At 300 posts, a roundup of my recent writing on Medium
An index to some of my recent writing here
This is officially my 300th (listed) post on Medium. So to continue a tradition I started when I hit a previous posting milestone, here’s a roundup of what I’ve been writing about recently here.
A Publication About Living In Jerusalem
My Medium publication about living in Israel (entitled Living in Israel) continues to slowly accrue followers.
Because I’m also passionate about Jerusalem specifically, I created a separate publication to house my writing — past, present, and hopefully future — about how to make the most out of living in this interesting city. It can be found here.
My other publication about freelance writing continues to increase in following — and if you feel like contributing there are now guidelines for those interested in adding their voice to the information repository.
Some Photos From My Time Living in Israel
This year I want to learn how to become a YouTuber. My interest is primarily hobby-based although I’m also looking at doing more professional activities in the realm of video production.
To mix up the type of content that I share here a little, I recently authored this run-through of some images from my personal library collected over the course of my time living in Israel.
Why I Haven’t Monetized This Medium Account (Yet)
I’ve been thinking about content marketing a lot recently and consuming tons of great material.
I’m never shy to share contrary opinions. Which is why — despite the fact that I could probably make a side income stream by doing so — I haven’t (at the time of writing!) actually monetized my writings here.
Dealing With Fans, Haters, And Bullies As A Writer
I recently received some fairly nasty online abuse on Reddit.
This got me thinking that — as one shares their ideas with the world — one is likely to also encounter dissent, pushback, and abuse.
This is the type of thing that they don’t teach you in journalism school (trust me, I went!).
This is my synopsis of the four types of reader you’re likely to encounter once you’re writing starts getting read at scale (note: I consider myself very early on in this journey, but not so early that I haven’t encountered all of these archetypal characters!)
Speaking of scale and growing as a writer, here are a few tips on how to do that.
Housekeeping: Keeping Medium (And Reddit) Backed Up
I’m pretty diligent about taking backups and hate the thought that any of the writing that I put effort into, and share on the internet, could one day vanish into thin air.
If you’re interested into how to back up your Medium.com and Reddit accounts specifically, then check out these recent guides.
(As I point out in the Medium article, at the time of writing, images aren’t included in the Medium Zip export so you should back these up separately).
The Power of Inbound Marketing
There are two themes that I’m passionate about at the moment, one personal and another professional.
On a personal level, I’ve been reading a lot about authenticity. Becoming more transparent and honest is a constant objective of mine — and I think that one has to be authentic and honest in order to resonate with readers.
On a professional level, I’m very excited by the power of inbound marketing. Having led an outbound-centric writing business for the past few years, I’m now transitioning to relying primarily in inbound for my lead generation and pipeline development.
The beautiful thing is that these two concepts intersect. Inbound marketing, in effect, rewards authenticity. When you open up about yourself (or your business) you create valuable writing that resonates with the right audiences. And when that happens, you attract them into your sales funnel.
More on why I think for freelancers in particular inbound marketing is such a powerful concept:
Is Six Figure Culture Sharing Ordinary Income Earners?
I’ve spent a lot of time talking in America-centric online communities, particularly those involved in the world of marketing.
One feature that always baffles me is (what seems like) the American obsession with “earning six figures.”
At the risk of offending some family members, I wanted to open up a question: is this tendency to use “six figure” incomes as a surrogate for success shaming those who don’t hit that threshold — like yours truly (ATTOW*)— from feeling proud of their otherwise satisfactory incomes?
This was my attempt to parody the kind of discourse that often centers itself around the vociferous six figure earners.
(ATTOW = At the time of writing. I’ve begun throwing this in almost everything I write, but life changes quickly.)
How To Create A Fake Online Identity
Disinformation is emerging as a massive trend particularly given the rise of deepfakes and other manifestations of AI’s increasing ability to blur the lines between fact and fiction.
I’ve also been doing a lot of thinking about online anonymity. Should we allow online anonymity at all? In light of my recent experience on Reddit, I’ve shifted in the direction of those who are strongly opposed to unfettered online anonymity.
I believe that the social networks of tomorrow are going to have to do more to stamp out cyberbullying and abuse — and preventing entirely anonymous signups might be part of the solution.
How To Contact Me
I use both regular email and PGP (end to end encrypted email).
As my Medium account is slowly picking up followers and engagement, I wanted to have a page to direct those reading my articles to in order to get in touch with me should they wish to for any reason.
