How Medium’s New Terms Affected a New Writer

It was indeed discouraging

It was May 2020 that I decided to become a writer, not quite the best career choice in this grim era. I am a Mechanical Engineer and was preparing for Civil Services when the pandemic hit. It gave me a chance to retrospect on my dreams and my failures. Soon after I decided to bring out the person I was hiding inside for unknown hesitations, the Writer.

I read, learned, and in 40 days I self-published a short story on Amazon. It was an attempt to prove myself to myself. It was the first thing in my entire life that I took and finished, and can proudly say, I did it. It felt awesome. It didn’t sell at all, just my friends downloaded it when I promoted it for free. I tried to sell it to some Twitter bots, yeah, they promote-you promote, end of the story.

But it isn’t a setback. I am not going to unpublish it even if it is a naive attempt. It is my creation, my child. Its failure will inspire me to write more.

Then I learned about blogging, starting a website, getting subscribers, and all that marketing stuff. I knew I was investing more time in promoting rather than writing. And I didn’t like it, to become a salesman. I like to write, express, point out, entertain. Being a lazy and impatient man, I wanted something readymade, pre-baked. Aha! There is Medium. I found a cosey-comfy space.

I started Medium on August 13. Soon I was added in some pretty generous publications like Illumination, Be Unique, The Ascent, and The Haven. It was good, I can finally get to what I wanted most, Writing. I did exactly. As soon I was added to Illumination, I wrote a poem in an hour, submitted it. And in the next 4–5 hours, it was published. I couldn’t believe it so I asked my brother to pinch me. He hit in the eye, it is still red.

And yes just like that I was ready to spit out my ideas, my imaginations, my creation. I quickly made a list of 5 to 6 articles and where to publish it. I was ready to launch.

On the exact day, August 18th, Medium released their new Terms of Service. I didn’t know or didn’t even care until I read this article.

The day when I should be celebrating my first published post, I was reading this with a hand on my mouth. I even read that some established Medium writers stating that they won’t be publishing on Medium and are thinking of an alternative. It was chaos. Everyone was worried about their work, their creations. I was worried about my future on Medium.

I commented on the above article, that this is discouraging. I just wrote what I can at that moment. It got 10 times views against my first post. See the Burj Khalifa here.

How It affected me

I was happy that I could write without worrying about blogging, website hosting, WordPress themes-plugins, AdSense, Traffic, SEO, etc. It was simple, write, add to publication. So I was in. Scratched my head, dropped at least 5–6 ideas to write about.

When this happened, I had written a fiction story, which is still in my draft, ready to publish. But I was hesitating to hit that ‘Add to Publication’ button. How can I blindly trust a platform, where its prominent users do not trust it. How can I not doubt that my fiction story, even if it is not perfect, will be published anywhere without my knowledge or compensation?

It was a setback. I lost that adrenaline, lost that vigor to write. My list looked at me saying just dump me and get back to what you were before May. For me, it was similar to the rejection of yet another dream, of being a writer. I wanted to learn to become a successful writer, reading other writers. If these writers are not staying, its a rejection of my desire to be one.

To a writer, I learned in this brief time, the most important thing is not sales, it is the authority, the right of owning it. And if that is in danger it surely is going to affect the writer to think and reflect freely.

Why I was worried.

My first ebook is on Amazon. It is written by me, edited by me, cover designed by me and published by me. It is a true self-creation, out of scratch. I am not worried about its sale, or its reviews. But why am I worried about Mediums ToS, when I just posted one article?

A creator, be it any, wants to showcase her craft, her excellence, and in return wants appreciation for it, be it monetary. No matter how the creations are, she can proudly swag about it.

Then her CEO comes in and wants to take over her work, present it as his own to his favorite people, without giving or promising her any benefits.

See that is worrying. We are here to showcase our writing, our craft. And certainly, if its earning, we want it to be ours, entirely. End of story.

An Update.

Medium has clarified on their ToS, that why it was the ‘language’ to blame. you can read about it here...

Read this article by Dr Mehmet Yildiz for more clarity…

Happy Now?

Yeah, I mean. I am now ready to publish, with an open eye.

PS. My red-eye can see more clearly now.