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Abstract

When averaging the views together, I was sitting very comfortably above 500, even as a lot of articles were, as News Break puts it in their emails, “not picked up by the algorithm.”So despite not needing to meet these extra conditions, I met them anyway, and was excited for my guaranteed $12,000 a year for simply giving News Break the bare minimum.. but not really. Because I knew it would all end.<figure id="6716"><img src="https://cdn-images-1.readmedium.com/v2/resize:fit:800/1*[email protected]"><figcaption>Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@markuswinkler?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Markus Winkler</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/news?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a></figcaption></figure><h2 id="b08c">It ended.</h2>I’ll admit that it ended faster than I thought it would. I’ve received only one payment from News Break so far, but my second is processing right now (according to Tipaldi, the payment service used by News Break).The third payment that I’ll earn for my content this month should still be for the $1,000 I was promised, because I’ve not yet signed the new agreement, and don’t need to sign until March 31st which is the cut-off date.Anyone that signed the agreement early will have their $1,000 taken away, and will instead earn under the new model. I plan on waiting until the absolute last second before signing away my wonderful, mythical, unbelievable guaranteed payment.So I’m guessing your next question is probably, and rightfully should be, “what is the new arrangement that News Break is offering?” And to answer that question.. I can only smile while a small part of me dies inside because I really want to talk about it.More than any other platform I’ve ever been a part of, News Break has made their desire for financial secrecy abundantly and painstakingly clear.Unlike Medium, who’s payment model is talked and argued about loudly and for the whole world to hear, News Break is very modest when it comes to money.Accompanying every piece of correspondence I have been sent via email and shown on their website is a big disclaimer telling me that I cannot talk about monetisation at all and that every element of the new payment structure is completely confidential.So as much as I would like to delve into every tiny detail about how we will now be paid under the new structure, I can’t say anything.So instead I will ask you to imagine Medium’s pay structure. On Medium, # Options we are paid only for what we can entice people to read. If people read our content, we make money. It’s simple and it makes sense. You aren’t paid enormous minimums, instead, you’re paid for content that brings the site exposure and satisfies nervous investors.So I won’t say that News Break is worse now, I’ll only say that by changing their payment structure, they’re bringing themselves more in-line with Medium, which must be excellent news for Medium.All Medium had over News Break was a thriving community, excellent infrastructure for writers, a dedicated readership, years of experience, and the benefit of hindsight from mistakes made and learned from.But despite all that, News Break offered the one thing writers never get enough of.. They offered money.In exchange for dealing with their glued-together website and wide-eyed innocence, we were guaranteed more money than thousands of Medium readers would ever earn us.We writers could handle the Nazi-sympathetic comments, the constant bugs, the support team that seemingly replies to one email a decade. We could handle all of it for the money, because as we all know, writers are making less of it each year.But now, what should we hang around for?Elements of News Break’s new secret financial system seems structured to inspire competition among writers, but is that what we’re here for? Do I write on Medium because I want to somehow “beat” Roz Warren or stick it to Kristi Keller?I write on Medium to express my thoughts and feelings and interact with a community who doesn’t believe that Hitler did nothing wrong. I wrote on News Break for the money.. Or at least I did.<h2 id="2aba">Next Up for News Break</h2>So what’s next for News Break? Who knows. But since I predicted this turn of events so well, I’ll make another prediction. I predict that within 8 months the entire writer base (who came from Medium/Vocal/blogs in the first place) will slowly return from whence they came.Once they’ve done that, News Break will continue to rely on their algorithm to aggregate already written breaking news articles, while featuring original content less and less. Then, in roughly a year, they’ll quietly phase out the creator program, chalking it up as an expensive lesson learned, then keep on making money in their own little corner of the internet.The rest of us will go on living, every now and then reminding each other of that year we spent on News Break. We’ll chuckle, then go back to stabbing the virus-riddled zombies who’re trying to break into our bunker.</article></body>

News Break Abandons $1,000 Minimum Royalty for Writers

No-one gasps in shock

In a move that should surprise absolutely no-one, News Break has dropped their game-changing $1,000 per month minimum royalty guarantee for all creators on the platform. If you’re a News Break creator and you’re unable to believe that the platform couldn’t sustain that payment model anymore.. then I have no words. What is your life.

News What?..

News aggregate service “News Break” burst into the scene late last year with a promise for writers that was so unbelievable, it seemed like a scam. When I was first told about it, I was confident that it was either fake or a pyramid scheme. When telling my partner that I was applying, I even referred to the site as “that scam” because I was sure that after they ripped me off, I’d be back here on Medium writing about it.

