avatarMark Kelly

Summary

The article discusses the challenging reality of writing on Medium, where most writers earn little despite high expectations, and the necessity to treat writing as a business rather than a hobby to achieve financial success.

Abstract

The author of "Sweatshop California" paints a picture of Medium as a platform where the majority of writers struggle to earn a significant income, with only a few managing to make meaningful contributions to their living costs. Despite the allure of Medium as a lucrative writing career, the truth is that success requires more than just writing talent; it demands compliance with content expectations, marketing skills, and often, additional products to sell. The article contrasts the approach of hobbyist writers, who may write for the love of the craft without financial return, with those who run their writing as a business. The author reflects on their own experience, choosing to remain a hobbyist and appreciating the non-monetary benefits of writing on Medium, such as rekindling their passion for writing, reaching a wider audience, and engaging with a community of readers and writers.

Opinions

  • The author acknowledges the widespread disappointment among writers on Medium due to unmet financial expectations.
  • The article suggests that writing on Medium is not a reliable source of income for most, with a stark contrast between the few successful writers and the majority who earn very little.
  • Success on Medium is tied to adhering to specific content, style, and format expectations, as well as effective marketing and self-promotion.
  • The author expresses a personal preference for maintaining their writing style and integrity over conforming to the demands of large publications or SEO practices.
  • There is a clear division between writers who treat their craft as a business and those who pursue it as a hobby, with the author identifying more with the latter.
  • The author values the intrinsic rewards of writing on Medium, such as personal fulfillment, creative expression, and community engagement, over financial gain.
  • Despite the modest earnings, the author remains committed to the platform, highlighting the joy of writing and the satisfaction of helping other writers through their publication.

Sweatshop California

Or Medium on a dollar a day

Imagine the furore if a popular Silicon Valley startup turned out to be dependent on thousands of workers employed on zero hours contracts, who didn’t know the value of their work at the time they did it, but later ended up receiving only a few cents per hour.

What if 90% of those workers ended up earning less than $100 per month, irrespective of the time and effort they put in?

Would you be horrified?

Welcome to the world of Medium.

Much of the attrition of writers on the Medium platform stems from their expectation that this could be a lucrative part-time, maybe even full-time, career. Heaven knows there are enough articles on the platform promising exactly this outcome.

The truth, as most find out quickly, is that there are very few writers making enough to contribute meaningfully to their living costs. Some may struggle to cover the cost of their subscription!

If you are looking for financial success on Medium, you will need to be much more than just a writer, however talented you may be in that department.

You will need to comply with the expectations of publications and curators as to content, style, format and even language.

Above all, you will have to master the marketing of your work through Search Engine Optimisation, external announcements, email list creation and, very often, having another product to sell, for which Medium is just the storefront.

If all of that sounds like too much effort, you could always disregard it entirely, and you wouldn’t be alone.

Many, many writers, myself included, have invested thousands of hours on other blogging platforms without expecting or receiving a penny in return. The chance to earn even a dollar a day (approximately my current run rate) is a nice little perk.

But you can see how that approach divides the world of authors into hobbyists and people running a business. As long as you know that you have chosen to be a hobby writer (whatever the artistic, philosophical or literary merit of your work) you will feel less envy towards those who choose the other path.

And you will come to accept that others (both fellow writers and the company) will make some profit from your willingness to contribute your time and talent.

That’s a bargain I am more than willing to make. For one thing, I am never going to do what it takes to enter the upper echelons:

  • Use American English spellings — I tried this, but it was patchy, since UK English spelling had a 60-year head start with me. Around the turn of the year I embraced my Britishness and started un-americanising (sic) everything.
  • Make the Heading and Subtitle a synopsis of the content — Sorry, I like to keep the reader guessing sometimes, even for just the two to three minutes it takes to read a post. My hope is that once finished they will say “Ah, so that’s why he named it that way”. I’m not giving up that imaginary reader’s moment of enlightenment to drag in a few more flesh and blood readers.
  • Build an email list — There’s no way I’m joining the spam faction. I unfollowed the publications and writers who flooded my inbox, and am very meagre in what I send out from Grab a Slice, because I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end.
  • Submit to big publications — Nope, they take too long to review, and sometimes don’t get back to you at all. If they do accept, you may find that the article, when it appears, is a few scrolls deep on the page, and will likely disappear within the hour because of the volume of content they produce.

So many negatives, I know. But I also want to highlight the positive reasons that I will gladly stay around in my new role as an out and out hobbyist.

  • Medium got me writing again, after maybe a 15 year hiatus. Turns out it’s still something I love to do, and I don’t plan on taking any more sabbaticals.
  • I love how the ease of publication has allowed me to surface age-old memories and stories, as well as documenting newer experiences. I am constantly re-reading my back-catalogue and, over time, I’m sure this will serve me in lieu of an actual memory.
  • My novel extracts have reached a larger audience in five months than their Kindle versions did in fifteen years.
  • Interaction with readers and other writers is a constant source of pleasure, as the parts of Medium I frequent seem to be untroubled by trolls or negative comments of any shade.
  • Building a publication has opened my eyes to the vast pool of talent just waiting to find an outlet, and I am happy to play a small part in helping those writers reach an even larger audience.

So, I’m happy to announce that I’ll be sticking around for some time to come.

But I have to sign off for tonight.

If you’ll excuse me, I need to weigh up how I’m going to spend that twenty-five dollar pay-packet from February.

Many thanks for reading!

For more musings on this platform we love to call home, try these:

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