Writing on Medium Sort of Sucks Right Now

Writers keep telling me that their stats have gone down and I’m seeing the same thing.

A year ago, I was waking up to anywhere between 2,000 and 3,000 reads on Medium. I didn’t even pay attention to how many views I was getting because I didn’t care. I was just happy that people were reading my work.

It was a hard year, though. Honestly, that’s a bit of an understatement, right? 2020 was hard on everyone in some way, I believe, and for me, it sort of took its toll on my work. I struggled to focus, struggled to write about the really personal stuff, and for a long time, it felt like I was sort of silently treading water even if from the outside things seemed fine.

Things did work out for me, however. I adapted and wrote less but was able to maintain a high enough number of reads to get through the year financially when lots of folks were struggling to stay afloat.

These days, I don’t wake up to 2,000 or 3,000 reads. I’m lucky to see 2,000 a day. After months of hearing a lot of fellow Medium writers talk about declining views, I can officially say it’s happening to me too. Frankly, though, I barely even look at my reads like I used to.

Now, I’m a whole lot more interested in those views.

They’re just not what they used to be. As far as all of the numbers go, I’m closer to where I was when I was still new to Medium, about two-and-a-half years ago.

To be fair, though, I published a lot less in 2020 than I did in 2018 or 2019. So, for a few months, when I saw my stats (and most of all, views) keep slipping, I did assume that it had a lot to do with that. I wasn’t building up such a robust back catalog, I figured.

I had faith, however, that I’d begin to publish more often in 2021, so, I didn’t panic.

This month, I finally got back to publishing more frequently. On many fronts, it’s been nice to feel like I’m my “old self” again. Nice to focus better and all of that.

Where it hasn’t been so great, though, is my stats. Something I wanted to show all of you is that despite publishing every day for more than a week (almost two, actually), I can’t seem to move the needle.

If you look at that image of my views over the past month, you can see I added the red dot to denote the day I began publishing more frequently. Since that day, I’ve been publishing at least once — and sometimes, twice — a day. There was an ever so slight increase as one of my stories became a little popular, but nothing to write home about. You can see that just a couple of weeks ago, one of my popular pieces bumped my stats up much higher.

A couple of things…

1. I’m not sharing this with you in a bid for sympathy or hope for greater views. Traditionally, my stories about Medium do not generate much revenue, so I tend to keep them few and far between.
2. I wanted to share my current experience with you as a writer on the platform who’s had a remarkably consistent run of success for a few years. It’s true that I’ve never been one of the self-help gurus here who earn $20,000 a month or more, but I’ve had a handful of $10K-12K months, and I’ve been able to use Medium to get back on my feet after some rough times, and it’s allowed me to support myself and my daughter through many significant expenses. So, I want you all to know that even the people who seem to have “all the luck” here can have disappointing months too.
3. Usually, when I share my stats, I share exact numbers too. This time, I decided to focus on the curve of the stats than the exact numbers. That’s the piece that I believe matters the most. I want you to be able to see that sometimes, things don’t seem to pick up or go your way, no matter what you do. I also understand that every writer’s journey on Medium varies, so “good” or “bad” stats are all relative. Once you get used to certain numbers for a few months (or years), it’s natural that those become your baseline. You and I may have different baselines, but the curve that just won’t pick up despite frequent publishing is the relatable piece.

So far, all of the stories I’ve published in March have been “chosen for distribution.” Only two of those stories have cracked 1K views. One might think that maybe my writing isn’t as good as it used to be. Or, perhaps readers are sick of me. While those are reasonable thoughts, I don’t believe they’re the biggest explanations for a few reasons. First, if my stories aren’t breaking 1K views when I have close to 40K followers, that suggests it’s more of a distribution issue.

Also, my reads aren’t dwindling in excess of those reduced views. Member reading time on my stories is still high given the smaller number of views. And feedback is still good, meaning despite all of the hate mail, there’s still plenty of folks writing in to say they appreciate my work and want to see more. Many readers, actually, have been writing to say they haven’t been seeing me in the app or in their emails much, and that makes it hard for them to find me. (You may have been hearing the same thing from your biggest fans as well. It seems to be an issue many of us have noticed over the past several months.)

There’s another big part of this conversation, which is: Medium doesn’t owe us any views. We chose to write on their platform. There’s always going to be that lack of control.

Historically, I’ve learned to not panic when my stats take a tumble because I’ve found that they always come back up again. That doesn’t mean they will pick up again, but at this point, I haven’t run into a reason to give up, so, I’m willing to stick around.

Everyone has a different experience on Medium, of course, but for me, I think my history of consistent results has been largely due to my refusal to give up and my commitment to ride out the waves.

