Yes, there's a point, no matter where you write. CEOs keep showing us they don’t give a damn. As writers, if we want more than the crumbs they throw us, we need to start doing things a little differently.
Yup, sure is. It will stay at https://historyofyesterday.com/ same as it is now. Andrei has always had a custom domain, and when the new site is ready, he'll just dismantle the forward to Medium and it will exist on the same domain it always has. :)
I'm disappointed in this development. I don't fault History of Yesterday for moving to another platform, but I need to decide what to do with my content there. Thanks for the reminder.
Frankly, I think it's not a bad idea to diversify to begin with. I don't think anyone writing online should rely solely on Medium. My views are about the same as they were last year but my earnings, like yours, are way down. But a recent article I sold to a non-Medium publication earned more than several months' partner program totals put together. It was really eye-opening-- there are a lot more opportunities out there and Medium doesn't seem interested in matching them right now.
I have to decide, too. Every month, 50% of my Medium income is from the stories in History of Yesterday so that's a big hit. I'm emailing some ideas to Andrei that will help me figure out direction. I'd be really interested to know more about where you just sold writing to. lol. If you're game to share, feel welcome to email if you don't want to post it publicly. Just hit reply on the newsletter and it will reach me. :)
One. With problems like this, being writers leaving and Medium not having a consistent standard of rewarding writers ) I'm taking your article as the final word, or at least a well informed opinion) will Medium last? Will any of them last? Is the money enough to keep an owner interested?
And I agree with you. A columnist needs a variety of topics. When I see a columnist on a print paper covering the same thing all the time, I tune out.
Will any of them last... that's a good question. Maybe? I mean, there is no shortage of people on the planet and the vast majority have an opinion and are willing to express it.
Honestly, too many people don't grasp the idea of writing for the reader. It's not journalism so much as journaling. You know? So the bigger question will be whether it's worth reading and paying a monthly fee for. If monthly fees take a nose dive, they're going to be forced to reassess at some point.
I renewed my annual subscription for Medium, but... this might be the last time. We'll see.
The lack of transparency about cutting pay sucks. This, btw, is also why I'd never want to be in Kindle Unlimited long-term, there is little transparency about how they pay for page-reads, and only the top 100 titles and top 100 authors (who sometimes are scammers who gamed the system) get the Kindle Unlimited All-Star bonus payouts (a fact which is not well-known because Amazon doesn't advertise it, I only I know because David Gaughran reported it).
It really sucks when corporations do crap like the all star nonsense at Amazon. Christ, even Medium managed to be honest about their bonuses when they had them. Not much to misunderstand about the top 1000 most read. And they're not big on transparency.
Based on what Gaughran said, I don't envy the authors who get the Kindle Unlimited All-Star bonuses. Yes, they make a lot of money, but it's incredibly stressful. Some of them have to spend much/all of their bonus money on Amazon ads to stay in the top 100 as well... so the money goes back to Amazon.
Hey Linda, I agree with you that getting vague, uninformative rejections from pubs doesn't help anyone... I get that they are busy editors, but it would be nice to get feedback on how to improve (which we usually get from smaller and medium sized pubs).
Ugh yeah that sucks so much that you're working so hard, getting tons of traffic for Medium, yet they just keep cutting the pay rate... I have a friend here who is a very popular writer. He also mentioned that his earnings have been getting lower over the years, not because his writing skills have deteriorated, since they have actually improved. There are some lucky months where he makes enough to live on from Medium. But most months, he makes less than minimum wage, unfortunately. :(
I'm not sure what the solution should be. But I do wish that writers could be paid more fairly. Even the most amazing writers here are given so little money from Medium in return, sigh.
The crappy part is that if anyone is going to coach new writers and help them improve, it should be the editors who are getting paid under the table, not the ones that are volunteering their time free. You know?
That's a great point! The latter editors have to put in tons of time for free (meaning less time to write their own articles, too). There's too much pressure put on editors who don't even get paid. :(
I think more than a publication is about to divorce Medium. I'm getting very close to going myself. The only thing that seems like is on Medium is meta. I hate meta. I want real content. I don't want a puff piece about how great it is to write. That isn't real content. Anyway I do believe they have lost my business. I'm about to take my History of Yesterday content, as well as all my other content and move on. I have my own website. If I really want to write for a rag I'll just move on down the road to Forbes. You know, I write for myself and the people I know. I don't write for the greater unknown Internet. So yeah, Medium is a burning ship and my suggestion is moving on.
It's easy to think that Medium is made of meta, but my posts in History of Yesterday kick some butt as far as clicks and reads. Every time you see a meta post, if you click "see less like this" or mute the author, pretty soon you see a whole different Medium. For some people, it's easy to pick up the bat and ball and go home -- but for others, the pay really helps. You know?
