I Tried 8 Writing Platforms. Which is the best for you?

Find the right home for your writing.

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Happy December!

At Christmas, I often do a special. For this year, I thought I’d chop 75% off my Introduction to Personal Essays course.

Why not? The kids and I are putting up the tree today and I’m feeling in a festive mood.

Once you enroll, you have access forever—it’s a self-paced online course—so if you’d like to get in, head over to Thinkific where I host my course. You also get feedback from me on your first personal essay (if you want it.)

Here’s Introduction to Personal Essays for $34.75 (usually $139).

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8 Writing Platforms

Sometimes it looks like we’re playing hot potato with writing platforms. I’ve actually never played hot potato — it’s not a common game here in New Zealand. Do you even use an actual potato?  Perhaps that analogy isn’t the best one, but I think you get where I’m heading with it.

Writers as a group tend to jump around, dropping one platform, picking up a new one. Never holding that potato too long in case it starts to burn your fingers.

There’s nothing wrong with looking for the best platform to spend your precious time. Trying to find one that gets your words into the hands of engaged readers. Perhaps one you can make some cash on. Or just express yourself freely.

I’m not about to tell you there’s a perfect platform for you or for anyone. The right question isn’t: What’s the best platform for writers?

The right question is: Where’s your audience at?

Thinking about potatoes is making me hungry.

Here are 8 platforms I’ve personally tried with the hope that my experience helps you decide the type of potato you might want to hold onto —  the platform that fits you and your writing best.

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Medium

I’ve been on Medium since 2019 and it’s been very good to me overall. I’ve earned a decent amount most years, and it’s opened several doors for me as a writer.

Changes at various times have meant my work earned more or less, went viral or disappeared into the void. Because I’m a working writer (writing has been my job for 16+ years) sometimes these changes meant I’ve had to pull back and focus my efforts on other off-Medium work to earn enough to pay the bills. If writing is your job, it’s a mistake to rely on one platform alone. You can earn good money on Medium, but no platform owes you full-time work. It’s good to always have a backup.

But Medium is also the place I feel I can write fairly creatively. It allows me to experiment with form and topic. I’ve been able to play with my writing in a way I hadn’t before when I worked with editors of magazines and online publications. In fact, creativity is the reason I started writing on Medium.

On Medium you can pen a poem or a 20 minute read and both could do well. Or neither. The type of writing that works here is constantly shifting with audience and staff tastes, but I don’t mind that. It brings variety. It’s a challenge I enjoy and, as a magazine writer originally, something I’m used to, but I know not everyone enjoys the shifting algorithmic tides.

The audience you find here:
Medium has a pay walled audience, and that often means a more positive and supportive community in the comments section (although not always).

Medium’s members tend to be educated, well-read lifelong learners. Many of them are writers. They are a global community — from the US to India to little New Zealand — and they love to engage with pieces they read, often sharing their own experiences or opinions in the comments. They have a wide range of reading interests, from business and finance to memoir and creativity.

Nonfiction tends to do best on Medium, but if you like to write short-form articles, poetry, short-stories, memoir and essays, Medium might just have your audience.

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Jotter

This is a brand new platform that I’m quite excited about. You can post short-form on Jotter, like Medium, but the main benefit of Jotter is the ability to share full-length novels incredibly easily.

I’ve self-published a novel before and the process was a step learning curve (and not an easy one.) The idea of Jotter is that publishing your work should be easy and open to everyone. They’re also passionate about writers getting the majority of the income from their work — I can get onboard with that idea! I just got my first royalty payment of $45 from Jotter, which is a great start for a newbie platform.

Right now Jotter is running a First Chapter Contest. I’m on the judging panel and I’d encourage you to give it a go if you’re keen to write a novel or have already written one. You’ve got until December 31st, 2024. Check it out.

Is your audience here?
Jotter is super new, so the audience is tiny right now, but that doesn’t need to be a negative. Early users of a platform take a risk and need to be patient, but they often get benefits from being there from the start — like having a chance to help shape the platform. If you’re a novelist or a reader (especially a misfit one!) Jotter could be your tasty new platform.

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Quora

I know writers who have had success on Quora, building up big audiences, but for me it was a no go. I didn’t enjoy the format of answering and posing questions and I couldn’t see the point of it. Quora has made changes since I’ve been there last, but it’s not the best choice if you’re trying to earn money from your writing.

Is your audience here?
If reader engagement is your highest priority, and you like the question/answer format, Quora could be fun. You can specialize in certain topics and enjoy writing snappy, creative answers without worrying too much about the formalities of longer articles or essays.

It’s a great place to practice your writing skills and find your voice.

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Upwork, Fiverr, Freelancer

There are platforms like these three set up specifically to connect writers with paying clients. These platforms are not about building an audience. They’re for writers who want paying gigs.

