Member-only story
Simily by the Numbers
Earnings and engagement on a slow growing platform
It’s been ten weeks now since I started writing on Simily. I’ve been updating here every week — sharing my experience writing on what started as a fiction forward platform.
This week’s update includes two milestones. First, I now have more than 100 followers. Next, I have my first story to earn more than $1.00 on the platform.
Here’s that top-earning story:
Yes, these numbers are relatively low. That’s really the point at this point — growth on Simily is very slow. They now have around 3200 members. Why haven’t they grown more? I’d say it is because they aren’t promoting themselves a lot — certainly not the way a platform like Vocal has.
Second, I’d suggest that the site “issues” discourage writers from joining or encourage writers to leave after they’ve enjoyed “free” month.
What are those issues? Well, the site loads somewhat slowly. When there has been a surge of members, the site has gone down at times. The founders have been soliciting feedback about how to improve, but change has come about slowly.
I suspect many potential writers are taking a “wait and see” approach to Simily. It’s certainly possible they’ll use the feedback to make meaningful changes that will improve the experience.
The bottom line: You can earn money from publishing fiction on Simily. The platform’s founders are at least talking about making upgrades that, if implemented, will make the platform more attractive. There is some engagement — and, at least in my experience, you’re getting feedback from other writers of fiction.
I plan to say on for now. I also plan to continue republishing my Simily pieces here on Medium. While fiction seems to sometimes struggle at Medium, my “Birds of Pray” piece remains a top-10 earner among my stories here.
In case you’re curious, here’s my most recent piece on Simily:
Are you publishing on Simily? What are your thoughts so far? What other platforms/venues do you use for publishing fiction?
