You can publish your writing in so many different places. However, the place you need to publish your content is on your own website.

I’ve said this many times, but it bears repeating: Do not use social media or someone else’s publishing platform as your blog or author website.

A blog belongs on your author website. You can share the content on other sites, but your work should be published on your site first.

I know it seems easier to publish your posts, build an audience, and make money on sites that offer built-in audiences, like Medium or Substack. But easy isn’t always the best practice. To truly be a successful writer, author, and blogger, you need to publish your posts on your site.

Let’s discuss why this remains true.

The TikTok Example

So many influencers and content creators, such as authors, have made a name for themselves on TikTok. These people have also used TikTok as their primary income generator, either selling products and services via their site posts or driving people to their websites. For these individuals, losing this social media site means losing their income.

However, many writers also use TikTok as their primary social media marketing channel. They post on the site to gain followers and sell books and book-related products, like courses. But what happens if TikTok gets banned in your country? Your hard-earned audience and income generated by your presence on the site will be lost—unless your marketing strategy was to drive them to your website and subscribe to your mailing list.

According to Mashable, “In the U.S., a ban has been looming since last year, and a congressional hearing with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew has made many a headline. Come 2024 and the House of Representatives passed a bill, with overwhelming majority, that demands its parent company ByteDance to divest from the app—or face a ban in the country.”

Eleven countries have already banned TikTok, including:

• Afghanistan
• Australia
• Belgium
• Canada
• Denmark
• India
• Nepal
• The Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Norway
• Somalia

You surely realize that being dependent on TikTok—or any social media site—is a risky way to run your writing and authorship business.

The Red Room Example

But this is not the first time writers have lost their subscribers and content. You may recall a site called Red Room. This was “The Place for Writers”…until it was sold and shut down.

On July 18, 2014, Publishers Weekly reported, “Online writing and reading community Wattpad has acquired the Red Room, an online community originally described as a ‘Facebook for authors.’ The Red Room site will be subsumed into Wattpad and go offline beginning July 8.”

Writers were invited to migrate their content to Wattpad; most found that an undesirable choice. If they were quick, they might have copied all their content for use elsewhere…like on their own site. If not, their content and readers were lost.

My Lost Content and Readers

Twice in my blogging career, I’ve lost published content and readers.

In the first case, I served as a contributing writer to a site called The Future of Ink. For two or three years, the site owners published my posts monthly. Then, they decided to close the site. They supposedly archived the content, but I can no longer find it.

Also, I contributed to The Book Designer blog when it was still owned by the late Joel Friedlander. Once the site was sold, most of my content disappeared.

In both cases, I had the original documents saved in Microsoft Word. As a result, I could repurpose the documents for my own sites. However, I did lose my readers.

Keep Your Writing Eggs in Your Basket

Here’s the point: Any site you do not own can disappear. If you use it as your so-called blog, primary marketing tool, or income-generating strategy, when it leaves, it will take your content, followers, and income with it.

This is true of popular writing sites like Medium and Substack, too. Imagine you have built a large list of subscribers who follow and pay you for your newsletter or blog on Substack. Then, entertain the possibility that Substack shuts down for some reason.

What happens to your subscribers, content, and income?

Poof. Gone.

Do not put all your writing eggs in one online publishing basket…unless it is your own website and blog.

Maintain Control

I’m not saying that you can’t use such sites. Just don’t make them your primary publishing and marketing tool.

Create a self-hosted website you own and pay for. That ensures you retain control over your blog. You decide what to do with the site—sell products and services, run ads, publish video and audio, change the theme, and develop a mailing list of avid readers.

No one can tell you how to run your self-hosted website. You own it. You control it.

More importantly, no one except you can decide to shut it down. That means you never have to worry about losing your content and are always in control of what happens on and with your site.

Of course, when it comes to traffic, you are at the mercy of Google’s algorithms. But, if you do a good job writing posts that are on target for your audience and related to your books, that shouldn’t pose a problem.

Retain Followers

Your website is the best place to create an audience of raving fans. Yes, author platform consists of social media followers, email subscribers, and website traffic.

You must create an audience on at least one or two sites, like X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, or TikTok. However, building an audience on these sites should take a back seat to creating your email list, which you also own and control.

If one of the social media sites becomes unavailable or you are banned from using it for some reason, you will lose your followers. Some might seek you out on another site, but many will not.

There goes the author platform you built with such effort and care.

But drive them to your website to give you their email addresses in return for a lead magnet, and they remain on the list until they decide to unsubscribe.

Publish on Your Site First

Don’t get me wrong… I believe sites like Medium and Substack have their place and use. Contributing to other blogs also remains an effective audience-building strategy.

But if you are going to use other sites to showcase your writing, build audience, and even make money, post first on your own blog. Then, copy and paste or repurpose your content to another site.

Publishing on your own site first and then sharing it to others has been the Golden Rule for bloggers for as long as I can remember. Doing so lets search engines, like Google, know you are the original owner of the content. Then search engines send people searching for topics about which you write to your site…not some other site.

And this strategy lets you get the most bang for each word you write.

I recently asked a blogging and content marketing expert about repurposing content to sites like Medium and Substack. His reply was what I expected: Sure, use these sites, but always let readers know the good stuff is on your website and blog. Too many writers take the opposite approach.

Sustain Your Livelihood

Let’s say you publish primarily on your own blog. It’s also your practice to share a link to the post on social media sites. This strategy continues to be the best practice for bloggers, especially those who want to sell something or build author platform.

Think about it… Even ads appearing on social media sites send people who click on a button or link to a website. That’s what you do when you share the link to your post.

Once on your site, you can market to these readers in any way you like, such enticing them to purchase your book by featuring it prominently on your home page, on a tab in the navigation bar, or in the sidebar. You also can encourage them to join your mailing list and send them email marketing campaigns.

Do these things, and you will never have to worry about losing your audience or income if a social media site or Medium or Substack suddenly becomes unavailable.

Build Your Google Ranking

Of course, blogging on your own site continues to provide the best organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tool available. Every blog post contains tons of keywords that can increase your site’s ranking in the Google Search Engine Results Page for your topic.

Publishing content on another site will never get your blog and website to appear on the first page of a Google search.

Blogging is Not Dead

I read an email from a well-known blogger who announced he was moving his successful blog to Substack. If I recall correctly, his subject line said, “Blogging is Dead.”

I disagree. Blogging is alive and well and can help protect your content, author platform, and income. Plus, it can help you, your content, and your books become more discoverable in online searches conducted by new readers, literary agents, and publishers.

So, think twice before you use anyone else’s site—even a free one—as your primary blogging platform. I predict that in the long run, you’ll be happy you didn’t take the easy way out.

Do you use some site other than your own as your primary blog platform? Tell me in a comment below. And, please share this post with a writer who might benefit from reading it.

Photo courtesy of NejroN.