My Journey as an Author - 3

To find success, it is best to develop a plan and put it to practice.

In this regard, I am exploring my options among the many platforms and tools available for an author to post content. Some favor specific forms of media, or styles, and others offer established communities, or other rewards. A few may not pan out.

But it is important to explore my options, and experiment. It is for this I have started posting here. Now, I am somewhat aware that this platform has dwindling activity. It is unfortunate, as this and those like it provide interesting opportunities. I certainly promote the idea behind them, and do think that such platforms can succeed. But a flagging interest in cryptocurrencies, and an increase in low effort content strangles the development of content.

That does not stop me from making a little niche for my posts. In fact, it can help prove a point. I think the majority of posters attempt to earn rewards, but do nothing to draw attention to the platform. There is no invitation from outside sources, no community encouraged to visit. Now, I don't have much following, at present, so cannot be much help. But that is only at this moment. In time, I may attract a few others. In time, I may encourage them to post. And, that, and the effort of others, can form a grassroots effort to rehabilitate the quiet communities of the platform.

Now, that is just one part of today's post. It wants to share my thoughts on other platforms.

So far, Publish0x is my most successful place to post, and I have not only gained followers for my content, but money. And, this is money that is immediately available, which is nice, considering several other platforms are rather convoluted in their process of paying out what is owed.

At Publish0x I plan to post information about my endeavors. It is my meta, so to speak. I will track progress, insights, and document my posting like a challenge.

Medium is the most interesting to me. However, I feel it requires quality content for a new author to find success, and may even take as many as 70 posts to establish a foothold. I intend this for longform content. My plan is to post elsewhere, and then polish that material for posts on Medium. We will see if it works.

Substack is still under development. That provides a space for subscription. Quite rightly, it deserves a catalog of content for subscribers to access. Though I want to develop my substack, it will take time for it to mature to anything useful. But it will be there, growing in the background.

I want to post there much of my writing concerning the mechanics of creative writing and worldbuilding. I plan a long series of intermediate exploration of narrative structures. We will see if it offers value.

Reddit is my next big interest, since I see it as a hub. Every post I make can be linked to from my subreddit. This may draw people into my community. At least it is simple and easy.

Discord offers a similar benefit to Reddit, but I find that a tedious proposition. Though it can be a fun diversion to speak with others, I should be working. And that is the reality of it.

Simily is still my main choice for posting serialized content, but I am not yet approved to write for them. Hopefully, this will happen, sooner rather than later. If not, I will make use of Kindle Direct Publishing, or their serial program. I want to stay away, if I can. There are several concerns, costs, and hurdles. It is far harder to stand out in such a space, which sets me back.

Steem is another possibility, and one I want to pursue, but I fear I may already be taking on too many obligations. Depending on how the workload feels, or if another option is no longer valuable, I will post to Steem. This is my backup.

Now, that is all nice, but what about the writing. I am going along with the final draft of my novel, Hat Trick. And I am speeding through my serialized content for Sul - Savage Lands. The latter is developing well, and I am several posts ahead, since I have no place to publish them. That may be to my benefit, if I suffer a tight schedule. It is always nice to have a few spare posts or articles to keep a consistent issue of content.

Anyway, that is that for today.