I hope fiction and popular culture essays will get more attention now that they've put the knife to most of the meta stuff and get rich quick schemes. I could actually break $100 for once.
It's very irritating to read on a platform only stuff ABOUT that platform, and I think they're making the right decision on that. Also, restricting the MPP to paying members will limit the chance of less savory people trying to manipulate things for their own benefit.
And I definitely hope some writers I used to follow but have now quit will reconsider and return...
This is by far the most exciting thing I’ve seen since I started on Medium! This is what I thought the platform was supposed to be all along. The more I realized what was popular and what people really liked on the site, the less and less time I spent there, and the fewer articles I wrote. I didn’t bother spending much time searching for new articles outside of reading some of my favorite writers, because garbage content mill articles were always being shown to me.
Now I’m willing to give it another shot and will look for fresh new content that I hope will now include more of the quality I enjoy.
Exactly! I came so close to leaving, too. I have not been excited about changes there for a long time. This one sounds really promising. I'm glad you're going to give it another shot, too. :)
YES: To referrals going away. I know a few people used this to draw in large numbers of people. For almost everyone else, it was just one more ad in a string tacked on to the bottom of their articles.
YES: To having people be members in order to participate in the MPP. This has always rubbed me the wrong way. In fact, I don't think this new change goes far enough- IMO, *everyone * should have to pay to play.
YES: To eliminating the 100-follower requirement. I used to be all for it, as I thought it added a little friction to things and meant people having to put in some work before seeing any returns. Mostly, it just meant a blizzard of "follow-for-follow" comments.
YES: To expanding the MPP to more countries.
DUNNO YET: The new formula for earnings. On the surface, I like it. I just don't know that I understand it enough yet to make that a declarative statement.
I am totally with you on this one. And your interpretation of how it will work it much more readable than theirs, which got into the weeds a bit. I had to read it twice and I’m not a newbie. I’m already working on some more in-depth stuff, which is great because I usually write, edit, and publish daily. I’m giving myself some time on the new stuff. And hopefully the membership requirement will scare off some of the bots, human, digital, and otherwise.
I so agree, Martin - I hope the membership requirement scares off the bots, plagiarists and scammers. In the comments I also learned they have a 25% student discount, which I hadn't known.
I have to remind myself that those of us who have more than, say, 5000 followers and have been here awhile are often skeptical when we hear about these changes. But these seem more transparent and it’s about time. As for membership, I am one of those who thought it already was a requirement for the Partner Program. When I learned it was not, a lot of things were obvious about the crap content.
Someone unnamed boosted a story of mine on The Book Cafe. Thank you! If I knew who it was, I could be more effusive. I was stunned by the response. More to the point, thank you for creating this publication - I've found a home.
What a great comment, William. Congrats on getting boosted and you're very welcome -- I'm glad you feel like the Book Café is home. The true beauty of the Boost Program is that it's a gift one writer can give another anonymously. We see a piece of good writing and quietly nominate and if the curators agree, the writer gets more views. And no one knows who submitted it. Just writers helping writers. It's what I love best about the program.
I do because I like to pay into the pot that pays me, but that is entirely up to you and I would never tell anyone they should or shouldn't do anything. Except write. lol. Everyone should write. If only because it helps us learn to think clearly. lol
The changes mostly SOUND good, but we shall see. As a writer who writes mostly personal stories with very few reads, I question the commitment to, and definition of "quality." I worry that people will skim through articles and leave before 30 seconds. I also don't want to see engagement pods start popping up, but we all know they will. Sounds exhausting. I've always been a paying member, but it feels weird for it to be a requirement. Most employers don't charge you to work at your job. Just my thoughts...
Those engagement pods used to work back when we got paid based on claps, but they won't work now because total read time is still the top criteria we get paid by. And while it's true that employers don't charge us to work at our jobs, we do get charged to have a table at an arts and crafts show where we sell the stuff we make.
I do kind of wonder if you'd be interested in throwing the odd post at one of the publications in the Boost program. It might get you in front of the boost nominators team a little more. :)
Yes, I meant that everyone would be reading each other's work, clapping, highlighting, and commenting. Of course, that happens now, but I think it will get worse. I want to read good writing, but I'd love to sit down and read a novel for a change. It gets exhausting trying to generate reads.
I've thought about trying pubs again, but I had a few very bad experiences. From the editor who completely rewrote one of my pieces without asking, to one that closed without telling anyone, to another lady who thought we should all "tip" her $1 a month for the privilege of being in her pub. I got fed up. Maybe I'll try again.
