A publication is divorcing Medium and writers have to pick

Yes, there's a point, no matter where you write. CEOs keep showing us they don’t give a damn

Aug 26, 2022

Happy Friday,

Cue the Twilight Zone music, it’s been a weird week.

I was writing a piece about suggestions to improve Medium, so I listened to all three interviews with the new CEO, Tony Stubblebine. Wow, some real gems in there.

In one interview, Stubblebine said writers “can’t write on all topics.” I’d argue that copywriters do it all the time. I’ve written about soffit and fascia, for god’s sakes. And why diets backfire, and a lot of different topics. It’s what copywriters do.

A good writer can write about anything. They just research first.

In another, he said quality is a problem and publications are where writers will hone their skills. The interview was with Amardeep Parmar, founder of Entrepreneur’s Handbook, who told Tony they reject 95% of submissions. I’m not sure how getting a message saying “sorry, not a good fit” makes anyone a better writer.

Mostly it makes people bitter. Often, they complain. Sometimes, publicly.

Here was the biggest kicker. Stubblebine said “if you aren’t making enough, it’s not that you’re a bad writer. It’s that we don’t have an audience that would sustain you.”

That’s not paraphrasing, it’s verbatim.

Sorry. Wrong. This July, I had triple the views I had last July and earned the same, almost to the dollar. 21K views last July. 66K views this July. Same pay. It’s not the lack of audience. It’s the cut in pay-rate. Might need to write about that publicly.

And not just July. That same pattern, month after month. They cut the pay rate. Simple as that and I don’t know why they refuse to address it. Doesn’t matter, I guess. It’s their business and transparency or lack of it is their prerogative.

Finally, the biggest kick in the teeth.

I got an email from the founder of History of Yesterday, a publication I write for. He built the publication for true stories, told creatively. He said the publication has had tremendous growth and is getting over 2 million views per month.

He’s having problems with Medium.

First, there’s an ongoing piracy problem. Stories are being scraped from Medium repeatedly and they’re not doing anything to resolve it. Plus, recent changes to the algorithm don’t “favor” his publication. I’ve noticed that, too. In the past, all my posts in that publication got curated. Now it’s hit and miss. Mostly miss.

So he’s moving the entire publication to his own domain and seeking funding to pay writers. Basically, he’s divorcing Medium and writers have to pick. Go with him, or leave the stories free floating on Medium without his publication.

2 million reads per month. That’s what Medium will lose.

And me? I lose 50% of my Medium/writing pay. No matter which way I go.

If I go with the publication, there will not be pay until they *can* pay. And if I don’t, the stories that were in that publication will be homeless free-floating content that Medium’s new algorithm won’t like any better than it liked the publication.

There’s a point here, no matter where you write.

Every time I talk about Medium, it’s inevitable. A whole bunch of folk will show up to say they’re “just happy to have a place to write.”

Those same people probably don’t go to their boss and say they don’t really need to get paid, they’re just happy to have a place to work.

There’s a lot of hobby writers. And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with that.

But those of us who want more than that?

We need a strategy. Because CEOs keep showing us they don’t give a damn. Doesn’t matter if it’s stories on Medium, Vocal and Newsbreak or books on Amazon. We are a commodity. Cogs in the wheel, churning out words for whatever they want to pay.

Can’t speak for you, but I’m tired of it. So I’m thinking strategy.

Tell me if you’re interested in hearing more.

P.S. My new site is up!

Products aren’t live yet, but if you want a peek, it’s at StoryTellerDesign.co

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Thanks for reading. If you enjoyed this, click the heart to let me know. Hearts are how you tell me what to write more about. :)

xo,
Linda

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