Is Writing On Medium in 2022 Still Worth it?
Views are down, earnings are down, and popular writers are contemplating leaving.
· Medium has a vibrant and diverse community of writers
· Medium has a high domain authority
· Medium is an advertising space
· In conclusionI started writing on Medium in January of this year. My stories were getting good traction and I was making good money. But sometime in mid-September, my views tanked and so did my earnings.
I was frustrated and wrote about it and the new CEO, Tony Stubblebine responded, which is so cool if you think about it (although most weren’t happy with his response).
Many writers on Medium have expressed the same concern and they’re wondering if it’s a good time to seek greener pastures, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Not depending on one platform for your income is a smart move and so is exploring other platforms.
But how about writing on Medium? Is it a waste of time? Is writing on Medium in 2022 still worth it?
My answer to that is a big, fat YES!
Read on.
Medium has a vibrant and diverse community of writers
I used to be a magazine editor and a journalist. I stopped writing when I moved to Germany because most places require fluency in German. Medium gave me back my writing juju. What makes it awesome is the community here.
It’s not all flowers and roses, of course.
There are writers who focus on the negative and write about it (I do it, too). There are alarmists, too, who say the world is collapsing. Newbies vent about getting no reads. Self-help writers, SEO writers, Marketing professionals, techies — they all reside here.
Women write about how unfair the world is for women. Men write about how unfair the world is for men. For all those who identify as they/them/he/she, there’s a space for every kind here.
This is Medium — a collection of all sorts of writers showing up to write day in and day out. Here it’s like the United Nations of people from all corners of the world using Medium to convey their message.
How I wish such a community existed in my teens or my 20s. Us folks who grew up in the ‘80s journaled our feelings and thoughts. Yep, that’s what we did. I still have stacks of my journals piled up high.
Medium has done a damn good job of creating a vibrant space for writers to comment, discuss, and debate.
I can say this because I’ve tried Vocal, Simile, Substack, WordPress, and Blogger. There’s Newsweek, but I can’t participate because I live in Germany.
I got nada peeps there.
Medium is the only place where I can converse with my family of writers. I was also able to start my own magazine here, which is what I love doing the most.
And it’s here that I met my writing mentors. I’m a fan of this one writer and every time he publishes a piece, I feel giddy with excitement. I get goosebumps when I read articles that resonate with me. It’s as if I’ve been transported back to the ’80s when I used to write because I love to write.
That’s why I say I got my mojo back. And it’s because of Medium. So, tell me, is writing on Medium in 2022 still worth it?
Medium has a high domain authority
Money, baby.
I’m a stay-at-home mom to a 3.5-year-old son. I write when he’s in Kindergarten, pick him up at 2pm, then write again when he goes to bed around 9pm.
Writing on Medium has been a godsend because I know that when I write my piece, someone will read it. I used to have a blog and hardly got any traction there. It was as if my piece was flapping in the void.
That’s because Medium has a high domain authority, meaning my article will rank high in Google searches. That means more clicks, more reads, and more money.
I don’t make a lot, but I make enough doing what I love. It’s also a place where I have continually earned an income from an article I wrote five months ago. It keeps giving and rewarding me, not all the time, but enough.
I’ve wondered several times if writing on Medium in 2022 is still worth it, but I’m no longer scratching my head about it. I admit the past month hasn’t been great, but I’ll adapt and keep putting my writing out there because I have something to say.
Medium is an advertising space
I’m not much of a marketer nor do I have any other business I could market on Medium. But I know there are many writers here who use Medium as a blogging site to bring traffic to their other hustle.
I know a writer who teaches writing. Another is a therapist. Some are publishing their own book. And others are using it to merely showcase their work. Writing on Medium gives them visibility as well as credibility.
So Medium is not only a place to write and earn, it’s also a marketing tool and a resume of sorts where recruiters scour for talents. I’ve purposely not included names of writers who have successfully transitioned through Medium. I don’t want to tag and bug them.
If you have a skill or a talent you want to explore, Medium is a great place to try it out and see what sticks. Diversifying your portfolio is not a bad idea, either. The recent change in my stats and earnings has definitely woken me up to explore other venues and not rely on Medium alone.
And I have to add that whoever created the look of this platform deserves a million gold medals. The clean, sleek look, easy formatting, and simplicity of the platform are brilliant. All we need to do is sit our asses down and write. Medium will take care of the rest.
That’s why writing on Medium is still worth it. It’s still the only place I’d trust to grow my side hustle or to reach more potential clients.
In conclusion
I know it sucks when Medium makes changes that negatively impact you.
But it’s still worth it to write on Medium in 2022. It’s the only place where you can mingle with all types of writers, get high traffic on Google searches, and advertise your business.
The most important thing of all is that I’ve grown and learned by reading and writing here. I realized I am truly a writer regardless of whether my views have declined. Change is inevitable, but I will always stay loyal to this amazing vocation.
Writing on Medium helped me realize that I’m a writer at my core. I was born to do it and I’ll never stop (do note that I’m relatively new on Medium so I realize that my point of view may be idealistic).
