Medium isn't much better!

1. 71

   PaulGoodman67posted 3 days ago

   Medium is on the skids too, although it's not quite reached the same depths of decreptitude.
   
   The more professional writers have largely left, the financial rewards are essentially gone, and it's now a place for amateur bloggers and would-be spammers to earn a few cents.
   
   Coach Tony was celebrating how he'd made Medium profitable recently, but he's achieved it by drastically reducing payments to writers. He's kept the platform going but at what cost? It feels like he's only extended its demise.
   
   It's still Medium, but all the ambition has died. Rather like how HP still exists, but it's a mere shell of its former self.

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      viryaboposted 3 days agoin reply to this

      Medium! Now useless IMO. I'm pulling the plug on my $5 monthly soon. I'm also thinking of taking some of my posts away from there and repurpose them for my blogs.

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      OldRosesposted 2 days agoin reply to this

      You left out the part about the awful writing on Medium.  I haven't been able to figure out Coach Tony's business plan.  He pays writers so little that the good ones leave yet he expects people to continue to purchase subscriptions to read the dreck that is left.  So they end up leaving too.  It makes no sense.

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         PaulGoodman67posted 2 days agoin reply to this

         I don’t disagree but I thought I implied that with: “The more professional writers have largely left, the financial rewards are essentially gone, and it's now a place for amateur bloggers and would-be spammers to earn a few cents.”
         
         Coach Tony’s thrown everything into breaking even as a business. But, as you say, it’s a recipe for decline.
         
         To be fair, new tech companies can attract investment initially but there comes a time when that dries up. That was also the problem for HP.
         
         In soccer terms, Coach Tony was played a “hospital ball” by Ev Williams. As he was losing money and with no investment funds he feels, with some justification, that there’s no choice but to cut back on everything including writers’ earnings.
         
         It balances the books but leaves the writers disillusioned.

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2. 68

   eugbugposted 3 days ago

   I pulled the plug on my Medium subscription a couple of years ago. Meanwhile I got published in print for the first time last month in my town's local magazine. Next week I'm getting published in the regional newspaper. I wrote a story about my grandfather and his service in WW1 and after a lot of nagging of the editor and sending regular updates on content I had written,  he finally consented to publish, probably to get me off his back. Hopefully I'll get more work, although no money has been discussed yet. Ideally I'd like to get a miscellaneous column where I could write random stuff about gardening, tools, science and DIY or anything I muse about. Google still won't index my science blog, even though it has nearly 250 articles and was published a year and a half ago. All the other search engines have indexed it.

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      bravewarriorposted 2 days agoin reply to this

      Eugene, congratulations on being published in print formats that actually have a reach/circulation. That will go far and should be included in your bio. HP and these other online jokes don't mean diddly squat to a prospective editor or publisher.

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      Ansel Pereiraposted 2 days agoin reply to this

      Congrats on getting published in print Eugene. Wish you the best on your way forward.

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      Patty Inglish, MSposted 2 days agoin reply to this

      Congratulations on your in-print writing now! It's incredibly uplifting to see this good news

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3. 82

   Ansel Pereiraposted 2 days ago

   I write lists and listicles. I have been reading mixed reviews about Medium. I have a few questions for writers on Medium.
   
   Is republishing on Medium a good option?
   
   Do republished articles earn you any money on Medium?
   
   Do articles on Medium publications gain more traction in terms of traffic and reads?
   
   Can you submit articles that were previously published elsewhere on Medium Publications?
   
   How many articles should be good in a month on Medium?
   Or Do we need to write daily to earn?
   
   Do we need to have many followers and is community engagement vital if we need to be successful with articles on Medium?
   
   Your inputs and experiences will be a big help. Thank You!

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      theraggededgeposted 2 days agoin reply to this

      1. Yes (use the canonical link box to direct external traffic to the version where it will help you most).
      
      2. That depends if it works for the type of article you write.
      
      3. They will only earn if they appeal to the Medium membership. At the moment earnings are pretty awful.
      
      4. You don't need external traffic - your target audience is Medium members.
      
      5. I believe you can but you should probably delete the original first, rewrite/update, then republish.
      
      6. Whatever works best for you. The more, the better.
      
      7. Absolutely - it's the only way to be successful on Medium.
      
      Hope that helps.
      
      There is a ton of information about publishing at Medium on the site itself. Things tend to change constantly, so double check what I've written here.

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         Ansel Pereiraposted 2 days agoin reply to this

         Thank you for the detailed response, Bev.

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         1. 71

            PaulGoodman67posted 2 days agoin reply to this

            I would not recommend writing at Medium if you want to earn money and have people read your work.
            
