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Medium Nuked My Income From Orbit and I Am Bitter
A slap to the face
Medium recently changed their payment model. And so far, it sucks. Full disclosure, last month, I made over $2,000 for my content. This month I am on pace to make $500. I have more followers than ever. My stats are the same as they have always been, but now I am making 75% less.
It feels like a massive slap in the face. I have been creating meaningful content for years. I work hard day after day researching, writing and editing. I am not trying to get rich, I’m trying to provide entertaining content to my audience and eke out a living. Instead of being rewarded, I am punished. Why?
Is my writing not “human” enough? Is my content not “raw” enough for the content moderators?
It feels like my three years of hard work have been reduced to ash in the name of “engagement.” It makes me think that Medium is running out of money and they just want an excuse to slash our pay. (No evidence of that, that’s the bitterness talking.) They say they want more engagement but forcing engagement will just create stiff artificial engagement by people trying to game the system.
Medium used to be more liberal about their content promotion. Now you need to be boosted like Experian. They used to offer bonuses to top writers. They yanked bonuses over a…
