Yesterday something special happened.
A bunch of the Club writers—many from Medium—joined together for a live Substack masterclass inside the Online Writing Club experience with the amazing
. She’s a tribe member, Substack Notes bootcamper, and runs two publications on Medium:Pink Hair & Pronouns
Three Imaginary Girls
Also, she’s an editor for Age of Empathy, the Memoirist, and Black Bear.
And let me tell you, this masterclass felt like a peanut butter and jelly moment because I think that Medium and Substack belong together—like peanut butter and jelly.
Even though I’m a non-native living in Germany (where peanut butter & jelly isn’t really a thing; but my kids love it!), the message was clear:
these two platforms don’t compete—they complement each other.
Medium is great for getting started with a blog, earning your first dollars writing online, building an audience of followers (which is a vanity metric!, check out my interview with
for more)
and generating leads.
Substack is great for building an email list, finding your tribe, creating a (deeper) community, earning recurring revenue, becoming (if you dare and it feels right for you, a multimedia writer (video, podcasting, live, voiceover…)
Together? They’re like peanut butter and jelly.
4 Juicy Highlights From Our Medium-Substack Flywheel Masterclass
Based on a 1-2-1 after the Notes Bootcamp, Dana and I hosted this session to help Medium writers get on Substack. For this, Dana sent me a list of questions I answered during the session. Dana kept track of the chat and also added her perspective.
Our goal was to motivate Medium writers to start their Substack with confidence and to understand they can grow an email list (which is healthier than chasing followers), build deeper connections, and make more money—by adding Substack to their toolkit.
Whether you missed it or want a quick recap, here are 4 juicy highlights you’ll find when you watch the replay 👇
#1 Peanut Butter & Jelly (Medium + Substack = Perfect Combo)
Medium is where many of us got our start. It helped us find our voice. But your audience there? You don’t actually own it.
Substack gives you an email list you control, direct connections with readers, and way more flexibility. Plus, you can really connect with your audience on a deeper level. Direct messages and chat are great tools, to mention just two of Substack’s growth and community-building tools.
So our tip is: Don’t choose one or the other. Use both. They feed into each other. They boost each other.
Also, if you’re on Substack thinking about Medium, join the platform and repurpose your writing there so more people can find it.
#2 What’s a Medium-Substack“Content Flywheel”?
We explained it like this:
A content flywheel is when everything you publish feeds into the growth of the next piece.
That means:
A Medium article can drive followers to Substack and convert them into subscribers
A Substack story can be repurposed on Medium
A short note can tease a longer Substack or Medium post
A sentence highlighted on Medium can be shared on Substack Notes as a short form post
One piece of content can get chopped into many smaller pieces.
Each piece builds momentum for the next.
It’s not about doing MORE. It’s about using and sharing what you have so more can find and see it.
#3 How to Migrate Your Medium Followers to Substack
If you’re on Medium, you probably have followers. But what really matters is email subscribers—those are the ones you can take with you.
I walked through how to:
Export your Medium email list
Import it to Substack
A few writers in our community used this strategy, imported their Medium subs, and saw good growth—going from 0 to hundreds of email subscribers and paid supporters in just a few months.
Exporting your subs and bringing them to Substack isn’t a bad thing. It’s nice to keep your list engaged. However, it’s important to communicate it.
How and when we discussed during the session.
#4 Why Going Live Helps New Writers
Dana is new to Substack. What I love about her is that she’s experimenting a lot and really taking action.
The Bootcamp boosted her confidence, and now she’s sharing posts on Substack Notes, going live, confidently repurposing stories, and growing joyfully.
Dana will soon share a guest post but here’s a teaser from our masterclass:
“We started at 99 subs. After just a few livestreams, we were over 150. Almost all came from the live sessions.”
When you go live on Substack:
Your followers get notified
People see your face and hear your voice
It builds trust fast
If you’re collaborating with others, their audience will see you.
Even if you feel nervous, even if you don’t think you’re “ready,” lives help you find your people.
We’re not meant to write in isolation (or into the void).
Substack is the place to FINALLY build a lovely community around your topic - beyond “just” comments as on Medium.
I always say:
The magic is in the lives.
Honestly, I expected NO ONE would show up when I first went live EVER!
But guess what happened, almost 200 others tuned it because they were excited to “meet” me.
Here’s more:
If you’re curious, I’ll host a LIVE MASTERCLASS on April 7 11 am PT/2 pm EST and also invite you to go LIVE with me during the session. I’ll add you then via the Substack app and you’ll get a notification.
Also, you’re getting a GET LIVE ON SUBSTACK checklist from me!
Other Hot Topics We Discussed
Why follower counts are vanity metrics (and what to focus on instead)
How to cross-post stories on Substack
The difference between Chat and Notes
The difference between LIVE and Podcast
Why Substack Notes is amazing and you should be there
What makes a great newsletter name and why it matters more than you think
And why Substack’s new leaderboards aren’t great for your nervous system 😅 and what to do about it
If You Want To:
Build a loyal audience off of Medium
Grow your email list and income
Set up your flywheel
Then you’ll love this session (and all paid perks, the community, Substack course and Medium course + live masterclasses + all replays when you become a paid member!. Upgrade today and get 40% off as we’re celebrating 12,000 subscribers together.
And if you were there live—thank you for showing up, asking great questions in the chat (Dana and I will offer a follow-up session!
will join us too), and building this bridge between platforms with us.
Go beyond words. Own your writing. And build your flywheel.
P.S. Let me know in the comments: Are you using both Medium and Substack right now? Or are you still deciding which direction to go?
