Why I Chose to Subscribe to Medium

And why you might want to consider it too.

A little background

I have refused to subscribe to the traditional outlets, such as NYT and WSJ, because I don’t see myself paying anyone, only to be intruded by their advertisers in the middle of my reading experience.

I understand every business has to make money to pay the bills, or cease to exist. They can prolong their existence by holding on to the business model they have, or they can choose to innovate; because losing customers is never a sustainable strategy.

There was a time when people paid for the newspapers because that was the only way to get the information. But this is the 21st century. Information is freely available. One can make an argument about quality journalism, etc., but that’s another whole bowl of wax that I won’t touch here.

So why did I decide to subscribe to Medium?

There were two reasons.

First, the traditional giants had an “editorial board” that controlled what will be published on their website. Yes, it’s their website, and they have the absolute right to do so. No arguments there. But the content I receive from the traditional outlets is limited to the selection by their editorial board.

Medium, on the other hand, has no such editorial board. It is an open platform. Anybody can post on practically any topic, as long as it meets some minimum requirements of quality and decency. In other words, there are no limits to what can be published, which means that I can find and read just about any subject on the platform.

Second, the giant outlets were adhering to the traditional model of business, i.e., advertisements. In the print version, you could read the content without their intrusion, while they still made money for the publishers. In the online world, the ads had to be intrusive to be useful, not necessarily for the advertisers, but for the publication.

Readers were getting used to their presence and learning to scan beyond them, but they were a nuisance nevertheless. They were the “necessary evil.” To me, they were an unnecessary evil, and I didn’t want to put up with them. There were other outlets from where I could get the information I needed or wanted. Asking me to pay for it was ridiculous, and it wasn’t going to happen.

When Medium put up the paywall, a couple of years ago, resistance was my knee jerk reaction to subscription. But over time, I could see the benefit and value of the subscription. Unlimited content on a wide variety of subjects without any commercial intrusion was worth five bucks a month for me.

An unexpected benefit.

Though it was not a factor in my decision to become a paid member, it is something I learned only recently. Medium has an innovative business model. Instead of hiring writers to write under their editorial policies and keeping the profits for themselves, as the traditional outlets do, Medium uses a profit-sharing philosophy. It distributes the earnings among the writers whose work is well received by the readers, as determined by the amount of time spent reading the stories. It attracts writers who produce quality content for the website on just about any and every topic you can imagine. It is truly a win-win-win solution.

Medium wins because it can provide excellent content to its readers. Readers win because they can find high-quality information without having to deal with annoying advertisements. The writers win because they are able to do what they enjoy doing the most, producing creative and unique stories without having to receive approval from an editor/boss.

Shameless Plug

When I learned about this unique and innovative business model, I joined the Medium Partners Program to become a writer on their platform.

I have blogged on and off for the past ten years. It was always my goal to earn a living with my writing whenever I started a new blog. Over the years, I learned a few things without making any money. Operating a blog is costly, and building a readership is a lengthy process. Ultimately, it would come down to running ads in form or another or charge my readers if I wanted to make money. It was a losing proposition for me because it clashed with my values.

With Medium, I am a part of a co-op. Together, all the writers attract readers of their content, but those readers also have other interests that are served by other writers who, in turn, benefit from the ready-made audience. So, the writers both provide a new audience and benefit from the existing audience.

If and when you decide to subscribe to Medium ($5 per month/$50 per year), you will be contributing to the livelihood of thousands of writers. In return, you’ll receive unlimited reading material on a variety of subjects written by people who are passionate about writing on those topics.

Be blessed, and as always, thank you for reading.

Rasheed Hooda is a regular contributor to #ILLUMINATION, a writers’ community on Medium, where they support each other to grow and prosper.

He is a self-proclaimed weirdo living a Freedom Lifestyle and writing about related topics — Travel (a top writer), Personal Growth, Freedom, and entrepreneurship. (Join the Tribe)

“You can let others tell you what it means to be successful, or you can decide it for yourself.”