The more I hear about this frustration with the site, I'm thinking Medium should be more like Reddit. Everyone isolated in their own little genre communities, amongst our own "kind", but still writing the hell out of what they want without a great deal of excessive oversight. We all want to write what we want to get paid, but I don't see the latter part of that happening soon.
I mention Reddit because they just went public on the stock exchange and are selling shares. If Medium went public, you guys could all buy shares within your means. Then they'd be legally obliged to pay you what you're owed, and you'll have some means of calling the shots.
There is only one way in my opinion - have a community (I don't mean R4R or reading clubs or tag bombing). There are those who talk about organic traffic and then there are those who score viral stories and boosts - you mentioned 2.4 million stories were published in Feb alone - my question is: what are the chances of scoring a viral, boost or getting many eyeballs on a post? I am an editor for a couple of well known pubs and I admit I stopped checking the stats of published stories. Let's just say there is a lot of competition out there
I deal with this sheer volume issue by encouraging my Followers on Medium to subscribe to my Substack newsletter, where I republish virtually all of my Medium stories and they are guaranteed to see them. I would guess that around 10% have subscribed (you can see Medium as the referral source when you get a subscriber via those links). My plan is not to gradually leave Medium as it still earns much more than my newsletters, though still a ridiculously tiny amount for all the work involved. This, and what you write about, is the reality of online writing for the vast majority, despite all the articles claiming some kind of secret sauce recipe for making big money.
Linda, it's a problem of scale, right? Because I started with medium.com so long ago, I never tried to monetize, never thought I could monetize (as mostly a poet). When I think of medium, I don't think of that other guy who started it, or Tony, or anyone else, really. I think of you. And I thank. you for that. I look forward to your posts and am grateful that they arrive in email. Your gifts are admired and appreciated...particularly your gifts of honesty and clarity. Sincerely, Mary
"How much can one person read? It’s not humanly possible. That’s happening with your readers, too. They probably follow a lot of people too."
You nailed my ongoing challenge at Medium - my lack of superhuman abilities to ultra speed read, process, and comment with wisdom and heart.
I so wish I could support every writer who follows me - shoot, I'm earning an "F" lately in replying to comments on my poetry.
I've started to believe Medium writers who aren't Barack Obama or a superstar celeb should view Medium primarily as a vessel of validation...a vessel of validation encouraging them that, yes, they can write...yes, they can garner readers (even if less than desired)...so, yes, tackle that book or whatever else that may well earn them bigger bucks.
Or not.
Who was the famous writer who told his son, who also desired to become a writer (and had the talent), "Welcome to hell" ???
Ah Linda! My thoughts exactly! Like the small mom-and-pop company that gets so big so fast that it can't handle the volume. For myself, I have fortuitously found a handful of writers whose work I love (ahem - you) and whose work I try to read as frequently as it comes out because it give me pleasure, moves me or is informative. Then I have to hunt around and look for new writers whose work (I'm sure) I equally love? I'm sure they exist, but I do have a day job that pays the bills (thank God!). I want to hold onto "my" writers--some have even become friends, we've met for lunch and maintain contact, we've FaceTimes 1/2 way around the world and stay in touch. We've become friends and enthusiastic supporters. So I'm much less adventurous in expanding my email list or my followers list. I just can't handle it. Another gripe I have with Medium is that I don't know of a place where there's FAQs or where I can ask a question and get an answer. I still am wondering that "member-only" means next to a published piece. And what advantage has becoming a FoM brought me? Or anyone else? Anyway, thanks Linda. You helped me start to surface back into life after losing my beloved dog . . . still reeling and just beginning to think I might survive the grief.
I’m not the best person to answer your question, my Medium writing has been sparse in the last couple of years. Because: external distractions, but that is meaningless in terms of Medium experiences and my writing in general. I am working to find a good go-forward plan which is easier said than done, it seems.
Interesting though, I find myself trying to build this plan without Medium playing a central role. Some role, yes. What and how, I’m not there yet.
So why am I planning to exclude a big Medium focus given my um…current absence ? I think it is me picking up on all the frustrations I read from others. This is not a bad thing. It’s like, with the freedom, finally, to be more involved, why put myself through the same wringer.
Having said this, I still don’t know, how much I will include Medium going forward ( lol. A nice CMA In case I turn into a four times a week writer on Medium!)🙄
Right??? You've just explained why I don't subscribe to everyone I'd like to engage with on Substack: it takes me way to long to wade through my email inbox every day as it is. I can't pretend I'm going to read 400 articles/newsletters a week — not if I ever want to finish a book!
This is a great post and I've been contemplating similar things lately. You mentioned the most important part which is that you're allowed to write about things that are important to you. I've played the content writing game, I've published novels, I've sold articles and short stories, and Medium is the best way to earn and get visibility for the themes and ideas I want to explore. I have my moments of frustration when one of my nominations is rejected, or one of my own stories doesn't get a boost, but the strength of this program is that human beings are making the decisions, and human beings have diverse opinions.
