The courage to change

Summary

Joyce Chuinkam is ending her 4-year relationship with Medium due to a lack of understanding of the platform's growth algorithm, a desire for ownership of her intellectual property, and a shift towards building her own brand and audience at thejoyceoflife.com.

Abstract

Joyce Chuinkam, a writer who has been active on Medium for four years, has decided to cease her contributions to the platform. Her decision stems from her inability to comprehend and effectively utilize Medium's algorithm to grow her readership, which is essential for her to reach her audience and generate revenue. Despite previous success, including earning over $1,000 from a single article, Joyce feels that the current state of her earnings and engagement on Medium is not satisfactory. Additionally, with the rise of AI and the unpredictable nature of digital platforms, she is concerned about the security of her intellectual property. Joyce's aspirations as a writer and an aspiring mogul have led her to prioritize ownership and the establishment of her own brand. She has launched her own website, thejoyceoflife.com, where she plans to continue sharing her work and building a personal database of subscribers.

Opinions

Joyce values the sense of community and the ability to relate to others through storytelling on Medium, but feels the platform no longer facilitates this effectively.
She has observed a decline in original content on Medium, with an increase in repackaged ideas, which has diminished her enthusiasm for the platform.
Financial incentives, while not the primary motive, are important to Joyce, and the decrease in revenue from her Medium articles has contributed to her decision to leave.
Ownership of her work is a significant concern for Joyce, especially in light of the potential impact of AI on writers' platforms and the loss of her past work when a website shut down.
Joyce is seeking to create a more personal connection with her audience and establish her own brand, which she believes is better achieved outside of Medium.
Despite her departure, Joyce expresses fondness for Medium and acknowledges the benefits it has provided, including monetary gains, tools, and promotional opportunities.

The short answer to why I will no longer be an active writer on the platform is that I don’t understand it anymore.

I don’t know how to grow a readership beyond the wizardry of the algorithm.

If I wanted to keep my work hidden, I’d write in my journal.

I write on Medium for the same reasons I read others’ writing on Medium— to relate. To commune. To converse.

Stories from all parts of the human experience make me feel seen. They validate my feelings and give me new perspectives to consider. I write to make others feel seen, validate their feelings, and present them with new perspectives. I can’t do that in a silo.

There was a time when I loved scrolling through my email alerts for titles that made me curious.

What life has this person lived? I want to hear more.

Now, I come across more repackaged content than original thought pieces. I struggle to break out of my feedback loop of ideas.

The other reason I am moving away from Medium is for ownership.

If I’m not going to gain an audience or a dollar, I’d at least like to fully possess my intellectual property.

With AI on the rise, who knows what the future holds for writers’ outlets such as these? I was once a writer for a website that went down unexpectedly along with all my work. I wish I’d at least kept copies of my 21-year-old penmanship.

At this stage of my career as a writer and as an aspiring mogul, ownership is the name of the game. Medium has been great in offering monetary benefits, tools, and systems like the subscription option, and marketing, and promotion through publications (when I understood the algorithm…or thought I did) and a vast pool of content diverse in topic and quality.

Nothing it can offer tops the peace of knowing I am building my own database of subscribers, I am housing my own thought pieces, and I am establishing my own brand at thejoyceoflife.com.

I’m gonna miss this place. I will find comfort in accepting that what I miss is what it was and what it could be rather than what it is today.

To all my fellow writers on here — may the odds be ever in your favor.

This is my final post on Medium. I am taking my work to my website. As always…Thank you for reading! ❤️ — Joyce

The courage to change

I am ending a 4-year relationship with Medium

The short answer to why I will no longer be an active writer on the platform is that I don’t understand it anymore.

Without views, there’s no revenue, so I feel unmotivated to continue writing for Medium.

The other reason I am moving away from Medium is for ownership.