Mostly, I’ve learned to keep working and writing — even I’m not getting the results that I want. I don’t see the point in being “uppity” about it, as if I deserve to see better numbers. There are so many wonderful writers here on Medium, and so much happening on the back end that we don’t understand. Sure, I can sense it when the algorithms seem to shift, and sometimes, they shift to work more in my favor.

But shifting algorithms are sort of the nature of the beast, you know? I love getting to write whatever I want without too much fuss. It works with my introversion and life as a single mom. It works with my personality and even my challenges. And in all honesty, it’s the only thing I’ve ever done that I don’t get sick of doing.

I’ve held a lot of different jobs over the years, but every single one of them became unbearable to me at some point.

But writing on Medium? Nope. That simply never gets old for me. After nearly three years of being here, I suppose that tells me everything I need to know about what I want to do with my future. No matter how hard I try to make other stuff work, I just don’t seem to be cut out for some of the stuff so many other writers do online. I’m not a coach or teacher, and I’m definitely not a public speaker.

I suppose I still have faith that I don’t have to do any of those things. I still look at Medium as an opportunity to hone my voice and build a readership, and the past few years have helped me better understand the direction I want to go with writing books.

Knowing what you want to do with your life doesn’t make the work easy, of course. I’ve struggled a lot just trying to juggle motherhood with writing, and these days, I understand some of those struggles better now that I’m being treated for ADHD and slowly working new routines into my life. I’m still learning how to make time to work on a book.

Even so, every time I go through a rough patch on Medium, it’s sort of a reminder that I really do need to figure it out and pursue my writing career away from Medium as well.

In case you missed it, it’s okay to be honest when you hit a slump. Most people hit a downturn from time to time, and I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of or even quiet about. We don’t need to hide the truth.

It doesn’t mean that you’re being a “negative Nancy,” or looking for attention just to say, “Hey, my stats are sort of a dumpster fire, but I hope they pick back up.” Personally, I like to be a bit honest though, because I came to Medium three years ago with this whole mission to support myself and my daughter here. I didn’t know if it was possible, but I set my mind to making it happen.

And I’ve never really been so committed to making anything work before. So, you know. I like to be open and transparent about the reality that even when we try our best, bad days happen. Bad months, bad seasons, and maybe bad years too.

There are so many different ways to “be a writer” and to do it to pay the bills. One of the most important things to know is that the isn’t any one path. There are so many other writers here who have been more successful than me, and that’s a good thing. It tells me that there are different ways to do this, and I’m happy to find my way on my own timetable. While I’ve had more success than some other writers too, I would never suggest that they could just mimic me and get my same results.

I’m still convinced that the most important thing we can do is follow our own path.

So, there it is, folks.

Writing on Medium sort of sucks right now. For me, the main thing is that frequent publishing doesn’t seem to do much of anything to boost my stats. It’s disappointing, and even frustrating because I do want to earn extra money for my lipedema surgery. Honestly, I’d go out and schedule the surgery for the first available slot if money wasn’t an object here.

So, I don’t want to pretend that I don’t feel the slumps. Because I do. Plus, I certainly feel a lot of pressure about being one of those writers who’s not juggling lots of different income streams. In three years of trying, it simply hasn’t come naturally to me. And I can still be pretty hard on myself about those things. As if I don’t measure up.

I want you to know these things because, in a sea of self-improvement, productivity porn, and so many inspirational success stories, we don’t always get the whole truth. And anytime we’re watching other people, it’s easy to feel like we understand their progress because we’re not seeing every up and down. We only see what they show us.

All I really know right now is that I’m not the only writer here who’s run into frustrations lately on the platform. It’s happening to a lot of different people. I remain pretty optimistic, but I also recognize that everyone needs to deal with the ups and downs in their own way. Some people are leaving Medium, some are writing less. I might be one of the few folks who’s writing more.

The way I look at it, nothing I post is “wasted.” All of my stories help me grow in some way — personally and professionally. I learn more about myself, the world around me, and my place in it. Stories that don’t really go anywhere can still be used elsewhere or inspire future projects. And all of it is a leap of faith in my purpose as a writer.

Sure, I’d love to get back to the days of 400K to 500K monthly views, but they’re certainly not returning overnight. For now, I’m okay with that. Even with fewer views, folks are still reading my work, and I know it’s still making an impact for those folks. Doing something I love and making an impact is no small thing.

If you’re not getting the results you want (on Medium with your writing or elsewhere in any other pursuits), it doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doing something wrong. After three years, I’ve discovered that the ups and downs are pretty standard.

That’s life.