Summary

The author expresses disillusionment with Medium due to policy changes, lack of support for creative writing, and declining earnings and exposure.

Abstract

The author of the article has lost motivation to actively engage with Medium due to recent policy changes that suggest Medium may use writers' content at their discretion and the revelation that content has been stolen from the platform. The author's most popular stories are from years ago, and current engagement metrics have dropped significantly. Despite initial success and recognition on Medium, including earning from writing and receiving Top Writer Badges, the introduction of the Medium Partner Program (MPP) and its subsequent changes have led to a decrease in views, reads, and income for creative writers. The author feels that Medium's algorithms favor self-help, tech, and journalistic content over creative writing, leading to a lack of exposure for fiction, short stories, and poetry. As a result, the author plans to reduce focus on Medium, instead prioritizing book writing and self-publishing, while using the platform to promote these works.

Opinions

Medium's policy changes are disheartening and suggest a disregard for writers' rights over their content.
The author believes Medium's algorithms and content prioritization have unfairly impacted creative writers.
There is a perception that Medium's true value for writers has diminished, with the platform's potential for exposure and earnings greatly reduced.
The author feels that Medium's shift in focus away from creative writing is a betrayal of the platform's initial promise to writers.
Despite the frustrations, the author still values the community and certain publications on Medium and will continue to support them.
The author's commitment to writing remains unwavering, regardless of the challenges faced on Medium.

Medium Feels Like an Almost Pointless Waste of Time Now.

Why I don’t really give a shit about it anymore.

I’ve kind of given up on Medium. With the latest policy changes that seem to say Medium may or may not use our work however they hell they want and the announcement that a lot of our work has been stolen by other websites I have really lost almost all of my motivation to do much with Medium anymore.

Add to this the fact that my two most popular stories every single month were written nearly two years ago. And that the first one gets 95% of its reads externally and the other one 75%.

When I joined Medium in 2017 there was no MPP. The main reason I joined was simply in the hopes of increasing my exposure as a writer. In the hopes that maybe this would help readers find my books.

At first it was great. I got some early recognition and invitation to write for a publication. I also received some positive feedback from Medium themselves for some of my short stories that they decided to feature. This was back in the day when they gave you a month off your subscription if one of your stories was featured.

Then I got an early invitation to join the MPP before it was officially rolled out. A nice bump for my fragile writer’s ego. And around the same time, I think, I also received some Top Writer Badges in fiction, short stories, and poetry.

At the time I was super excited about Medium and the possibilities. Finally, I thought, “I’ve found a platform where my writing is appreciated and can potentially be discovered by a large audience.” I had read several articles about writers getting book deals from the things they had published on Medium and started to believe that just maybe there was a new way to get past the old guard gate keepers in the publishing industry. Just maybe Medium was for real and they really were attempting to become a place where writers could finally have their voices heard.

All over social media sites I essentially became a cheerleader for Medium. If Medium had of had a payment plan based on how often a member mentioned Medium on an outside sns platform I’d probably be a very wealthy person right now. I encouraged writers to set up an account, submit their work to publications, join the MPP, and if they had an extra $5 a month to spare, subscribe.

As a guy who had spent 20 years submitting short stories to literary journals and sending out query letters to literary agents and publishing houses with little to show for it, finding a place like Medium that actually paid me for my writing based on how much the readers enjoyed (the old clap system for those that joined after the dumpster fire changes to the MPP were made) this was revolutionary. Even my poetry was earning money, something as rare as a platinum tornado.

I have to say the MPP for me started out pretty well. I had two $100 months in a three month period and I thought as long as I kept producing the same type of high-quality creative writing things would only get better. I assumed good writing would mean even better results. I didn’t grasp the devastating irony of how inhuman algorithms could have such a major impact on how many humans get to see your work.

Medium has never been very transparent about anything, so this is of course just speculation, but a few months after the MPP was rolled out for everyone a lot of creative writers noticed their views, reads, claps, ect drop significantly.

It took several more months for the creative writers on Medium to figure out what was happening (never confirmed of course). Based on what we were seeing in our daily feeds it looked like self-help, tech, and articles written by professional journalists were getting most of the attention. Bean counters tracking SEO bullshit had just delivered a fatal blow to any writer that didn’t fit into Medium’s algorithmic box.

None of the creative writers I followed at the time were ever featured on the front page. In fact, for over a year the only creative I ever saw featured on the front page was a short story written by Andy Weir, the author of the famous novel The Martian.

Despite the lack of exposure and Medium’s seemingly sudden cold shoulder to creative writers I continued on and by the time of the next big change to the MPP I had over 3000 followers, 10,000 monthly views, and a steady monthly income of around $40.

Also, I was extremely happy about all the attention I was getting from Medium publications. A lot of great people were publishing my work and giving me a chance to at least get my stuff seen by more readers. And there was a fantastic community of writers being built on Medium and on other sns platforms like Facebook as well. (still is actually). I got to meet and read work by some amazingly talented writers many of whom have become close friends.

But when the last changes to the MPP were rolled out that was pretty much the giant public “FUCK YOU CREATIVE WRITERS” from Medium that we all had felt had been lurking under the surface for a while.

Since that time I have seen my monthly views drop to 3k. My monthly income now is around $14. I have tried various things. Writing everyday for a month or barely writing at all. Some of my stuff has been curated, a lot of it hasn’t. It doesn’t seem to make a difference either way.

I’ve realized that good or even great writing doesn’t really count for much here anymore if it doesn’t fit into the boxes Medium and its algorithms have designed for us. Yeah, I know, Ev’s new post, yadda, yadda, yadda. We all heard the same bullshit the original MPP was rolled out, Top Writer Badges, were created, the fucking Great MPP Dumpster Fire was rolled out, and all the smoke and mirrors crap about curation.

I’m done with it. The wizard behind the curtain is an asshole and clearly doesn’t give a shit about us.

WHAT I PLAN TO DO NOW

I don’t plan on leaving Medium, but I’m not going to really focus my efforts on it either. If I happen to be inspired to write something that I think one of the publications I write for would like I will submit it. I still believe in most of them and what they are trying to do for writers like myself.

Recently, I have been very busy writing and self-publishing books as well as co-writing a screenplay. Most of my efforts will be given over to those projects for now. And I’m going to use Medium to try and promote my books with excerpts, book giveaways, etc. I originally joined Medium in the hopes of doing this anyway. I may as well get back to it.

When I joined Medium in 2017 I had high hopes and high expectations. Maybe those will actually be full-filled someday. Or maybe not. Creative writers like myself don’t exactly live in reality a lot of the time.

In the end, for me, it was always about the writing. No matter what happens here on Medium or anywhere else I’ll still be writing. That’s all I can do and I all I ever could do.