As Medium Stats Plunge, The Courses Are Coming

Hold onto your wallets!

According to the Medium gurus, the stats for the platform are garbage.

The monthly views and incomes are plunging. The top writers on the platform are terrified and wondering what to do since Medium views and stats are diminishing in front of their eyes.

I happened to come across a Youtube video recently which lamented how difficult Medium is getting and how bad the statistics have decreased. This Medium writer was singing her woes of Medium writing to thousands of her Youtube followers.

I felt her pain and her struggle as she explained that Medium isn’t what it used to be anymore. Her short video describes how she’s done everything better and publishing in better publications but her views have dropped in half.

As I was siding with her and feeling her pain, I waited for her solution on what to do next. As I was watching, I heard the solution and haven’t quite heard someone do this as brazenly as she did. It disturbed me so much that it inspired me to write this article.

I had no idea that you could take a platform that you felt was faltering and where you saw your stats diminishing and then do the shocking thing that she was about to suggest.

The solution to diminishing views is….

Since she wasn’t going to be able to get the same views and the same earnings, she was going to…get this…

sell a digital product about Medium.

What the !?!?!

This was her solution to her diminishing views and earnings? A Medium course. I know that marketers are everywhere in the online world and some of them tend to be pushing forward their products which are questionable but I felt like this was really over the top.

In the same video where she complains about Medium and diminishing returns, she decides that the way she’s going to make up the lost revenue is through a course about the platform that she’s complaining about. She says outright in the video that she is going to build a course because she wants to have a stream of income that she can control.

She essentially says that Medium is terrible and we don’t know what the future holds for it but you should still go ahead and purchase her course when it comes out. I’m fairly certain when she does promote the course, she’ll be talking about how great Medium is, what her stellar earnings are/were and why you too should invest in a Medium course.

The audacity and nerve of it all!

The course sellers are coming

I’ve made fun of the course sellers on Medium in a tongue and cheek fashion. You can read about my general take about courses in these two articles here:

My general thoughts are that you don’t need a course until you have experimented and put in the time and effort into Medium. There may be a time for a course but not at the beginning. You’re a lot better off writing, experimenting, and seeing what your results are before you put money into a course.

But now it’s getting serious, friends. There are people who don’t believe in the platform and not seeing results in the platform but are going to be using the platform to market courses so they can have a more stable income stream.

What does this mean for you? You’re going to see a lot more courses on Medium. You’re going to be seeing many more people tell you that you’re going to need a course to succeed on Medium and the only thing stopping you from the success you want is not taking their course.

Marketers are seen as inauthentic when they promote and sell things that they don’t believe in. This woman’s monologue about Medium and her course launch strategy feels like shadiness 101.

I don’t want to pull down other writers or question their motives but this was a bold-faced ploy that she shared on video! In a short span of a few minutes, she both complained and criticized Medium and then said she’s going to diversify with Medium products to boost her income! She says her Medium earnings are going down but she’ll make up for it by selling courses about Medium.

Writers beware

While I don’t necessarily believe that things are getting worse today than before, many of the top Medium writers do because they have taken big hits to views and income.

What they do have at their disposal is you and thousands of writers who want to earn a living on the platform. Can you imagine what’s coming? An onslaught of writers who are going to be creating digital products to make up for reduced Medium earnings.

Every writer with a few thousand followers and who have earned a few thousand dollars on the platform will be hawking their product. They may not believe in the product or the future of Medium but they’re going to be selling these courses to make up for their lost revenues.

My advice to you is the same it’s always been. You can learn much of Medium on your own through an experimentation strategy. I wrote about my strategy in this post which essentially encourages you write, experiment, analyze and improve.

Only when you have tried what works and experimented with the platform for yourself should you go out there and purchase a course. Don’t spend money to familiarize yourself on the platform which you can do on your own. Spend the money to take your writing and results to the next level.

My only additional piece of advice is to be more vigilant than ever about the sales and marketing that’s coming to Medium. Facebook groups, Youtube channels and podcasts have and continue to be set up to market Medium courses to you.

Take a step back and consider if the creators are promoting Medium because it’s in your interest and they believe in the future of the platform or are they promoting Medium because it’s in their self-interest and trying to fill their coffers?

As Medium earnings drop for top creators, let’s be vigilant and ready for sales pitches galore.

What do you think about Medium stats and the future of Medium? Is a course in your future? Drop me a comment below and let’s discuss.

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