            If you want my own response, I'd say:
            
            Is republishing on Medium a good option? No, it's not worth it. Everybody would be doing it if it worked.
            
            Do republished articles earn you any money on Medium? In virtually all cases you'll earn almost nothing. Medium is a different animal to HP and the how-to's and info articles at HP don't do well at Medium.
            
            Do articles on Medium publications gain more traction in terms of traffic and reads? No, it's bad. Whether it's worse than HP, I don't know. You may get slightly more traffic for a few days, then it will die at Medium, rather than continue to trickle like at HP.
            
            How many articles should be good in a month on Medium?
            Or Do we need to write daily to earn? You can write daily or just a few times a year. It won't help. I used to write few times a month in the glory days of Medium. Now, I write once every few months just to stay part of the earnings scheme.
            
            Do we need to have many followers and is community engagement vital if we need to be successful with articles on Medium? Followers don't matter. I have thousands at Medium and it has little impact.
            
            I was surprised by Bev's positive spin. She stopped writing at Medium a year ago and I assumed she'd effectively quit due to disillusionment.
            
            There was a time when I earned four figures at HP and a couple of hundred each month at Medium. Those days are long gone and I don't even make the payout thresholds anymore.
            
            I don't think anyone is "successful" at Medium anymore. Even Zulie Rane, the nearest thing Medium had to a guru writer/youtuber, ended up quitting freelance work and taking a salaried job.
            
            As with HP, I don't see Medium ever returning to its previous heights.

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               theraggededgeposted 2 days agoin reply to this

               Not so much positive than how Medium works (or doesn't). I haven't given up my membership yet and keep telling myself to use it. Nor for earning but just to be writing somewhere, I suppose.
               
               I didn't know that about ZR.
               
               No, I don't think anyone can make it as a freelance anymore. Along with so many other professions, short form writing is done for. Do something that AI can't - like dog walking.

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               Ansel Pereiraposted 37 hours agoin reply to this

               Thank you, Paul. I guess I will keep publishing on HubPages for now. Over the years this writing site has been a very good source of income for me. I just hope there is a turnaround, and the glory days for writers return.

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               1. 71

                  PaulGoodman67posted 2 hours agoin reply to this

                  TAG already announced that they no longer believe in the HP model, so that's not going to happen.
                  
                  The time for hope ended when they got rid of the editors, took possession of most of the material in the niches, and dumped everything else into Discover. There's no going back from that.
                  
                  Congratulations to Eugene by the way for getting into local print!
                  
                  On the Medium front, I just read Zulie Rane's article where she justifies why Medium is better than Substack! I guess Medium sees them as their main rivals.
                  
                  Medium and Substack are very different animals, but with online search changing, thanks to AI, I guess the Medium and Substack models are now the main players.

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   Venkatachari Mposted 2 days ago

   My best wishes to you, Eugene, for your publications and progress.
   
   I started my activity on Medium recently, a year ago. I have published a single article there until now. I receive the newsletters and the daily digest emails.
   I read articles of my taste and post comments. I share them mostly on LinkedIn.

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5. 86

   Lowdown0posted 44 hours ago

   It seems since the Z gen has come of age, the number of people trying to make money writing has exponentially increased. Now, with AI, even the over saturated market has become artificial and lost value. It seems the only way to make money writing is with books and subscription models, yet one has to be an excellent marketer to get attention.
   
   The vast majority of content creators are simply following a template of success, determined by the influencers highlighting the hive mind social engineering program.
   
   All alternative views are shadow banned, if they even need to be, as people are so locked into the programming they become blind to writing that asks them to think outside of the prescribed hive mind conditioning.
   
   As for Medium, my earnings and views have dwindled from $6-10/month to 6-12 cents a month. Significant drop. Still, there are some humans there writing real articles that interest me, so I stay on. Maybe, my articles can make a difference in somebody's life, make them think critically about a topic I find important, which is more meaningful than the pennies obviously.
   
   I'm just surprised HP is still here, so I stay and see how things unfold. Amazing the changes in 10 years. Seems like yesterday.

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6. 83

   theraggededgeposted 37 hours ago

   "I'm just surprised HP is still here..."
   
   Yes, for sure. HP kept going when so many other sites disappeared. There was a great team back then and the support was amazing. I joined the apprentice scheme and it was really good. The site was buzzing with activity.
   
   So, as I have said previously, I have a lot to be grateful to HP for. But now, the way we are ignored and mistreated is beyond the pale.
   
   You know, Matt and whoever is left, good manners cost nothing. All we want is an update with no corporate disseminating bullcrap.

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