How Medium is Killing the Confidence of Small Time Writers in a Large Way
I remember the feeling of getting my 1,000th follower here on Medium. I was so proud. It felt like it meant something, like I was on my way.
Then I started being solicited to write for noteworthy publications, by their editors. I was ecstatic, this was the beginning of something wonderful.
The first time a story I wrote, got a like (I’m talking pre-clap days, I’ve been here entirely too long) from 100 different people, I felt like challenging James Patterson or Dean Koontz to an arm wrestling match. I was on top of the world.
There are few things in this world that make me truly happy. I’m nihilistic and often far too realistic to be an optimist. But having my writing resonate with others brings me genuine joy. Medium once made me feel hopeful.
When I was invited into the paid partner program, before they let everyone and their step father in — I envisioned it being my launchpad to eventually writing on a full time basis. I made $162 my first month in the program and $217 the next. Visible progress was being made, I was prospering here.
I figured if I could keep progressing onward and eventually move towards making $1,000 a month, that’d be more than I’d be bringing home from a minimum wage job a week. I felt it was a realistic goal to focus on.
Yet somehow, last month I managed to make a whopping $41 through the program and haven’t broken the $100 mark over a 30 day period in months.
Sure, I had my complaints about the platform and wrote a handful of playful posts laying them out — but it was mainly all in good fun. It was a way of starting a discussion about how I thought the platform could improve, in an entertaining and humorous manner. I assure you, I’m done playing.
At this point, the only reason I still pay my $5 monthly membership is because
1.) If I don’t, I have no doubt Medium will cease making my writing visible. They’ll promote it less than they do now, if even at all possible.
2.) I’ll no longer have access to the stories favorite writers of mine on this platform are locking (many have said they feel locked stories are the only ones getting attention) out of pure desperation. I don’t mean that in a negative way towards the writers here. I’m not saying they’re desperate for the potential income — I just think some are scrambling to stay relevantly visible and don’t know what else to do.
I knew us smaller time folk — which includes most of my favorite writers here — were doomed as soon as I began seeing posts from Rolling Stone and The New York Times. It was the first step Medium took, in betraying their own so called mission of giving independent writers a place to thrive and self publish.
Jonathan Greene recently published a post that hit the nail on the head, one which basically served as my inspiration for writing this, titled Medium Has Jumped The Shark. He lays out how Medium has betrayed and forgotten about the independent small time writers who helped make it what it was.
Medium deciding to let mainstream magazines and newspapers into the paid partner program is the literary equivalent of sending the 1993 Olympic USA basketball dream team into an urban playground for a pickup game. To that end, none of us here are capable of scoring on or defending Micheal Jordan.
And we should really talk about Medium’s political preferences when it comes to posts they feature or give exposure to. Talent and well written posts should be what earns us exposure — not our viewpoints.
Do you have a story about how you were once, kind of sort of discriminated against? Well lock it and publish it because Medium can’t wait to send it to the masses via email. I’ll just come out and say it — the white guilt of Ev Williams and his San Francisco staff has never been so obvious and nauseating. We get it, you’re good people who’ve never had so much as a racist or sexist thought.
Furthermore, they are now hyping their own machine. I’m watching writers whose stories never peaked my interest to begin with, be named to the editorial staff — and suddenly their stories go from having a handful of claps to a few thousand. Please tell me I’m wrong, in stating you’re giving the writers you name to your editorial and curation teams an unfair advantage over the rest of us? Because from where I’m sitting, it certainly appears i’m not.
Meanwhile, my numbers continue to decline. My notifications become fewer and further between on days I don’t have the time to spend hours reading stories here on this platform. So, on top of all the other biased bullshit, you’re penalizing writers who don’t spend obscene amounts of time reading on Medium. I like to read but much of my day is spent focused on writing, when I’m not working. How much time I spend reading, clapping for and commenting on others stories should have ZERO effect on how well my writing does.
I know I sound like Medium’s first conspiracy theorist but here’s the thing, I’m very much not alone in feeling a majority of what I’ve just expressed. It’s like the old saying goes — just because your paranoid, doesn’t mean everyone isn’t out to get you. Other very talented, insightful and intelligent writers and readers alike are becoming increasingly frustrated with this platform.
I take all of this very personally, as someone who plans on doing whatever it takes to make a living off writing. Writing is my life. I have no kids or wife to speak of, just these words and posts. I’ve given everything I have inside of me to each and every story I’ve published. I’ve literally bled openly in front of this keyboard. I’ve tried every angle, flirted with every topic and utilized every popular tag. I’ve locked stories, unlocked stories and locked them again. I’ve sent an absurd amount of stories to Medium’s tip email address, that they allegedly use to decide which stories to feature.
By the way, for anyone unaware — you can send a link to any story you feel is worth being featured to tips@medium.com via email. In fact, send this to them. I’m certainly going to, though I have a strong hunch this post will never see the light of day outside of my profile. No problem, I’ve gotten used to it.
I’m at my wits fucking end and out of fresh ideas that’ll revitalize my experience on this platform. And here’s what kills me about it.
I’m observant and well versed enough on this platform to know it’s not me — it’s Medium — that is responsible for my declining numbers and lack of featured stories. I’m going to keep writing, be it here or elsewhere, paid or unpaid. But I’m willing to bet there’s plenty of talented writers here, who are blaming themselves and their work for the lack of responses and claps to their stories. Medium is inadvertently convincing people, maybe they just don’t have what it takes and to hang it up. Us creatives can be super sensitive and self critical about our work, it’s in our nature. This platform is killing confidence and wearing away at our grit to move forward. Ev Williams and the people he handpicks and hires, are murdering writing dreams in their sleep.
It’s never been more apparent or obvious, Medium as a platform and staff, has decided who they like and who they don’t. Who to feature and who to do their absolute best to silence. Not that I support the man but my bet is you’d be hard pressed to find a post praising or supporting Donald Trump — or really any right wing point of view. But yet everyday, extreme left wing view pointed posts fill my feed — and not because of the writers I actively choose to follow.
But because Medium has decided what I should and shouldn’t be reading. It’s ironic that a platform that leans so left — essentially practices literary fascism.
I know that sounds extreme but it’s not more extreme than the changes that have taken place on this platform, in the not even year and a half I’ve been writing here regularly.
I really loved this place, both as a reader and writer. I actively promoted it on Quora in my free time, for free. Not my writing — but Medium as a platform for both writers and readers. As much as I wish this place I used to cherish would get back to being what it once was, I’ve basically given up hope and am actively searching for a new place to write. It breaks my heart to say but I no longer feel at home here. While I don’t foresee myself not at least cross posting anything I publish online, to here on Medium — my efforts here have just seemed a waste as of late and I really feel it’s time I move on.
All I know, is I’m looking forward to the day a programmer, coder or app builder takes advantage of how unhappy so many writers and readers here have become and builds a platform that resembles what Medium was supposed to and could have been. It’s only a matter of time.
Thanks for reading
