I write on this blog weekly. Nobody edits me. Nobody tells me to “soften the tone” or “add more tactical takeaways.”
I also pitch articles to other publications. They have editors. Standards. Opinions about what their audience wants.
Sometimes they publish them. Sometimes they send polite rejection emails that say “not quite right for us” which means “too weird” or “too honest” or “we already published something about onboarding last month.”
Here’s the ones that made it through:
HackerNoon
HackerNoon likes tactical breakdowns of why things fail. I like writing about why things fail. Good match.
Featured as a Top Story. Reached 2,407 people in three weeks. Apparently “your pricing page is a confidence problem, not a design problem” resonated.
This one got featured in their newsletter twice. Spent 9 days on the homepage. Translated into 12 languages. Made trending.
If you think your pricing page is “just design,” this will probably annoy you. (Good.)
About why forcing users through seven setup steps before they see value isn’t onboarding—it’s ransom.
“Click here to unlock the product you already paid for” is not a value proposition. It’s a hostage negotiation.
Feature bloat isn’t innovation. It’s debt compounding.
Every new feature makes the navigation harder to scan. Every new capability makes the old ones harder to find. Nobody wants to be the PM who says “we should remove features.” So they don’t. And products get worse while looking busier.
The gap between “works correctly” and “feels like it works.”
Your feature technically succeeds but users think it failed. The error message is accurate but sounds like blame. The loading state works but looks frozen.
Technical correctness doesn’t matter if perception says you’re broken.
Medium
Medium’s Product Coalition focuses on team dynamics, hiring, and the messy human parts of building products. Less “here’s a framework” and more “here’s why your team is struggling.”
The myth that designers need to be therapists, diplomats, and mind readers to work with “difficult” stakeholders.
You don’t need better soft skills. You need better clients. Or at least clients who don’t think “Can you make it pop?” is actionable feedback.
Why hiring only “senior” or “the best” designers creates teams that can’t function.
When everyone’s overqualified, nobody wants to do the unglamorous work. Your team of 5 senior designers all want to “lead strategy.” Nobody wants to fix the button states.
Credential inflation is expensive. And it doesn’t make better products.
Peerlist
Peerlist is for designers and developers trying to figure out their careers without the LinkedIn motivational-poster energy. Real talk about what actually works vs. what sounds good in courses.
The lie that learning more UX skills will make you more employable or better paid.
You don’t need another course on design systems. You need one client who trusts you enough to let you fix their broken product. Skill stacking is a marketing strategy for course creators. Not a career strategy for designers.
Why I Write for Other Publications
Reason 1: Instant audience
My blog gets some 20-40 visitors a day. HackerNoon gave me 2,407 readers in three weeks. Math is math.
When you write on your own site, you’re building an audience from zero. SEO takes 6-9 months to matter. Content compounds slowly.
When you write for an established publication, you borrow their audience. You get immediate reach. Then those readers either come find your blog or they don’t. Most don’t. That’s fine.
“I wrote a blog post” means nothing to skeptical clients.
Reason 2: Editorial validation
“I wrote a HackerNoon Top Story that got featured twice in their newsletter” means something. It’s a credibility signal. Third-party validation that you can write, think clearly, and say something worth reading.
Is it fair that external validation matters more than the quality of your own work? No. Does it matter anyway? Yes.
Reason 3: Better writing
Editors make you better. Not because they “fix” your writing. Because they force you to clarify.
“Is this point clear?” “Does this example land?” “Can you cut 200 words?”
These are uncomfortable questions. Your own blog doesn’t ask them. Editors do. And your writing gets sharper because of it.
Reason 4: Constraints breed creativity
Every publication has a style. A tone. An audience expectation.
HackerNoon wants tactical. Medium wants team dynamics. Peerlist wants career reality.
Writing for their constraints makes you adapt. You learn what works for different contexts. You get better at matching message to medium.
Your own blog has no constraints. Which means you can ramble. And sometimes you do.
Reason 5: It’s marketing that doesn’t feel like marketing
I don’t run ads. I don’t sponsor newsletters. I don’t buy LinkedIn impressions
I write useful articles that solve real problems. Publications share them with their audience. Some readers come find me. Some become clients.
That’s marketing. It just doesn’t feel gross because I’m not interrupting anyone. I’m helping them fix their broken pricing page or understand why their onboarding sucks.
I write what I’d write anyway. Then I pitch it to publications where it might fit. If they say yes, great. If they say no, it goes on my blog.
Either way, the work exists. And the work matters more than where it lives.
If You Liked Any of These
You’ll probably like the rest of this blog. Same voice. Same opinions. Less editorial oversight.
More boundary-setting. More uncomfortable truths. More calling out things nobody wants to admit.
The difference: on my own blog, I don’t have to soften edges or add “practical frameworks” to make editors comfortable. I can just say the thing.
Which sometimes makes it better. Sometimes makes it worse. But it’s always honest.
Want to republish or translate any of these? Email me. I’m reasonable about it.