I’m Dismayed by All the Blah Navel-Gazing on Medium

I don’t know about you, but I still believe that when the going gets tough, the tough get going

I am a writer, and I earn my living by writing. With the costs of food and other basic needs becoming prohibitive in Portugal, my writing is my bread and butter these days.

I have been relying on Medium to keep me afloat in more ways than one while I try to make the most of it and deliver actionable pieces that provide insightful or practical takeaways.

Still, over the past months, many have struggled to keep our Medium income from falling off a cliff. Thus, it’s not only you; many top writers face similar issues.

We all have different reasons for being on Medium — some of us love it, some of us hate it — but no matter what our motivation is or how we feel about Medium right now, the current status quo means we all need to evaluate how we approach our work and make some changes if necessary.

It’s disheartening to read stories about Medium these days

Lately, I’ve constantly been reading articles where authors complain about this being the first time a change in their algorithm has affected them so severely.

I’ve not noticed a significant drop-off in my traffic. Still, that can probably be explained by the fact that I now understand that writing on Medium is 99% perspiration and only 1% inspiration.

I’ve been focusing on improving my writing and making it more reader-centric. I’m also improving at interacting with my readers, answering their questions, and giving feedback on their writing.

Suppose your views and earnings are down. Rest assured, it’s not just you — many writers report similar results.

So what’s going on?

For one thing, Medium seems to be stepping away from working with guest posters altogether as it focuses more on indie content writers and community building.

Creator’s Hub is now as silent as the mines of Khazad-dûm.

Medium used to have what I refer to as “guest posters,” but nowadays, I hardly see them on my feed. Even Tom Cooper’s daily updates about the war in Ukraine, which would always make the front page, are now not showing up (his last post is from October 4).

Suppose that wasn’t enough to discourage writers from putting their hearts into the platform. In that case, some (unverified) reports show new stories by top writers aren’t getting as many views or claps anymore, either.

Medium is not the problem

That said, if your goal is to get your words out into the world without too much fuss, then go ahead and make use of Medium as you would do with a personal blog—your stories will still get eyes on if you know how to promote your content, but you need to chase your audience now.

But here’s another thing: we’re all struggling to make ends meet during these dark times while promoting our writing online (and trying not to starve).

Diversifying our income sources becomes more critical than ever because it helps us stay afloat if one source dries up.

I believe the problem isn’t intrinsic to Medium. There’s more to it than an internal algorithm change or the lack of human distribution.

Google revamped its search ranking algorithm a couple of weeks ago, which may explain some problems regarding organic SEO-based traffic.

However, the roots of the problem grow deep, with Medium and other online platforms reporting a steep drop in outreach as the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions were being lifted and people were returning to business as usual and shedding their digital avatars’ skin.

Other platforms like Substack might follow suit soon enough, so you must ensure you’re not putting all your eggs in the same basket.

How to make ends meet in Medium lean times

Every small change can be terrifying if you’ve been writing for a long time and are relying on that income flow. It feels like your livelihood is in someone else’s hands.

It’s easy to see why this is so upsetting for writers. As writers, we are used to having complete control over our art, but now it seems we find ourselves at the mercy of an algorithm designed by people who are mainly used to writing code.

But remember: although Medium is probably changing policies regarding what types of content are worth top dollar, it hasn’t changed the fact that they’re still paying writers on their platform.

This is what many of us sometimes forget. Medium isn’t our personal blog. We’re not supposed to be here to navel-gaze and serve ourselves while hoping to get paid top dollar to parade doom-and-gloom stories or the occasional bile-fueled rant.

We’re here to be adamant links in a writing chain that will lead readers to understand themselves and our world better.

Medium has stakeholders, and they expect results. I can tell you that numbers in 2022 are not looking great compared to the same period in 2021.

You can’t escape that. But if there’s something I’ve learned from my days in the Army is that it’s in lean times that you have to hunker down and dig in.

They’ve just made it harder for some people to make money on their platform.

That’s all there is here — no need for panic or doom-mongering; calm down and think about new, more appealing ways to feed the algorithm.

If you want to stick to what you love writing about, and that’s not the direction Medium is going, nobody will kick you out of the club, but you shouldn’t expect to get rich on Medium either.

In the meantime, keep looking where else you could earn money if your Medium funnel dries up.

In lean times, having good planning and control of your writing can help you stay afloat.

The best approach is to expand your audience

The most successful writers on Medium often have a smart approach to using it.

They write about topics that interest their audience, not just things they want to be interested in.

When I saw that Medium (and most publishing platforms) was stalling in organic outreach, I knew it was time to diversify my income.

As Medium’s organic views dropped, I was shocked but not dismayed. I knew that if I wanted to keep writing on Medium, I’d have to change my approach.

• First, I stopped griping about how unfair it was that some of the most committed writers were getting paid less for their work on the platform.
• With this out of the way, I started looking for other ways to make money from my writing and find new audiences for my work.

Defy the egocentric bias and change your perspective

I often see posts on Medium that say things like, “I need more followers,” “I want more page views,” and “How can I make more money from my writing?”