I can relate, Denise. It's where I earn most, too. Half of my partner pay every month is from stories in History of Yesterday. Andrei seems to think they need to be on one or the other because of SEO, but technically speaking, they don't. Not if we set a canonical value to tell Google which to credit as the original. I'm happy to give that credit to History of Yesterday for all the work he did building the publication.
He said if we don't go along, they'll revert to being published under no publication so yes, you could attach them to other publications if they take pre-published stories. Or you could make your own publication to hold all of them. For that matter, a group of writers could even get together and make a publication for all their HoY stories.
All that said, I'm going to email him some ideas I have and see what he thinks. :)
Linda, I'll say it again. You have real reasons to move your historical articles to SS for at least $10 a month, or more! I'll sign up the minute you create that newsletter!
I'm collecting research for a newsletter I'll call ODDITIES. Once I have enough collected, I'll start writing that new newsletter.
And you, Precious friend, need to keep writing your incredible articles where readers reward writers and the platform supports writers, too!
Big business has never cared for the little people who made them into a big business. When I joined my father in his insurance agency he rold me, "Never forget the little homeowners' policies. Everybody wants to write big commerical policies, but it is the lttle people that keep us in business."
I definately want to see where you are going and how I can turn my writing into a business.
I was disappointed when I got the email from Andrei about History of Yesterday leaving. I think I'll follow them. I'm interested in hearing more about your strategy Linda.
It sounds like the fundamental problem of any business. In the case of Medium, you, the writer business, is relying on Medium, the platform business to connect you to customers (the readers). When the middleman changes the rules for connecting you to your customers, it affects your pay. It would be nice to have a consistent middleman that you could rely on to provide consistent income, but just like a factory in California is reliant upon different shipping middlemen to get the product to the customer in New York, if the shippers change their approach, the factory is going to have to adjust to keep getting product to the customer.
That was worth pondering over. Keep the stories coming please. Your newsletter is one place I'm sure to find reliable and in-depth commentary on what's happening on and with Medium, among other things.
Very valid points, well stated. I'm always interested in hearing more from you. :)
Thanks Dakota. :)
Yes! Hear more please!
lol. and as soon as I have more, I will share. Still pondering. :)
Is there a link where I could subscribe to H of Y in its new incarnation? I enjoy reading it very much.
Yup, sure is. It will stay at https://historyofyesterday.com/ same as it is now. Andrei has always had a custom domain, and when the new site is ready, he'll just dismantle the forward to Medium and it will exist on the same domain it always has. :)
I'm disappointed in this development. I don't fault History of Yesterday for moving to another platform, but I need to decide what to do with my content there. Thanks for the reminder.
Frankly, I think it's not a bad idea to diversify to begin with. I don't think anyone writing online should rely solely on Medium. My views are about the same as they were last year but my earnings, like yours, are way down. But a recent article I sold to a non-Medium publication earned more than several months' partner program totals put together. It was really eye-opening-- there are a lot more opportunities out there and Medium doesn't seem interested in matching them right now.
I have to decide, too. Every month, 50% of my Medium income is from the stories in History of Yesterday so that's a big hit. I'm emailing some ideas to Andrei that will help me figure out direction. I'd be really interested to know more about where you just sold writing to. lol. If you're game to share, feel welcome to email if you don't want to post it publicly. Just hit reply on the newsletter and it will reach me. :)
This brings up some points that gnaw at my mind.
One. With problems like this, being writers leaving and Medium not having a consistent standard of rewarding writers ) I'm taking your article as the final word, or at least a well informed opinion) will Medium last? Will any of them last? Is the money enough to keep an owner interested?
And I agree with you. A columnist needs a variety of topics. When I see a columnist on a print paper covering the same thing all the time, I tune out.
Will any of them last... that's a good question. Maybe? I mean, there is no shortage of people on the planet and the vast majority have an opinion and are willing to express it.
Honestly, too many people don't grasp the idea of writing for the reader. It's not journalism so much as journaling. You know? So the bigger question will be whether it's worth reading and paying a monthly fee for. If monthly fees take a nose dive, they're going to be forced to reassess at some point.
lol. Right? God we humans are hilarious.
I renewed my annual subscription for Medium, but... this might be the last time. We'll see.
The lack of transparency about cutting pay sucks. This, btw, is also why I'd never want to be in Kindle Unlimited long-term, there is little transparency about how they pay for page-reads, and only the top 100 titles and top 100 authors (who sometimes are scammers who gamed the system) get the Kindle Unlimited All-Star bonus payouts (a fact which is not well-known because Amazon doesn't advertise it, I only I know because David Gaughran reported it).
