❓What do I do with Medium?
Looking for your help this week.
Having offered advice to you all over the time this newsletter has been running, I thought I would turn the tables this Easter Sunday and ask for your advice. I have been pondering what to do with my Medium account.
When I started on Medium, I was making a regular income from it; now, I am lucky if I earn $20. I am very secure in my writing and know that this is not down to my writing. It is simply that the system changed. I also write crime, which is virtually ejected from Medium.
There could be other reasons that my articles are not reaching my readers. I may have been banned, but this seems unlikely as I haven't done anything too wrong. The only thing that might have pissed the new CEO off could be the fact I was putting links to free copies of my article before the paywall cut in or the fact I called them out about their dodgy new membership tier, maybe the fact as a female I didn't massage his ego enough.
It could also be that the readers are not on Medium anymore. I know I don't find anything interesting there; it is the same old boring rubbish.
This is not a moaning email because I have found my place here on Substack and love it. But I need to decide what to do with my Medium account, where I seek your help.
There are a few options, delete my account altogether. However, this will mean losing contact with some genuine writers I love there. I would also have to give up my publications, including Crimebeat, which I am very proud of.
I could continue as I am currently posting one free article a week, essentially a link to the work I have published elsewhere for those who still read me. It takes time, but nothing more than an hour. Although, I still don't know if I can be arsed.
Another thought that struck me was that I could change the account to a pen name and start publishing other stories, maybe even making up a few personal stories to hit the algorithm. Again, can I be bothered?
What do you think I should do?
I would love to hear from you in the comments if you have any other suggestions or ideas I have not thought of.
If you enjoy this email, please share it so more readers can find it.
Until next week stay safe
Sam 😊
Weekly Three
Three recommendations to check out to make you a better creative.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - I didn't expect to love this book as much as I did. This is a story about disability, those you can see and those you can't. It is also a story about depression and loss. But, more than this, this is a love story. I can't see any book beating this in 2024. I simply loved it.
Station 19 - I have got into watching this again this week. This is the fire brigade spin-off to Grey's Anatomy. The series follows a group of firefighters of the Seattle Fire Department Station 19, from the captain down the ranks to the newest recruit in their personal and professional lives.
Site Notes - These tiny little notepads are ideal for your back pocket or throwing in your handbag when you need to write something down quickly. Since carrying these around, I have found that my idea creation has almost doubled.
Quote of the week
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. — Aldous Huxley
Short-Story of the week
Articles this week
Writing Effective Dialogue
It is a truth amongst all writing that dialogue can make or break it. A bad conversation in your novel can have you throwing it in the bin. Poorly recorded conversations in non-fiction can make the b…
I'm not presumptuous enough to tell anyone what to do. But my perspective for whatever it's worth: Beware the impulse to 'do something.' If you delete your account you undo the work you've already done. F*ck it and f*ck Medium for being the way that it is. But why quit? There's nothing to stop you sharing your content on Medium and Substack. It's what I do atm. Some money is better than no money. But there's also nothing to stop you writing any place else too. Write what you want to write. You don't have to write unique content for each platform. Just republish it cross platform. I write on Medium and Substack. I previously wrote on NewsBreak too. I became a top writer there (despite being in the UK) then they stopped paying writers per piece and pivoted to US centric local news content. So I deleted my account. But I later regretted it. Not because I was still writing there. But because I can't write there again without starting from scratch. You already have a significant presence on Medium. Keep it.
Medium has been a big disappointment. Substack has been rewarding.