Summary

The Writers' Blokke (WB) publication will halt the addition of new writers starting March 1, 2022, due to the increasing difficulty in managing submissions and maintaining the mental health of its editors.

Abstract

The Writers' Blokke publication has experienced significant growth, nearing 14k followers and hosting over 3,000 writers. Despite the presence of many active writers and a consistent influx of daily submissions, the publication's editors, who volunteer their time without financial compensation, are finding it challenging to keep up with the volume of work. With the cessation of Medium's funding for publications and the existing commitments of the editors, WB has decided to stop accepting new writers to prevent the review process from becoming excessively delayed. The founder expresses a commitment to the publication's sustainability but emphasizes the importance of mental health for the team. The decision to close the publication to new writers is a measure to preserve the quality of the editorial process and the well-being of the editors involved.

Opinions

The founder acknowledges the rapid growth of the publication and its community engagement.
There is a concern about the increasing waiting time for submission reviews, which is already between 24 hours and a few days.
The founder is transparent about the challenges of running the publication without financial support from Medium, unlike some other publications.
The mental health of the editors is a significant concern, and the founder prioritizes it over the publication's growth.
The founder is open to the possibility of either passing on ownership or shutting down the publication if the situation does not improve.
The founder apologizes for the inconvenience caused by the decision to stop adding new writers and is uncertain about when this policy might change.
There is an expression of gratitude towards the regular writers and a hope that the publication continues to serve them well.
The founder extends thanks to the editorial team for their dedication and looks forward to celebrating the publication's third anniversary.

The Writers’ Blokke Publication

Writers’ Blokke To Stop Adding New Writers

This may be just a temporary thing or it may be permanent

Dear WB community, this year has been passing us by rather quickly if I do say so myself. In a blink of an eye, we’ll be entering the month of March and just like that, the first two months of the year have come and gone.

This publication has continued to grow from strength to strength and it’s now close to hitting 14k followers!

Aside from that, it is also home for over 3,000 writers!

While there are quite a number of inactive writers, there are still a lot who are active and the number of daily submissions are still around the 50–70 articles mark — which is a lot.

As such, I regret to inform that starting tomorrow, 1st March 2022, the publication will NOT be adding anymore new writers.

The reason for this is because it is starting to get hard keeping up with the submissions on this publication. As most of you may know by now, the editors here are all doing this on their own free time. None of us are being paid extra money to edit here.

While Medium had completely stopped funding publications on the platform since December, WB was never funded in the first place, unlike some publications like PSILY who were given money by Medium to continue running.

All of us have a full-time job to go to, families to look after and spend time with, and it really just leaves us with whatever free time we have to edit on here.

Although I can continue adding writers to the publication, it will only mean that waiting time for submissions to be reviewed and accepted/rejected will keep increasing.

Right now, it’s already between 24 hours to a couple of days. I do not want it to go all the way up to weeks like some bigger publications.

Even now, I have received many complaints by writers who says that waiting a few days for their submissions to be reviewed is too long.

For those of you running your own publication, you will know about the toll it can take on your mental health, and honestly, it’s one of the biggest reasons why publications are shutting down all over.

It’s not something I want any editor to go through.

I have said that I will keep this publication going as long as I can but if it comes at the price of my or my editors’ mental health, then I may have to rethink it. I may either pass on the baton of ownership to someone else or I may have to shut the publication down completely.

If and when the time comes for doing that, I will keep everyone informed.

But for now, the only thing that will happen is that WB would not be accepting anymore new writers.

I do apologize for this. There may come a time where I will open it up again for new writers but with how things are at the moment, it really doesn’t seem likely any time soon.

For those who have been writing regularly, I do hope that the publication has served you well and will continue to do so for as long as it is running.

To my editors, thank you for your hard work and dedication.

This year will mark 3 years of WB being in existence and I would definitely like to see it go on for a while more. For now, I just want everyone to enjoy the ride, regardless of how long more it will be.

Thank you for all the support over the years and let’s see where this goes from here.