My First Week on Medium

Summary

Sandra, a new writer on Medium, reflects on her challenging first week on the platform, expressing disappointment with her progress and considering canceling her Friends of Medium (FOM) membership due to the difficulty of earning back the subscription fee through her writing.

Abstract

Sandra, who goes by Sandy, has completed her first week as a writer on Medium. Despite her initial optimism, she is disappointed with her achievements. She spent the first few days reading and learning from top writers like Bin Jiang, Ryan Canady, Leonard Tillerman, and Carl Jeffers, and she appreciates the support from fellow writers like Cyn BehindMind and Bin Jiang. However, her experience has led her to question the value of her FOM membership, as she has observed that gaining and retaining followers can be volatile, and some readers' behaviors, such as clapping once and leaving, negatively impact view and read statistics. Sandy also shares her concern about the use of AI in writing, which she believes undermines creative processes and may even receive undue promotion on the platform. With only $3.43 earned in her first week, she is contemplating whether it is worth continuing her FOM membership, as she would need to replicate her first week's performance for five consecutive weeks to cover the monthly cost.

Opinions

Sandy is grateful for the support and mentorship she has received from established Medium writers and her new followers.
She is disillusioned by the challenges of building a stable readership and the unpredictable nature of follower engagement on Medium.
Sandy is critical of the practice of readers clapping once and leaving, as it skews article statistics and potentially harms writers' visibility and earnings.
She is concerned about the impact of AI-generated content on the platform, fearing it may stifle human creativity and receive unearned advantages.
Sandy feels that the financial return on her FOM membership may not justify the cost, given her current earnings trajectory on Medium.

Should I Cancel my FOM Membership?

Photo by Alexander Dummer on Pexels

Here I am, reporting my progress in my first week of writing on Medium, I can’t deny it, although it’s Friday and usually that puts me in a very good mood, my progress on this platform has me somewhat disappointed.

The first days I didn’t write, I dedicated myself completely to reading and learning from the best writers, according to received recommendations: Bin Jiang, Ryan Canady, Leonard Tillerman, and Carl Jeffers among others. The reality is that they are all great writers and they make everything seem so easy!

I have also found people who have supported me daily by reading my stories and have trusted me without even knowing me, like Cyn BehindMind, and of course I have a special thank you note to Bin Jiang who not only mentioned me in one of his stories the first time I read him, but also accepted me as a writer in his publication and has read the few stories I have published so far. THANK YOU!

Thinking of Cancelling my FOM Membership

As you probably know, I dared to acquire the FOM membership from the very first moment when I entered the platform, I had the expectation (which now seems just an unreachable illusion) of being able to earn the $15 by the end of February to at least cover what I paid to support others.

Maybe it was a mistake, and I am learning that when you’re a new writer it’s difficult or almost impossible to achieve that amount.

This is what I have noticed this week:

Many people become your followers, but if you don’t follow them, then they stop following you, so my number of followers goes up and down every day.

Some people only enter stories, clap once, and retire. Why do they do that? Don’t they know that that affects our views and reads stats? Would they like us to do that with them? The worst thing is that I have reviewed the profiles of some of them and they have thousands of followers. Are we really being that silly?

I have read a lot of complaints and comments about those who write using AI, and I fully agree with them. AI is killing our creative processes, but the most worrying thing is that I have also heard about articles that have received a boost from Medium and that were written with AI.

Medium is the friend and the enemy at the same time, that is becoming clear to me just a week after being on the platform.

I am seriously considering canceling my FOM membership. Just for you to know this is what I have earned in my first week on Medium, if it continues at this rate honestly I do not know if it is worth it since I would need 5 weeks like this to gather the $15 that I pay per month, and the month does not even have 5 weeks.

Just $3.43 … now I understand why people look for “engagement” in Facebook groups.

Image from Author — My First Week Earnings

Image from Author — First Week Story Stats

Maybe I’ll wait to see how the month of February ends, but with only a few days left, I’ve lost hope.

And that’s how it is again... I don’t know what I’m doing here.

Thank you! Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!

My First Week on Medium

Should I Cancel my FOM Membership?

Thinking of Cancelling my FOM Membership

I’m New on Medium, Don’t Know What I’m Doing Here

Hello! My name is Sandra (but everybody call s me Sandy) and I don’t really know what I’m doing here.