How to Publish to Medium & Substack from One Platform | Narrareach Blog

Most writers don't struggle with writing.
They struggle with distribution.

You finish a 1,500-word piece that took hours to polish — only to spend another 10–20 minutes copying and pasting it to Medium and your Substack newsletter. You wrestle with formatting glitches, broken embeds, and images that don't render. By the end, it feels less like publishing and more like busywork.

That's the daily grind for creators who want reach and relationship. But it doesn't have to be that way — especially if your toolchain works with every platform, not against them.

Why Medium & Substack Are Complementary Pillars

When you understand why writers use both, you see the gap tools should fill.

Medium is a discovery engine. It surfaces content via tags, stats, and algorithmic feeds — where many new readers stumble upon your work.
Substack is about ownership: you publish into a subscriber inbox, nurture relationships, and monetize via paid newsletters.

Many creators publish on both. But these platforms don't "play nice." Their editors, layouts, and publish flows differ. That's where manual effort creeps in — and productivity drains away.

The Hidden Costs of Cross-Posting

Let me break down what you really lose when you do this manually:

Formatting drift
What looks clean in Medium often breaks in Substack: lists, blockquotes, syntax highlighting, embedded media — all may shift or vanish.
SEO friction & duplicate content
Unless you add canonical tags pointing back to your "source" version, you risk Google viewing your reposts as duplicates.
See Buffer's guide on repurposing content for a deeper dive.
Time bleed
Even if you're fast, every cross-post steals 10–15 minutes per article. Over 50 articles a year, that's ~12 hours lost.
Metadata mismatch
Tags in Medium don't map to newsletter categories; publishing dates and author info might clash. The reading experience feels inconsistent.

When these costs stack, many creators stick to one platform — sacrificing reach or engagement.

The Unified Publishing Workflow — What It Should Do

Imagine writing a piece once and letting the tool handle:

Medium version with canonical link
Substack version as email + web view
Correct formats for images, galleries, code blocks
Auto-tagging, alt text, SEO snippets

All that while you never leave your main editor.

That's what NarraReach enables — turning distribution from a chore into part of your creative flow.

Behind the Scenes

When you "Publish to Medium & Substack" via NarraReach:

It generates a Medium story request and sets canonical metadata.
It sends a Substack email draft / post version with correct formatting.
If you include non-standard blocks (code, embeds), it maps to platform-safe equivalents.
It can stagger pushes (e.g. Substack immediately, Medium later) to maximize SEO + feed ranking.

Think of it as orchestration across environments — one push, multiple pipelines.

Best Practices to Get Cross-Posting Right

Pick a "source of truth"
Usually Substack, your blog, or your NarraReach draft — always publish from that.
Canonical tags are non-negotiable
Links like rel="canonical" help search engines understand which version to index. Learn more in Google's SEO guide.
Stagger timing for first mile / second mile
Publish first to your base (newsletter), then push to Medium 12–24 hours later.
Tailor your intro or hook per channel
Slight rewrites for Medium vs Substack can improve engagement.
Monitor engagement per platform
Track click rates, reads, replies. Let data inform where you push heavier.

Use Case: A Senior Dev's Leap

I worked with a senior engineer who wrote weekly deep dives.
Every Monday: published on Medium.
Every Wednesday: manual copy to his Substack.
But the engagement piece couldn't keep up — formatting went off, some links broke, and replies got fragmented.

Once he switched to NarraReach, his process became:

Draft in NarraReach editor →
Click "Publish Everywhere" →
Substack and Medium versions published w/ canonical tags and matching SEO metadata.

He regained 5 hours weekly. His newsletter open rate stayed high, and his Medium claps started pushing new followers.

Why This Tool Matters for Writers

Writers don't want to be engineers. They want to write.
But distribution has become part of the craft. You deserve a tool that lets you focus on message, not manuals.

NarraReach connects Medium, Substack, Ghost, Beehiiv, and more — so you can write once, reach everywhere.

Try NarraReach

Get early access to NarraReach. See how your articles can publish beautifully across every major platform — without losing formatting or SEO integrity.