92% Earnings Drop
Are We All Being Gaslighted?
The numbers don’t lie
I’m not sure about you, but I have felt absolutely no relief from the latest Medium update below:
There are two issues about this vague statement. The first one is the first sentence of the second paragraph:
“You may have seen a decrease in earnings starting around September 25th through the first few days of October.”
The first few days of October? Are there two Medium.coms? If so, can I join the 2nd one, please? The one in the parallel universe where all is well? That one. Sign me up ASAP.
Unfortunately, in this Medium.com, earnings are still gutted as of today, October 13th. They haven’t budged. Not even a little bit. In fact, they are even worse than they were before the changes in August. And that is a very low bar indeed.
Don’t believe me? I will show you the receipts, as the numbers don’t lie.
Here is a list of my monthly earnings before and after the August rate changes:
No Medium writer, not even the most mathematically illiterate one, missed the significance of the rate change in August. Suddenly, we were much more incentivized to write regularly, and it felt good to make some extra income for our efforts.
So how does October fare so far? Let’s survey the damage:
What makes this figure of $24.27 even more damning is that $10 of those dollars were made off the back of an earlier boost. Let’s take a closer look:
While my views, read ratio, claps, and comments remain fairly healthy, my earnings need to be taken to an Emergency hospital. Let’s compare these numbers to those in June, before the changes:
You will note my June earnings are even better than my October earnings, which Medium has implied have already gone back to normal. Problem fixed, fraudulent accounts deleted.
WTF?
So, what’s the actual percentage of earnings that have been shaved off our August and September rates? Let’s take a look:
A fair comparison of fairly equal stats between an August story and an October story would be Down At The Clap Farm with A Tactful Update.
So let’s calculate the difference:
Down At The Clap Farm made $15. A Tactful Update made $1.76.
So, what percentage off $15 is $1.76? Let’s get the calculator out:
Just over 92%. Our earnings have been slashed, and are still being slashed, by over 92% from the August and September rate.
Which brings me to the title of this piece:
Are we all being gaslighted?
Medium has sent us all an email saying whatever happened on Sept 25th that sent our earnings crashing down was due to fraudulent activity, which they have since removed and have now fixed the problem. They also stated there will be some back pay to some (not all) writers they decide have been affected.
Nowhere have they announced an official rate change of any sort, not in this or any other email or communication.
In the same email at the bottom, Medium wrote the following:
My question to Medium is this: if writers are the backbone of your platform, do you think we deserve a transparent and clear explanation on something as significant as a 92% rate adjustment to our earnings?
I have twice written to Medium now asking for a transparent explanation but have received no reply back.
Writing is my second job, and the extra income I make from it is vital in helping me pay my bills. I also worked long and hard on my craft and take writing seriously as a profession. To pretend that a 92% pay cut isn’t disincentivizing and demoralizing would be a fraudulent notion.
I mean, we at Medium are all about authenticity, right?
I realize there are some writers on here who are applauding every Medium announcement on fighting the good fight and going after the bad guys. They seem to be determined to remain optimistic in the face of very bad communication and even worse earnings.
But I have to ask: should we writers (and paying members) band together and demand a little bit of transparency and respect? I’m not sure why this would be such a revolutionary idea, but here we are.
Even if Medium came out and said the August rate change was a complete and utter mistake and failure and that they can’t afford to pay us that amount, we would be much better off knowing this is the case. The worst is not knowing and being kept in the dark.
What are your thoughts?
Tagging a few writers I know have been following this earnings saga closely.
Jenny Lane, Christine D Richardson, CarolF, Block Wife, R C Hammond, Debdutta Pal, Nikolaos Skordilis, Ann James, Matthew Clapham, Adrian CDTPPW, Bruce Coulter
Here are a couple of stories by Shanti C K and TzeLin Sam on my new favorite subject: Medium money and its lack thereof:
