The Boost Program is Everything Wrong with Medium

Am I being too cynical? Maybe.

Back in August of 2023, Medium’s Partner Program underwent some drastic changes. Earnings for writers across the board have fallen, and many of us - especially in the tech niche - are left wondering if writing on Medium is even worth the effort anymore.

At one point, I would have recommended Medium as a way to make some considerable extra dough with writing, but now? Not so much.

While it is still possible to make a bit of money on Medium, it’s rare to make much unless your writing is selected by the Medium powers that be for a mythical “boost.”

I’ve been boosted, and I dislike the program.

Lest anyone think I’m writing this as some disgruntled author who feels overlooked and left out because his writing hasn’t been selected for a boost, let me assure you: that’s not the case.

In fact, I’ve been blessed to have several pieces boosted over the past several months.

Boosted stories typically do very well and get a nice bit of attention. So, as you can imagine, it’s lovely to get an email telling me that one of my stories has been chosen for a boost.

It means that month I’m likely to actually make some decent money with Medium, making me question my previous frustration.

But the problem is, it’s rare.

What gets a boost? Does anyone know?

It’s frustrating, you see, to write what you think is a great post only to have it seemingly ignored by the boost selection crew. A story that takes a couple of hours to write may earn a few bucks or it might be selected for a boost and earn a couple hundred.

It’s hard to tell.

Now, sure, it would be unreasonable to expect every story to be boosted. There are other writers on Medium, after all, and their writing deserves to be featured too. But the frustration comes from not knowing just what the boost selection team considers worthy of a boost.

We have general guidelines, but even then, it’s hit or miss.

There are real humans behind the boost program choosing which stories get boosted and which get more or less left in the quicksand, and if you can get your content in front of their eyes, there’s a chance your content will be selected for a boost.

High quality, well thought out content has a much better chance of being boosted - and for good reason. But that’s still no guarantee of a boost.

Mark Ellis

, a creator in the tech space (who you should go follow), has brought this up several times. Any time we hit that publish button, it’s a gamble. Will we see a boost? Or will the last several hours of hard work slowly vanish into a sea of Internet obscurity and irrelevance? All too often, it’s the latter.

Huge variances in earnings

The concept of a boost isn’t necessarily a bad thing. What gets me though is just how widely the earnings vary between a boosted story and one that’s not boosted.

The top story in this screenshot was boosted and has earned a somewhat decent $129.08 as of this writing. The bottom story has slightly smaller but still respectable stats. It’s earnings? $17.85. Considerably less.

Or consider a couple of my more recent stories:

Both are similar in length. The bottom has been boosted and is doing well. The top has not but has received around a quarter of the views and reads and less than a tenth of the earnings.

Boosted stories do, definitely, get a boost in earnings in addition to the normal calculations. But this seems extreme to me.

Comparing these two stories, you can see what I mean. The first, boosted, has 2.2K views, 1.4K reads and has earned $147.13. The second has 1.7K more views and ~400 more reads and has earned a whopping $7.43.

There are other variables that factor into how much - or how little - a story earns, but even so. Interesting.

Unreliable, unexpected income

At this point, I’m considering Medium an unreliable income source. I like it still - don’t get me wrong. But I’m not counting on it month to month. While I will still write there a bit, I don’t anticipate putting in nearly as much time and energy as I have in the past. Instead, I’ll be focusing more energy here on Substack and on Side Hustle Road.

I also, God willing, will be building up my design and marketing agency a bit over time, with a few clients in the pipeline.

But Medium? It’s not something I’d recommend hanging a hat on for reliable income month to month. Personally, I’m considering my income from Medium each month as a nice bonus, not something I’m necessarily planning for.

My best month on Medium was March of 2023. That month I earned a decent $1,101.50. And since August of 2023, I’ve struggled to break $200.

Others have pointed out this same trend. On one hand, I guess it’s reassuring to know that I’m not alone. On the other, I won’t lie and say it’s not frustrating.

It is.

So where does that leave Medium?

Medium still has potential, in my mind. Clearly some stories can do well there. The frustrating thing is it’s hard to know just which stories will get the nod from Medium’s boost recommendation team and which will hardly get noticed.

Kristina God

and others have some great tips for writers hoping to get boosted. (Go check out her newsletter and YouTube channel. Good stuff.)

At the end of the day, I don’t want to sound ungrateful here. Medium has been good to me at times.

And while results like this are possible, I’m not giving up hope for the platform. I count myself blessed to have met some great people on Medium, and I look forward to expanding that circle a bit.

However, Medium is illustrating a point that I never wanted to have illustrated: it’s unwise to put all your eggs in one basket. Medium can be a great resource, but don’t limit yourself to Medium.

There are other fish - and platforms - in the sea.