I'm understanding more and more about Medium, and I realize I can't hope for a home-run with a boost, I need to concentrate on improving my craft, and that's probably the best I can do - improve so I can move to additional outlets. For me, Medium has forced me to become a better writer.
In my opinion, Medium ‘s greatest success is also its greatest failure, and that’s the sheer volume of members and articles being published every single day. It created an infrastructure designed for a lot less. The solution? As with all things, it comes down to funding. If Medium had excess funding, they could expand the infrastructure which means more people more curators more facilities to channel the flow of new articles coming in in a way that at least gave readers and writers a chance to generate more income. I understand it wants to be a membership-based platform but I honestly don’t see that working long-term and if I’m not mistaken, it’s already been long-term. The boost program is a cool thing, but it would have to be 100 times more robust, at least to make a dent in the flow of new articles coming in and getting good writers recognition. I would love to see it happen and can see it happening with more funding. This is one example where I really hope I’m wrong and that Medium comes up with another way of becoming more robust without the advertising. But right now I don’t see it.
You are definitely inviting folks to engage their "critical thinking" with the stats you've articulated with Medium stories in the past three years. This set of sentences is the invitation to THINK CRITICALLY:
"You think that means I see it? Think again. How much can one person read? It’s not humanly possible. That’s happening with your readers, too. They probably follow a lot of people too."
Thanks for the invitation...
I am blessed that I do not have to rely on the paltry sum for the very occasional writing I do at Medium! My life has been totally nuts the last 2+ years. I have time to read, but unfortunately, not the time to write (except for myself, in my journal and to make a comment here and there).
My reads halved which tells me the algorithm changed. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until my first fiction book is published. I devote 20 minutes to reading on my feed. Since I’m an editor I read & clap for every post I helped with. This adds up. I spend 6-10 hours a week editing stories. I don’t think writers understand that
I have often wondered the very same thing: how to get heard on Spotify without deep pockets for advertising; how to get read on any of the dozens of writing sites. How to rise up above the foam that we're all drowning in. E-mails, blog posts, music !!!
The deluge is real! And without a boost, there really is no way you can earn. But then, you also don't have to do much to earn something. Converting subs to paid subs on Substack is far harder than a throwaway article on Medium.
I joined medium two years ago and loved the community. A few months back I decided to take a break. The proliferation of bots and spam ai articles (which I hear they have been trying to fix?) and lack of transparency about earnings and the FoM program led to my frustrations. And I just found I didn't have enough time to work on bigger projects.
I'm sure I'll be back at some stage though.
Very interesting to see the stats on number of stories being published, thanks for sharing.
The more I hear about this frustration with the site, I'm thinking Medium should be more like Reddit. Everyone isolated in their own little genre communities, amongst our own "kind", but still writing the hell out of what they want without a great deal of excessive oversight. We all want to write what we want to get paid, but I don't see the latter part of that happening soon.
I mention Reddit because they just went public on the stock exchange and are selling shares. If Medium went public, you guys could all buy shares within your means. Then they'd be legally obliged to pay you what you're owed, and you'll have some means of calling the shots.
There is only one way in my opinion - have a community (I don't mean R4R or reading clubs or tag bombing). There are those who talk about organic traffic and then there are those who score viral stories and boosts - you mentioned 2.4 million stories were published in Feb alone - my question is: what are the chances of scoring a viral, boost or getting many eyeballs on a post? I am an editor for a couple of well known pubs and I admit I stopped checking the stats of published stories. Let's just say there is a lot of competition out there
I deal with this sheer volume issue by encouraging my Followers on Medium to subscribe to my Substack newsletter, where I republish virtually all of my Medium stories and they are guaranteed to see them. I would guess that around 10% have subscribed (you can see Medium as the referral source when you get a subscriber via those links). My plan is not to gradually leave Medium as it still earns much more than my newsletters, though still a ridiculously tiny amount for all the work involved. This, and what you write about, is the reality of online writing for the vast majority, despite all the articles claiming some kind of secret sauce recipe for making big money.
Linda, it's a problem of scale, right? Because I started with medium.com so long ago, I never tried to monetize, never thought I could monetize (as mostly a poet). When I think of medium, I don't think of that other guy who started it, or Tony, or anyone else, really. I think of you. And I thank. you for that. I look forward to your posts and am grateful that they arrive in email. Your gifts are admired and appreciated...particularly your gifts of honesty and clarity. Sincerely, Mary
"How much can one person read? It’s not humanly possible. That’s happening with your readers, too. They probably follow a lot of people too."
You nailed my ongoing challenge at Medium - my lack of superhuman abilities to ultra speed read, process, and comment with wisdom and heart.
I so wish I could support every writer who follows me - shoot, I'm earning an "F" lately in replying to comments on my poetry.
I've started to believe Medium writers who aren't Barack Obama or a superstar celeb should view Medium primarily as a vessel of validation...a vessel of validation encouraging them that, yes, they can write...yes, they can garner readers (even if less than desired)...so, yes, tackle that book or whatever else that may well earn them bigger bucks.
Or not.
Who was the famous writer who told his son, who also desired to become a writer (and had the talent), "Welcome to hell" ???