These are valid concerns for people who blog and write for a living — or even if you do it for fun and would like to grow your audience.

But these questions aren’t helpful if you’ve been publishing your content on one platform for so long, especially when that platform is free to use.

They’re harmful because they prevent you from seeing the bigger picture: You should be trying new things.

You don’t need more followers or more page views. What you need is to diversify your income streams.

I will give you the best example in Medium history. In October 2021, Randi Ragan won the Medium Writing Challenge (MWC) with seven followers, and her first published story amassed $60,000. All the MWC finalists had less than 1,000 followers at the time.

Hence, it’s time to diversify your writing portfolio and create multiple revenue streams so that no matter where the winds blow (or what algorithm updates happen), there will always be somewhere else where people can find you for years to come.

Where do you stand as a Medium writer?

There are two kinds of writers on Medium: those who love writing and are committed to the platform and those who look beyond and use it as a marketing tool and a stepping stone in their business strategy.

The first category includes many highly talented people hooked to how easy it was to monetize their writing and became fascinated by their monthly 4-figure plus income.

Others are writing more than ever before and publishing it on the platform because they love it here and want their voice heard even if they have never made it to the C-note club.

Finally, I do not begrudge anyone for writing as much as they want about whatever they want for a profit. But if you’re in this group, please understand that maybe the things you love to write about will no longer provide the same revenue as they once did.

To make a reliable revenue stream from your writing, you must build an outstanding portfolio and market it to clients.

Medium can be a powerful marketing tool that will allow you to enter into a mutually beneficial relationship with companies who will pay you for writing about them or their products or services — or, better yet, find your clients outside of Medium for these types of projects.

The hard truth about writing on Medium

I didn’t sign up for Medium to earn money on the platform. I wanted to be a writer, not a marketer.

I wanted to write for an audience that was passionate about the same things I was passionate about and would continue reading my work long after they got what they came for.

Not just something they could skim through while waiting in line at Starbucks or between meetings at work.

Now I have some understanding of what type of writing the algorithm values. Medium lifted the veil around it when we were introduced to the Creator Fellowship initiative.

I’m still committed to the same principles as before. You’ll not see me selling courses or e-books on the platform (even if this seems like the most monetizable approach right now).

However, I’m working as hard as possible to be an unyielding link in the writing chain.

I want to help this community thrive. I’m not here to make a profit while everyone else is chasing breadcrumbs.

I want to help Medium grow and reach a wider audience because that’s the sole approach that will benefit everyone.

You can also pick yourself up and get back out there by following these steps.

If you’re a writer, be encouraged. You are not alone in your sadness — it’s universal.

But that doesn’t mean you have to wallow in it for the rest of your life or that your career is over forever.

If anything, this moment will mark a turning point for you and your work; it may even help lead to grander success than you ever imagined possible.

Here are five steps I recommend taking if you want to survive and thrive as an author during these difficult times:

1. Aim for quality, not quantity;
2. Read as many stories from other writers as you possibly can;
3. Engage with other writers (engagement is king);
4. Market yourself better than ever before;
5. Find new platforms for sharing your work.

Accept that there are things beyond your control

If you are a writer, you must learn to control your environment, or it will control you.

However, working with publishing platforms raises challenges you can’t grasp or control.

As a writer, I have learned that there are things that can be done to help me write more efficiently, and there are also things that can slow me down.

As much as I like having total creative freedom when writing, sometimes the best thing for me is to put myself in an environment where I am forced to write even if I don’t want to.

Other times being flexible, adaptable, and resilient will allow me to adjust my surroundings until they fit my needs best.

Writers who feel stifled by their surroundings or lack motivation need to begin by taking control over those aspects which they can control:

• Set goals for yourself (daily or weekly)
• Create healthy habits around writing time, so it becomes part of your routine without overthinking.

Concluding remarks

You can make the best of this change and find new opportunities for your writing.

If you’re struggling, take a step back, look at your situation objectively, and decide what steps you need to take next.

If you don’t have enough time or energy to follow through with those steps right now, that’s okay too.

Remember that this is not forever — you will get back on track eventually.

And if all else fails?

Take a deep breath and remind yourself how lucky we are as writers to be able to do what we love.

If you take anything away from this article, let it be this:

Don’t stick to a single writing hub. You need to diversify!

Writers who don’t have much experience with other platforms or don’t know how to market themselves will struggle.

If you have more than one source of income, the recent changes won’t impact your bottom line as much as they would if you were relying on Medium alone.

There is no sense in putting all your eggs in one basket or relying on one platform for all of your earnings.

If one platform goes down or changes its rules, you’ll be able to recover quickly without having to worry about finding another place to post content (or, even worse — having no way at all).

Finally, I’ve said it before, and I will repeat it:

Engagement is king!

So if you want to support your favorite writers, you aren’t even required to leave a tip below. It makes all the difference when you read a story to the end, comment, give 50 claps, highlight, add this story to one of your lists, and share it on Twitter or Facebook.

The tools Medium offers us to engage with each other help us grow, but do you take advantage of their full potential and use them effectively to support the community or yourself?

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