Can't update my About info so I'll put this here....

[BrianFord]

Hello, fellow CINers,

TL;DR Sign up for my newsletter at https://fordsnotes.substack.com

A long time ago, I created a website and posted content that I developed while preparing and delivering classes. When I remembered, I would tell my students about that site. Sometimes, it helped, as the writings were long and had more detailed or better-thought-out answers to questions that came up in class.

In 2023, I started using Convertkit and attempting to publish newsletters. If my students asked to download any of my handouts or notes when they found them on my website, they were added to a mailing list and later received a newsletter. The newsletter featured an 'unsubscribe' statement and button at the bottom of the message, and if they didn't want any more emails, they would unsubscribe. I actually had almost 200 subscribers using that tool.

Last year, I started hearing from the ConvertKit team that the rate they charged me would increase because I had 200 or more subscribers. I was in a dilemma: should I return to my website or explore other options? I consulted many fellow instructors and marketing professionals for their opinions, and the responses were evenly split between Medium and Substack. Ultimately, I decided to sign up for both platforms.

Last year, I finally decided to write regularly and publish at least every other week. If you publish on Medium, you are not supposed to post that content anywhere else or violate their terms. I sometimes publish there, but I post all my writings at Substack. If you take a look and decide to subscribe, you'll receive an email at most once a week. Sometimes, you'll notice that what I publish there relates to a question or answer I contributed here on CIN. My About message on Substack reads like this:

I'm Brian Ford, a cybersecurity, networking, and cloud technical instructor and coach. My newsletter is designed to help readers decide which certification to pursue, achieve that certification, and maintain it through helpful tips.

Regards,

Brian

 

[Rick Butler]

If you publish on Medium, you are not supposed to post that content anywhere else or violate their terms.

I used to write blogs about tech and politics back in the day, but I had no idea that Medium was that exclusive about content. What's the benefit of posting with them to merit that kind of exclusivity?

 

[BrianFord]

I used to write blogs about tech and politics back in the day, but I had no idea that Medium was that exclusive about content. What's the benefit of posting with them to merit that kind of exclusivity?

My assessment is that Medium is seeking to be an electronic content publisher in the same way that many book publishers are. They are looking for original content that doesn't appear elsewhere. As I understand it, if many people read my Medium content, they will compensate me based on the number of readers. I never understood that when I started there, I was just seeking a place on the Internet to publish content quickly.

Before Medium, if I wanted to distribute some content (a file) to my students (future, current, and past), I had to push a file to Box or Dropbox, get a link to the file, and share that link. Then, I started putting links on web pages on my website. Then, I had to maintain that website. So I started looking for an easier way to publish and found Medium, Substack, and Convertkit (now Kit).

Substack and Kit allow me to publish to the web and build a community. That community is all past, current, and former students or people interested in what I'm producing. Kit costs (i.e., they charge me) are based on the number of email addresses enrolled in the community. They have some decent tools, but the actual publishing capability isn't what I need, and it's not cheap. Substack has proven to be a better tool for what I want to do in terms of technical capability (tools) and cost.