Why You Should NOT Publish With a Publication in 2025
Why self-publishing might be your next best move on Medium
My Medium friends can read this story on Medium as well.
Publications are still major players on Medium in 2025.
With the boost program, their impact might even be larger than previously. But as you evolve, self-publishing should become a focus point.
Here’s why!
Who Should Consider Self-Publishing?
First, let’s cover the basics. Because that’s important!
While self-publishing has some fantastic perks, it’s not the ideal route for everyone.
To reap its benefits, you should meet certain prerequisites:
1. You’re Not a Newbie.
Self-publishing doesn’t come with the built-in audience of a publication.
If you’re new and lack followers, your story might struggle to gain traction. Unless you hit the jackpot with a viral topic or get boosted, expect low views initially.
2. You Have a Follower Base.
Already have readers who engage with your work? Perfect.
Writers with established followings often find self-publishing much more rewarding because their readers follow them, not a publication.
3. You Have a Strong Portfolio.
The more stories you’ve written, the better. Even with a small collection of 20–30 articles, you can cross-link your posts, create “read more” loops, and keep readers on your profile longer, increasing visibility.
With a large cataloge of hundreds of stories, this makes even more sense.
4. You Don’t Write About Medium.
Medium’s distribution guidelines prohibit stories about the platform itself from being curated. If you want your post to get distributed widely, avoid discussing Medium in self-published content. Now, this isn’a huge deal. I still self-publish Medium-related content all the time. Just keep in mind that those stories won’t be distributed a lot.
5. You have a custom domain
A little more tech-nerdy here. If you have connected a custom domain to your Medium profile — that means your profile is found under its own web address, in my case
https://stories.byburk.net
— it makes a lot of sense to regularly self-publish, because this will grow your website’s domain authority score.
Why? Because your posts will live under your domain. If you publish with a publication, your posts will either live on Medium’s domain or the custom domain of the publication. In both cases, others benefit.
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Why Should You Self-Publish?
Once you’re ready, self-publishing opens doors to several unique benefits.
Let’s explore a few compelling reasons to take the leap.
1. Big Publications Don’t Accept Your Work
The first is obvious.
Rejection happens to everyone. Sometimes, your piece needs polishing; other times, it’s just not the right fit for a specific publication. S
elf-publishing lets you put your work out there without gatekeepers. No waiting, no issues.
2. You Control the Timing
Building on the previous point, when you publish through a publication, they decide when your post goes live. And waiting can really hurt sometimes.
Self-publishing lets you choose the optimal time to post, increasing the chances of reaching your audience quickly.
What the “ideal” time is, is another important question and depends on quite a few factors, like your location, your reader base, timezones, etc.
I won’t dive deeper into that today.
3. “Boost” Your Own Stories
Not the official Medium boost, unfortunately, but still.
When readers finish a self-published article, they’re more likely to see links to your other work in the “Read More” section below your story. This can lead to additional views and a stronger connection with your audience.
Some might bulk-read your stuff.
If you publish through a publication, the “Read More” section typically promotes the publication’s other stories — not yours.
4. Your Profile Stays Front and Center
When you self-publish, your bio, follow button, and subscribe options are prominently displayed below and above the story.
This visibility can help reach more readers, get clicks on your links, or even subscribe to your updates.
With publications, their bio takes over, directing attention away from you.
5. No rules*
*other than the Medium guidelines,
Publications often have quite a list of rules and requirements on content, structure, formatting, topic selection, links, call-to-actions, and more.
That’s not a huge deal, some of those requirements are useful. But others might hinder you in some way. You may want to include a few links to your other content, a specific longer call-to-action, or even some promotion for your digital products or other ventures.
Self-publish and you have all the freedom.
The Bottom Line
To close, I’m not saying you shouldn’t ever publish with a publication.
Quite the opposite. Publications are still a huge factor to be successful on Medium.
However, once you reach a certain readership and level of success, self-publishing comes with a few unique advantages.
It’s worth giving it a shot.
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This was super informative. I have considered publishing on Medium as well.
Thank you! I wondered about this and now have more info.