This Popular Writer Is Leaving Medium After Making 17k In One Month On NewsBreak
Is Medium doomed
Matt Lillywhite was one of the first writers I started following when I joined Medium. He’s a great one with over 28K followers and a broad catalog of stories. Serious topics, hilarious ones, he’s got it all.
Just the other day, I read that Matt’s leaving Medium. Like many other writers, he feels that Medium has changed a lot in the past months, and not for the better. I’ve heard similar thoughts from other highly popular and successful writers on this platform.
Are we going downhill here?
For Matt, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel. First of all, he’s had tremendous success on Medium. A lot of money too. That’s not all though. A couple of months ago, he shared his success story on another popular platform. A competitor to Medium that we probably all know. Newsbreak.
As you can see from this reply to a Tweet by another popular Medium friend, Tom Kuegler, Matt’s doing amazing on Newsbreak. 17K in June alone. That’s a number, many of us dream about earning yearly with writing.
So, is Medium doomed?
Pubs are closing, the partner program has seen huge changes, top writers and earners are leaving this platform, the algorithm has changed extensively, curation isn’t what it used to be, the Medium Writers Challenge had all kinds of issues… This is just the latest series of events.
What does this mean? Is Medium dying? Are they desperately trying to survive? With referrals to get more members on board, for example. Maybe.
I’ve said it before. I’m always optimistic. No doubt, Medium is changing. It’s not the first time. It won’t be the last. Change is not always better, despite the catchy line that tells you so.
BUT… and that’s a huge one. I still think Medium is in the process of doing what they told they would do. Focusing more on indie writers. I get the feeling they‘re not quite sure how to do it. Or let me rephrase that: Maybe they’re just trying different strategies to see what works and what doesn’t.
There’s still a problem
This becomes problematic though. When long-time writers, successful and loyal ones, are leaving the platform, it’s a problem.
When issues, even legal problems, arise during a writing contest, that’s a problem.
When two factors that made this platform great — curation and the editorial — are being replaced by non-functioning automatic systems like auto-curation and the new algorithm, that’s a huge problem.
For now.
The bottom line
What Medium needs to do now is evaluate the latest changes and go back to the drawing board on the ones that didn’t work out as expected. I don’t think they want to be losing great writers like Matt. They’ve been thriving on their successes.
Medium will bounce back. And I hope Matt will be back soon too. After all, he closed his farewell post with:
To be clear, this isn’t a goodbye. It’s more of a temporary farewell until we meet again. I’ll still be reading stories on Medium and supporting awesome writers where I can. However, I won’t be publishing anything on this platform. At least, not for the foreseeable future.
Not all hope is lost, Medium. We’re counting on you to make the right moves in the coming months. Clearly, the last couple of changes haven’t gone the way you or we wanted. The next couple will be better. I’m still optimistic.
P.S.: First of all, you should get my posts in your inbox. Do that here! Secondly, if you like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it supports us, writers, greatly, and you have the chance to make money with your writing as well. When I started, I made $3000 in 6 months. By signing up with this link, you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you more. If you do so, thank you a million times!