My Perspectives of News Break. Sharing my personal experience and…
By: Dr Mehmet Yildiz
Tags: Writing, Technology, Self Improvement, Entrepreneurship, Freelancing

Probably you heard a lot about the recent News Break mission for creators.

It created a sensation among the writers and freelancers.

With an open mind, I joined the bandwagon because the offer was too good not to pursue.

In this story, I want to share my experience, observations, and insights gained from fellow writers on News Break. Information I provide in this article is publicly available. I don’t want to share contractual information due to confidentiality agreement.

As you may know from my stories, I always keep my neutrality for platforms, products, or services. I don’t condemn or endorse them. I see them as they are.

Therefore, this story is not a sales or marketing pitch but information to empower writers whom I care for deeply.

Like many writers, I applied to News Break using an application form provided by one of our writers.

My Initial Dilemma

Even though I applied at the same with many writers a month ago, my friends received approval within a week. I was worried about why my application took so long.

It was a ridiculous reason. News Break accepted my application and sent several email messages requesting me to start in the program. However, all emails from News Break went to my Spam folder, including 50,000 plus messages. I am oversubscribed and the poor Gmail, like any mailing system, struggles with the diverse emails coming from every part of the globe. But I know it is protecting me.

A wise friend advised me to check my spam folder. Bang! All messages from News Break was there. I felt stupid, of course. But I took immediate action. I signed the creator program contract.

The support team was responsive and resent it within 24 hours with clear instructions. I am grateful for the service they provided.

The Publishing Process

The publishing process is a breeze.

News Break provided a link to my profile. It took me only a few minutes to update my profile.

The link to the publishing dashboard was easy to start submitting my stories.

The dashboard is well designed and intuitive.

You can create a story with ease. The story board has essential tools.

Content Creator Guidelines

I read the terms and conditions in the Content Creator Guidelines and Agreement, which are similar to other platforms.

I cannot go into details for confidentiality reasons. But as public knowledge there are a few points which can be useful for the new writers to consider.

Your stories need to be a minimum of 1,000 words. As you remember from my previous stories, it is 600 words for Vocal Media. And Medium does not have any restrictions.

Each story must have at least one picture credited to the source. All platforms require this. We are extremely sensitive about this on my publications.

Extract from other sources must be cited. Every platform on earth requires this.

They expect original content written by you, not others. I have never seen a platform which accepts plagiarized content. Have you?

As you can see, these are similar requirements from writers on all platforms.

This means that you can transfer your writing skills to News Break easily.

Perks for Creators

There are many benefits for writers.

You can find incentives from this publicly available link.

I will not go into details as many writers cover them.

For example, a comprehensive story was by Tim Denning published on Better Marketing titled The Brutal Truth About News Break for Writers. Tim provides details in this story and compares both platforms neutrally.

Even though some criticizes Tim’s content, I agree with every point Tim does in this article based on my experience with News Break and Medium. As you may know, Tim is a superstar on Medium, LinkedIn and several other social platforms. He is a source of inspiration for many of us. From my observations, Tim will shine on News Break as well since he shares high quality and high-impact stories that matters to individuals and society.

My Initial Experience with News Break

Let me share how my stories perform within 24 hours.

I submitted around ten stories on Saturday.

All of them were published within 24 hours.

The stats on the profile do not refresh, I guess within 24 hours, but the creator dashboard refreshes frequently and shows actual impressions, page views, and shares.

My first story performed beyond my expectation.

It was a story I published on Medium and refined a bit to make it appealing to the News Break readers.

Here is the story which received 32K+ impressions in a few hours.

This is an outstanding performance for me because when I published similar story on Medium earlier this year, I received around 20 views and was not distributed to topics. However, News Break distributed it to Beauty & Fashion topic.

Only after my sharing my Medium story in my circles in social media, the story was indexed by search engines and turned to be a reference material. I received around 5K views on Medium, but the views came through my efforts. My story did not earn income since external sources generated the traffic. By the way, receiving views and reads are more important than earning income for me, so I am still grateful for Medium to host my story.

My second story on News Break also performed well.

News Break distributed my second story to the Health topic immediately. The similar story I published on Medium was not curated even though my discerning readers adored it. It remained as a mystery to many of my readers why Medium did not curate this story.

