I’m Really Sad About The Changes At Medium

A lot of writers can’t afford to spend as much time here anymore

I used to write here a lot. Twice a week, on average.

I’d write fun stories like why people hated Mary Shelley as much as they loved Frankenstein, the funny way men found love in 1800s America, and the real woman who wore Rose’s necklace on the Titanic.

One of my favorites was the one about the Pied Piper. Did you know he was real? 130 children disappeared. You loved that one, too. It got 42K views.

I really enjoy that kind of writing. I love writing. Honestly, if I could sit down and write stories like those every day, I’d be happy as a clam.

But I don’t spend much time here anymore.

I wish I could, but I’m not one of those lucky people who can afford to spend untold hours writing for the fun of it. There’s no second income in my house. No safety net when income disappears. I’m a single mom.

Tony said if we’re not getting paid what we’re worth, it’s because Medium doesn’t have an audience for us. But that’s not my experience…

I don’t envy Tony, having to step into the CEO position. A lot of people were mad at Ev for the constant changes. Some of them didn’t make sense to us. Then Ev stepped down and Tony took over.

I listened to all the interviews he did.

Hopefully, I might add.

In one of the interviews, Tony talked about writers who say they’re not getting paid “what they’re worth.”

Here’s what he said…

(37:20)…no one here looks at an author and judges your their worth. It’s like either we have an audience for you — that sustains you or we don’t — and so if you’re not getting paid what you’re worth the issue is not you and your worth the issue is that we don’t have an audience for you…(source: YouTube)

But that’s not true. Not for me, anyway. I used meta-chart.com to graph my views & pay. Does it look like Medium doesn’t have an audience for me?

Maybe what Tony said applies to new writers who are building an audience. But I’ve spend years building my audience here.

For months, my views held steady. But my pay nosedived really badly. That income was helping cover my bills.

October is on track to be my worst month ever. In years.

Which means I’ll be writing less.

Which will affect views.

It feels like a downhill slide.

He also said if we aren’t getting paid enough, maybe we’re not that good?

(38:09) …the thing I haven’t told people is that what you’re worth is what readers are willing to pay so if people aren’t enjoying your stuff then you can’t say my writing is worth x amount or that amount because it’s all subjective, right? If people aren’t enjoying your work then maybe it’s not as good as you think it is… (source: YouTube)

I wondered if that part was why Jessica Wildfire wrote a piece called “Okay, Medium, I get it, I’m not good enough.”

Because wow.

So… maybe my writing isn’t as good as I think it is?

I guess maybe it’s not.

All I know is Jessica’s post made me sad. Because if 118K readers can’t sustain a writer, what hope do *I* have? Christ.

[And for the record? It’s not about whether you like Jessica’s writing, or mine, or anyone else’s. It’s about a general trend that’s happening here.]

A lot of writers have written about it.

Big writers and not so big writers. New writers and long timers.

— Medium Isn’t Getting Any Better (Shannon Ashley)

— Medium is Quietly Quitting Me (Kerala Taylor)

— Is it the End for Freelance Writers — Like Me — on Medium? (June Kirri)

— I’m Discouraged By Medium (Ashley Evon Moore)

I could link tons more but I don’t need to. You get the point.

Tony says we should get paid in multiple ways, but not everyone is here to sell something…

One of the things Tony said in the interview is that our writing should be paying us in “multiple” ways.

(38:02) …like I said in the beginning, the writing you do here should pay off for you in multiple ways, like I often tell authors… get paid more than once for your writing… (source: YouTube)

Maybe that’s the mistake I made?

It’s what people like Ayodeji Awosika and Zulie Rane and many others do. Write on Medium to build a list and sell something.

And good for them, honestly. Zero criticism from me. There’s no sour grapes, in case you’re wondering. I chose what to write.

Here’s the irony. I work in marketing. Took a small business from bankrupt to multi million in under 2 years. Single handedly. They didn’t even know how to log into their cart. (They do now)

Now I manage all their ecommerce marketing. We’re on track to have the best year ever. In company history.

So I could have come here to sell a marketing program.

But, see, that’s my day job.

No different than when Liz Gilbert was a bartender while she wrote books on the side. She had a job that paid her bills, and wrote on the side.

Astounding how many hopeful writers do that. Keep a job to pay the bills while they write on the side. I did, too.

Tony loves to say “write with your book in mind” but Liz Gilbert didn’t write a book about cocktail recipes, if you know what I mean. I could have come here to sell a marketing program, too. Probably would have kicked most marketing programs to the curb. I am very good at what I do.

But I didn’t come here to sell something.

I came here to write the stuff I enjoy.

So either writing what I enjoyed was my mistake, or believing Medium was a place where writers could grow was the mistake. Maybe it’s a site for selling stuff now? Maybe it always was?

I don’t know anymore.

Tony says it’s about the readers, and has to be…

(37:01) …Our job is to manage the subscribers money in a way that makes the subscribers happy, like, we’re distributing money from the subscription for the benefit of the readers… and it’s about the readers (source: YouTube)

And I get that. But?

That’s like a restaurant saying they need to focus on the customers. Ain’t about the chefs who cook the food. It’s about getting customers at the table, right? Except the food is “why” people go to a restaurant. Serve crappy food once too often and the tables will be empty. Same concept.

Good writers draw readers just like good food draws eaters.

But, you know… maybe I’m just not that good?

I once wondered if it’s the affiliate program, but I don’t think that anymore…

For a while, I thought the drop in pay might have been because of the affiliate program. Because every new reader who comes in via an affiliate link contributes 50% less to the pot writers are paid from.

But when Tony replied to Jessica’s post, he said there are writers who are seeing an increase in pay.

I hope it’s not from $20 to $40. lol. I hope there are people who are doing super, super well here. I really do. Even if it’s not me.

But honestly?

I kind of hope the people who are seeing increases aren’t the people with Medium and marketing courses for sale. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. There’s not. There is nothing wrong with selling what you know. Absolutely. Nothing.

But Medium started out calling itself a site for WRITERS.

Not another place for people to sell marketing programs. That’s what LinkedIn is for. And Twitter. And Facebook. There’s no shortage of places for marketers to sell their programs.

This was supposed to be a place for writers.

Not me, obviously. lol.

I mean — if I am to believe the CEO of this place, I guess readers don’t like what I bring. And I’m not sure I buy it. But whether I believe what the CEO says or not, I can’t spend untold hours writing and reading for pay that doesn’t even cover a utility bill.

I’m not quitting. This isn’t a flounce. I love writing far too much.

But I am spending more of my precious spare time building different income streams. I’m working on a Gumroad store with resources for writers and creatives. Moving my History of Women posts to Substack.

I’ll share those when they’re ready.

Maybe I, too, can get paid “more than once” from my writing, to paraphrase the CEO here.

lol. Sorry.

But I miss this place being a bigger part of my day. And I wanted you to know why I’m here less. Why I missed your last post, and the one before it.

Damn shame writers have bills to pay, hey?

Can you do me a favor before you go?

Can you make sure to scroll ALLLLL the way to the bottom of the page so you’re recorded as a read? Maybe some claps? You can leave up to 50. The more claps you leave, the more people will see this.

And thank you.

P.S. I talk more about Medium and writing in general on my Substack, so feel welcome to follow there if you’re interested

P.S. here’s the YouTube interview with Tony if you want to watch it.

“Don’t cry over someone who wouldn’t cry over you.” ― Lauren Conrad