I’ve used all three and (eventually) found fantastic jobs on both Upwork and Freelancer. I’ve paid other people on Fiverr, but never been paid there.

There’s certainly work on platforms like these, however, landing gigs isn’t easy. Especially when you first start out. They are highly competitive. That’s probably an understatement. You can spend hours wading through the job boards and applying for work, often for no reward. When I started on Freelancer, I was accepting $5 jobs just to get reviews.

As a beginner writer, that’s fine — we all start somewhere. But if you have decent writing chops, there are probably better ways to find work.

Are your clients here?
If you’re a beginner writer wanting to pick up your first paying gigs, these platforms could help you land a few clients and gather experience. They also give you some safeguards around payments, deadlines, and the complexities of working with strangers (all important lessons to learn).

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NewsBreak

I was lucky to join the NewsBreak writing community when it first started and earned a decent amount on the platform. I also had some of my most viral hits on NB (one piece being seen by over 1 million readers!). But after the rules were changed, I found it less profitable and dropped this particular potato.

Also, I’m not from the US, which limited what I could write about and made interviews more difficult. (I had a lot of fun finding out about various personalities, events, and wildlife in the Colorado area, but it’s probably better that an actual Colorado writer delivers the local news.)

Recent changes have made it challenging for writers to earn on NewsBreak, but it’s not all bad news; there is a wide and interesting audience here. NewsBreak has a massive readership — currently it’s the most downloaded news app in the US.

Is your audience here?
If you’re from the US and like the idea of reporting on news in your local area, this could be the perfect place to find a large audience. You don’t need to stick to the typical doom and gloom news either. You can interview local bands and artists, report on festivals, and feature great things people are doing in your area.

Safety tip: Turn off your comments if you’re not thick skinned. They can be brutally negative.

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Vocal

I enjoy writing contests, but Vocal hasn’t been a good fit for me yet. Perhaps when I have more time to write for fun. I like the vibe they have going. It feels fun and is beautifully presented. The author pages are the best of any platform (in my opinion). You have to pay to write and enter the contests, but you can read for free. Vocal doesn’t have a large reach and it appears to be difficult to build an audience, so if that matters to you, this might be the wrong platform.

Is your audience here?
If you love being part of a community of writers who write to a prompt and enter contests, then Vocal could be a fun place to be. It has a lot of inspirational energy — writing to a prompt can open creative doors in your mind and lead to interesting work.

Vocal feels like a nice quiet place to share your art, so if that sounds appealing, it might be the perfect platform for you.

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LinkedIn

LinkedIn often feels like the ugly cousin of writing platforms, but I think it’s underrated. Things are happening here, especially now more people are shifting away from X and toward other social platforms. LinkedIn is not new, but it has blossomed in the last year in a way that benefits writers. You can run your own newsletter, publish articles, make regular posts that get high engagement, and find clients.

I used LinkedIn frequently last year and landed several high paying clients who found me from my posts.

Is your audience here?

LinkedIn is far more varied than it used to be. There’s still a professional, business vibe, but you’ll find a wide range of people here from all over the world. LinkedIn users tend to be educated, high-achieving, interesting, and keen to connect.

If you’re a ghostwriter, copywriter, editor, or offer a service or sell something professionals might want, then LinkedIn is a great platform to be on. It’s certainly possible to build a big following on LinkedIn as a creator, especially if you can commit to regular posts and engagement.

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Substack

Substack currently feels like the warm buttery potato of writing platforms. You deliver letters directly to your own followers. It’s quiet if you need that — just you writing to your audience — but the notes function also means you can engage more frequently with a wider public if you miss short tweet-ish interactions.

You can mostly say what you want (which can be a positive or a negative), and it’s completely up to you how you structure your content. There are no gate-keepers here. If you want to send short, funny comics out to your readers or 10K word in depth scientific studies, that’s your call.

Substack’s set up of readers directly subscribing to and paying newsletter creators works really well for a lot of writers. If you’re going to start a Substack, I’d recommend turning payments on right away. Some readers will pay to support your writing just because they like you. (Nice, right?) Substack is a direct relationship with your readers that feels quite special.

Is your audience here?
Writers who have a strong niche, voice, and expertise do best on Substack, because readers are looking for something specific here. Tap into your background, hobbies, experience, and interests. Use your personality!

Have you spent years developing your glorious vegetable garden? Did you travel around the world on a budget? Do you have a background in finance and investing? Do you write funny cultural commentary?

If you’re happy to write regularly on the same-ish theme, it’s likely there’ll be people wanting to read it.

Check out my Substack post: “I Made All The Mistakes on Substack” if you think this sounds like the right place for you to write.