I Was Wrong to Write What I Did

I deleted a story and am here to apologize

I wasn’t thinking about writers who depend on an income from their writing when I voiced my disdain about the Medium referral program in a story published here this morning.

I expressed my annoyance about seeing the requests to sign up for Medium membership on fellow writers work to earn more money. In one particular story, it was at both the beginning and end of her piece that irritated me.

Quite by chance, I was catching up on some reading of my favourite writers this afternoon when I came across a story outlining how challenging it is for some Mediumites to make enough money solely by writing. The new referral program initiative was huge for them as it contributed to their earnings.

I was instantly embarrassed by the words I had penned. It struck me like a bolt of lightning that I had forgotten about real writers who do this for a living.

I felt sick to the stomach.

I am fortunate to have a full-time, well-paying job, and writing is my hobby. What money I do make on here is a bonus for me — not a necessity. I have never had to worry about how I would pay my rent or feed and clothe my kids.

I am extremely privileged.

And now I am absolutely disgusted with myself for being so callous and thoughtless. I am deeply sorry if my words offended anyone here.

I’ve always been embarrassed about money, talking about it, sharing my earnings here and most definitely asking for it. For me — and this is my personal opinion — I will not post this referral request because I feel uncomfortable about doing so.

I kept seeing invitations to support writers on Ko-fi or Patreon and had no idea what that was about. However, I now understand completely why others do. Now I also have been enlightened on how they work.

Ironically, when I was in Toronto last weekend, a local author was selling her books on the street. It should’ve hit me then to make a name for yourself, you will go to all lengths to make some money. Again, I couldn’t do it — but I am also approaching it from not needing to do it.

The point of my — now-deleted — story really was for Medium to consider being more discreet about rewarding writers for attracting membership. I suggested that they ask each new member to identify the writer who referred them to the platform in a questionnaire as part of the sign-up process.

Perhaps there is a good reason why they didn’t choose this route; it was merely my personal perspective.

I wasn’t sure what to do about my error of judgement but decided to do what I would if I had made a mistake at work; to own it and ‘fess up.

Again, my sincerest apologies to anyone who read my words and felt labelled or judged. It was not my intention despite it certainly looking that way.