I'm Back! My New Season on Substack Starts Now!
The Hillam Blog is springing back to life!
I’m always excited at this time of year as warmer weather arrives, trees begin to bud, and what has been dormant and at rest starts springing back to life.
That’s a good way to describe what’s happening with The Hillam Blog and Newsletter.
I created the publication in December 2022 and began writing mostly Hillam Happenings newsletters (rather than blog posts). That wasn’t what I had planned. But that’s the only content that seemed to fit since Substack did not turn out to be like a giant shopping mall for readers as I had hoped.
Why do I say that?
👉 We only gained nine new subscribers between January and July. 😞
Enter (and exit?) Medium
In July, I decided to give Medium — with its massive built-in membership of readers eagerly looking for content — a test drive. Wow! Right out of the gate, I had struck gold!
Suddenly, I began gaining followers daily, engaging with others, and even making a little money — something I had never done in my entire online writing life spanning decades. It was exhilarating, to say the least!
That’s when I transitioned our Hillam Happening newsletters to what it has been until now: mostly only a portal (via Friend Links) to my stories on Medium and not much more.
But as I explained in our February 2025 Update: The Valentine’s Edition newsletter, all is not well on Medium these days. Even for some top writers, earnings have decreased dramatically, distribution of our stories has been disheartening, and communication has been deficient. Needless to say, writers are not happy!
So I’ve been praying, and as always, He’s been showing me things.
Call to Me and I will answer you and show you great and mighty things, fenced in and hidden, which you do not know (do not distinguish and recognize, have knowledge of and understand). Jeremiah 33:3 AMPC
I don’t know how to explain it other than to say I’ve felt compelled to give Substack a second chance. Honestly, I was ready to shut it down more than once last year but couldn’t bring myself to pull the plug.
Am I ever glad I didn’t!
Substack Notes — the game changer
Substack brought out Notes — their X/Twitter-like social media feature — in March 2023. I tried using it some, but it was a mess in its infancy stage, and I gave up on it quickly.
Substack Help Center: Notes is a feature where writers can publish short-form posts and share ideas with each other and their readers. Through Notes, writers can share posts, links, images, quotes, and comments with their subscribers and the greater Substack network.
Since then, they’ve improved it significantly, making it an indispensable tool for writers like me who don’t come to Substack with a recognizable name or an unlimited pool of potential followers from another social media platform.
But it’s more than just a way to get my writing out in front of more eyeballs. It’s about being a part of a growing community and building relationships like I have on Medium — relationships that have developed into real friendships.
For example, here’s something that happened two days ago:
While drinking my morning smoothie, I opened Substack on my iPad, which automatically opens to the Notes thread on my Home Page. At the top of the feed, I saw that another Medium writer-friend,
, had written a new post, Where’d I Come From? Where’d I Go? - And What That Means For You. So I opened it and began to read.While reading, I grabbed (selected) a section of text I wanted to respond to, which opened a formatting tool that allows me to restack (share) it to my Notes feed. I then composed my response, tweaked the formatting to use her image, and created the note. This is what it looks like with her response a few minutes later:
On Medium, engagement with other writers only happens via responses (comments) to a story or article, and even though you can see interactions between the author and other responders, navigating the thread isn’t easy — and sharing it (other than copying and pasting into a new story) isn’t even an option.
Last month, Substack reached a new milestone: 5 million paid subscribers.
Undeniably, they’re doing something right. Given the current state of Medium, is it any wonder many writers there are jumping ship (temporarily or otherwise) and dipping their toes in the water to see if Substack might work for them?
What a moment!
Perhaps I’ve been positioned for such a time as this? With experience on both platforms and a strong desire to help others technically and in every way I can?
Yes, I think I may again be looking at a wide door of opportunity.
My plan going forward and what this means to you
Right now, because I want to show and not just tell, I need the personal stories and essays I’ve already written to live and be instantly accessible here, not just on Medium. Friend Links are no longer enough.
I also want to focus on three major topics or types of writing:
inspirational personal stories and faith-related essays
healthy living
writing, note-taking, and technical stuff
If you’re one of the 35 subscribers who have been receiving our sporadic emails over the past couple of years, you may see content you have already read under a different title and possibly slightly modified. Sorry about that. (You could read it again. Just a thought. 😊)
On the other hand, if you’re one of our 15 new subscribers, you’re going to get to catch up on what you’ve missed — right in your inbox. No clicking on a link required.
Am I leaving Medium? No. My only boosted story, How We Paid Off Our 15-Year Mortgage in 3 Years, is still going strong three months out with more than 12k reads and earnings nearing $2200. (Note that this is almost 9x what I earned in 2024 for all my 40+ stories.)
But my priorities have shifted and I’m now spending most of my time on Substack — especially Notes — and I don’t see that changing any time soon.
A final word to those on Medium
I published Substack or Medium — Which is Better? on Medium last August. In it, I stated unequivocally that Medium was a better fit for me and listed the reasons why.
Everything I said in that article still holds except for what I said regarding who Substack is a good fit for:
Writers with a following on social media or an already existing email list. This is essential because, with Substack, you are almost completely dependent on an externally based system for growing your followers.
With Substack’s improved Notes, this is no longer the case. And Medium is no longer a better fit for me than Substack. BOTH platforms have their strengths and weaknesses and I’m happy to be on both. For now, at least.
Cheers, everyone! 😊
Thanks for reading! If you have any questions or comments, you can leave a comment or simply reply to this email.
Oh, and if you’re tired of all the ads on Facebook and X/Twitter, I highly recommend you check out Notes on Substack. The conversations there are amazing — and you don’t even have to be a writer.
Pleasure to meet you here Sharon. I enjoyed your post, I was on Medium for a while but just for fun, and am new to Substack. I'm also connected with Jewel which is how I found you here. Looking forward to reading you. :--)
Very glad you decided to give Substack another go! After having some of my articles on M removed due to being "offensive" (not offensive at all - I was highlighting the satanic agendas at play in the world and how Christianty is oppressed) so I decided if that's offensive to Medium then I want no part of it anymore. But yet it's totally acceptable for M to allow certain agendas that go against Christianity to be pushed on us. That's not to say I won't use the platform again in the future, but I was unsettled by my experience. That's not to say Substack is perfect, but I've preferred it so far.