But no, I can confirm that I did indeed sign one of those illustrious contracts, and with it was guaranteed $1,000 per month so long as I contributed a minimum of 3 articles per week.

News Break has been a news aggregate for over 5 years, but decided in late 2020 to start producing original content. They looked over at Medium and liked what they saw, and had a plan to get in on the action.

According to my contract, there would be no extra conditions for the first three months, but after three months, the money train would keep chugging so long as I delivered on some minimums.

Written into my original contract was this list of conditions that I’d have to satisfy if I wanted to keep my $1,000 minimum from the fourth month onward;

I needed to continue to pump out three articles per week
I needed 500 followers
I needed a minimum average of 500 views across my 12 articles each month.

It was simple, and it was achievable.

I attracted my first 500 followers only a couple days after joining. I also achieved my view average the way many others did, by publishing a couple of articles that blew up and attracted the eyes tens of thousands of people, while many of my other articles were politely ignored by the public at large.

When averaging the views together, I was sitting very comfortably above 500, even as a lot of articles were, as News Break puts it in their emails, “not picked up by the algorithm.”

So despite not needing to meet these extra conditions, I met them anyway, and was excited for my guaranteed $12,000 a year for simply giving News Break the bare minimum.. but not really. Because I knew it would all end.

It ended.

I’ll admit that it ended faster than I thought it would. I’ve received only one payment from News Break so far, but my second is processing right now (according to Tipaldi, the payment service used by News Break).

The third payment that I’ll earn for my content this month should still be for the $1,000 I was promised, because I’ve not yet signed the new agreement, and don’t need to sign until March 31st which is the cut-off date.

Anyone that signed the agreement early will have their $1,000 taken away, and will instead earn under the new model. I plan on waiting until the absolute last second before signing away my wonderful, mythical, unbelievable guaranteed payment.

So I’m guessing your next question is probably, and rightfully should be, “what is the new arrangement that News Break is offering?” And to answer that question.. I can only smile while a small part of me dies inside because I really want to talk about it.

More than any other platform I’ve ever been a part of, News Break has made their desire for financial secrecy abundantly and painstakingly clear.

Unlike Medium, who’s payment model is talked and argued about loudly and for the whole world to hear, News Break is very modest when it comes to money.

Accompanying every piece of correspondence I have been sent via email and shown on their website is a big disclaimer telling me that I cannot talk about monetisation at all and that every element of the new payment structure is completely confidential.

So as much as I would like to delve into every tiny detail about how we will now be paid under the new structure, I can’t say anything.

So instead I will ask you to imagine Medium’s pay structure. On Medium, we are paid only for what we can entice people to read. If people read our content, we make money. It’s simple and it makes sense. You aren’t paid enormous minimums, instead, you’re paid for content that brings the site exposure and satisfies nervous investors.

So I won’t say that News Break is worse now, I’ll only say that by changing their payment structure, they’re bringing themselves more in-line with Medium, which must be excellent news for Medium.

All Medium had over News Break was a thriving community, excellent infrastructure for writers, a dedicated readership, years of experience, and the benefit of hindsight from mistakes made and learned from.

But despite all that, News Break offered the one thing writers never get enough of.. They offered money.

In exchange for dealing with their glued-together website and wide-eyed innocence, we were guaranteed more money than thousands of Medium readers would ever earn us.

We writers could handle the Nazi-sympathetic comments, the constant bugs, the support team that seemingly replies to one email a decade. We could handle all of it for the money, because as we all know, writers are making less of it each year.

But now, what should we hang around for?

Elements of News Break’s new secret financial system seems structured to inspire competition among writers, but is that what we’re here for? Do I write on Medium because I want to somehow “beat” Roz Warren or stick it to Kristi Keller?

I write on Medium to express my thoughts and feelings and interact with a community who doesn’t believe that Hitler did nothing wrong. I wrote on News Break for the money.. Or at least I did.

Next Up for News Break

So what’s next for News Break? Who knows. But since I predicted this turn of events so well, I’ll make another prediction. I predict that within 8 months the entire writer base (who came from Medium/Vocal/blogs in the first place) will slowly return from whence they came.

Once they’ve done that, News Break will continue to rely on their algorithm to aggregate already written breaking news articles, while featuring original content less and less. Then, in roughly a year, they’ll quietly phase out the creator program, chalking it up as an expensive lesson learned, then keep on making money in their own little corner of the internet.

The rest of us will go on living, every now and then reminding each other of that year we spent on News Break. We’ll chuckle, then go back to stabbing the virus-riddled zombies who’re trying to break into our bunker.