Oh yikes, those would put me off, too. Kelly at Inspired Writer and Debbie at Middle Pause have been really good to me and have never edited my stuff. Also June at Bitchy if you write any feminist pieces. Plus, if you can add a historical element to a story without sounding like Wikipedia or the history channel, you're welcome to send me a draft at History of Women. Plus if you love novels, I also have a book review publication and you're welcome there, too. Those are all places where there are nominators watching and that I've had good experiences. :)
You are so welcome. And if I stumble across any other nominators who have pubs up your alley and don't take a marker to submissions, I'll keep you in mind and send you a pssst.
The one thing that bothered me is favoring stories that are from personal experience. It will cut a lot of crap, but it will also discourage some things I like to read, like history. Fiction? Poetry? Journalism? I suppose it depends on how they define personal experience. I could do without more “I moved here from another country and here is what is messed up about where I live now” stories. Looks like those will be rewarded.
From my experience nominating stories, I think they should be saying stories that bring something personal. Like, we have history pieces boosted, you know? But the ones that are just a wikipedia entry re-worded for easier reading don't get boosted. The ones where the writer add something to make it feel more like a piece only they could write, those are the ones that do well. So I don't think it's so much personal stories as the ability to make a story personable by adding our personality to them if that makes any sense. :)
I'm really excited about the changes on Medium. I think adding the requirement to be a paid member if you want to get a slice of the pie. It means that there's more buy-in from the community and people who are writing there have something at stake. I'm also glad they are changing what counts as a read. I've always been confused by that because I would have views and comments from people who have clearly read the story, but then it would say zero reads. I'm still a little confused on how the math works out, but I think it's going to be a positive change.
I read the announcement and am happy about the changes! I also didn’t realize that you didn’t have to have a paid membership in order to publish... I’m pretty sure when I joined it was a requirement. It makes sense.
I was a little disappointed to see they are doing away with the referral money because that is all I’ve made for the past few months LOL. But, I haven’t been posting links in groups and all of that. I may go back to that now though?
Oh you won't lose that. People who have referral income will keep getting it as long as the signups are still members. There just won't be new referrals after Aug 1. So you'll still get that!
I am on Team Enthused about the upcoming changes at Medium. Of course we'll see how it all pans out, but based on Buster Benson's excellent explainer article, I salute the thinking behind these changes. So, cheers from me.
Me, too. I came really close to leaving at the beginning of the year. I stayed because they brought human creation back by way of the boost program and that felt encouraging. I'm really liking the direction they're going. It finally feels promising because for a long time, it sure didn't. :)
They did a test to be sure poetry wouldn't get lost in the shuffle and even poetry earns more under the new calculation. So that's also hopeful I think.
I don’t see how. A lot poems take less than 30 seconds to read. Mine frequently get likes and no reads. The engagement won’t count if it’s considered a bounce.
Honestly, I don't know exactly how either Denise but I know there's some kind of failsafe for short reads. What I know is that Buster asked nominators to send him examples of short fiction and poetry so he could test it. He said with the failsafe built in for short reads, everything we threw at him did better under the August calculation than the current one. So it makes me hopeful. We shall see in just over a week I guess.
Hi Linda. Thanks for this. I had posted elsewhere I thought the view/read percentage multiplier would slaughter any earnings for fiction and poetry types. Clickbait we are not., and 65% is an impossibly high bar. However, i was told by someone higher up the food chain they are working on or implementing some sort of adder to help with that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Either way, anything they can do to clean up the feed is fine by me.
Jim, in case you're worried about shortform (includes poetry and flash fiction) being affected by fast readers finishing under 30 secs, I asked Buster about it. He said that he tested on short form content (including poetry and fiction), and he was just comparing their earnings in June to their earnings they would have made under the new MPP system. He found that they would have earned more under the new MPP system! :)
I hope fiction and popular culture essays will get more attention now that they've put the knife to most of the meta stuff and get rich quick schemes. I could actually break $100 for once.
It's very irritating to read on a platform only stuff ABOUT that platform, and I think they're making the right decision on that. Also, restricting the MPP to paying members will limit the chance of less savory people trying to manipulate things for their own benefit.
And I definitely hope some writers I used to follow but have now quit will reconsider and return...
Yes, they want to see fiction and popular culture essays rise and that's a welcome change.
I agree, David!
This is by far the most exciting thing I’ve seen since I started on Medium! This is what I thought the platform was supposed to be all along. The more I realized what was popular and what people really liked on the site, the less and less time I spent there, and the fewer articles I wrote. I didn’t bother spending much time searching for new articles outside of reading some of my favorite writers, because garbage content mill articles were always being shown to me.
Now I’m willing to give it another shot and will look for fresh new content that I hope will now include more of the quality I enjoy.
