. residents can join NewsBreak or not. I didn’t find a clear answer. So, I decided to see for myself. I applied for the contributor program.

I found out that you need a U.S. phone number to join the contributor program. But you don’t have to live in the United States. I don’t live in the U.S., and I got approved.

But you do need a U.S. phone number to create an account. NewsBreak sends an SMS verification code to the number.

Yeah, I was about to give up on this step. But I’m glad I didn’t!

I registered for Open Phone to get a U.S. number. They have a 7-day free trial. So, you can get the free trial and use the phone number to receive the verification number. Then, cancel your plan before your free trial ends.

You don’t need to download an app on your phone. You can use Open Phone on your computer.

They Don’t Send You an E-Mail When They Publish Your Articles

Medium and Vocal Media send you an e-mail when they publish your post. When I published my first article on NewsBreak, I was expecting NewsBreak to send me an e-mail as well.

I waited and waited. I never received an e-mail. I logged into my account and noticed my article had gotten approved days before. NewsBreak just never sent a notification about it.

You Need 100 Registered Followers and 10 Published Articles to Get Monetized

Publishing ten articles is easy, but getting 100 registered followers is not that easy. Most of the followers you get on NewsBreak are not registered.

It took me more than a month to get 100 registered followers. I got 100 followers on Medium in less than two weeks, so it took a lot longer on NewsBreak.

I published a couple of extra articles. I had 12 published articles and 84 registered followers. Then I got a sudden boost of followers in one day. I logged in to my account to find I suddenly had 165 registered followers.

The Impressions and Views on NewsBreak Are Not the Same as Views and Reads on Medium

There is lots of misinformation about what the impressions and views on NewsBreak mean. Some people claim they are the same as the views and reads on Medium.

They’re not. On Medium, views are the number of times someone clicked on your article. Reads mean the number of people who read your whole story.

The impressions on NewsBreak mean how many times your article got displayed on the feed. That number also includes the people who didn’t click on the article. The views refer to how many people clicked on your post.

NewsBreak Doesn’t Like Clickbait Titles

NewsBreak hates clickbait headlines. Their definition of clickbait is broad. For example, “how-to” articles and listicles get classified as clickbait titles.

NewsBreak flags your article if they don’t like the title. They flagged my article “Why is a unicorn called a unicorn?”. I changed the title to “The origin of the name ´unicorn´”.

My title “People across history claim they have seen unicorns -Are these unicorn sightings real or fake?” got flagged too. I changed it into “People across history claim they have seen unicorns — Are the unicorn sightings real or fake?”. So, the headline passed when I changed the word “these” into “the”.

You Don’t Have to Publish News (or Local Content)

News and local content are not the only kinds of articles you can publish on NewsBreak.

I wrote two local articles, and they have the fewest views out of my NewsBreak articles. That doesn’t exactly motivate me to write more local content.

That my articles about unicorns have been so popular on Newsbreak surprised me. Newsbreak is the only site where my unicorn posts have gained many views and comments. I’m thrilled that I’ve finally found an audience for them.

I repurposed my old articles on NewsBreak first. Now I write exclusive content for NewsBreak as well. Stories that do well on Medium gain few views on NewsBreak. My articles about autism have gotten little attention there. My unicorn posts have done much better.

Like on all platforms, some of your articles on NewsBreak will flop, and your “bestseller” articles will gain you most of your views. But the earning potential on NewsBreak is much higher than on Medium.

So much higher, that I’m more motivated to write for NewsBreak now than for Medium. I won’t quit Medium, but I won’t post here as much as before. I will put more of my eggs in my NewsBreak basket. I would be crazy not to!

Do you write for NewsBreak? What is your experience with it? Please share your thoughts in the comments!