Stop Writing So Many Articles!

It’s not what Medium wants, and it’s not what readers want

I recently accused Medium of deliberately misleading us about how much authors earn.

Medium’s CEO responded by explaining what Medium is really looking for. He makes a compelling point.

He’s given me a new perspective, which leads to my plea to you today.

I called Medium out for presenting incomplete statistics. Which they did — I won’t rehash it today. You can read the story here if you’re interested:

I suspected Medium was trying to pull the wool over our collective eyes because I’m a corporate lawyer. I made a living reading and writing strictly accurate disclosures that sometimes hid underlying truths. I thus see boogeymen behind every corner.

Alas, I sometimes see nefarious deeds when there are none.

In this case, I hypothesized that Medium’s rosy earnings figures would have the effect of causing millions of budding authors to keep writing on Medium longer than they otherwise would.

Mr. Stubblebine’s simple response was as follows:

These types of writers lose us money, fwiw. We have a quality business not a volume business.

Ouch. That’s me told.

Although suspicious by nature, I believe firmly in logic and incentives. And what do they tell us about Medium?

• Medium wants to make money.
• They do so not by attracting crappy authors who pump our garbage, but by fostering quality writing.

A public service announcement to Medium writers

Stop writing junk stories just to create volume. Who cares if you publish every day or twice a day?

Stop participating in meaningless challenges (what I learned from studying my belly lint) that plumb new depths of navel-gazing.

Instead, ask yourself this question: if Medium is focused on quality over quantity, why should you behave any differently?

Have you convinced yourself that ten slapdash stories earning ten cents each are better than trying to write one solid piece that earns a couple of bucks? Do you secretly fear you can’t write even one great article?

Or do you believe that doing the same thing over and over will somehow, magically, transform you into a better writer?

Get yourself the help of a writing coach, like Roz Warren, Writing Coach. Avail yourself of an author who puts in the effort to make her stories shine, like Robin Wilding 💎explains here.

As an avid reader, I promise you I glom on to excellent authors like a limpet snail does to the side of their chosen boat. Just like Medium, I am not impressed by volume. But I am by quality.

Set yourself a high bar. Try to get a piece accepted into that publication that has such tough standards. Really put some care and attention into your next piece.

Your readers will thank you. You will thank me.

And best of all, you’ll thank yourself.

Be well.