Simily at 21
The ups and downs of growth on a new writing platform
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I’ve been writing at Simily since January and regularly chronicling my experience there here on Medium.
21 weeks is a fair amount of time to participate on a platform and evaluate the experience.
Here’s my review: Simily has tremendous potential. There’s good writing there, there’s some engagement, and the platform is growing slowly and steadily.
Yes, you can earn money there — though there’s a fair amount of work involved in getting readers.
The founders have been responsive to writers and are taking steps to make improvements. This includes finding ways to highlight and showcase writers on the platform.
In fact, prolific Medium writer Abena Talks has been writing on Simily for about the same amount of time. In her experience, she’s been making $10–$15 a month there. That’s definitely enough to cover the monthly membership fee and still have a coffee each month.
Writing on Simily: 6 Months Later, is it Worth it? | by Abena Talks | Jun, 2022 | Medium
Sure, there are frustrations. The site uses a WordPress platform and can be glitchy. But changing hosting platforms is one of the promised changes — as soon as the site generates enough revenue. Frankly, I’d love to see an investor front the cash for this switch.
I think a big reason some writers join and then leave Simily is because the platform is sometimes slow to load and can be challenging to use. Moving to a more user-friendly interface would help keep writers around and encourage new writers to join.
The other piece that needs more work is promotion. Simily should borrow a page from Vocal and promote the site — a lot more. There are plenty of people who enjoy reading creative writing — Simily needs to find them and get the writing in front of them.
In case you’re curious, here’s my most recent piece on the platform:
What’s your Simily experience? If you’ve been on for a while, what are some ways you’ve found to engage your audience?
