Why I am a Medium Member
I love reading as I love breathing, and I love writing.
Medium is an online publishing platform launched in 2012 for writers and readers. The content is provided as a hybrid of professional and amateur publications and writing by a mix of people. You can sign up with or register with Medium in order to read articles, the proviso being that if you become a paid Medium member you have access to Member Only stories, and if you are registered but not a paid Member, you can read only a few “Member Only” stories each month.
As a registered non-Member, you can read “stories” which are not locked for members only. Members Only stories have a black asterisk * next to them.
Having found and read a number of arguments for and against Medium paid membership, here are my reflections.
Why should I pay for reading when there is so much free reading online?
For the convenience and ease of reading a wide range of writing (as described above).
To support other members of Medium through the Medium partnership program. Participants in this will have some of the total current Medium membership fees distributed to them, depending upon the interaction with the articles that they publish. Click on the link below to read about the program.
Medium has monthly digital magazines, with interesting content, that I want to read, as a member.
Why should I pay a flat rate i.e. $5 per month, not “pay as you go” or a tiered fee?
Some bloggers who use paid services pay flat rates to write. While the Medium platform exists, there will always be content. My $5 USD per month or $60 per annum will pay for me to read as much interesting content as I want to read over the long term.
Why should Medium have a free service and a paid service?
Why not? A Medium membership provides audio content and off-line bookmarking, and helps support writers. There may be more stories now which are only able to be read by Medium members, which can frustrate would-be readers, but the solution to that frustration is:
Can you afford to pay $5 per month to read Member only stories (bearing in mind that you can cancel your membership at any time)?
If you can’t or don’t want to pay, you can do some research to see if the Medium writers have websites or blogs outside of Medium, where they broadcast their writing; or if they publish somewhere else. Be enterprising. Realize that not all articles for members only, that are published on Medium will be available elsewhere.
The paid service — a Medium membership — allows you to:
· get unlimited access to all the stories on Medium
· support your favorite writers
· listen to audio narrations of popular stories
· access an improved bookmark section with offline mode
There’s no trial period for a Medium membership.
There doesn’t need to be because membership is WYSWYG — What you See is What you Get — you can preview an excerpt of Member only stories. The page linked above explains what your paid membership gives you, which is self-explanatory. And you can cancel your Membership at any time.
Medium is a platform for all sorts of writers
Since 2012, I have been using WordPress to blog, and before then I tried Blogger and MySpace, and I am of the generation that used ICQ relay chat (known as “I Seek You” an instant messaging system), BBS (Bulletin Board Systems) and Forums such as Ning and Yuku. I love writing as I love to breathe, and this month I discovered Medium, a medium where writers, whoever they are, can share their own writing.
You may think who are these writers on Medium? What’s the quality of their writing? What’s the purpose of their writing? Well, the answer is that effort is required by you, to take some time reviewing the range of writers on Medium, to find those who you resonate with, and who you would like to Follow in order to get their new written pieces in your Medium Newsfeed.
Medium content is reviewed by Medium staff. It is not full of “riff-raff” — there are all sorts of people, experiences and ideas in this world. Be organized and research how to work with Medium. For example, non-registered readers can read your Responses to posts or articles, so if you don’t want a response to be in the public domain, consider using the Notes feature instead, because Notes to writers are private.
Why I joined the Medium Partnership Program
Unless I publish the novel that I’m currently writing and earn something from that, I will meet my end without having made a dime from anything that I’ve written. Since I was inspired as a child, I have helped others write and read, and I write notes wherever I go. At my workplaces I’ve written detailed instructions for achieving goals and have freely distributed these to my colleagues for their use. I have written notes about activities, like how to set up a WordPress blog and typed them out as comprehensive Guidelines. All these I have distributed free.
I am okay with making a small energy exchange for quality information or services, which others want for free. To me this exchange is a gesture of appreciation and trust. Coinage was used this way in the beginning. Other systems like Simbi and LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) work on reciprocity, and let’s not just decry the Medium Company as being focused upon profits at the expense of free reading.
A percentage of membership fees goes to the Company and this Company needs revenue to manage the platform. If I’m in the Medium Partnership Program, maybe members will interact with some of my articles, and I can be reimbursed in a small way accordingly, on a pay for performance basis. I do feel empathy for those who used to read for free before the Membership program began in 2017, but let’s not rage against the system that allows writers and readers to fund other writers and readers.
The Medium Community
I choose to be a part of the Medium community, in terms of participating by reading a wide range of writing and interacting with those, supporting other Medium members; and using Medium as an outlet for my own philosophizing and sharing. Posting on Medium is easy and because I live in Australia, I actually pay more than five dollars per month. The membership fee is $5 USD (US dollars) and Down Under pays more due to the currency exchange.
I like the idea that I am supporting the platform itself and other members, and have the potential to earn myself; and I like the range of writing and writers, and the ease and versatility of working with Medium.
Whether you are a non-member or a member, you can join the Medium Partnership program, but you need members to interact with your writing to earn from it. Whether you are a paid member or a registered non-member in the Medium Partnership Program, you can choose to have your own Story either a Members Only story (i.e. only members can read it) or a non-Members Only story, meaning registered Medium users who are not paid Members can read the story.
I have chosen to make this article you are reading now, available to non-members on Medium, to show why I have become a paid Member. To me, Medium is a collecting pool and a community of readers and writers, with a lot of potential for gaining ideas and shaping one’s thoughts and experiences through reading, and with potential for writers, known and un-known in the wider populace, to have their voices heard. I get what the Medium Company wants.
In Summary: Somebody
I would love to be reimbursed for my writing. Sure there’s quite a mix of writing on Medium and some may find it easier to just refer to more singular topic or single criterion platforms, like personal or business blogs of individuals. Then there are unknown somebodies like me, who thrive on diversity and discernment, and on being organized and methodical; who loves to read and to write and to share and to teach; and who for a small energy exchange, are willing to invest in Medium. I may be a relative nobody, without a huge readership and without wide publicity, but I am new to Medium and like its potential for promoting “unknown” writers who produce quality, unique, and interesting or helpful writing.
I am creative and a dreamer. In summary, I have found a ton of articles on Medium that I want to read, and a gold-mine of writers on Medium whom I want to Follow. Also I like Medium’s potential to convert me to somebody whom someone will be interested in and who will support me.