The Problem With Publications On Medium

How fitting that Friday the 13th falls in October. I’m not the only one doing my best zombie impersonations right now.

Happy Friday,

First, if you’ve submitted to On Reflection or History of Women recently and haven’t heard back, I’m sorry. I have five client sites that need to be cloned and tested on PHP8 before a forced upgrade that may or may not break their sites.

Thank heavens for the editors who keep The Book Café running when I’m swamped. If not for them, I’d be behind there, too. But I am behind adding new writers. Sorry!

It’s fitting that Friday the 13th falls in October because I’m not the only one doing my best zombie impersonations right now. One of the publications I write for just made a pretty radical change. They only accept new writers on recommendation.

Which sucks if you’re a new writer trying to get in.

But I get it.

We just can’t anymore.

That’s what one of the editors said in a private conversation. I think every publication editor gets there eventually, he said, and I get that, too.

Just so you know, I’m not talking about you, specifically.

But what I’m talking about affects you—specifically.

When Medium switched back to human curated content, the general idea was that publications would be the “front line” to better quality on Medium. So readers, who are the majority of members, will want to keep paying their five bucks.

Not all publications, of course. Because there are pubs who publish anything submitted and have no criteria for accepting or declining. Those are not the front line to quality. They exist to remove the fear of hitting publish. That’s all.

But here’s the gist, overall.

Back when algorithms decided what should get seen, readers were leaving in droves. Turns out they didn’t want to read how to make money on Medium posts and AI generated posts with great titles but little or no substance.

Voila—humans running publications can solve the quality problem. Let publication owners and editors decide what gets published and what gets submitted for a boost.

But here’s the problem with publications on Medium.

Running a publication is volunteer work.

All the hours reading new submissions, all the hours adding writers, managing the submission queue, suggesting edits and correcting typos — it’s all unpaid.

Every publication is a labor of love.

Most people who create and manage a publication love words and have a vision for something they want to create. A place for poignant memoirs, or grief, or movie reviews or photography, or maybe a place for bookworms to find great books.

But whatever the dream, rest assured that a lot of other people don’t look at publications the same way the person who created it does.

Here’s an example.

A few weeks ago, Medium published a post with 60+ publications in the boost program. The idea was to show writers which publications can help get their writing in front of people who can nominate for a boost.

Every day, since then, I get private messages saying can you add me?

Can you add me?

Can you add me?

Nevermind that there’s a “submission guide” link in the navigation that tells new writers how to get added. They didn’t read it. They just saw me in that list. Hey, I can boost their stories!!!! Yay. Why read the submission guide when a PM is so easy.

Can you add me?

Can you add me?

It’s enough to drive a person half crazy. Some people do find the draft submission link. Then they use the form to email and ask the same thing.

Can you add me?

One publication on Medium is about the art of writing. That’s all they ask for. Write about writing. Not so hard, right? 90% of their submissions are not about writing. Personal essays, self help, relationships, etc. Not about writing.

He doesn’t even reply anymore. People publicly call him a snob and a jerk. One person wrote an entire post about how “arrogant” it is that he doesn’t bother to reply.

Couple of weeks ago I got a submission to On Reflection. It’s a publication for reflecting. And you know, reflection is kind of like porn in that it’s hard to describe but you know it when you see it.

Someone submitted a post titled “My Reflections On Making Money Online.”

It was a how-to post. Seven simple steps to “cash out” online.

You aren’t that person. I know that.

But those people? They eat time that’s already unpaid.

They make publication editors so frustrated that they do things like close submissions and say we add new writers on recommendation. Or close submissions for weeks at a time to “catch up” — and when they open, the flood starts all over again.

It’s always that way. Someone invented email, and the spammers showed up to make it a pain in the backside for everyone else. Same concept.

I don’t know a solution.

I don’t think paying publication editors is a solution because it would eat more of the cash pot that’s used to pay writers and they don’t pay writers enough as it is. Writing clearer submission guides isn’t a solution, because most of those people aren’t reading them in the first place. I don’t even know if there IS a solution.

Here’s all I know. If there’s a publication you love, show them all the love you can. Read their posts. Clap the hell out of them. Share when possible.

Because every minute they spend trying to build something is a labor of love. And they’re juggling it with some other way to pay their bills.

And if they fall behind, don’t take it personal. Trust me, it’s not.

:)

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On Medium…

• Four Out Of Five Top Banned Books Are LGBTQ. This Must Stop.

• No One Really Tells You The Hardest Part Of Getting Older

• The Harsh Truth No One Tells You About Living on This Bitter Earth

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xo,
Linda