Ah Linda! My thoughts exactly! Like the small mom-and-pop company that gets so big so fast that it can't handle the volume. For myself, I have fortuitously found a handful of writers whose work I love (ahem - you) and whose work I try to read as frequently as it comes out because it give me pleasure, moves me or is informative. Then I have to hunt around and look for new writers whose work (I'm sure) I equally love? I'm sure they exist, but I do have a day job that pays the bills (thank God!). I want to hold onto "my" writers--some have even become friends, we've met for lunch and maintain contact, we've FaceTimes 1/2 way around the world and stay in touch. We've become friends and enthusiastic supporters. So I'm much less adventurous in expanding my email list or my followers list. I just can't handle it. Another gripe I have with Medium is that I don't know of a place where there's FAQs or where I can ask a question and get an answer. I still am wondering that "member-only" means next to a published piece. And what advantage has becoming a FoM brought me? Or anyone else? Anyway, thanks Linda. You helped me start to surface back into life after losing my beloved dog . . . still reeling and just beginning to think I might survive the grief.
I’m not the best person to answer your question, my Medium writing has been sparse in the last couple of years. Because: external distractions, but that is meaningless in terms of Medium experiences and my writing in general. I am working to find a good go-forward plan which is easier said than done, it seems.
Interesting though, I find myself trying to build this plan without Medium playing a central role. Some role, yes. What and how, I’m not there yet.
So why am I planning to exclude a big Medium focus given my um…current absence ? I think it is me picking up on all the frustrations I read from others. This is not a bad thing. It’s like, with the freedom, finally, to be more involved, why put myself through the same wringer.
Having said this, I still don’t know, how much I will include Medium going forward ( lol. A nice CMA In case I turn into a four times a week writer on Medium!)🙄
Right??? You've just explained why I don't subscribe to everyone I'd like to engage with on Substack: it takes me way to long to wade through my email inbox every day as it is. I can't pretend I'm going to read 400 articles/newsletters a week — not if I ever want to finish a book!
This is a great post and I've been contemplating similar things lately. You mentioned the most important part which is that you're allowed to write about things that are important to you. I've played the content writing game, I've published novels, I've sold articles and short stories, and Medium is the best way to earn and get visibility for the themes and ideas I want to explore. I have my moments of frustration when one of my nominations is rejected, or one of my own stories doesn't get a boost, but the strength of this program is that human beings are making the decisions, and human beings have diverse opinions.
I'm understanding more and more about Medium, and I realize I can't hope for a home-run with a boost, I need to concentrate on improving my craft, and that's probably the best I can do - improve so I can move to additional outlets. For me, Medium has forced me to become a better writer.
In my opinion, Medium ‘s greatest success is also its greatest failure, and that’s the sheer volume of members and articles being published every single day. It created an infrastructure designed for a lot less. The solution? As with all things, it comes down to funding. If Medium had excess funding, they could expand the infrastructure which means more people more curators more facilities to channel the flow of new articles coming in in a way that at least gave readers and writers a chance to generate more income. I understand it wants to be a membership-based platform but I honestly don’t see that working long-term and if I’m not mistaken, it’s already been long-term. The boost program is a cool thing, but it would have to be 100 times more robust, at least to make a dent in the flow of new articles coming in and getting good writers recognition. I would love to see it happen and can see it happening with more funding. This is one example where I really hope I’m wrong and that Medium comes up with another way of becoming more robust without the advertising. But right now I don’t see it.
You are definitely inviting folks to engage their "critical thinking" with the stats you've articulated with Medium stories in the past three years. This set of sentences is the invitation to THINK CRITICALLY:
"You think that means I see it? Think again. How much can one person read? It’s not humanly possible. That’s happening with your readers, too. They probably follow a lot of people too."
Thanks for the invitation...
I am blessed that I do not have to rely on the paltry sum for the very occasional writing I do at Medium! My life has been totally nuts the last 2+ years. I have time to read, but unfortunately, not the time to write (except for myself, in my journal and to make a comment here and there).
My reads halved which tells me the algorithm changed. I’ll keep doing what I’m doing until my first fiction book is published. I devote 20 minutes to reading on my feed. Since I’m an editor I read & clap for every post I helped with. This adds up. I spend 6-10 hours a week editing stories. I don’t think writers understand that
I have often wondered the very same thing: how to get heard on Spotify without deep pockets for advertising; how to get read on any of the dozens of writing sites. How to rise up above the foam that we're all drowning in. E-mails, blog posts, music !!!
https://open.substack.com/pub/jimswanaticloud/p/my-ovation-guitars?r=1bhkj&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
The deluge is real! And without a boost, there really is no way you can earn. But then, you also don't have to do much to earn something. Converting subs to paid subs on Substack is far harder than a throwaway article on Medium.
I joined medium two years ago and loved the community. A few months back I decided to take a break. The proliferation of bots and spam ai articles (which I hear they have been trying to fix?) and lack of transparency about earnings and the FoM program led to my frustrations. And I just found I didn't have enough time to work on bigger projects.
I'm sure I'll be back at some stage though.
Very interesting to see the stats on number of stories being published, thanks for sharing.