Medium is offering 1 x $50,000 and 4 x $10,000 prizes this month.

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   TessSchlesingerposted 2 years ago

   When is Hubpages going to offer prizes? It appears everybody else is, and that would get me right back into Hubpage stable. Hubpages, of course, has the advantage of passive income which no other content site has.

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      Miebakagh57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Tessa, that's great on Medium. Hope Hubpages copy to enthus it's writers.                                                 But as long as she's under the apron string of marven, I could not split hair further.

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      letstalkabouteducposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Tess, how does one win these prizes on Medium? You are absolutely correct that HP needs to do somethings to jazz up their site and get us excited about writing here. I love the idea of money prizes.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         You have to be a paying member, I think. Not sure (That's $50 for the year), and you have to enter the competition, I think. You are allowed four entries. One for each topic.

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      sallybeaposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      They used to, they were writing competitions, usually in certain categories.

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         Titiaposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I remember that, but one could not win more than $ 25 as I recall, or a t-shirt, or a mug.

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            sallybeaposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            It was actually quite a lot more than that.  It was definitely over $125  I seem to recall that all the money earned by Hubpages for the articles involved was shared out between the winners.  When asked staff in latter years they appeared to think that it was problematical for tax purposes or something similar.   I seem to recall that I won it once or twice, received a couple of the mugs too.  I thought it a nice incentive for writers to increase the pool of writing for Hubpages.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            I remember.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, I remember.

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      Solarasposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      What is the criteria to win these prizes, Quality or Quantity of views?

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Only one entry per topic. So four entries in total. Supposedly quality.

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   Titiaposted 2 years ago

   I really would hate it if HP should start with offering prizes.
   I don't see any advantage in turning this site into a lottery.

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      NateB11posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      +100

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      TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      It's not a lottery.

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   Miebakagh57posted 2 years ago

   ++++++

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   Ev Williams seems to be throwing everything he has at Medium to try and get more writers and readers and make the site profitable.
   
   That's the only explanation for why he keeps radically reorganizing the site, then introducing things like bonuses for a few months, then switching to cash-prize competitions.
   
   He's pumping in money from his own pocket, according to the research I've undertaken. The venture capitalist funding dried up some time ago.
   
   I therefore don't see what's happening at Medium as a particularly good sign.
   
   HP has a more plodding approach, but hopefully that means longevity. I guess time will tell.
   
   (And yes, as sallybea said, HP did used to do competitions with cash prizes)
   
   (And yes, I may still enter the Medium competition )

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      DrMark1961posted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Throwing money at the writers to increase readership? What about the readers?
      It sounds like solid Bubblews strategy to me.

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         EricDockettposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I often wonder how many people actually sign up to read articles. It just seems like a bunch of writers competing for each other's attention.
         
         The writing I've done for Medium is some of the worst I've put out there. On HubPages, I write to help people or teach them something. On Medium, I have no idea who I am writing for or who would care.
         
         Personally, I would contribute there a lot more if they changed to an advertising based revenue sharing model.

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            Kyler J Falkposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            I've always found that no matter what is being written about on Medium, the vernacular there is typically like that of SOAPBOXIE. Whether it be a medical discussion about gender, or simply discussing your financial situation via an article, you find the majority choose a click-baity, soapbox-like tone. At least that has been my experience, it could just be how they categorize what I see.

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               TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               And I think that's what Ev Williams is now trying to get rid of.

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            Solarasposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            The only recurring revenue I can see there is from, how to write articles on Medium to get lots of views every month. LOL I read some of those.

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            TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            There are some brilliant writers on Medium. The problem is finding them. You can read the New York Times there, The Atlantic, Barak Obama, etc. These aren't bad writers.
            
            Unfortunately, it has been invaded by the kind of black hate affiliate marketers that brought us Panda in 2010. I think the current changes are an effort to get rid of them.
            
            It's also not easy to find readers. Medium has lost a lot of readers during the past 10 months, primarily because it has been taken over by success marketers "You, too can earn $10,000 a month. Sign up for my $500 course, and I will show you how to write like a star." Not.
            
            It has taken me just on 15 months to get to a point where I earn a steady income, and I'm adding genuine new readers every day. People are actually reading my stuff now. And they donate to me on Patreon and Ko-fi as well, so it's not only on Medium that I get paid. It's just not that easy to get there.

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         Solarasposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Exactly what I thought when I saw the headline.  $90K out of pocket?  Only to friends and family who will give the winnings back lol.

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         TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         I think he is trying to increase the quality of the writing, and I think the first time lot of bonuses went to people who wrote about topics other than writing. I think that's why I won in the first round of $500.
         
         (I did win the other two as well.) Then, with the uproar from the supposed leading money-makers who didn't win, Medium switched direction. Probably because they didn't want to offend those who were responsible for so many reads, but in doing that, they once more had to contend with the constant crap that is written on the site by marketers.
         
         I think he is dealing with the same sort of thing that Google dealt with when they launched Panda - remember black hat SEO and all the affiliate marketing nonsense?
         
         Also, his launch of the fellowship thingie, in which a selection of writers were invited to be guaranteed $500 per month for 3 or 4 months for 4 articles per month is interesting. The people who were selected were all people who wrote about particular topics - not 'how to write' or 'how to earn money.'
         
         Lastly, the competition is very much about finding quality writing. There's been a lot of heat about it, and if I read between the lines, the kind of people who are moaning about it, are moaning because it's not the kind of thing that they write. They're basically the equivalent of black hat affiliate marketers. I think Williams is trying to get rid of them - but slowly. He needs to replace them with good writers.
         
         My guess (and it is a guess) is that Williams is trying to find serious writers for the platform, and that's not an easy thing when every dick and his dubious dog is writing less than exemplary prose.

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      TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Well, if nothing else, people will read all the entries, and reads mean money. :

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   Solarasposted 2 years ago

   If it is too good to be true, it probably is.

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   Kierstin Gunsbergposted 2 years ago

   That’s awesome! I like the revenue sharing formula here though. It’s what keeps me here.

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   Solarasposted 2 years ago

   Here are a few details on the contest and subject matter.  https://blog.medium.com/introducing-the … 8a95f6d17f

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   PaulGoodman67posted 2 years ago

   I really don't care much for writing competitions but I will write some stuff for this one for 3 reasons:
   
   1. Ev Williams is throwing his money at it.
   2. The standard seems generally pretty low at Medium, if my feed there is anything to go by. 50% of it seems like garbage with a clickbait title. I think a lot of the writers here will be at an advantage, provided they can make their writing Medium friendly, which means an article that uses a personal/colloquial style with some sort of takeaway..
   3. The competition titles generally seem easy to fit work around, the only harder one being "Reentry".

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      TessSchlesingerposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      I thought the most difficult one was space, and then found myself writing it first. I'm entering because people will read the entries. Mine got distributed.

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   Miebakagh57posted 2 years ago

   I will consider Medium in the nearest future.

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