If Jessica Wildfire Feels Unappreciated by Medium, What Hope Do the Rest of Us Have?

It’s hard for me to complain about not getting many views on Medium when I’m only publishing a few times a month. Although there was a time I tried to get something bigger going here, it never worked out.

Life got in the way. Other opportunities popped up. These opportunities paid better. So much better. As much as I enjoy writing on Medium, I only have a limited amount of time.

Yet, in the back of my mind, I never stopped wondering. What if I try harder on Medium? What if I write every day? What if I actually make an effort to build an audience? Could I find success here and even make enough money to justify my time spent?

But after reading a recent article by Jessica Wildfire, the reality seems otherwise. According to Jessica, “My work isn’t appreciated by the people in charge, no matter how well it does or how many people like it.”

Jessica has 118K followers. The article I reference has already amassed 11.7K claps. She is undoubtedly a top writer on Medium. One of the very top. However, even Jessica is experiencing a drop in views and lower pay these days.

As she says, “My last post is getting 10 times more traffic on Substack right now, as it sinks down into obscurity here.”

If Jessica Wildfire feels she is sinking into obscurity on Medium, I don’t think writing every day or engaging with others, or responding to comments or any of the other bits of wisdom from the Medium gurus will end up making that much of a difference.

I think I was right to expend my energy in other areas. I don’t plan on quitting Medium. I’ll just keep on with what I’m doing. Posting when I’m motivated, and writing whatever I feel like.

Curation has changed from the old days

It used to be you could write an article and publish it on Medium. And sometimes a few hours, or maybe days later, you might be lucky enough to get an email that said something like this:

“Hi there, Our curators just read your story, that you submitted for review. Based on its quality, they selected it to be recommended to readers across our homepage, app, topic pages, and emails.”

Because I am an email hoarder and never delete anything, I found one of my old emails:

This was an exciting email to get because you knew it meant your article was now being seen across the Medium platform.

You’d get a sudden spike in views which sometimes faded out but sometimes turned into a terrific run.

At some point, I can’t recall when exactly, Medium stopped sending this email, and at the same time, curation hardly seemed to matter any longer.

Having a story “chosen for further distribution” didn’t mean more views. My distributed stories sometimes did well, but not always. They might garner only a couple of dozen views, or the views might be external, causing me to wonder exactly where Medium was distributing it.

Not to anyone who reads articles, apparently.

And now distribution has changed again. The notification message for curation is gone. You can read about it here:

Yes, stories are still distributed. No, you won’t see the “chosen for further distribution” message any longer. Are all stories distributed now? Or are no stories? It seems unclear.

I think what’s going on is that all stories have the potential to be distributed based on the algorithm. There are no longer human editors picking out stories to display on the homepage.

Despite how much I miss the old curation system, I’m still here. Truthfully, I’m grateful to Medium. It’s an excellent place to get your writing feet. To put your words out there into the world and see what response you get when you’re first starting out and you don’t have anywhere else to go.

It’s also a fantastic place to get some work samples going and create a portfolio. I have gotten work, actual paying work, from my writing on Medium.

So publish those articles. Expand your portfolio. Make connections, network, meet writing friends, and practice your craft. Maybe you’ll get lucky and make some money while you’re at it.

But don’t count on it lasting endlessly. I’m not saying you should quit if you’re doing well on Medium today. On the contrary, you should ride that wave as far as it takes you. Just have a backup plan, that’s all.

It’s best not to put all of your eggs in your Medium basket, or any platform, for that matter. Because when you write for platforms, things can change at a moment’s notice. Even when you’re Jessica frickin’ Wildfire.

You aren’t a true employee when you write for a platform, no matter how much money you make, and they can decide to change how they distribute your work, or pay you less, or stop paying you at all, any time they want.

Believe me, it pays to diversify.

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