Writers Want To Read Their Bestseller and Write It
Hey, Tony! Where’s the Money?!
Catchy title — am I right?
After August changes, we arrived at a crazy situation where one 30-second read (with the highlight/clap/comment trifecta) could earn as much as 80 cents to the writer of the corresponding article.
After seven articles, such an ideal reader would have earned the writer(s) a total of 7x$0.80 = $5.60. That’s more than the $5 of the reader’s membership.
It doesn’t add up.
Imagine this ideal reader perused 100 articles a month (only three a day) from different writers. It could earn writers $80 while paying only $5!!
Where’s the money coming from?!
The numbers aren’t 100% correct because there were other factors, which I don’t fully understand because I don’t work for Medium and don’t have access to all the data, but it gives the overall idea.
After August’s announcement, many writers started engaging much more than before. It was a nice thing to do because by engaging (trifecta style), we could monetarily support other writers.
I would guess many of us not only engaged more but also read more.
It was in our self-interest to do that because writers are usually reciprocal. It’s a “If you read mine, I’ll read yours” deal. And after August’s changes, it was a lucrative deal.
The hourly rate was still low but much better than before.
From my experience, this deal goes from “genuine and kind interactions with the only goal of building a community” to “total scamming with the only goal of making money.”
We’re all in between. And most of us are closer to the genuine and kind side of the spectrum.
Partially, it’s an example of “money corrupts.” Many writers on Medium were previously on WordPress or some other blogging platform, had fun writing, enjoyed the community of other writers, and didn’t make any money from it. Then came Medium and the possibility to make money. The incentives changed. And so did the behaviors.
Many of us experienced an increase in earnings in August. Not all of us, though. I remember reading a lot of negative comments about the changes. It’s hard to tell how it looks overall because writers (like everybody else) love to complain. It’s easier (and funnier) to write a rant when the earnings are down than to write a love letter when they are up.
I’m disappointed to see the earnings going down, but based on my understanding, it’s objectively reasonable from an economic point of view.
It’s also in line with Medium’s goal to promote quality writing. Or, in other words, to have fewer writers and more readers.
However!
I’m disappointed that Medium didn’t anticipate all this.
It was easy to see writers would try to game the system. Or growth-hack it — as Tony wrote. Facebook engagement groups have been existing for quite some time . . .
It reminds me of the recent “Indiagate.” Two weeks after announcing the launch to additional countries, Medium announced the delay for India, Brazil, and Thailand.
For all its claims to be transparent, Medium doesn’t disclose its business model. We have no idea what part of the membership Medium keeps. Is it 10% like Substack? Is it 50%? 99%?
Only Tony knows.
Worst case scenario, it’s 0%, and Medium is not profitable. I hope not because I like it here!
For more on the topic, read this by TzeLin Sam:
Or this one by R C Hammond:
Disclaimer. Money is such a hot topic that I had to publish as fast as possible without editing much. I hope you will understand and forgive me. Please find a free subscription for my Top Hat Seminar on Substack as compensation.
