Medium CEO Says Editors Will Get Paid. Color Me Skeptical. Here's Why.

Several readers emailed with the "exciting" news. I'm not holding my breath

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This week I got several emails that said “Have you seen this?”

They all linked to the same thing. A story by the new CEO of Medium saying publication editors will soon be getting paid.

Here’s what he said:

“We want to elevate publications, and not just the big ones, as important curators. The editors of the publications here know so much better than us what is an important read and why. Hopefully we can spark an influx of new publications as well. These publications will have a major say in what gets boosted. And yes, publication editors will get paid.”
— Tony Stubblebine, CEO of medium (source)

(See the bolded line? Tony didn’t bold that — I did, for emphasis)

So I commented to ask how editors will get paid, and if it’s all editors or just some. Tony replied to say all editors and they’ll post details when they have them.

People are excited. I’ve seen posts telling writers omg, start a publication right now, editors are going to get paid.

I am half laughing, but the other half is a deep and painful sigh.

The pained sigh is louder. Way louder.

When will we ever learn?

Where do you think the money will come from?

If every editor across Medium is going to get paid because it’s a lot of work to be an editor, where do you suppose the money to pay editors will come from?

Do you think it will come from the CEO’s salary? What about the staff? Think they’ll just tell the staff well, writers got paid crap for a long time, it’s your turn to take a wage cut so we can pay editors. Ask me why I doubt that.

So what’s left? The share normally paid to writers?

Will the share tossed out to writers get carved a little leaner again? I have no idea, and there’s been no details released yet. But that seems most likely to me. The money has to come from somewhere.

Are editors going to be “more important” than writers?

Because “they” know what quality is?

I could name publications that have no clue what quality is, but I’m too polite to do that. It would be rude. Doesn’t make it less true, though.

Also? Why the focus on publications all of a sudden?

Another thing Tony said is that publications know what “important” content is. Here’s the quote, verbatim;

“We want to elevate publications, and not just the big ones, as important curators. The editors of the publications here know so much better than us what is an important read and why.” — Tony Stubblebine, CEO of medium (source)

The new focus on publications struck me as curious.

Let me tell you the difference between publishing to a publication and publishing in the wild, to my profile.

When I publish to my profile, all the extra stories (ie; more reading) under the story are my own. When I publish to a publication the stories shown underneath are the most recent stories published to the publication.

Here’s the curious part. As reads dwindled over the past months, many writers stopped using publications and started publishing in the wild and sharing on Substack, LinkedIn and newsletters. It made more sense.

Let’s say Jim writes a post published to his profile (no publication) and promotes his post to his newsletter, LinkedIn and Substack. All the reads go to him, and all the stories recommended underneath are his own stories.

But now it’s publications that Medium wants to elevate. Sorry Jim.

Do you think all editors will get paid the same?

The editors at The Startup and other big publications “edit” hundreds of submissions a day. I might “edit” 2-3 stories a week for History of Women.

Think the pay will be the same? I doubt that, too. I’m beyond fussy about tone and feel of the stories that go up in my publication. It’s a work of my heart and I welcome other writers, but they have to be able to write a damn story, not a Wikipedia post.

How do you measure that against a publication that’s clicking “publish” on hundreds of side hustle, how to make money, tips from the rich dudes and all the glut of self growth posts that go up every day? You don’t.

I don’t have a crystal ball, but if I was a betting person, I’d bet that the “editing” I do will be worth less than the “editing” on a pub that churns out volume.

The fussier an editor is, the less stories said editor accepts and publishes, the less that editor will likely get paid. I don’t know that for a fact because no details are available yet. And again, no crystal ball.

But remember I said that, okay? Mark my words.

Why writers keep getting excited…

Last time Medium announced changes I was cautiously optimistic. I don’t think I can ever be in that place again. Maybe they’ll surprise me in a good way. But I’m not holding my breath. Color me skeptical.

I still like Medium. But I took off the rose colored glasses. Medium needs to take care of Medium first. That’s just how it works. Some writers win, some writers lose. Tony said that, too. He said traffic to the site is up since he came on board, but not everyone is seeing more reads. It’s like our moms said. Who ever said anything was fair?

Here’s the kicker. You know why so many writers are excited and hopeful yet again? Because hope is the only option they have, really.

They don’t have their own audience. They put full control in Medium’s hands because it was the easier way. I did it, too. Like a lot of writers, I just wrote stories, hit publish and let Medium decide how many people see my work.

It’s easier, yes. I’m just not sure it’s sustainable. Maybe it never was.

Might be time for writers to start seeing Medium as just one more place to build our own audience instead of seeing Medium as our audience. Because my followers there aren’t even my followers. They’re Medium’s. Same applies to you.

Maybe it’s time we owned that?

What do you think? Is your takeaway the same?
Or are you hopeful again?

Let’s talk. :)

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Thanks and have a great weekend.

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xo
Linda