I explain why and how writers can benefit from this free opportunity empowered by a non-commercial writing and reading community.
Readers from Medium.com can read this story and here engage there.
I wrote this story very quickly without sending it to editors, as this message is important to freelance writers. A few days ago, I published Chapter 11 of my best-selling Substack Mastery book across multiple platforms to comply with the beta reading phase of o my book. By the way, for aspiring book authors, I created a comprehensive checklist yesterday, which is also available for free on multiple platforms.
The version of Chapter 11 about the importance of blogging I posted on this platform received only a handful of views and only 3 comments — likely because many readers couldn’t find it. I know why and will not dwell on wasting my precious time now because it is a moot point.
However, as good news, other versions of the chapter went viral as the writing community found it eye-opening, original, and valuable, especially due to the empirical evidence I provided. Unfortunately, over 30,000 freelance writers, many of whom contribute solely to this platform, missed this opportunity.
But it is not too late — the free versions are still available on both my Substack site and my personal website, and I will make them available to this community for free. My goal is not to make money from this book but to offer it as an educational and empowerment tool as my giveback to the community. Any income received from readers outside of this community will be donated to Substack Mastery to cover administrative duties.
After this background, I want to emphasize that blogging is one of the best tools freelance writers can use to reach a broader audience and gain confidence in sharing their content without the limitations of algorithms or the paywalls of platforms like NewsBreak, Vocal Media, or Medium. These platforms have their place and business models, but their constraints might not suit freelance writers who rely on their content for income. Both the platforms and writers have valid reasons for how they operate.
As a seasoned and independent content strategist, my guidance is to overcome these barriers without being upset at the platforms. Instead, find workarounds that create a win-win situation for both sides. So, I am here to offer a viable and free solution to address this growing issue and make it a win-win for all parties.
Surprisingly, some writers still don’t fully understand what blogging really is, even after over 30 years of its existence. Some believe a blog is the same as an article, essay, white paper, story, or book chapter.
While these forms can all be used in a blog, that is not the core purpose of blogging today. Search engines have evolved and often prioritize blogs over more structured content. This doesn’t mean those forms of writing are useless — far from it. However, from my experience and observations, a blog with proper SEO optimization tends to take priority, though this is still up for debate.
In this specific context, I define a blog as a teaser for a longer Medium story or Substack newsletter, not a replacement. A blog doesn’t substitute those valuable content forms, but it can help break through the algorithmic barriers or constraints of these pay-walled platforms which are not open to the public.
For those unfamiliar, in simple terms, a blog is like a short-form version of a story — a concept that Medium ingeniously introduced in 2021. I loved the idea and supported it for over a year.
Unfortunately, Medium eventually phased out this great feature. This isn’t a criticism but rather an observation based on my two years of systematic review. For example, Medium disqualified short-form posts from Further Distribution, which used to be the previous implementation of the current pilot “boost” program. As a result, many writers stopped using the short-form feature.
Even worse, Medium’s algorithm began flagging short-form posts as duplicates if they mirrored longer articles. Writers were asked to fix them within 18 hours or risk losing their accounts. I don’t make this up because I experienced this firsthand. So, as a publication owner and community leader, I documented it and shared the information in an editorial bulletin in 2021. Sadly, we lost a valuable opportunity on the platform but I heard that some pubs still use it. I had to stop promoting it here due to the reasons I explained in 2022, but we still accept short forms.
I hope Medium reinstates it like they did in 2021, as microblogging is a strategic content dissemination method, too. Microblogging is a great tool — just look at Elon Musk, who purchased Twitter for around $40 billion. Other platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Quora, and Reddit also thrive on microblogging, with billions of users globally. I won’t go into the details of microblogging here, but my point is to guide freelance writers to embrace short blogging through platforms like Blogger, WordPress (the free version), Typepad, Tumblr, and others.
When I published Chapter 11 of my book, many freelance writers said they couldn’t afford to host a website like WordPress.com, couldn’t justify the cost, and consequently neglected it. I introduced them to the concept of guest blogging, which wouldn’t cost them anything. Surprisingly, some freelance writers had never heard of it and didn’t even know it was an option.
As a community leader, I have been providing guest blogging to a small number of writers like my proteges or volunteer editors of my publications to support their growth, but after seeing this pain point, I decided to expand my guest blogging service to a larger audience by scaling my website.
I have the infrastructure and a volunteer task force ready to help. Like we did with Illumination publications, we will offer this service for free. There is also a premium service with paid staff for those who need it, but I estimate that over 80% of writers won’t require it. I have no intention of creating extra costs for freelancers in this economic climate.
To make the transition easy, I will offer each writer a set number of blog posts per month, where they can create teasers — short pieces of 100 to 300 words — for their Medium stories or Substack newsletters, along with a stock photo, personal image, or even an AI-generated one that my site provides for free and does much better than several publicly available AI image generators.
To make it easy for freelancer writers with SEO background, I have also installed Yoast SEO optimization on the site, which takes only a minute for bloggers to ensure compliance with search engine requirements.
