The Strange Journey To Becoming A Member On Medium

Summary

The author shares their journey of becoming a member on Medium, reflecting on the value of reading and the decision to invest in a full-year subscription.

Abstract

The article titled "The Strange Journey To Becoming A Member On Medium" recounts the author's personal experience with the platform, starting from their initial encounter in late 2017. Initially, the author was hesitant to pay for a membership, questioning the necessity of spending $5 a month to read articles. Over time, the author developed a passion for reading, which led to a desire to contribute as a writer. This passion was fueled by reading influential books such as "How to Win Friends & Influence People" and "Think and Grow Rich." Ultimately, the author decided to become a Medium member, opting for an annual subscription of$ 50, recognizing the immense value that the platform's inspiring stories, written by passionate individuals, bring to readers and writers alike.

Opinions

The author expresses gratitude to Evan Williams and the Medium team for creating a platform that fosters a community of readers and writers.
Initially, the paywall on Medium was a surprise and a point of contention for the author, who questioned the need to pay for reading articles.
The author believes that to become a writer, one must first be an excellent reader, and they embarked on reading a variety of books to develop this skill.
The decision to become a Medium member was driven by the realization of the value provided by the platform's content, which the author now considers priceless.
The author is enthusiastic about joining Medium, viewing it as one of the best decisions they have made, and is hopeful for a long-term journey within the community.

Why this topic?

First of all, before I begin my writing, I would like to thank the founder Evan Williams and the team who created Medium and also those who contributed so much either by writing or reading to make it what it is today. I am very glad to join this great community of readers and writers as I always wanted to be one of them.

The reason I made this topic to be my first story on Medium is to share with you my experience and what it really meant for me to become a member of this great family.

The Beginning

What I want to share might sound strange to some of you but believe me it is true. I have come across this platform two years ago probably in late 2017.

The reason was, I began to develop a reading habit and it let me to this site. After reading a few articles it interested me but to my surprise, I found out you could not read more because for you to do that it required membership to continue reading. At first, that bothered me and began to wonder why on earth I would pay $5 a month just to read articles despite knowing it is not a lot of money.

Then came 2018, I decided to start the journey to become a writer but for you to become one, you must be an excellent reader first. Therefore, I began to research some great books to start with, luckily I found few which really contributed positively to the development of my new reading habit.

You might be wondering by now which those books were, well let me mention a few of them to release your curiosity. First was How to Win Friends & Influence People(maybe the best I have read until now), second Think and Grow Rich (another great piece of writing), third Rich Dad Poor Dad, forth The Power of Habit and fifth The Richest Man In Babylon. Starting with these amazing books really encouraged me a lot.

Finally, in 2019 it brought me back to Medium after reading a few more articles on the website. At this stage, I am very obsessed with reading and reading only three articles per month for free was not enough.

Decision Time

So I decided to join the community and become a member but this time what surprised me the most was that now I was ready and willing to part away with $50 for a full-year subscription instead of $5 a month and be delighted with it.

The reason of mentioning this is not to promote Medium or to show you that I have a full-year subscription, but rather for you as a reader to imagine what it feels like when you realize the value of reading inspiring stories written mostly by people who are driven by passion, then money only becomes means to attaining that value.

Again I am very glad that I made the right decision because joining this platform with so many great readers and writers like you has become one of the best decisions of my life so far and it really makes me feel very happy.

I hope this is the beginning of a lifelong journey with you all.

Thank you for your precious time.