Reasons You Should Leave Medium NOW

[UPDATE APRIL 2021: I have since changed my stance on Medium. Please click the following link for a more recent opinion on Medium –> https://sylviesoul.com/5-reasons-why-its-still-worth-it-to-write-for-medium/]

Mine was a whirlwind love affair for the writing platform Medium.

I first became aware of the site in the early part of 2018. A place that housed thousands of written articles all under one domain? And for free? It was a veritable paradise for readers and content creators!

I had just purchased a new domain to house my writing, but the ease and allure of Medium was so great I couldn’t help but get involved in the action. In spring of 2018 I made an account and started contributing.

I quickly learned that to get my content seen I would need to pitch to publications on Medium. I initially nestled in with Be Yourself, but soon got cozy with other publications that would have my work, such as Pickle Fork, On the Rise, and Uncalendared, which had landed me my first popular post with “You Are Not That Important”.

I dabbled briefly with a premium membership and quickly made my investment back by earning $33 on my writing in the month of July (this was the advent of the paywall being made accessible to all). I fantasized about building an audience while at the same making an income. To me, Medium was the start of something big.

Sadly, it was the start the fall. The dark times.

Not being one to want to inhibit views on my content, I unlocked my stories after a month of being live. Eventually I stopped making them premium at all, and I cancelled my membership when it seemed like people were getting away with monetizing 2-minute journal entries to make a quick buck.

I started noticing the gradual creep of black stars on my Medium feed, the emblem of the premium content, cordoned off by a paywall. First my newsletter became saturated with them, so I unsubscribed.

Eventually the front page of Medium followed. Finally it got to the point where I would ACTIVELY avoid clicking Medium posts on Twitter, as more often than not I’d be met with the “You read a lot” message that preceded the call to action to pay for membership.

It is now a year after I started visiting Medium on the regular, and I’m sad to say that my opinion on the platform has all but cooled to subzero temperatures.

Ev Williams is trying to make amends with users by lowering the paywall for people visiting through Twitter, but the damage has already been done.

Towards the latter half of 2018 I got more serious with my writing, churning out weekly posts that would make the journey from newsletter to Medium and finally to my dedicated website. What was once a necessary conduit to bolster my readership has now divulged into a redundant detour that only stands to dilute the brand that I’m trying to create.

Which is why I’ve decided to stop posting my content on Medium.

The posts that are already on the platform shall remain, but any new content will be posted exclusively on my site, as the time and effort invested to promote on Medium is no longer worthwhile.

And it’s not JUST the paywall that has discouraged my use of the platform (although it was a deciding factor). Here are some of the other reasons I am abandoning Medium:

Jeff Bezos

In the pivotal weeks where I grappled with my decision to leave Medium, Amazon CEO and mogul Jeff Bezos used the platform with a twofold purpose: to preemptively air his dirty laundry to stifle the National Enquirer’s mafia-like proclivities, and to send a clear message to Ev that the inherent model of his platform was B.R.O.K.E.N. (and he should rue the day he staked a claim on the Washington Post).

There are people who have used Medium since its inception way back in 2012, who have never once broken 1000 views, or have gotten more that 50 claps on their posts.

And here comes Jeff Bezos, who quickly slaps together an account, posts a single story, and garners more claps and views than arguably any other article on the site.

Bezos essentially proved it doesn’t matter how good a writer you are or how strategic you are with your SEO and tags and whatnot. You will never be able to outdo a celebrity or an individual of sizable influence when it comes to reach and engagement.

Since the post was not submitted as premium content (and thus did not make a cent), Medium actively discouraged promoting it in favour of its own carefully curated stories that were tucked away behind the paywall. But the proof is in the numbers, and Bezos effectively decimated the site’s legitimacy as a place for independent writers in one fell swoop.

One could argue that Bezos’ presence on Medium gave the platform a fortuitous boon, and had made people realize alternative applications for the site as a casual digital soapbox, a longform Twitter⁠—if you will⁠—for those in power who need to get a message out quick and easy. Even if that were the case, it’s a far cry from the way Medium was intended to be seen: as a centralized hub where one could get their hard news and facile self-help listicles all in the same place.

Bezos muddied the vision of Medium so much that I no longer see its purpose for the fledgling writer.

It’s Not About the Money; It’s About Building an Audience

As I mentioned, I made a bit of income from posting my writing on the site. Initially, I considered Medium a viable source of cash to supplement my day job. But those thoughts were quickly dashed when I realized the price I’d pay to monetize my content, and not just in the cost of membership.

To make money on your posts, they have to be submitted as “premium content” and placed behind a paywall. Obviously, not everyone would be willing to shell out $5 to satiate their curiosity on what I have to say, and I would lose views as a result.

While the money was enticing, I had to remind myself I was writing on Medium primarily to grow my brand. I want to build an audience that would subscribe to my mailing list and eventually buy my book when it was completed. If I locked all my Medium posts behind a paywall, I was essentially shooting myself in the foot.

To be fair: not every person cares about growing an audience on Medium, as evidenced by the premium content that saturates the site’s front page. Maybe these people already have an established fanbase and don’t need the extra eyes on their content.

Personally, I find it counter-intuitive to want to make the money before gaining the trust of their new potential readers.

And now that Medium has manipulated the algorithm to the point where they will ONLY curate stories that are behind their paywall, regardless of whether it’s slated to make money for its writer, there seems to be too much of an upfront cost involved with promoting on the platform.

More Autonomy With Content

When I first started posting on Medium, I quickly learned that I would get more views, claps, and overall engagement if I submitted my writing to one of the site’s many publications. I could always just as easily post on my own account, but those stories never did nearly as well as the submissions affiliated with publications.

Therefore, if I wanted to share my posts by a certain date, I’d have to time it so that when I completed the post I could submit it for review with enough buffer that the publication would approve it when I needed it to go live.

This was a convoluted process, and its effectiveness was shoddy at best. Also, there was no guarantee a publication would even accept my post, or communicate the rejection at all, leaving my post in limbo until I voluntarily pulled it.

This uncertainty is far from appealing when trying to build a consistent brand. Conversely, I can take my writing and give it new life on my website, where it should have been housed in the first place. That way, I have control of the schedule, and I can decide exactly when and how I want my writing to be presented, without having to wait for an editor to finesse or approve my words. For me, it’s autonomy all the way.

So those are a few of the reasons why I’ve decided to leave Medium. Apparently, I’m not the only one who has cancelled their membership and moved on to greener pastures.

Many independent magazine and news publications that were given a raw deal with the multitude of changes by Ev had also decided to jump ship, if only to maintain their identity and to not be forced to cow to the whims of a mercurial algorithm.

If you are a writer on the platform, I strongly implore you to LEAVE MEDIUM NOW. The price paid for a monthly membership could be easily segued into your own self-hosted site.

If you prefer to stay because you’re making money on Medium…well, I’d think long and hard. Remember blip.tv? The content creators of that site thought they could sit pretty with the money from ad revenue, and look where they are now.

Take the plunge. Join the Medium exodus.