⚠️ Medium is Offering a New Friend Tier
Should you sign up for it, or is there more to this than meets the eye.
Medium announced its new 'Friends of Medium' membership tier this week. Many writers have already joined and paid the extra money. This looks like a good move for Medium writers, but I have my concerns.
When you click, you agree to new terms and conditions. Anything you agreed to previously is voided.
My understanding of the old MPP system is that the monthly $5 fee is divided amongst the writers you read.
Now, let us look at the new tier. The part of the announcement that worries me is this one:
It's priced at $15/month or $150/year. As a Friend of Medium, more of your membership dollars will directly support the writers you love — plus the editors, curators, and teams who make Medium a vibrant, inclusive home for human stories.
There is no stipulation of what percentage writers will get and what percentage goes to the editors and team. Medium would have to commit 34% to writers for the pot to be bigger than on the old system.
The article states writers will get four times the amount they previously did. However, four times more of a smaller pot is still less money.
If you sign, you are gifted friend links to all articles. This, at present, is the only perk.
I believe this is the carrot to get people to sign up. The stick may well follow where they remove privileges from the lower tier, such as having your own publication or being an editor.
Personally, I will not be signing up and cancelling my previous terms and conditions until I know the percentage that is going to writers and the percentage to the editorial team.
I am shocked more writers are not asking for specifics on this.
I advise doing what feels right and looking at the terms carefully before deciding. With all business transactions, which is what this is, you must study the small print and ensure the changes work for you.
Simply put, don't blindly trust anyone who is making money from your work.
I hope Medium is doing this for the best of their writers and not trying to increase their revenue. Either way, a little more transparency would not go a miss.
What do you think?
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Until next week stay safe
Sam 😊
Quote of the week
You're unhappy because the things you have matter more to you than the things you do. - Hogan Torah
I think you were right to put that yield sign/exclamation point combo in the title.
Really I think the best way to go about it is to try it. That way you'll see for yourself if it makes a difference or not. And if it's not worth it for you, you can always cancel or go back down to $5 a month.
Best way to find out in writing is often to experiment. I think that's why so many of us jumped on board. We want every advantage we can get, and a lot of the time, being an early adopter ends up being an advantage.