Why I Quit the Medium Game
And am 5,000 times happier with my writing
I’m going to put my wrists out so Medium can slap the ghost hand cuffs on me right now?
Like a protestor in the picket line, I stand here ready to go back to what the great J.J. Pryor calls Medium jail.
But I got to speak out.
This weekend I did a little experiment and started reading writers with little to no claps.
I was shocked that these writers not only had quality articles but they did everything right.
- Published in a Medium publication.
- Had nice formatting.
- Wrote about their personal story.
- And had a call to action, or insightful share.
However, where were these writers? Buried in my feed.
Like come on, what gives?
Why you have to stop caring
I’ve had a few articles that “went viral.” They all of a sudden got curated and my feed exploded.
Funny thing was I forgot about these articles. I moved on with my life. And thought no one gave a flip.
The truth is you got to play the game on Medium and some of us don’t want it anymore.
Recently I read a great piece by Varun Khadri and he took the words out of my mouth.
We are writers, we are creatives, we’re human beings that go against the grain. We don’t like being told what we do. We want to express ourselves as artists.
What got me to write better on Medium was falling out of love with it.
I stopped caring about all the recycled self-help articles and just kept writing when I felt like it. And what I wanted to write!
If you’re writing for other people you may make more moolah, or be part of the $100 club (which I am), but that doesn’t mean you’ll be writing what you want.
Authenticity comes across. And while it’s frustrating when you write a dud — you never know when it will get curated or who will see it.
So what do I say to you… keep writing my Medium fam.
Flip the bird and all the gate keeping. Aren’t we tired of seeing the same self-help articles rinsed, recycled, and repeated constantly?
And the people say… Amen!!
Don’t forget your passion brought you here
Whether you have been writing since you came out of the womb, or the power of the creative spirit moved you — I’m going to bet that passion brought you here.
Something in you wanted to share your story.
Something in you said the world has to know this.
Something in you said it’s time to speak out.
So do just that — speak!
Eventually maybe one of these mysterious curators will read your article and open the gate. Still, I want to read your articles.
And I bet a lot of us Reciprocal folks want to read you too.
You can always hone your craft and keep working at it.
For example, I’m horrendous at writing article titles. They flop more than a hippo doing a belly flop after a five day cruise, but I still am here.
Type, click, and share.
Final thoughts — Let’s support each other
So as I get thrown in the Medium jail, I’d like you all to know that it’s time for us to support each other.
Just like the reddit guys who saved GameStop after a big hedge fund tried to sink the stock, we too can lift each other up.
Let’s stop clicking the most obvious 5,000 clap articles (all the time) and scroll a little in our “following” feed to find great writers.
Yes of course… we can support the Patriarchs and Matriarchs of Medium— but I also think we need to learn how to seek each other out.
Passion led you here and it will keep you here. Just know there are many of us out here who want to read you. You are not alone.
Keep writing. See you when I’m back from Medium jail.
Peace and Blessings!
Great writers I found this weekend:
Hi I’m Ari. Thank you for reading! Get to know me a little more here.
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