I’m in the same boat. I’m a more casual writer, but I only manage 1-2 stories a month. My subscriber list is equally small and no, Medium does not work for that function. I’ve had a few stories boosted which paid well but that seems to have stopped (unknown why - I don’t understand the boost thing either).

In the end, I’m trying to ignore the FOMO noise around Substack. I am thinking about it and looking at other platforms. But the effort is not insignificant and the payoff is uncertain at best. I write to write. I love when other people read what I’ve written, even more when they engage. But I write to write.

This article (once you get past all the explanation at the beginning) has a good step by step on moving to Substack. It might be helpful. Perhaps I’ll see you there one day.

https://medium.com/illumination/how-to-start-substack-instantly-own-your-content-audience-effectively-81f6aaa4e7f7