If you, as I, write frequently, you might wonder where is the “best” place to publish your writing. You might think social media, especially Medium or LinkedIn, is the “best” in terms of eyeballs. (That's people to the rest of us.)
That's possible the day, or maybe the week, you publish the piece. That's because social media is all about “instant” eyeballs. You get a lot of views right away, and then the readership tends to crash. Worse, no one can find your writing unless you drive people to that medium.
If you want to build your brand, your platform, publish on your site first. That's how people can find your writing later. Even if later is next week.
Most writing does not spoil, like apples or bananas. Your writing can maintain its relevance for years. (If you're writing about a specific version of some sort of technology, you can refer to any of the principles behind the technology. Those principles will make the piece relevant years later even when the technology is no longer current.)
If you publish on your site first, you can drive people to your platform, not someone else's. Even better, you can create your brand, not be a subsidiary of someone else's brand.
Your Platform Creates Your Brand
Many people tell me their social media followers are their platform. If so, when a given social medium crashes, such as the bluebird, we lose the benefit of that medium. Social media is not your platform.
Your writing—everything you say in your writing—that's your platform and your brand.
Why would you give that brand to someone else to manage?
Even the newsletter provider services are getting on the bandwagon of: “Sure, use us to publish, and we'll host the archives for you, right here, on our site.”
How long will they host those archives? What if you change your newsletter provider? As a veteran of at least five or six (soon to be another) newsletter providers, they won't continue to host your newsletter if you leave. No, those newsletters will be gone forever.
Unless you also publish them on your site.
You might say you're willing to take the risk. In that case, make sure you read all the Terms of Service.
Read the Contract, the Terms of Service
Most media companies want to sell something via your content. Some, such as LinkedIn, say this in their terms of service. But some companies change their terms and might hope you don't notice.
I publish my audiobooks through Findaway Voices. Last year, Spotify bought Findaway. I opted in for Spotify to distribute my audiobooks.
However, I recently learned that Spotify now has an agreement with Apple to use my audiobooks (text and voice) to train Apple's machine-learning algorithms, without paying my narrators or me. I opted out of that. I'm an Apple user, but no, they need to pay me for my content. And for a variety of reasons, I do not use Spotify for anything except to distribute my audiobooks. I'm even less likely to now.
Social media companies choose who to show your content to, and when. They decide if they will show ads, along with your content. Or if they will show your “competitor's” content next to yours.
They decide. Not you.
In addition, social media and newsletter companies can shut your account down whenever they want. All the content you hosted with them goes poof. (And don't get me started on backing up your content if you don't own the site that you publish on.)
Why would you build your brand where you have little to no control over what happens to your content?
Your Site, Your Words, Your Platform, Your Brand
I like the fact that we have social media and that I can use it to amplify my audience. I am sure I could reach more people (eyeballs!) if I optimized for writing on each social media platform. But I can't imagine a time I would do that.
That's because I want to access all my material on my site. I want to see the history of my writing and thinking. And I want that history to be available to you, too.
Write and publish on your site first. Build your platform and your brand as you practice writing and publishing. Some of your writing will resonate with your audience right away, some might never. But the more you practice writing and publishing, the easier it will be.
Use social media to magnify your reach. But whatever you do, always make sure you have control over the eventual use of your words.
Let your content build your brand, one post and newsletter at a time. And if you're like me, the best place to build your brand is on your site.
(I'm not quite ready to open the registration for the next Writing Workshop. If you're interested, use that link to sign up for the notification email when I do.)
See all the posts in this intermittent series of “writing secrets”.