If you're not a Medium writer, the chances are slightly lower that you've come across the new changes to the Medium Partner Program (MPP) rolled out a week ago. And if you're an aspiring Medium writer, well, I have bad news for you.
In the past two weeks, Medium have announced and rolled out changes to their new MPP policies. And according to Tony Stubblebine, the CEO of Medium, writers are thrilled with the changes Medium is making to the MPP:
The response to our announcement has been extremely gratifying. Readers and writers on Medium seem excited that we are taking a stance on encouraging quality writing and actively discouraging content mills, AI-generated articles, and content that is meant only to grab attention. - Tony Stubblebine
And even though they might have been thrilled when the changes were announced… Now that they have officially rolled out, it's a different story.
In the comments section of their latest story, you can already see that writers are not pleased with the changes. For example, according to Mark Ellis, a tech reviewer and solopreneur coach, his earnings have been decimated:
Unfortunately, the downward spiral of my analytics on Medium appears to have only increased following the MPP changes. My earnings have been decimated over these last two days. - Mark Ellis
Mark is not an aspiring writer. He has more than 18 thousand readers who follow his hundreds of reviews based on his personal insights. Of these 18 thousand people, I'm certain many have subscribed and are paying Medium to read his reviews.
Mark is not alone in this downfall. Grant Piper, who has 13 thousand followers and writes thought-provoking articles, stated:
So far my earnings have been cut down by 2/3rds. This has made it so I'm going to have to find another job if this keeps up. Medium was a primary income source for me. Now it's peanuts. - Grant Piper
Grant has been consistently writing for three years, populating Medium with stories that attract readers to the platform. He ends his statement with a poignant question:
Who's getting all of the money now? Execs? - Grant Piper
That's a question we all want answered.
Patrick Duane, with 48 thousand followers and a four-time top writer status, seems like the partner Medium would want for their MPP. I think so. But for Medium, apparently not. Patrick stated:
The changes are looking grim so far for me. Reducing the importance of members reading time is a mistake imo.
He even took the next step in writing about why these changes have soured Medium for him: The Day Medium Died.
Patrick is referring to the new MPP policy. Medium now considers claps, highlights, replies, and follows when determining how much a writer earns. Before, member reading time was the most crucial metric.
Member reading time as the main metric made sense. A member pays Medium, and the amount of time they spend reading your content determines how much of their subscription fee goes to you. Fair enough, isn't it?
As a reader, do you always remember to clap? Do you always have something to reply to? Do you follow every writer you read? And I won't even ask if you highlight parts of every story you enjoy because the chances are most readers don't use that feature much.
Don't pretend you didn't see it coming, though. As Kristina God stated in her story, 10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Medium's New CEO Tony Stubblebine, Tony's vision is that Medium is not your employer, and it's not where your big payoffs will come from. Instead, use it as a tool to gain other opportunities by building credibility and trust in your field as an expert.
This makes me think: As a software developer, are there other platforms that may favor my visibility in exchange for monetization? Certainly, there are. Dev.to is one of them. I had already started migrating my articles to Dev.to this year. And if Dev.to provided a way people could easily migrate all of their stories, preserving their formatting, I'm confident the influx of tech writers would be faster.
One thing is certain: Medium is changing. The type of stories you see there will undoubtedly differ. Writers who rely on Medium as their primary income source will need to adapt and write stories that favor the new MPP rules. Will it be good or bad? Only time will tell…
But one thing I'm sure of:
Don't forget to clap, follow, and highlight!
The statement above is something you'll likely read more often on Medium from now on.
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