Starting my Test Automation and Continuous Testing Newsletter on Substack
A more engaging newsletter.
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I am pleased to announce my Test Automation and Continuous Testing Newsletter on Substack: https://agileway.substack.com. Rest assured, I have no plans to abandon Medium. Consider this as an extra.
Why Substack?
Medium is a great platform to reach more audiences. I wrote these articles for my daughter to read, originally. To my surprise, 119 of my articles were featured in four leading software testing newsletters.
One problem with Medium, after analyzing the stats, is a lack of bond with my readers. Most of the ‘reads’ are ‘done’ on smartphones. My articles, in general, are practical and hands-on (on a computer). I have been looking for a way to engage a smaller group of passionate testers like me, doing real test automation and continuous testing. Substack, IMO, provides a better platform for that.
What are the advantages of Substack?
The main advantage is that I can perform actions based on the reader’s status.
- free
(access to free articles, and sections of the articles behind the paywall. It is worth becoming a free member) - paid member
(access to all my articles) - founding member
(showing support for my work)
Sometimes, I receive wrong intended feedback (typically from commercial testing tools or fake testers whose jobs depend on it). My promotion of absolutely free and open frameworks (raw Selenium and Appium, since 2011 at international software testing conferences) upset them. But I tend to respond to feedback, as you know, this can often lead to frustrations. On Substack, I can set “comments from paid members only”.
With a smaller group (paid members), I can have more interactions with real readers. I know Substack has a Chat feature and some upcoming ones (such as Podcast and Video, currently in beta), which I will explore.
Will you continue publishing articles on Medium?
Yes, but it will be less frequent. Right now, I have been publishing an article about every two days since this year, and I expect to keep that rhythm with my Substacker newsletter. On Medium, probably once per week, with content that is suitable for mobile reading.
If I subscribe to your Substack newsletter, will I be able to access all articles, including the ones already published on Medium?
Yes, Substack will have a complete set of my articles. At the time of writing, about 50% of my 256 Medium articles have already been ported to Substack. The remaining will be done within this month.
All articles except a handful of new ones are free to read, until the end of this month (November 2022)
Do you still have content to publish?
Yes, absolutely. Currently, I have 303 working-in-progress sitting in “Drafts”.
Besides adding/finishing the existing series:
- Selenium training workshop
- My innovative solution to … (test automation and CT)
- Refactoring
- Why Do Most UI Test Automation Fail?
- Chinese Idiom Stories for Software Professionals
- How to do X in Selenium WebDriver?
I have plans to start a number of articles in new series:
- Load Testing
- How do I do X? (design, debug, run,… tests)
- How to succeed technically as a MISV (Micro Independent Software Vendor)?
And of course, any new topics come up (from my work, consulting or raised by readers)
What about your existing articles on Medium?
All previously published articles will remain on Medium, so your saved article link won’t be affected.
I just paid my Medium membership for your articles!
Thanks for that. Medium membership is general and gives you access to all medium articles.
Again, all existing articles will remain on Medium, I will also continue to publish on Medium weekly (a better-than-average frequency).
Furthermore, If you decide to sign up for my Substacker newsletter, there are free ebooks (see below) for the Email subscribers of my Medium blog.
Complimentary eBooks for existing Medium members to subscribe to my Substack newsletter.
The below offers are valid until 2022–11–19. (expired)
Substack free member (no cost):
- Existing Medium Email Subscriber (before 2022–11–15)
(not necessarily a paid Medium member)
a free eBook “Practical Web Test Automation with Selenium WebDriver”
How: just subscribe on Substack using the same email.
Substack paid member (annual payment, $50/year):
- Existing Medium Paid Member via my reference (who signed Medium from my article)
2 free eBooks of your choice from my 12 eBooks.
How: just subscribe on Substack using the same email and contact me.
Substack founding member ($100/year):
- 5 eBooks and a 20% discount coupon for purchasing a TestWise license
($150 value) - one free 30-minute online mentoring session, on request. ($150 value)
I will send out the ebook (and TestWise) coupons 7 days after your sign-up.
