Show HN: Mead – how I'm pushing back against Medium

14 points by callahanrts 6 years ago | 9 comments

https://www.meadapp.com/

TLDR; Mead is a special case static site generator that automates the process of compiling and uploading to your S3 account.

Mead is a desktop application that combines the flexibility of static site generators (Jekyll, Hugo, etc) with Medium's ease of publishing. I created Mead because I wanted to write more and the present options put up too many obstacles.

Like many others, I don't like the experience Medium offers to readers. Modals and banners distract the user from engaging with the content and in some cases, prevents them entirely.

Static site generators are great in terms of their flexibility. They're the only way we can fully control what trackers and advertisements readers are exposed to. However, the writing process is a bit cumbersome. I often forget the commands I need to run, and I'd like to not have to run 3 git commands every time I notice a typo.

Mead, at its core, prioritizes simplicity. It was made so I could easily open up an app on my computer, write some text, add an image (automatically uploading to S3), paste in a code snippet, click a button, and have the whole thing public without any other effort.

Mead is also an experiment in creating a product that does not need advertisements or trackers to continue existing. My goal here is to fully respect the privacy of others. If I'm failing in some way, please gently point it out and I will make the necessary corrections.

If you have any comments, feedback, or feature requests, please feel free to reach out. My email is [my username] at gmail

dandigangi 6 years ago |

I don't understand pricing models that limit the amount of posts you can make. That literally stops the user from doing the thing that was the whole point of doing the thing.

(Yes, wrote that like that on purpose)

Cool that you launched and want to build a business 100% but reconsider your features vs cost design and the value you want to deliver. You'll have a lot better chance at building a solid platform to push back on the monetary building tactics Medium has been pushing the hard the past couple years.

Limit on things like custom domains, customization, or tack on features that aid in growth or marketing if you want to wrap cost up in gained features/value by paying.

callahanrts 6 years ago | |

Admittedly, limiting the free plan by posts was the laziest way I could keep from giving everything away for free. As the app matures, I'll be adjusting plan features and pricing to match what the market desires.

Thanks for your honest feedback and letting me know which features you find value in.

weego 6 years ago | | |

You need 'oh damn I didn't know I needed that' features to be able price something, that people can get elsewhere, in a way that makes a viable business. The market desires everything for nothing and always will so waiting on the market to inform you pricing structure is super risky.

timwis 6 years ago |

I agree with your sentiment and congrats on the launch. I have a few questions for feedback:

1. Why S3 rather than an entirely free service like netlify, github pages, or surge?

2. Isn't one of the main advantages of medium the discovery element? As a reader of medium, I get connected to articles from new authors based on my interests. As an author, readers are connected to me who may not have otherwise heard of me.

callahanrts 6 years ago | |

Thank you! These are great questions

> Why S3 rather than an entirely free service like netlify, github pages, or surge?

I wanted to start with something that was simple and scalable. At one point I tried using github for hosting, but managing commits got a bit complicated. There are also some limitations on repository size. Although it wouldn't become an issue for a long time if images were uploaded to S3 and the content to github, I would have had to integrate with multiple platforms.

I am open to adding additional hosting solutions, but I wanted to launch to get a pulse on what folks would like those options to be.

> Isn't one of the main advantages of medium the discovery element?

This is definitely one of the main values that Medium has to offer. It's also not the only reason people want to share their thoughts. I wanted to offer the flexibility to own your content and not be locked in to a platform (All HTML files for your site remain in your control). There are a lot of ways to promote your content, if Medium happens to work best for some folks, It could be a good idea to cross post on Medium.

As Mead evolves, I'm open to making promotion of your content on other services easier and in as many cases as possible, automated.

billconan 6 years ago | |

I too have the second question. My medium page got me more followers than any of my previous blogs.

ad404b8a372f2b9 6 years ago |

I was interested in trying it out as I already use Hugo + S3 for hosting with my own scripts but the added value is just not worth the cost and the free tier is not viable at all. By that I mean other online services that offer a free tier generally make it so it's a viable option with fewer features. Your free tier might as well be non-existent, none of your tech-focused audience is going to use a blogging service that allows them only 5 posts and no access to CSS.

I hope I don't sound too harsh, seems like a good idea overall.

quickthrower2 6 years ago | |

I’d replace the word “Free” with “Try it out” because it looks more like a tier to make sure it’s worth paying for rather than something you’d perpetually use. That way the plan can be kept tight.

That said, I’d consider opening up the free tier to be almost the same features as pro except you need to include the a “get Mead” banner on the site.

callahanrts 6 years ago | |

I appreciate your honest feedback, so thank you. The free plan is pretty locked down right now. I haven't really had the bandwidth to fine tune it so I wanted to start out more strict and loosen up, rather than going the other direction. I'm still tossing around the idea of opening up the free plan more and keeping a low-profile branded footer at the bottom of free sites.

Can I reach out to you for future feedback when I'm reconsidering plans?