If you want to read my stories on News Break, you can follow my account. I write about health, mental health, leadership, technology, and content marketing. I will be posting many stories to empower writers on News Break and other platforms as I did on Medium.

Other Benefits for Creators

As an appreciation for creators, News Break also gives an affiliate link to the creators to bring more high-quality writers to their platforms.

If you haven’t applied yet, you can use the link they provided to me. This is the first affiliate link I use in my stories, so I do it with full disclosure here. I add this writer application form not just to get points from News Break but for convenience of our writers who what to apply for this program. Finding the link could be a challenge. It is entirely up to you to use it or not use it.

Diversifying our writing portfolio is essential for our survival.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be exclusive to any writing platform. They can change their terms and conditions at any time. As you may know, I also started writing for Vocal Media which brought me considerable benefits as discussed in this story titled Vocal Is Not Just For Money. You can check my Vocal Media profile to read my insights aimed for specific communities.

The only exclusive investments I make is on my mailing lists and my website.

I cannot control and influence my readers on other platforms, but I can do to my long term readers who are a fan of my content. They understand me and forgive the small mistakes I make like everyone else does.

By the way, News Break does not allow any action to calls on your stories. We cannot even add our mailing lists to our stories. However, we can add it to our profile page.

If you started writing for News Break, please remember to add a Follow widget as it must be done manually.

image screen capture by writer — follow DrMehmetYildiz on News Break

I did not know about this feature and overlooked adding them to my previous stories, but one of my mentors reminded me today as a useful feature.

How to Collaborate with News Break Writers

To help News Break writers, I created a Quora Space to allow them to share the links of their News Break stories. It is a public forum, and all News Break writers are welcome to participate. Please join the new Quora Space I created. One of the super News Break writers has already joined and shared her content.

For ILLUMINATION writers, I created a News Break channel on our Slack Workspace. All writers can share their News Break stories. You can learn about our Slack Workspace form this story.

I am impressed that many writers I follow on Medium write for News Break. One of the most inspiring ones is Matt Lillywhite, who has already gained 485K views publicly available on his great profile. I also found writers of our publication whom I closely follow such as top writers Sinem Günel, Rose Bak, Devin Arrigo, Tim Ebl, John Cousins and Jordan Mendiola who submitted an article to ILLUMINATION-Curated about his News Break experience yesterday. Jordan is an inspiring writer who leads the way and shares his experience generously.

I will compile many more stories in my publications and provide a reference point for our writers.

What If Your Application Declined

It is common.

News Break declined several applications at least in my circles. I helped a few friends to re-apply with relevant information. Some of them were accepted.

My understanding is that you need to present yourself as an entrepreneur, not just a content producer. Your application should convince them your content will be in demand, and you will be capable of bringing new readers to their platform.

I believe that News Break wants to recruit top writers who can take the responsibility of their content and audience. You need to talk to your walk.

If you need help, please contact me. I will help you with your re-application.

Conclusion

I attempted to introduce News Break Creator Program as an alternative for writers. Freelance writers need to diversify their writing portfolio. This post is not about condemning or endorsing any platform.

Each platform has its mission, strategy, and goals. We need to adhere to their rules to use their services. I enjoy writing on Medium, Vocal Media, and News Break. I also write for myself for my specific audience who consume my specialized content which cannot be found on public platforms. To achieve this, I use my mailing list and serve my tailored materials to a segmented group of readers.

Each platform has its pros and cons. The biggest pro for Medium for me is collaboration. Medium presented me the opportunity to connect with thousands writers and readers. I am grateful. I hope News Break and Vocal will do the same. I am optimistic and keep an open mind for opportunities.

Thank you for reading my perspectives.

I wish you the best in your writing career. Please always feel free to contact me when you need help. I am one message away from you.

How to connect with me

I established three significant publications supporting 6,500+ writers and serving 65,000+ readers on Medium. Join my publications requesting access here. You are welcome to subscribe my 100K+ mailing list, to collaborate, enhance your network, receive technology and leadership newsletters reflecting my industry experience.

I am on ILLUMINATION Slack Workspace.

I use Linktree to share my social platforms.

Connect with me on News Break.

Connect with me on Vocal Media.