Dear Friends, I trust this post finds you well.
Today, my protégé,
, asked me to share the final episode of his Level 2 Substack training course on Udemy for free. He believes every freelance writer needs to understand the critical message captured in this video and audio chapter of the Substack Mastery book. I found it inspiring myself, so I agreed to share it with my subscribers at no cost. Feel free to download it and share it with your friends. The message in this inspiring video has the potential to change your perceptions, uplift your spirit, and motivate you in 2025 and beyond to sustain your writing business.As many of you know, I always present the pros and cons of anything I research, observe, or experience without bias. As a seasoned author and content strategist, I have tested countless tools and platforms over the past 40 years. Every tool or platform comes with its strengths and weaknesses. I never claim that one is the best or worst. They are all unique. In 2024, I shared my observations about Medium and Substack, which are as different as oranges and apples. However, some writers misunderstood this, thinking I favor Substack and no longer support Medium. This is far from the truth.
I continue to support Medium wholeheartedly. I manage 15 publications with contributions from over 35,000 writers, supported by a volunteer workforce of 176 editors. Together, we have published over a million stories and continue to offer this free service to over 200,000 loyal readers of my publications on Medium.com.
However, I invite you to reconsider your dependency on Medium, as I did, and use it wisely as an excellent tool with realistic and optimistic expectations. For several years, I was addicted to Medium, drawn by its instant gratification—claps, comments, and occasional bonuses. But these are fleeting and ultimately vanity metrics for freelance writers. My key message has always been: never put all your eggs in one basket. You cannot rely on a single platform for your writing business. This applies to Substack as well. Although I love both Medium and Substack, I maintain fallback positions by creating my own platform and using other services such as Patreon, ConvertKit, Beehiive, and more.
In terms of audience reach and monetary value, Medium was excellent until 2024. But the platform changed its rules, and many writers, including myself, lost significant income. I wrote transparently about this last year, sharing examples. Unfortunately, some writers took my words out of context, unfairly labeling me as anti-Medium. Let me clarify once again: I am not against Medium. I value the community and dedicate personal time to supporting thousands of writers in achieving success there. My goal is to integrate Medium with Substack, Patreon, and other platforms to give our writers a competitive advantage.
However, it is important to note that Medium is no longer a reliable money-making platform for freelance writers to survive and thrive. I have reviewed the statistics and progress of at least 500 protégés, and the consistent pattern is clear: they have all lost at least 90% of their income, just like myself and many other established writers.
For instance, a recent 20-minute wellness story that could change lives based on original content from my new book Cortisol Clarity earned only 16 cents—not even a dollar. This story came from a writer with 103K followers on Medium. Just a few years ago, similar stories would have earned at least $1,000. The same story on my Health and Wellness publication on Substack received thousands of readers.
If this does not serve as a wake-up call, I am unsure what else will.
The key message of this post, along with the video and audio, is to focus on your long-term goals. Cut through the noise and distractions, and prioritize what truly matters for your writing business. Remove emotions and rely on your intellect and intuition to make strategic decisions and solid plans. No one will come to rescue you. No platform truly cares about your business. Your future is in your hands, and it is your responsibility to set yourself up for success.
I created a new service for our our writing community on Medium and Substack to support contributors of our publications and give them a competative advantage in 2025. It is a 3-tier service for creators, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, as documented on my website, which I will explain in an upcoming post. It is called Substack Mastery Boost Pilot.
Today, our senior editor, content curator, and founding member,
, wrote a story about it that can guide you and inspire you. Here is the link to the story:We Are Building a Creative Support Path for Freelance Writers in 2025
Aiden has completed Level 3 and started creating Level 4 for his remarkable training program, From Zero to Substack Hero Training. I will upload many modules he has created so far to this publication, Content Marketing Strategy Insights. Paid subscribers will have access to all levels of this course. It will be around 65 modules. Each video includes his curriculum and relevant audio chapters from Substack Mastery and the new advanced book.