It really sucks when corporations do crap like the all star nonsense at Amazon. Christ, even Medium managed to be honest about their bonuses when they had them. Not much to misunderstand about the top 1000 most read. And they're not big on transparency.
Based on what Gaughran said, I don't envy the authors who get the Kindle Unlimited All-Star bonuses. Yes, they make a lot of money, but it's incredibly stressful. Some of them have to spend much/all of their bonus money on Amazon ads to stay in the top 100 as well... so the money goes back to Amazon.
God, that's sickening. Wow.
Hey Linda, I agree with you that getting vague, uninformative rejections from pubs doesn't help anyone... I get that they are busy editors, but it would be nice to get feedback on how to improve (which we usually get from smaller and medium sized pubs).
Ugh yeah that sucks so much that you're working so hard, getting tons of traffic for Medium, yet they just keep cutting the pay rate... I have a friend here who is a very popular writer. He also mentioned that his earnings have been getting lower over the years, not because his writing skills have deteriorated, since they have actually improved. There are some lucky months where he makes enough to live on from Medium. But most months, he makes less than minimum wage, unfortunately. :(
I'm not sure what the solution should be. But I do wish that writers could be paid more fairly. Even the most amazing writers here are given so little money from Medium in return, sigh.
The crappy part is that if anyone is going to coach new writers and help them improve, it should be the editors who are getting paid under the table, not the ones that are volunteering their time free. You know?
That's a great point! The latter editors have to put in tons of time for free (meaning less time to write their own articles, too). There's too much pressure put on editors who don't even get paid. :(
Yup, that's it entirely. It's a ton of work.
Linda,
I think more than a publication is about to divorce Medium. I'm getting very close to going myself. The only thing that seems like is on Medium is meta. I hate meta. I want real content. I don't want a puff piece about how great it is to write. That isn't real content. Anyway I do believe they have lost my business. I'm about to take my History of Yesterday content, as well as all my other content and move on. I have my own website. If I really want to write for a rag I'll just move on down the road to Forbes. You know, I write for myself and the people I know. I don't write for the greater unknown Internet. So yeah, Medium is a burning ship and my suggestion is moving on.
It's easy to think that Medium is made of meta, but my posts in History of Yesterday kick some butt as far as clicks and reads. Every time you see a meta post, if you click "see less like this" or mute the author, pretty soon you see a whole different Medium. For some people, it's easy to pick up the bat and ball and go home -- but for others, the pay really helps. You know?
I love your concept. Tell me more.
I am still pondering, but I sure will when I'm ready. :)
I have 34 stories on History of Yesterday. It's where I earned the most. I was wondering if we'd be allowed to attach them to other publications.
I can relate, Denise. It's where I earn most, too. Half of my partner pay every month is from stories in History of Yesterday. Andrei seems to think they need to be on one or the other because of SEO, but technically speaking, they don't. Not if we set a canonical value to tell Google which to credit as the original. I'm happy to give that credit to History of Yesterday for all the work he did building the publication.
He said if we don't go along, they'll revert to being published under no publication so yes, you could attach them to other publications if they take pre-published stories. Or you could make your own publication to hold all of them. For that matter, a group of writers could even get together and make a publication for all their HoY stories.
All that said, I'm going to email him some ideas I have and see what he thinks. :)
Linda, I'll say it again. You have real reasons to move your historical articles to SS for at least $10 a month, or more! I'll sign up the minute you create that newsletter!
I'm collecting research for a newsletter I'll call ODDITIES. Once I have enough collected, I'll start writing that new newsletter.
And you, Precious friend, need to keep writing your incredible articles where readers reward writers and the platform supports writers, too!
Hugs
Linda
Big business has never cared for the little people who made them into a big business. When I joined my father in his insurance agency he rold me, "Never forget the little homeowners' policies. Everybody wants to write big commerical policies, but it is the lttle people that keep us in business."
I definately want to see where you are going and how I can turn my writing into a business.
I was disappointed when I got the email from Andrei about History of Yesterday leaving. I think I'll follow them. I'm interested in hearing more about your strategy Linda.
I'm very interested in reading more about what in the world could be a strategy when CEO's are out to grind pro writers into dust.
It sounds like the fundamental problem of any business. In the case of Medium, you, the writer business, is relying on Medium, the platform business to connect you to customers (the readers). When the middleman changes the rules for connecting you to your customers, it affects your pay. It would be nice to have a consistent middleman that you could rely on to provide consistent income, but just like a factory in California is reliant upon different shipping middlemen to get the product to the customer in New York, if the shippers change their approach, the factory is going to have to adjust to keep getting product to the customer.
That was worth pondering over. Keep the stories coming please. Your newsletter is one place I'm sure to find reliable and in-depth commentary on what's happening on and with Medium, among other things.