When I found out about Simily — a relatively new publishing platform similar to Medium — , I thought it had the potential to fill a market gap, especially when it comes to fiction writers.

You can read my first impressions here:

About two weeks later, I had enough information and data to argue that, even though it’s still an in-the-works online environment, Simily is… well… almost dead.

My findings and early conclusions were shared by other writers, so this story performed very well on Medium, making me a top writer in the young Simily-focused niche.

Side note: In fact, “Is Simily Already Dead?” did so well that another writer, who presents herself as some sort of online writing and side-hustle guru and “done-it-all”, stole my title and wrote a very similar piece about a month ago. Not that my headline was a work of genius to start with, but you know how keywords and popular content work in terms of discoverability. Search “is simily dead” on Medium and see who you find. At least at this moment, the post is alive and kicking.

The reason I mention this is not to whine about stolen content but because I am tired of these people’s bullshit — stealing from everyone and calling themselves experts in everything. She is now the top writer for the Simily tag. Go figure… This particular writer made stealing — not only content, but other people’s success stories as well —, her go-to content creation method.

I wrote more about side-hustle/passive income “gurus” just like her, here:

Let me link these two parts of the post nicely…

How do I know the “writer” who borrowed my title took it from me and did not come up with it by herself?

It’s really simple… She is following me here and, more importantly, clapped for my third story about Simily:

By this time, I was already over Simily. I only published two stories, but the issues that I kept noticing made me choose to not host any of my relevant content over there.

But I was still hoping something would change…

The Timeline [not like anyone needed it, but just to keep things neat and tidy]:

Jan 12th — I joined Simily and posted two stories. Fiction.

Jan 16th — published the first Medium story about Simily.

Jan 24th — published the second story on Medium.

Feb 16th — published the third story on Medium.

A short journey, eh?

The Final Chapter

As you probably figured out from the title and featured image, I decided to leave Simily. No shock there. However, let’s wrap up things up nicely.

Final notes, stats, and results:

• Yet another stupid thing I discovered when I wanted to delete my account: you cannot. Not from the dashboard, anyway. I ended up sending an email, requesting the full removal of my account and associated data. I am still to receive a response.
• Prior to leaving the platform, I deleted the group I created. It was focused on flash fiction and it had about 20 members. Note: The group engagement was low in both frequency and quality, in the sense that most people only joined to drop the link to their posts and never engaged in any conversations with the other members. There are also no notifications when someone posts in a group, so even I ended up replying weeks after someone shared something over there.
• My account was active for two months and three weeks. I purposefully never promoted the content — exception, one single Reddit post, as I wanted to see what the platform can offer and decide whether a collaboration could be mutually beneficial. Under 100 people followed me there, just a handful read my stories.
• “Earnings” not even worth mentioning. Didn’t get anywhere near the payment threshold. But I will say one thing though: when I deleted my stories, the revenue went bye-bye with them. I wonder what would’ve happened if I stayed, published more stories, and decided to delete some of them? Would that potential income disappear as well?
• It is my observation that Simily’s team does not market the platform. At all. Maybe they connect with Medium writers since this is the only place where you can see people talking about the platform… but ads or other marketing efforts? Nonexistent.
• Overall, Simily was a really poor experience for me. I guess one could say that I could’ve done more before drawing a conclusion… To that, I would respond “why?”. Why put energy into promoting someone else’s platform? If I want to promote my content, I can host it on my own websites, and grow them as a result. Collaborations imply that all parties involved will somehow participate toward common success. In my opinion, Simily doesn’t bring anything to the table.

Final Thoughts

• Can Simily still be “the next big thing”? Anything is possible, I guess. However, I think that this platform was mainly considered by the founders yet another way to make money easily. Pyramid-style.
• Will I regret if it becomes “the next big thing” and I am no longer part of it? 100% No. It just wasn’t the environment for me. It would make me happy though if at least some of the really good writers who joined and put their faith in this new platform got the recognition and rewards that they deserve.

Thanks for reading and have fun, wherever you write!

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