Will Medium Eventually Dissolve Like BUBBLEWS?

Those who remember the former Bubblews website, know enough to be concerned about this issue!

I’m writing this story, at the risk of losing out on my average $110–$150 a month on Medium (Yep! that’s all I typically earn, in spite of how much I write and engage on this site).

Regardless of how I feel about what I do and don’t earn, I keep writing because it’s what I do and what I truly love, so if I don’t write here, I’m going to write somewhere — so yes, I’ll take the few bucks in the process.

My point in writing what I’m about to say, is not to bitch about the amount, it’s to agree and co-sign on something I read by Medium writer Abena Talks, in her story titled: Vocal is Refusing to To Pay Its Writers.

First, let me clarify that Abena’s story is focused on Vocal Media, although she makes some super valid points about other sites, and that’s where I want to pick up at.

Abena made this comment in the story:

“…the truth is, we are at the mercy of these platforms, we have no control over anything. You could earn $10,000 in a month and they could refuse to pay you. What can you do? Nothing!”

To emphasize her point, she mentioned a former website called Triond, that used to be around years ago. Besides managing to reveal a bit about her age — I know because I’m an old bird myself and I remember Triond — Abena let us know she got stiffed and was owed a few hundred dollars when the website shut down.

Well, unlike Abena, I never cashed out at Triond at all, because I didn’t write much and never even reached the payout threshhold.

I did, however, write prolifically and earn money on several other sites back in the day, one of them being a site called BUBBLEWS. I’m all too familiar with websites suddenly bailing and leaving the writers — the very foundation of their businesses — holding the bag.

Medium writer Dani Rene wrote a story not long ago titled: Does Anyone Remember Bubblews? In her story, Dani shares some similar points about Bubblews, that were brought out in Abena’s story.

Since I had already left a detailed response on Dani’s story about the Bubblews website, I decided to leave a public response to Abena’s story, and share what I already wrote.

Here’s what I told Dani, back in November:

“Hey Dani. I definitely remember Bubblews. I posted 10 posts a day there — which was the maximum for a day. I received several payouts (a few hundred bucks), unlike many writers who never got paid.

I did however, get stiffed when they went out of business overnight. They owed me close to 300 bucks. Everyone knew the way they were doing things wouldn’t be sustainable. But I really liked the site, and managed to create several ebooks, resulting from re-purposed content :-) Thanks for the memories.”

Anyone who’s even remotely familiar with this former website, knows how they literally disappeared overnight, owing thousands of writers delinquent payouts.

As those who do remember may recall, in a lot of ways,the Bubblews community was similar to Medium — the good, bad, and ugly parts — and for the most part, writers were glad it existed, until it didn’t.

Just like that, poof! Now you see it, now you don’t…

Why should writers bother speaking up and speaking out?

The reason it’s so important to speak up and let our writer voices be heard, because it may not be happening to you NOW, or the site you spend all your time working on currently, but the truth is, it COULD be at any given time.

I know this to be true, because besides Bubblews and Triond, I used to write for YCN (Yahoo Contributor Network), formerly Associated Content.

They were considered a content mill, like many writing platforms back then, where you could earn a few cents. They also split under shady conditions and I personally lost access to over 200 of my articles, but obviously, I was just one writer out of thousands.

And going back even further, I’ll never forget the first website I ever created myself. I made around l00 pages of solid content, attempting to build my writing foundation, but I hosted it at a site called: “Geocities”.

For whatever reason, Geocities decided to close their doors. Even though we at least got a little bit of warning so members could try to make other arrangements, I was devastated. I was too disappointed, disgruntled and frustrated to even try and figure out how to migrate all my pages.

I simply gave up and let all my hard work remain just a memory.

Final Thoughts

I woke up and read Abena’s story and knew immediately I needed to back my sister and fellow writer up on this issue.

I hate that she’s having issues with Vocal, especially because she’s so right in her assessment that ALL us writers are at the mercy of these sites, even the Medium website.

As you can see from the experiences I mentioned above, this could be any one of us, anytime in the near or distant future.

So if you’re writing and killing yourself everyday to try and achieve whatever, either on Medium or any other writing site, keep this information in mind.

• Don’t allow yourself to be fooled into thinking: “I feel bad for them, but that won’t happen to me.” That’s what I thought about Bubblews, all while I was getting paid and other writers weren’t.
• Don’t think for a minute: “That happened on other sites, but that won’t happen on Medium.” That’s what some writers think about Vocal, those who may happen to be getting those bonuses that Vocal uses to lure you in.

The reason it’s so important for us to be aware of these situations and take it to heart, is because many of us — myself included — are constantly looking for ways to increase our earning (even if it’s mostly for vanity sake and knowing your stories are being read).

But once again, the thing we keep overlooking is exactly what Abena pointed out: “You could earn $10,000 in a month and they could refuse to pay you. What can you do? Nothing!”

It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s the reality. It’s a good thing I’m resilient. I can damn near deal with anything 😄.

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