What to Expect if You Write on Simily

Know the facts and debunk the myths about this new writing platform

Simily, the new kid on the block, has been a popular topic on Medium lately.

No surprises there.

Writers want to know about this new writing platform and how it works.

Most Simily articles I have read on Medium, and I have read quite a few, have been as informative as possible.

However, there have been a few contradictory pieces of information floating around about Simily.

Most are about Simily’s payment and membership models.

I recently read one article by a popular Medium writer that got a lot of attention and comments. Most of these comments were from potential writers wanting to stay away from Simily after reading the information.

Unfortunately, the information in that article wasn’t totally correct. This is no reflection on the writer, mind you. They wrote in good faith after doing their own research.

The problem is, it is difficult to find substantial amounts of authentic information about Simily on the site itself. The website has some basic information if one does read through patiently. But, nothing compared to the details available on Medium or Vocal Media.

This has led to conjectures often not conducive to the growth of Simily.

Who am I to write about Simily?

• I am a paid writer on Simily since Jan 31st 2022
• I have two published stories on Simily ( I know, but there will be more, trust me)
• I currently have 35 followers on Simily from those two stories.
• I am a member of 6 of the 114 writer groups on Simily.
• I interact in those groups, especially in the Simily Discussions group.
• I have been invited (like many other Simily writers) to a Zoom chat with the founders of Simily to discuss the platform.
• I really want Simily to grow and have more writers like you to join the platform.

That felt like a brag list and I apologise. Trust me it wasn’t at all. Just an effort to establish credibility.

How Simily works- a quick overview for writers

• Sign up to Simily with an email address
• Choose your membership from the model below

• Set up your profile
• Start to write
• Join a few groups, interact and grow your audience.

How Simily pays its writers

• Currently, Simily pays 0.2 US cents for each 5 second plus view a piece gets

Here’s some more details for you 👇🏼

The two biggest Simily Myths that need dispelling

Myth 1- Simily does not pay for external views

Yes, Simily pays for external views. BUT that view has to be at least 5 seconds long. Here is a screenshot of a discussion of this topic in the group Simily Discussions.

As you can see, Allegra O Neill one of the founders of Simily, has clearly stated that external views count towards pay. So, if you have loyal social media followers, they can come and read your story without being a Simily member.

Disclaimer: Simily only allows 4 free stories to be read by non-members per month. In my opinion, this feature is unhelpful for the platform and readers alike at such an early stage of growth for Simily. We want lots of readers on the platform who will read for free initially and get hooked on.

So, we want readers to be allowed to read as much as they like without having to sign up to Simily.

As a writer, I want to build up a loyal reader base that would be willing to subscribe to Simily to read my work and that of other authors.

This will be a point I will certainly bring up with the Simily founders on my Zoom chat.

Myth 2

If a paid member reverts back to being a non-paying member, all their stories are deleted from the platform!

No, this is incorrect. Simily will not penalise you for not remaining a paid member. I have not found anything written on Simily anywhere that states this. Maybe there was in the past, but they have certainly removed it.

This was brought up in the Simily Discussions group. Here is what Allegra O Neill had to say about this harmful myth:

Discalimer: I am working on the ‘high trust model’ here and taking the word of A Simily founder. If the founders choose to not honour their claim, that is their bad.

If that does happen, I will simply republish my stories elsewhere. I always keep my own drafts. I also build up relationships with my readers through social media so I can direct them to any platform I am on.

If writers want 100% security and certainty of having a platform over which they have full control, then, a personal website /blog is the only option. But we all know how painful it is to try and build up any Domain Authority on a personal website. Not impossible, but painfully slow, especially if one writes fiction.

Why am I on Simily?

I am on Simily to find a home for my Fiction pieces. I do not intend to repurpose my Medium non-fiction pieces on Simily. My goal is to build up a reader base for my stories and eventually to publish novellas and novels in instalments. A bit like Kindle Vella but less fancy.

I joined Simily as a free member, read a lot on the platform, joined groups, interacted and then decided to become a paid member after almost a month.

If you want to check Simily out, come join me there.

Start as a free member. Make some connections.

Join the groups on Simily as per your interests and also the Simily Authors Unite Facebook group if keen.

At the end of the day, Simily is new, it has growing pains. It shows error messages, goes down for hours at times and can be very slow to load. These are not favourable and have caused much rightful resentment. I am sure the founders are listening and working on fixing these. I sincerely hope they are.

If Simily works out and gains traction, all writers on the platform will benefit from it. At this point, Simily needs some TLC from us.

Let’s show it some kindness.

What do you think? Want to give Simily a try?

Let me know what your thoughts and observations are in the comments.

If you have any questions, I will try my best to answer them.

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Also, if you are looking for well researched, in depth information on Simily, here is an article by my fellow writer Glenn Stok that I highly recommend.