Insights into thousands of writers coming from 119 countries with great hopes asking my advice. There are no more euphoric moments on Medium, so please set your expectations low realistically.
Thank you for this insightful story Dr Yildiz. The same situation happened to me and my publications on Medium. I lost 90% of views and income in the last 3 months. Something is very wrong. Thank you for inspiring, educating, and empowering us on Substack. I am very grateful for your mentorship. With you support I feel joyful and confident. Leaving the boost program on Medium was a blessing in disguise for me as I tripled my income after that. Medium did a favour to me unintentionally and they lost my service. I birthed 113 boosted stories in such a short time and they still did not show a little gratitude.
I appreciate reading your perspective, as I view you as a credible source. The subject of writing and earnings is a book-length discussion. I have been discouraged that anyone who has published one post can offer themselves as a coach and expert. On the other hand, people who try and publish in the old mainline press face daunting odds and investment of their own time and money. No easy solutions, but a multi-pronged strategy seems sensible.
It is very unfortunate this is happening. But it is so true you put effort into your writing on medium sometimes even two weeks on a single article and you barely get views and reads unless the article gets boosted.
Thank you for your feeedback. We all have different aspirations and capabilities. I will definitely reduce my time on Medium due to reasons I explained in this story however it is still a viable platform for beginners to gain experience and build their audience. From hindsight I should have spent more time on Substack and less time on Medium but no one told me that when I started. Therefore I share my experience to give helpful perspectives. I cannot give specific advice as we are all different. I wish you the best in your writing journey.
I appreciate your transparency. Thank you. I have mixed feelings about Medium. I have been on the platform since Feb 2024 and have gained 576 followers. I cannot apply for the partnership program as a South African. As I cannot earn anything I decided not to become a paid member. Sadly, this leaves a lot of good writing out of my reach.
I do not subscribe to the 'follow back' principle, either. I have found that most of those following me, are marketers, and marketers of stuff I am really not interested in.
Although I don't understand all the analytics and statistics, I still publish on Medium from time to time.
I enjoy reading Substack much more. I am rather intimidated, though. There are truly brilliant writers here, and although I am not a spring chicken anymore, I am very new to the idea of serious writing, albeit not always on serious topics.
Thank you for everything you do for the writing community Dr. Yildiz. I have never put in the work to reach the heights that you and others had in the past, but I can vicariously feel your pain. I have contributed to the Illumination publication on Medium in the past (as Edward Thomas), and I am now here with you on substack. Please let me know if I can ever do anything to be of assistance to you.
I’m losing my mojo when it comes to medium and my daughter is too. I’ve been so swamped with work and that’s also doing it to me but yeah medium is going south. It’s disheartening to see.
When I examined all the profiles of the new and old Medium team, some of them work honestly, some have made money with referrals, and others are selling courses about the product.
Now, for example, they have filled it with bot accounts to sell "membership" to people.
When I took my articles to my other blog, I gained 30 followers in 4 days and it is incredible.
I received some traffic.(Nearly ten thousand views in 8 days).
Medium now feeds a dead ecosystem. No matter how much marketing you do, the experience gained about the product is important. Medium now exists only to increase the visibility and protection of articles
Dr. Yildiz, Thank you for explaining this in a way that I can understand. I appreciate the help you have provided me since I began with ILLUMINATION and continue to do now that there is such turmoil on Medium. At this time, I will stay with Medium but will add Substack. I look forward to continuing working with you.
Yo, Dr Yildiz: Thank you for your insights. I left Medium for the same reasons. It was disheartening at first. I questioned my own skills until I learned and moved on. Talk more later. 😎
Thank you for this insightful story Dr Yildiz. The same situation happened to me and my publications on Medium. I lost 90% of views and income in the last 3 months. Something is very wrong. Thank you for inspiring, educating, and empowering us on Substack. I am very grateful for your mentorship. With you support I feel joyful and confident. Leaving the boost program on Medium was a blessing in disguise for me as I tripled my income after that. Medium did a favour to me unintentionally and they lost my service. I birthed 113 boosted stories in such a short time and they still did not show a little gratitude.
I appreciate reading your perspective, as I view you as a credible source. The subject of writing and earnings is a book-length discussion. I have been discouraged that anyone who has published one post can offer themselves as a coach and expert. On the other hand, people who try and publish in the old mainline press face daunting odds and investment of their own time and money. No easy solutions, but a multi-pronged strategy seems sensible.
It is very unfortunate this is happening. But it is so true you put effort into your writing on medium sometimes even two weeks on a single article and you barely get views and reads unless the article gets boosted.
Dr. Yildiz, I read "Why My Wise Mentors Advised Me 80% Substack, 15% NewsBreak, 5% Medium for My Writing Effort" and wondered:
Do you recommend to just completely abandon Medium even for new writers?
Thank you for your feeedback. We all have different aspirations and capabilities. I will definitely reduce my time on Medium due to reasons I explained in this story however it is still a viable platform for beginners to gain experience and build their audience. From hindsight I should have spent more time on Substack and less time on Medium but no one told me that when I started. Therefore I share my experience to give helpful perspectives. I cannot give specific advice as we are all different. I wish you the best in your writing journey.
I appreciate your transparency. Thank you. I have mixed feelings about Medium. I have been on the platform since Feb 2024 and have gained 576 followers. I cannot apply for the partnership program as a South African. As I cannot earn anything I decided not to become a paid member. Sadly, this leaves a lot of good writing out of my reach.
I do not subscribe to the 'follow back' principle, either. I have found that most of those following me, are marketers, and marketers of stuff I am really not interested in.
Although I don't understand all the analytics and statistics, I still publish on Medium from time to time.
I enjoy reading Substack much more. I am rather intimidated, though. There are truly brilliant writers here, and although I am not a spring chicken anymore, I am very new to the idea of serious writing, albeit not always on serious topics.
Thanks again for your insight!
Thank you for everything you do for the writing community Dr. Yildiz. I have never put in the work to reach the heights that you and others had in the past, but I can vicariously feel your pain. I have contributed to the Illumination publication on Medium in the past (as Edward Thomas), and I am now here with you on substack. Please let me know if I can ever do anything to be of assistance to you.
Thanks for the transparency. It's important to know this from an experienced Medium editor.
Here's what's happening on Medium:
The platform is becoming a very large paid subscription magazine.
If you don't get Boosted you don't get views.
Unless you publish every day or don't paywall your stories and write for SEO.
People should stop talking about the rare 4 figure stories. They are not the norm.
I’m losing my mojo when it comes to medium and my daughter is too. I’ve been so swamped with work and that’s also doing it to me but yeah medium is going south. It’s disheartening to see.
When I examined all the profiles of the new and old Medium team, some of them work honestly, some have made money with referrals, and others are selling courses about the product.
Now, for example, they have filled it with bot accounts to sell "membership" to people.
When I took my articles to my other blog, I gained 30 followers in 4 days and it is incredible.
I received some traffic.(Nearly ten thousand views in 8 days).
Medium now feeds a dead ecosystem. No matter how much marketing you do, the experience gained about the product is important. Medium now exists only to increase the visibility and protection of articles
Dr. Yildiz, Thank you for explaining this in a way that I can understand. I appreciate the help you have provided me since I began with ILLUMINATION and continue to do now that there is such turmoil on Medium. At this time, I will stay with Medium but will add Substack. I look forward to continuing working with you.
Yo, Dr Yildiz: Thank you for your insights. I left Medium for the same reasons. It was disheartening at first. I questioned my own skills until I learned and moved on. Talk more later. 😎