Exactly! I came so close to leaving, too. I have not been excited about changes there for a long time. This one sounds really promising. I'm glad you're going to give it another shot, too. :)
I posted these in a different forum recently:
YES: To referrals going away. I know a few people used this to draw in large numbers of people. For almost everyone else, it was just one more ad in a string tacked on to the bottom of their articles.
YES: To having people be members in order to participate in the MPP. This has always rubbed me the wrong way. In fact, I don't think this new change goes far enough- IMO, *everyone * should have to pay to play.
YES: To eliminating the 100-follower requirement. I used to be all for it, as I thought it added a little friction to things and meant people having to put in some work before seeing any returns. Mostly, it just meant a blizzard of "follow-for-follow" comments.
YES: To expanding the MPP to more countries.
DUNNO YET: The new formula for earnings. On the surface, I like it. I just don't know that I understand it enough yet to make that a declarative statement.
Yeah, I pretty much agree with that. Don't know how the new changes will play out, but if they favor quality over quantity that's hopeful.
I am hopeful and agree that paying into the system is fair and demonstrates a commitment to the platform and other writers.
Right? I so agree, Kathryn. :)
I am totally with you on this one. And your interpretation of how it will work it much more readable than theirs, which got into the weeds a bit. I had to read it twice and I’m not a newbie. I’m already working on some more in-depth stuff, which is great because I usually write, edit, and publish daily. I’m giving myself some time on the new stuff. And hopefully the membership requirement will scare off some of the bots, human, digital, and otherwise.
I so agree, Martin - I hope the membership requirement scares off the bots, plagiarists and scammers. In the comments I also learned they have a 25% student discount, which I hadn't known.
I have to remind myself that those of us who have more than, say, 5000 followers and have been here awhile are often skeptical when we hear about these changes. But these seem more transparent and it’s about time. As for membership, I am one of those who thought it already was a requirement for the Partner Program. When I learned it was not, a lot of things were obvious about the crap content.
Yup - agree with that!!
Someone unnamed boosted a story of mine on The Book Cafe. Thank you! If I knew who it was, I could be more effusive. I was stunned by the response. More to the point, thank you for creating this publication - I've found a home.
Bill
What a great comment, William. Congrats on getting boosted and you're very welcome -- I'm glad you feel like the Book Café is home. The true beauty of the Boost Program is that it's a gift one writer can give another anonymously. We see a piece of good writing and quietly nominate and if the curators agree, the writer gets more views. And no one knows who submitted it. Just writers helping writers. It's what I love best about the program.
So the question: should I join Medium's Partner Program now?
Paying a $60 yearly membership fee seems like the very least one should do. Just my opinion.
I do because I like to pay into the pot that pays me, but that is entirely up to you and I would never tell anyone they should or shouldn't do anything. Except write. lol. Everyone should write. If only because it helps us learn to think clearly. lol
The changes mostly SOUND good, but we shall see. As a writer who writes mostly personal stories with very few reads, I question the commitment to, and definition of "quality." I worry that people will skim through articles and leave before 30 seconds. I also don't want to see engagement pods start popping up, but we all know they will. Sounds exhausting. I've always been a paying member, but it feels weird for it to be a requirement. Most employers don't charge you to work at your job. Just my thoughts...
Those engagement pods used to work back when we got paid based on claps, but they won't work now because total read time is still the top criteria we get paid by. And while it's true that employers don't charge us to work at our jobs, we do get charged to have a table at an arts and crafts show where we sell the stuff we make.
I do kind of wonder if you'd be interested in throwing the odd post at one of the publications in the Boost program. It might get you in front of the boost nominators team a little more. :)
Yes, I meant that everyone would be reading each other's work, clapping, highlighting, and commenting. Of course, that happens now, but I think it will get worse. I want to read good writing, but I'd love to sit down and read a novel for a change. It gets exhausting trying to generate reads.
I've thought about trying pubs again, but I had a few very bad experiences. From the editor who completely rewrote one of my pieces without asking, to one that closed without telling anyone, to another lady who thought we should all "tip" her $1 a month for the privilege of being in her pub. I got fed up. Maybe I'll try again.
Oh yikes, those would put me off, too. Kelly at Inspired Writer and Debbie at Middle Pause have been really good to me and have never edited my stuff. Also June at Bitchy if you write any feminist pieces. Plus, if you can add a historical element to a story without sounding like Wikipedia or the history channel, you're welcome to send me a draft at History of Women. Plus if you love novels, I also have a book review publication and you're welcome there, too. Those are all places where there are nominators watching and that I've had good experiences. :)
Thank you, Linda! I really appreciate that!
