Skip to main content

Why, After 3 Years, I Canceled My Medium Membership

 

The platform feeds off writers like me.

I first began writing on Medium around 2016.

The first account was canceled by Medium for being promotional after a couple of years, which it wasn’t.

I then started with another account around 2018, which is the account I’m currently using.

In the late part of 2022, I started writing more seriously on Medium and became a member, which I’ve been until now.

For a few months, I was even a Friend of Medium, but the rest of the time just a basic $5/month member.

I’ve published 145 articles so far.

I’ve decided to cancel my basic membership, yet it will still be valid for four days from today.

Most writers on Medium will understand why I’m canceling, yet I would guess I stuck it out longer than most — three years of continuous membership.

All in all, I’ve probably made around half of what I’ve put into the platform, and for the most part, the articles on Medium aren’t worth paying to read — unless you want to hear about how successful the liberal-minded writers are who fit the mold here (the small click that actually makes money).

Medium isn’t a place where conservative-minded people can do well, as far as I’ve seen; judging by my own experience as a conservative and having never seen another conservative being boosted or doing well.

I’ve never been boosted or curated here.

The struggle for me is I like this writing platform, yet it doesn’t like me…

All the writers who did like me over these years are gone as far as I can tell.

As far as I can tell, all there is here is a hundred or so liberal-minded writers who fit the mold and make money; the rest are bots, spammers, and fly-by-night marketing types — the ones who follow thousands of people and then unfollow them after they get a certain amount of followers, etc.

Medium isn’t about rewarding people for their writing, nor giving writers an equal chance to be read and appreciated; rather, it is simply a place where they suck the money from the vast majority of writers and reward the click of brown nosers who fit their liberal-minded mold.

Maybe, I shouldn’t expect any more from a place called “Medium”, which alludes to occultic practices…

Medium, in my opinion, has the best design and experience for writers and readers, yet this benefit no longer outweighs the negatives for me.

The biggest negative is losing money every month. This trend has been getting worse and worse until now I make nearly nothing (less than .50 cents) even with 5–10 articles published each month.

I find that publications don’t help much either.

Medium simply doesn’t give the vast percentage of articles any visibility. The management actively suppresses 95% of the writers, so they lose money each month.

That is the model Medium has in mind — market the platform as a place where any writer can come and make money, yet actively suppress 95% of them, so the 5% and management can make money off them…

Well, they are no longer going to make any money off me each month. I know it isn’t much, but that is the attitude they are counting on, for us to continue paying the $5-$15/month thinking we can somehow build ourselves on the platform and eventually make money.

Well, I’ve done this consistently for 3 years, writing 145 original articles, and I haven’t built anything except for their bank accounts.

Think about it, 200k writers paying $5/month = $1 million each month. Plus the “Friends of Medium” suckers…

Then, they pay about 4% of writers enough to keep them hoping (say $5-$100/month) and about 1% of writers above $100. There are probably about 100 writers who make more than $500/month, and a dozen that make more than $1k/mo.

Overall, they probably pay out around $1 million to writers each year, which leaves the management and owners $11 million/year just from membership dues…

Think about it writers, Medium is a scam.

Funny, they make a big deal about booting scammers off the platform while they are the real scammers…

And we are the real suckers.

This is why I’m done trying on Medium as a member.

I will continue to publish articles here because it does have good SEO authority, yet I will be $5 richer every month.

Plus, I like being a conservative Christian on a very liberal-minded platform; what good does it do to preach to the choir always?

So writers, don’t follow me or read my articles thinking I will help you make money.

Maybe they will even boot me off the platform as a useless eater…Oh well…

The sad part is I’m not losing anything, I’m actually gaining something from canceling my membership — and you might consider doing the same.

Blessings in Jesus my writing friends, it’s been fun. I’m moving on to more equitable efforts.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Opinion: Most communities in Oregon and the US are Republican, yet Democrats are in charge

2022 Oregon Governor Election Photo  Assuming election results are valid in Oregon, which does take a lot of faith these days after the questions about the 2020 US Presidential election arose, Democrat Tina Kotek won the Governor’s race in 2022 by a slim margin over Republican Christine Drazan. The interesting aspect of this win is how many of Oregon’s 36 counties voted Republican vs. Democrat. Looking at the political map, almost the entire state is red with only a few small counties in the northwest having the blue color. Specifically, there were 7 counties that voted Democrat and 29 that voted Republican. The difference is the 7 counties voting blue are the most populous counties, also the counties with the most residents coming from other states – much like Tina Kotek herself, a transplant from Pennsylvania . Tina only won the campaign to be Oregon’s 39th Governor by 66,727 votes over Christine Drazan. Said in another way, the Democrats pulled off another close election with m...

5 Topics Hotels Can Consistently Blog About

Starting a blog to complement a website and other digital marketing efforts is a great idea for hotels, yet what should their blogs be about? Consistently posting blogs about interesting topics sometimes isn't that easy. In an effort to help, let's discuss 5 topics hotels can consistently blog about to gain traction online. 1. Local Attractions and Destinations: cc from pxhere.com Local SEO is vitally important to gain attention from search engines, in order to stand out to prospective guests interested in staying in the hotel's local area. Blogging about local attractions gives hotels a large topic to draw upon when brainstorming blog ideas. Even if the hotel is in a relatively isolated location or smaller town, there's always something to write about when it comes to local attractions or destinations. Restaurants, bars, nightclubs, concert halls, sports stadiums, race tracks, wilderness attractions, parks, historical sites, and more can be highlighted in a ho...

Is Your Writing System Holding You Back from Being Productive?

I think mine is. When I first started writing online back in 2013, I wrote for only one website called Allvoices — a contributor news site. How simple my online writing system was then compared to what it has turned into over the last 12 years. Now, I have too many sites to syndicate on, too many social media sites to share to, and overall just too large of a writing system to be productive. Crazy part is I’ve shaved it down to what it is now; it was larger and even bulkier before. One thing I won’t do is give up on trying to build a system that enhances instead of hinders my online writing efforts; I’m not there yet as it stands. I wonder how much more I would write if I didn’t have to spend an hour syndicating and sharing each article? If I could just write an article and maybe spend 5 minutes on sharing and syndicating it? As it is now, I have five platforms to syndicate with and ten social sites to share on. My system hinders my writing and keeps me from wanting to write because of...

3 Ways Small Brick and Mortar Businesses Can Leverage their Websites

Not every modern business is tech-savvy and proficient with digital marketing; in fact, 36% of America's small businesses don't even have a website ; and many of those that do, have nothing more than a lonely website in the shadows. While this is a good start, this type of strategy isn't going to attract many website visitors. The good news is, it doesn't take a marketing genius to start gaining traffic to a business's website, yet it does take some time and effort to develop and execute a viable digital marketing strategy. In an effort to help, let's examine 3 ways small brick and mortar businesses can leverage their websites. 1. Optimize the Website's Sales Funnel: The first thing businesses need to do is optimize their website's sales funnel to make conversions . For brick and mortar small businesses like retailers, restaurants, event centers, etc., gaining a visitor's email is a conversion; for small businesses offering professional se...