Yes, this is a shameless plea to promote my stories
Author’s Image
I have no shame. I don’t care. I merely want to get more eyes on my stories. That’s why I created a newsletter outside of the Medium platform to let my subscribers know I have published stories.
I know Medium has an Email subscribers option, but in my experience, it does not work well. First, every time someone publishes a story, an email is sent. If a writer publishes multiple times during the day, multiple emails are sent out, clogging up subscribers’ inboxes. Second, this function does not work. Many times, subscribers were deleted for no reason at all.
When I created my newsletter, Steve Sovie’s World, I intended to send it once a week, on Sunday. It includes links to the stories I wrote the previous week, plus an occasional message or photo I have chosen to share with my readers. Instead of receiving multiple emails throughout the week, you only get one!
I don’t sell courses or products, and I don’t try to entice you to view a YouTube video or click on mysterious links. However, there is a donation button at the end of the newsletter if you want to chip in a few cents to help put me in a higher tax bracket.
I’ve sent out six newsletters thus far. I don’t know how effective they have been. Either they go into your spam mailbox, or the recipient simply deletes them. Some, but not many, are opened, as my statistics have revealed. The good news is that no one has unsubscribed.
What puzzles me is that people continue to subscribe to my stories by using the Medium subscribe icon instead of my signup link in my rather large image at the end of every story.
I apologize for shamelessly trying to promote my articles, but sometimes, we older people act without shame. I worked hard on creating my newsletter, and it may not be comparable to a professionally designed newsletter. But it is 100% me.
If any of you have any suggestions for improvement, or if you have any complaints, please let me know. At least click on the link to see what it looks like, you don’t have to subscribe.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed reading this article and wish to subscribe to my newsletter, click below.
We have all seen this or similar prompts in the Medium stories we read and on other sites we visit. But how many of us actually click on the prompt?
If you’re like me, you ignore it. With the numerous phishing scams exploding on the internet, we all have to be highly vigilant. Unless we know exactly what clicking on a link will lead us to, we should ignore it.
Many writers here on Medium have a website, blog, newsletter, or Substack account we are hoping to promote, and we place a link at the bottom of our article, urging the reader to click to subscribe. You will see my subscription link below this article.
Most readers don’t click on these links because they are unsure where the link will take them or don’t want to receive any more emails in their inbox.
Promoting a blog or newsletter can be a real challenge, but using a promotion link on our stories is one of the best ways to get the word out. I’ve recently started my own newsletter and am now using the promotion link. It’s not easy to get readers to click on my link. I know others share the same feeling.
My advice to anyone planning to use a link to promote their website or newsletter is to explain clearly where the link will lead. If you plan to sell a product, be honest with your readers and tell them. Explain this to your reader if you promote an informative newsletter or personal blog.
If I see a prompt link that is confusing, either with a picture or slogan that does not relate to the article I have just read, I will ignore it. I do not want to risk my computer being infected with malware or other viruses that could be disastrous.
Thank you for reading. Please support and subscribe to the writers you like, but be careful.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed reading this article and wish to subscribe to my newsletter, click below.
I often get ideas about what to write in the middle of the night. Sometimes I remember the ideas, and sometimes I don’t. Last night, I woke up at 4 AM to pee, which is not unusual for an old guy like me with BPH. What was remarkable was that instead of an idea popping into my head regarding an idea to write about, I was thinking, why do I even write on Medium if no one pays attention to my stories?
I don’t know why I suddenly started feeling down about what I was doing. Perhaps it’s because I have spent a good deal of time in the past couple of weeks creating a newsletter. Like many on this platform, my readership and earnings have declined dramatically. Last year, at this time, I had about 200 reads daily; today, I am lucky to get 10.I attributed this to the inability of the Medium membership, especially my followers, to find what I publish. I thought using a newsletter would help my readers find my stories.
Creating the newsletter was quite tiresome, as I knew little about web design and the technology used to develop and maintain a newsletter. However, I was quite proud of myself for completing this project. But then, after sending my first newsletter to my Medium subscribers, I began to have second thoughts.
Would my present subscribers unsubscribe once they receive the email with my newsletter? Would they delete it without reading it? Would it end up in the spam folder? Did I waste a lot of time for nothing? I’m not sure.
Soon after sending the first newsletter, I received a strange, if not rude, comment on one of my stories. The commenter basically told me that my stats were low because my work wasn’t very good, and I could improve my reads by following him and reading his stories. I didn’t know how to react. Before I deleted him, I checked his profile.
He joined Medium this month and had a few hundred followers and maybe ten articles published. What was striking was that each of his stories, which could have been better, had over 1.5K claps.
I began to think of all those articles I had read that had accumulated hundreds of claps within the first couple of hours of publication. Many stories I have found as fascinating as dryer lint have also had over a thousand claps. The writers often have fewer followers than me, which causes me to wonder about my followers. I know I shouldn’t compare myself to other writers, but I am human and can’t help but question what is wrong with me.
I used to follow and subscribe to many people, but I no longer do. One in particular is a very prolific writer, publishing several times daily. I tried to read as many of his stories as I could but soon lost interest. He seemed to always talk about himself in a braggadocios manner, but somehow his stories lacked feeling. He was more of a publishing machine than a writer sharing himself.
A few writers I enjoyed reading and getting to know disappeared after continued disappointing results on this platform. One writer I used to read faithfully and commensurate with is now rarely seen. She used to be a faithful follower and reader. Others I came to know have left for reasons unknown.
I publish in only a few publications I like and feel comfortable with, and I self-publish my political articles. I have writers I follow and subscribe to, and I make it a point to read most, if not all, of their articles. I won’t mention their names because I don’t want to drop names to get a few views. But they know who they are.
They may not always write masterpieces, but what they write from the heart about themselves and what they do. Reading their stories is like having a beer or cup of coffee and shooting the shit with a friend. I’ve gotten to know them and let them get to know me. I consider them to be friends. This is what I would miss if I ever left Medium.
I have done everything I can, within the limits of my ability as what others would call a writer. When talking with friends, neighbors, or family members, I cannot bring myself to say, “I am a writer.” But I cannot find a way to make my work interesting enough for people to read. I thought creating a newsletter would help, but it’s probably just another misadventure, like my futile attempts at writing blogs on WordPress and Blogger. Maybe someday I’ll learn.
I’ll continue sending my newsletter until my free plan runs out. Who knows, maybe things will pick up. Being an opinionated old fart, I probably won’t be able to swallow my pride and throw in the towel. So, I’ll stick around and rethink what I am doing on Medium. Thank you for allowing me to vent and wallow in self-pity for a while.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed reading this article and wish to subscribe to my newsletter, click below.
