Marketing
Lists are a Better Idea Than Publications
We would all be so much better off if we used lists instead of publications
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I am not a fan of Publications.
Consider that your post can only be in one publication, but could be in hundreds or even thousands of lists. Consider what that does for discoverability.
For example, I have a list “Good Stuff From Other Authors”. When I read a post that I think is exceptional, I add it to that list. Let’s say it was one of your heart-warming posts about, oh, let’s just say Labrador dogs.
Let’s assume that my opinion of your piece is shared by another author. Let’s say it’s shared by many other authors. Each of them has public lists where they add your story. Some of them are lists about pets, some about dogs, some specifically about Labradors, some are for touching stories. Your stories chances of being seen will have increased markedly over being put in one single publication.
Discoverability magnified
People who are interested in any kind of pet may see your story. People who only care about Labradors might. People with no particular interest in dogs at all may find it in that “Touching Stories” list.
Authors who create exceptional lists would benefit by getting more traffic, just as popular publication owners do now.
These lists have all of the benefits of publications and none of the problems or limitations.
But it gets better — much better
It would be easy to transition a publication to a list — or lists. As there is no way to follow or subscribe to a list at this time, the publication would provide those features, but stories would not be added to the publication directly. Instead, the publication would have a story or story within it that contained lists.
I know, that’s not easy to visualize. Let me explain.
Let’s say I have a publication “Tony’s Tech Corner”. In it, I might have a story called “Apple Lists” and another called “Programmer’s Lists”. In the “Apple Lists” story, I might have a list for Macs, one for iPads, and so on. The “Programmers…
