Medium is Dead. Long Live Medium.

It sure ain't what it used to be.

In my time on Medium, I’ve had lots of ups and lots of downs. I love what the platform was, has been, and could be. But right now, I’m not a fan of it.

For some backstory, I started really writing on Medium again in May of 2022. I had been a member there previously but had written a grand total of two stories which I had since deleted - along with the whopping 3 cents that earned me.

But in May, I picked up writing again and started making some good money. It was slow at first, sure, but in time it picked up. My best month earned me just over a thousand bucks.

A thousand. Not bad at all.

But then August of 2023 hit, and Medium made some rather drastic changes to it’s partner program. These changes - some of which were good - altered how earnings are calculated for submitted content. As a result, many writers saw a massive drop in earnings overnight.

I was one of them.

This comes, of course, after a mountaintop experience of finally hitting my stride and making some decent money from the site. I felt I had finally found my niche and voice.

And then Medium decided it wasn’t worth much.

Since August of 2023, I’ve struggled to even make a few hundred dollars from the site, and honestly I feel my motivation for writing there waning day by day. One month I may earn a couple hundred. The next, I may not even break a hundred.

In October, I hit $525.05 because I had a couple of boosted stories. This month? I will be lucky to hit $200.

That’s a pretty steep drop from what I had been making.

I’m not alone in this, of course. Others, including

Mark Ellis

, a fantastic content creator in the tech niche, have been vocal about their earnings - or rather lack thereof.

So what now?

As I’ve written and said before, it’s vital for content creators to not be locked in to a single platform. Any platform we don’t own is a platform that we could lose - or that could be not worth our time investment tomorrow.

Medium is proving my point in a way I didn’t want or expect. And now, it’s time to consider our options.

I’ve long wondered if writing on Medium is worth the considerable time investment anymore. I do spend time planning, writing and editing my articles so they’re the best they can be. And as you can imagine, that takes time - time that I could be using to grow on other platforms or to build something I own.

As much as I love what Medium has been, is it time for it to take its place in the rear view mirror in search of greener pastures?

I hate to think that way, but maybe.

In the meantime, I’m adjusting my strategy a bit. Instead of my writing going to Medium primarily, I’m going to be writing here on this Substack, on my side hustle website, and on Spare Room Tech. Some of what I write in these three (for now) places will find its way to Medium in the form of imported articles, but I’m going to scale back how much I write and post directly to Medium.

At this point, I don’t think it’s worth the time investment.

So I’m going to focus on building platforms that I own and will continue to do so going forward.

But what about Medium?

I’m not leaving Medium, to be clear. In fact, I upgraded my membership to the Friend of Medium tier and have no regrets whatsoever. But my focus is definitely shifting. Mark Ellis is right that writers should be focusing on Substack as a platform. It’s a fantastic platform, and I very much like it here.

In fact, I plan to start utilizing some of its video features very shortly.

Medium, however, will still continue to be a part of my overall content strategy. After all, it is a great way to get your content in front of thousands of readers potentially.

It’s just that the changes to the Partner Program and the meteoric crash in earnings has led me to conclude that my time may be better spent elsewhere. Time is valuable, and I don’t want to waste it building someone else’s empire with little to no benefit.

I’d rather build something I own and support other creators working to do the same.

Time will tell if that strategy pays off.