Late Night Chitter-Chatter

Exploring the difference between Medium and Substack... like I really give a damn

Okay so to blatantly state the obvious there is a very distinct difference between writers on Substack and writers on Medium. We should all realize that. I will not explain the differences between the two platforms or the characteristics of several authors who’ve given birth to copycat nonsense which is more or less done to create engagement as opposed to illustrating some form of enlightenment. So no, I'm not doing that. What we are going to discuss is the one key topic that everyone seemingly enjoys but has no idea what it looks or sounds like. And that is authenticity. Yeah, something so many have covered and preached but have yet to fully commit to their own voice and identity. Shit is sad.

I will type this just as I talk in real life, so yeah, you will see a lot of cursing or swear words and a shit load of sarcasm.. you’ve been warned, so don’t get mad.. still here? Bet.. let’s dive in to what authenticity looks and sounds like.

You probably hadn't noticed but I am using my regular tone and style when typing this piece. I am not changing anything other than a few punctuation marks and word placement.. is that less than authentic? No, because I do that in my day to day conversations. See, what people want in terms of authenticity is something to fit their idea of what it is and what it looks and sounds like in their minds but fuck that. People legitimately do not know what they want in terms of art, so many are just out here searching for meaning and answers to unasked questions about how to get results for tasks he or she did not commit to completing. It's kind of weird but it's also part of the human experience so I'm not judging, just asking questions hoping to understand. All while giving my own two cents to provide some form of clarity on how I view authenticity.

So first and foremost.. be yourself. Stop trying to be something you're not and most certainly stop trying to sound like people who will surely take you to a moral court on the charge of unoriginality or “plagiarism”. This is essential to your success. Find your voice and stick with it, do not bend or fold at the sight of new trends and changes to the marketplace, that is one mistake that shouldn’t be made.

Have you ever noticed how listicles [list articles or how-to content] seems to be a dying niche but somehow, someway, people still stick to producing old and retired ways of doing things? It is because these writers know that there are people still looking for quick fixes and simple explanations to simple shit that more than likely requires more experience than some random words thrown together in hopes to go viral. WikiHow still exists and it shouldn’t–but as I said–people are still searching for answers so no matter how stagnant this niche happens to be in my opinion, someone somewhere is googling how to do something.

Have you ever noticed that real stock brokers and economists rarely blog unless their work is to be published in Investopedia or WSJ? Yeah, very specific and there’s a reason for that: their advice and expertise is necessary to the world because it is valuable and proven to work as opposed to any medium and substack writer going viral about surviving Trumpnomics and record high inflation or low employment rates [which is crazy because how the fuck is everybody hiring but no one has a job? That doesn’t even make sense bro, somebody lying and somebody stealing, facts]. Some of these guys only have that type of information due to what he or she read somewhere else. Studying a field doesn’t truly make you an expert, at some point, you have to put theory to test or else you just seem to be full of shit and not worth listening to.

I even wonder what some of these substack creators do when its obvious that many of you are pulling from a playbook that didn’t work on another platform? Yeah, we all want to offer sound advice and drive traffic for our work but isn’t it funny that what seems to be innocent and informative is almost identical to what someone else said on WordPress or LinkedIn? Oh.. you thought I ain’t know? Hell yeah I peeped that folks directly “repurpose” or repost their content depending on the platform instead of revising their content due to the difference in their audience and how stats are reported.

To be authentic, sure, be yourself and let folks know who you are and what you’re about but you must be aware of your audience and have the ability to read the room. You think medium members are willing to reread what you’ve already written simply because its coming from a different site? Fuck outta here, man. You can listen to these blog gurus and wannabe marketers if you want to, that shit is only going to get you so far before you start losing the following that you so-called carefully built!

And you may be wondering where all of this is coming from… well let’s say that I've been around the block a time or two and don't want any of you wasting time on silly shit. Just put words on the page and figure the other shit out later. Be you. You cannot be anything else or anyone else but yourself.

Yeah, I write stories and poems, but I'm myself. I don't try to sound like anyone or mirror their work. Sure, I'm inspired but my inspiration is not to be confused with idolatry or trivial pursuits of financial compensation by way of known blogger tricks to drive engagement. No, that's not why I'm here and it is definitely not why I write.

You wanna know the primary reason why I'm on substack? I have grown to hate medium and WordPress. Both of those platforms irk my soul. And I mean that shit wholeheartedly. I am not annoyed here, so obviously I'll be a consistent alert in your mail box… as long as you want me to be.

The key to finding your voice is not only experimentation but also not caring what others are doing so that you can focus and master your craft. I’ve put in far more than 10k hours and I'm still not a master but I have noticed that I am no longer a technical writer; I bend more rules than a little bit and break even more, why? Because I'm the shit. But on a more serious note, I do that because it mirrors my actual speech pattern. Ask anyone who speaks to me regularly and he or she will tell you, ‘yeah, sometimes J.C. writes just the way he talks.. it's either real proper like damn near robotic or broken but either way, that’s his voice.’ I pride myself on being original. I pride myself on being myself regardless of where I am or what I’m doing.

I refuse to play the game of fitting in and that's why people ain’t really rocking with me and that's cool. But just know, authenticity is not necessarily going against the grain but going with what feels most natural and fitting in with the rest of you is not natural to me, at all! So I be dolo, doing my own thing and it's working out pretty well, if I do say so myself.

I hope you learned something.

Be blessed. Peace.