Level 1 and Level 2 of From Zero to Substack Hero Training have already been published on Udemy and will be released to other platforms, too. However, none of those platforms can beat the cost of my publication as I will offer the entire course, all my current and upcoming book chapters, and my years of premium content for freelance writers and content entrepreneurs for only a $5 monthly subscription.
Finding such educational resources in one place with this low cost does not look possible. My goal is to help as many writers as possible to master Substack and other platforms in an integrated way for sustainable success.
In addition, until the end of this month, I made a mega deal. Anyone joining this unique publication will be automatically updated to my founding membership level for 12 months, which is the value of $500 annually. My founding membership is more expensive than our other publications because I provide additional online coaching services via the Illumination Slack Workspace and also allow all the benefits of Tier 3 educational and promotional services of Substack Mastery Boost Pilot. This program will be a global freelance education and marketing service in 2026.
As I also value our free subscribers, from my personal publications and the community ones, we will offer most of our educational content for free as 70% of our members cannot afford monthly subscriptions, and I have full empathy for them. Our goal is not to make a profit, as our efforts/time are not profitable, but to channel what we get from those who can afford it to those who cannot by providing privileged service to paid groups. I will explain the details in our monthly newsletter soon.
As mentioned in a previous post, the advanced Substack book was published on 1 January 2025. I will share the chapters in this publication. Here are the links to the latest 3 posts for aspiring book authors who might have missed them:
Now, I’d like to highlight quick and important actions that can bring you many benefits in 2025:
Action 1 - New writers missed Illumination Slack as auto invitation failed. Our Slack workspace is free and moderated by 175+ volunteers. It brings many benefits, such as logging delayed stories, connecting with editors easily, sharing story links in multiple channels to get more views, promoting your Substack newsletters for free, having social conversations about growing your networks, and many promotional channels in which you can promote your businesses.
Action 2 - In 2024, I opened my website to guest bloggers to help them post teaser posts for their Medium stories and Substack newsletter. This is an excellent opportunity for writers to get more traffic to their content and create strong backlinks. I created a Google sheet, and your applications will automatically captured, and our administrators will give you author access to be a guest blogger on our community blog site. I explained the importance and value of guest blogging for writers on Medium and Substack in a previous article. If you are interested, please fill out the form linked to the end of the application form using the attached button.
Action 3: Please also consider subscribing to our YouTube channel, ILLUMINATION Substack Mastery, as we will publish educational videos and podcasts there. Aiden will invite YouTubers and freelance writers to educate us. You are also welcome to post your own videos by sending your application here. You can promote your videos and podcasts in Aiden’s publication on Medium.
My editorial team and I do everything from our end to guide our writers. Sometimes, passing my messages is not easy because some writers don’t read my posts, don’t check out our submission guidelines, or don’t even look at the master onboarding pack. Then they complain about why their store is not published or delayed. Some writers don’t even check the private messages left by volunteer editors, delaying their drafts for a long time.
Please review the attached submission guidelines below before sending your first drafts so that our editors can publish them in a timely manner. We now support 35,000+ writers, and your diligence can ease the tremendous workload of our volunteer editors. Here are the links:
ILLUMINATION, Curated Newsletters, SYNERGY (Newsletter Booster), Technology Hits, ILLUMINATION Book Chapters, Readers Hope, and Magnetic Newsletter Pro.
We will send monthly updates and new year plans from the ILLUMINATION Library for Freelance Writers soon. We have several exciting projects to help our writers in 2025. One of them is ILLUMINATION Writing Academy which is a first-of-a-kind publication to support freelance writers.
The advanced book for freelance writers on Substack is out now, and all chapters will be uploaded to Content Marketing Strategy Insights soon.
Preface: A Powerful Toolkit for Advanced Substack Newsletter Mastery
Please feel free to contact me when you need help on Slack, here, or via my website. I will do my best to support your writing journey.
Thank you for being part of our exciting journey. I wish you a very happy, healthy, and prosperous new year. ❤️💡🙏🎉
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