I will provide a detailed instruction manual, and our technology leader, Sylvain Zyssman, has already created two free and clear YouTube tutorials to guide guest bloggers. We will not charge a fee for onboarding writers, publishing posts, and helping with meeting SEO standards for added visibility. They are all free as a community service.
I won’t go into the details of how important blogging is and how it really works for Substack newsletters, as I covered that extensively in my book chapter a few days ago. You can read this free chapter on at least three platforms. All I ask of beta readers is to provide feedback, especially by pointing out my blind spots, so I can make this story even more valuable for the writing community.
To conclude, if you are interested in this opportunity, please fill out the form provided at this link, and our administrators will guide you through becoming a guest blogger on our site.
You don’t have to use your real name — any Google, Yahoo, or Hotmail account will work without affecting your main email. You have nothing to lose and a lot to gain by being part of a community that amplifies your content, potentially reaching new audiences for your Medium stories or Substack newsletters.
Thank you for reading my message. I would be delighted to lead you on this exciting journey. You can thank me in the next 12 months when you see the great results if you put some energy into it authentically without cheating.
Digitalmehmet Content Ecosystem has a high domain rating and can give visibility to your content. For example, Ahrefs domain rating shows 64 with 28000+ backlinks and 480+ linking domains.
If you want to see how my book chapters impacted a new writer Ana J I didn’t even know until recently, you can check out her newsletters, which were brought to my attention by a writer earlier today and her points truly touched my heart. Mike Broadly, DHSc an elderly man and who is another beginner also wrote a similar story titled The Substack Mastery Book Helped Me Make My Every Metric Green on My Dashboard.
Thank you for reading my perspectives, and I hope you have a happy and healthy life.
For those who don’t know, I recently authored a book titled Substack Mastery to make it a valuable resource for freelance writers and content entrepreneurs. I share the chapters for beta readers for free on multiple platforms. Interested readers can find them through the following links on this platform.
Preface of “Substack Mastery” for Beta Readers, Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11, Chapters 12
Many thanks to beta readers who started leaving honest feedback on this evolving book on Goodreads. If you enjoy and benefit from this book, I’d appreciate leaving honest feedback on Goodreads, as the Amazon version is not ready for review yet.
If you want to purchase the book at a reasonable price or gift it to someone you care about, you may preorder it via various Amazon markets. If the editing process is complete on time, I can get it published faster. The funds generated from this book will be donated to the management of the Substack Mastery site for the ILLUMINATION community. This education site also amplifies the newsletters of freelance writers.
I’d like to give a quick update on community building on Substack bridging with other platforms like Medium, NewsBreak, or Vocal Media.
Book authors need to create communities to survive and thrive. Integrating Substack with Medium is a great idea. To this end, as a community builder, I created a philanthropic organization that will empower creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs with a commercial arm.
I documented the strategy and high-level plan in a story. Please feel free to ask questions and provide feedback. Refraining from perfection, I choose a progressive path.
Here are our draft service definitions for creators, freelance writers, and content entrepreneurs. I will explain the details in our upcoming newsletter. Here is an invitation from a founding member. Here is the visual representation of the plan. As you can see we will over 70% of our services for free but we can no longer provide priority to 100% due to limitation of Medium like not giving us more than 30 volunteer editor to my publications supporting over 32,000 writers. It is humanly impossible.
If you are a writer on Medium and Substack, we have a new publication called Substack Mastery. You are welcome to join and share your Substack experience with your fellow writers and discerning readers. ILLUMINATION-Curators curate, feature, and promote newsletters of our contributors in collections like this one. Being part of a community can bring many benefits, such as a fast-growing audience. Here is the latest episode by our volunteer curators: Substack Mastery Featured Newsletters: Episode 12.
For advanced writers, we also have a publication called Curated Newsletters, which replaced the former ILLUMINATION-Curated. As I withdraw from the boost program, I now allocate more time to support writers in extending their services to Substack or other platforms still supporting them on Medium because this is a valuable platform for many.
If you are a writer, you are welcome to join my publications by sending a request via this link. I support 32K writers who contribute to my publications on this platform. You can contact me via my website. I also have another profile to write and curate tech stories. Friend Links to My Sample Boosted Stories for Non-Members of Medium.
New Submission Guidelines for ILLUMINATION and Curated Newsletters
You are welcome to join the ILLUMINATION Community on Medium and Substack and our education tool, Substack Mastery, curated by ILLUMINATION-Curators. Here is the Importance and Value of Medium Friendship for Writers and Readers
Join me on Substack, where I offer experience-based content on health, content strategy, and technology topics to inform and inspire my readers.
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This story was initially published at DigitalMehmet.com. My blogs and website offer free access to inspiring and educational stories for freelancers and content entrepreneurs. Subscribe to and enjoy our blogs. Membership Tiers and Benefits of ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery Community. Please use this portal to contact me with inquiries and feedback.
Here is a copy of this story for readers on Medium.com.
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