Yeah, so the best way I’ve found so far is to not frame the site as a means of making money (as I find that gets people's skepticism up) but as a community where more people will see and engage with their work.

My short pitch is currently:

1. It looks exactly like your post would look on Medium.

2. It functions exactly like your post would on Medium (i.e. you can share it through your social media accounts).

3. The incentive structure rewards well thought out comments and discourages abuse (especially relevant for me as I often like to talk about vaccines and there are certain corners of the internet that have issues with that). So the comment section is usually a lovely place to hang out.

4. There’s a chance that if enough people see and like your post you’ll be rewarded for your effort. For this to occur on your normal blog you’d have to monetize it somehow, and you’re probably not going to do that anytime soon and even then it would be for peanuts in comparison.

5. In short all you risk is your time, and if you gain nothing you’re still likely reaching more people with your work than you would otherwise.