You are so welcome. And if I stumble across any other nominators who have pubs up your alley and don't take a marker to submissions, I'll keep you in mind and send you a pssst.
The one thing that bothered me is favoring stories that are from personal experience. It will cut a lot of crap, but it will also discourage some things I like to read, like history. Fiction? Poetry? Journalism? I suppose it depends on how they define personal experience. I could do without more “I moved here from another country and here is what is messed up about where I live now” stories. Looks like those will be rewarded.
From my experience nominating stories, I think they should be saying stories that bring something personal. Like, we have history pieces boosted, you know? But the ones that are just a wikipedia entry re-worded for easier reading don't get boosted. The ones where the writer add something to make it feel more like a piece only they could write, those are the ones that do well. So I don't think it's so much personal stories as the ability to make a story personable by adding our personality to them if that makes any sense. :)
I'm really excited about the changes on Medium. I think adding the requirement to be a paid member if you want to get a slice of the pie. It means that there's more buy-in from the community and people who are writing there have something at stake. I'm also glad they are changing what counts as a read. I've always been confused by that because I would have views and comments from people who have clearly read the story, but then it would say zero reads. I'm still a little confused on how the math works out, but I think it's going to be a positive change.
Me too, Molly. People would highlight and comment on the bits they highlighted, but I'd have no reads. lol
I read the announcement and am happy about the changes! I also didn’t realize that you didn’t have to have a paid membership in order to publish... I’m pretty sure when I joined it was a requirement. It makes sense.
I was a little disappointed to see they are doing away with the referral money because that is all I’ve made for the past few months LOL. But, I haven’t been posting links in groups and all of that. I may go back to that now though?
Oh you won't lose that. People who have referral income will keep getting it as long as the signups are still members. There just won't be new referrals after Aug 1. So you'll still get that!
Ahhhh! Yay!
I'm among the first type of comment and hopefully we get Medium to listen. It's about time Medium had more voices from other parts of the world
I so agree. It's great to include more voices from around the world.
I am on Team Enthused about the upcoming changes at Medium. Of course we'll see how it all pans out, but based on Buster Benson's excellent explainer article, I salute the thinking behind these changes. So, cheers from me.
Me, too. I came really close to leaving at the beginning of the year. I stayed because they brought human creation back by way of the boost program and that felt encouraging. I'm really liking the direction they're going. It finally feels promising because for a long time, it sure didn't. :)
"If they didn’t bounce, they are a read." YAY
Curious how/if this will impact poets but what benefits one benefits All.
Epic poets. Haiku? Not so much!
They did a test to be sure poetry wouldn't get lost in the shuffle and even poetry earns more under the new calculation. So that's also hopeful I think.
I don’t see how. A lot poems take less than 30 seconds to read. Mine frequently get likes and no reads. The engagement won’t count if it’s considered a bounce.
Honestly, I don't know exactly how either Denise but I know there's some kind of failsafe for short reads. What I know is that Buster asked nominators to send him examples of short fiction and poetry so he could test it. He said with the failsafe built in for short reads, everything we threw at him did better under the August calculation than the current one. So it makes me hopeful. We shall see in just over a week I guess.
We sure shall! I love haiku - so I'll find out. Tho, actually, I usually publish haiku series.
Congrats on getting your story mentioned in the newsletter, BTW!
Thanks. It appears I wrote that a month too early. lol.
They did some tests on poetry, short fiction and other reads and found they earn more with the new calculation method too. Knock on wood. :)
Do you hear knocking? That's how long and LOUD I'm knocking on wood. Crossed fingers too :)
Feeling hopeful...
Me too, Dakota!
Hi Linda. Thanks for this. I had posted elsewhere I thought the view/read percentage multiplier would slaughter any earnings for fiction and poetry types. Clickbait we are not., and 65% is an impossibly high bar. However, i was told by someone higher up the food chain they are working on or implementing some sort of adder to help with that. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Either way, anything they can do to clean up the feed is fine by me.
I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. At least I hope so.
Jim, in case you're worried about shortform (includes poetry and flash fiction) being affected by fast readers finishing under 30 secs, I asked Buster about it. He said that he tested on short form content (including poetry and fiction), and he was just comparing their earnings in June to their earnings they would have made under the new MPP system. He found that they would have earned more under the new MPP system! :)
Wonderful news for this poet. Thank you
You're very welcome! :D I often write fiction drabbles (exactly 100 words), so that was high on my list of concerns, lol.
Well, again, thank you!
I’ve started to publish on there again and while I’m not over the moon or anything crazy I think it could be a really positive change
I look forward to the changes on Aug 1 and hope we see even more positive results. :)