Grow Your Stack With Help From Medium

A tutorial in posting across these two platforms

Photo by Tolga Ulkan on Unsplash

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Hello Loreates,

Wow! It’s been over three years since I posted this initial overview of benefits for writers who publish on both Substack and Medium:

Both Substack and Medium Can Benefit Authors

Some points from this piece remain the same:

• In 2020, when I started blogging in earnest to promote my fourth novel, I turned first to Medium. President Obama posted there. So did Susan Orlean.

• I don’t use Medium as a newsletter or blogsite. I view it as a collection of diverse publications that publish my work. I try to connect with my Medium readers within the body of crafted essays, but I don’t address them directly or announce author events in Medium posts. I save the chattier updates on my books and writing life for my stack.

• When I post essays originally on Substack, I can share them on Medium. Republishing your own work on Medium is even easier than on Substack, thanks to the handy canonical link feature in Medium’s Advanced Settings.

• I have a dozen very different homes in Medium publications, and I love the freedom this gives me to write about almost anything I please. But Medium does not offer the kind of one-to-one personal connection that Substack does.

• Whether I’m writing on Medium or Substack, I strive to produce work that serves me as an author. Not only do my posts help me clarify my thoughts and sharpen my own prose, but the nearly instantaneous feedback from readers tells me what’s working and what isn’t, what’s exciting and what’s meh. It keeps me honest and motivates me to keep going on my book projects.

• I’m not doing any of this for the money. But both platforms do encourage writers to think about the value of a pay wall after growing a sizable readership. Apart from any delusions of grandeur, that advice makes a kind of counterintuitive sense. We live in a capitalist society where people believe that they get more bang for their buck. If “you get what you pay for,” then free newsletters must be worth less than those that cost money. And subscribers are more likely to read newsletters they’ve purchased because they feel they ought to “get their money’s worth” by actually consuming them.

But a LOT has changed in these two ecosystems since 2022. I’ve been meaning for some time to offer an update, and the day has finally come.

In this post for paid subscribers, I’m going to get into the nitty-gritty Why, What, Where, and How of cross-posting from your Substack publication to Medium. It’s not just an overview but a step-by-step guide as I prepare one of my own posts for publication across the platforms.

So if you’d like to grow your stack’s subscriber base, get paid for one-off viral posts, and reach global pools of readers, please read on!

P.S. This week’s writing prompt is a good one, if I do say so myself!

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Also…if you’re coming to Los Angeles for AWP, please join me for these two panels:

1. Ghosting: The Privileges & Perils of Writing Someone Else’s Book

Thursday, Mar 27, 2025, 1:45pm: Room 515A, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center

Ghostwriting plays a bigger role in the publishing ecosystem today than ever before. It’s not just celebrities who hire ghosts, but industry leaders and online influencers, as well as grandparents who want their story immortalized for future generations. There are even agents who specialize in matching writers with “authors.” This panel of new and veteran ghostwriters shares tips for securing a successful ghost project, as well as the professional pitfalls and rewards of this literary masquerade.

Moderator Aimee Liu With: Jennifer Carr AMY FRIEDMAN Victoria Veldhoen

1. Family Secrets: A Storyteller’s Bounty, or Curse?

Saturday, Mar 29, 2025, 10:35am: Room 403B, Level Two, Los Angeles Convention Center

Many writers use their families’ most closely held mysteries and secrets as subject matter. But not all relatives cooperate. And not all stories make sense when pulled from hiding. Vital pieces may be missing, essential informants deceased. Transforming artifacts and shards of memory into literature that rings true can be both vexing and seductive. In this panel, five award-winning fiction and nonfiction authors and screenwriters discuss the perils and rewards of writing around family secrets.

Moderator Aimee Liu With: David Francis Elle Johnson Toni Ann Johnson Colette Sartor

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How to Grow Your Stack by Cross-posting to Medium Publications

I don’t often do detailed how-to posts. Our emphasis here at MFA Lore is on creative writing, and I’m a firm believer that creativity requires too much individual flexibility for prescriptive formulae. So I typically offer more gestural advice, but today I want to share some tips for growing the business side of your writing life. I can’t guarantee they’ll bring you extra income or subscribers, but they have for me — and I’ll be the first to admit they’d do a lot more for me if I followed them more frequently myself!

So here goes. This is my method for doubling the earning and subscriber potential of my Substack stories.