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Should you, as I, write steadily, you may marvel the place is the “greatest” place to publish your writing. You may assume social media, particularly Medium or LinkedIn, is the “greatest” when it comes to eyeballs. (That is individuals to the remainder of us.)
That is attainable the day, or possibly the week, you publish the piece. That is as a result of social media is all about “instantaneous” eyeballs. You get lots of views immediately, after which the readership tends to crash. Worse, nobody can discover your writing until you drive individuals to that medium.
If you wish to construct your model, your platform, publish in your website first. That is how individuals can discover your writing later. Even when later is subsequent week.
Most writing doesn’t spoil, like apples or bananas. Your writing can preserve its relevance for years. (Should you’re writing a few particular model of some form of know-how, you possibly can confer with any of the ideas behind the know-how. These ideas will make the piece related years later even when the know-how is not present.)
Should you publish in your website first, you possibly can drive individuals to your platform, not another person’s. Even higher, you possibly can create your model, not be a subsidiary of another person’s model.
Your Platform Creates Your Model
Many individuals inform me their social media followers are their platform. If that’s the case, when a given social medium crashes, such because the bluebird, we lose the good thing about that medium. Social media is just not your platform.
Your writing—every little thing you say in your writing—that is your platform and your model.
Why would you give that model to another person to handle?
Even the e-newsletter supplier providers are getting on the bandwagon of: “Positive, use us to publish, and we’ll host the archives for you, proper right here, on our website.”
How lengthy will they host these archives? What when you change your e-newsletter supplier? As a veteran of no less than 5 or 6 (quickly to be one other) e-newsletter suppliers, they will not proceed to host your e-newsletter when you depart. No, these newsletters might be gone ceaselessly.
Except you additionally publish them in your website.
You may say you are keen to take the danger. In that case, ensure you learn all of the Phrases of Service.
Learn the Contract, the Phrases of Service
Most media firms need to promote one thing through your content material. Some, reminiscent of LinkedIn, say this of their phrases of service. However some firms change their phrases and may hope you do not discover.
I publish my audiobooks via Findaway Voices. Final yr, Spotify purchased Findaway. I opted in for Spotify to distribute my audiobooks.
Nevertheless, I lately discovered that Spotify now has an settlement with Apple to make use of my audiobooks (textual content and voice) to coach Apple’s machine-learning algorithms, with out paying my narrators or me. I opted out of that. I am an Apple consumer, however no, they should pay me for my content material. And for a wide range of causes, I don’t use Spotify for something besides to distribute my audiobooks. I am even much less prone to now.
Social media firms select who to point out your content material to, and when. They resolve if they’ll present advertisements, alongside together with your content material. Or if they’ll present your “competitor’s” content material subsequent to yours.
They resolve. Not you.
As well as, social media and e-newsletter firms can shut your account down each time they need. All of the content material you hosted with them goes poof. (And do not get me began on backing up your content material when you do not personal the positioning that you just publish on.)
Why would you construct your model the place you’ve got little to no management over what occurs to your content material?
Your Website, Your Phrases, Your Platform, Your Model
I like the truth that we’ve social media and that I can use it to amplify my viewers. I’m positive I might attain extra individuals (eyeballs!) if I optimized for writing on every social media platform. However I can not think about a time I might try this.
That is as a result of I need to entry all my materials on my website. I need to see the historical past of my writing and considering. And I need that historical past to be out there to you, too.
Write and publish in your website first. Construct your platform and your model as you observe writing and publishing. A few of your writing will resonate together with your viewers immediately, some may by no means. However the extra you observe writing and publishing, the simpler it is going to be.
Use social media to amplify your attain. However no matter you do, at all times ensure you have management over the eventual use of your phrases.
Let your content material construct your model, one publish and e-newsletter at a time. And when you’re like me, the perfect place to construct your model is in your website.
(I am not fairly able to open the registration for the following Writing Workshop. Should you’re , use that hyperlink to enroll in the notification electronic mail once I do.)
See all of the posts on this intermittent sequence of “writing secrets”.
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