The Truth About Medium - Part Three - Hopes and Dreams

So, I decided to try writing on Medium as a member of the MPP, just to see if things improved.

And they did — a little.

My first decision was to be accepted by a publication. There is a clear advantage to this, in that each publication has its own built-in audience — at least in theory.

When it comes to being accepted by a publication, there is a lot of choice. There are specialist and generalist publications in terms of what they will publish.

And with some, it is easier to be accepted than others. 

I tended to go for the publication(s) that had an “open door” policy. They generally accepted anyone who adhered to Medium’s rules. They would publish a story, unless it was really bad or poorly written.

All of my stories were accepted and published, and I began to get some views and reads.

The biggest surprise was that by the end of my first month, I qualified for a payment — $11.55. I had decided to only check at the end of the month, so I was happy with the result. 

I did not expect it at all.

Now, $11.55 is not a life-changing amount, but it was a start. One of the things that drew me to Medium was the possibility that over time you could build up a passive income. Old content qualified for payment for as long as you were a member. 

But, as time passed, reality set in.

I soon discovered that old content is rarely read on Medium. It sits there forgotten. 

The algorithm clearly doesn’t promote it.

On Medium, immediacy is the order of the day.

You write, publish, and it gets noticed — or doesn’t, and then within a few days, or even hours, it is forgotten. Your work will sit there with millions of other articles and stories, for the most part, never likely to be seen again.

And yes, it is millions.

In fact, I wrote an article about this when I read in the Medium newsletter that they were publishing a million articles/stories a month.

Here's a snippet.

The article mentioned the “hidden gems” Medium has to offer.

But finding them isn’t always easy! Over 1 million times a month, a writer presses “publish” to share their story with the world.

Reading between the lines, the number one million stood out. And not just because of all the hidden gems that I might be missing out on.

One million is a big number.

And over one million new articles/stories are published a month.

That is twelve million a year and rising.

And it is an average of 32,877 every day and rising.

The archive of articles grows every day, and Medium has recently expanded its program to 77 additional countries.

That means more writers and more articles.

Of course, it also means more readers. There are many readers as well.

But for the writer, that is a lot of competition.

In the case of this story, hardly anyone read it, and I began to notice that finding readers on Medium, was not that easy. 

Where were the readers?

More to come.