1. 95% of the content on this site isn’t worth paying for. The only people who are gullible are those who think that just by posting on this site, that makes their work worthy of payment. I repeat, your English is not to a publishable standard. I spent several years as an editor for two publishing houses in London. I am highly qualified to make that assessment.
2. No, earnings did NOT drop just like that. What happened was that ‘writers’ gamed the system. Payment was made on the basis of claps. So, everybody had an agreement with each other to clap 50 times for others, and in return they would be clapped for 50 times. They didn’t read anything. They just went around clapping for each other. The reason that earnings dropped was because the people who were earning were cheating. They weren’t actually been read. Ev Williams changed the system when he realized what was going on. So, yes, earnings dropped for those who actually couldn’t write – I don’t care how well known they are on Medium. Doesn’t mean they can write. They gamed the system.
3. The algorithm checks whether there are errors in your work, whether it is written to the correct format, and whether other criteria are met – all of which are clearly spelt out in the help section. After that, your work goes before the editors, and the editors select what they are going to distribute and what they are not going to distribute. No editor, in any publication, of any type, in any country, is obliged to accept your work. If they don’t find it good enough, or if they think it’s not interesting enough or suitable for their readers, they won’t accept/distribute it. Let me give you a clue about ‘contributing.’ If editors are not accepting your work, there’s a reason. Find out what it is, then correct it. For the record, no editor is obliged to tell you what is wrong with your work. The job of an editor is to sell the publication to the reading public – not to correct the work of writers.
4. Why call it a ‘partner program?” Are you being serious? Obviously, it’s not a legal partnership as defined in business. You have no say in running the company. It’s not your company. They could have called the program ‘Hippy dicky slicky’ and it wouldn’t have mattered. The offer is simple. You can write on Medium. If people read you, they will pay you. If they don’t read you, they won’t pay you.
5. You (and others) are under no obligation whatsoever to write for Medium or for any other company. Medium is not forcing you to write for them. And, yes, I accept willingly that Medium (and any other company on the web) is done on spec. I may or may not be paid. I’m willing to take the chance because I’m a damned good writer. http://bestebookstories.blogspot.com/2012/09/flattering-words.html I’m also fully aware that I may never be paid. When any writer submits a book for publication or submits an article to a traditional paper magazine, there is no guarantee that the publication or the publishing house will pay them. Why do you demand that Medium pay you? If your piece isn’t suitable, so be it.
6. Let me say this again. Only about 1% of the population have the ability/talent to write to a publishable standard. There was a study some years ago about students at four-year universities in California. 95% of those students could not write a grammatical sentence. Twenty percent, i.e. one in five, Americans are illiterate. To quote from the Washington post “According to data from the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau, 21 percent — or nearly 60,000 — of working age adults in the city lack a high school diploma. At the same time, 19 percent of adults cannot read a newspaper, much less complete a job application, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2016/11/01/hiding-in-plain-sight-the-adult-literacy-crisis/ This is from Forbes (the wealth magazine. “According to the U.S. Department of Education, 54% of U.S. adults 16-74 years old - about 130 million people - lack proficiency in literacy, reading below the equivalent of a sixth-grade level.” So, yes, it is highly that more than 2% or 3% of people on Medium can actually write. Medium is rewarding the people who can actually write. Most people, whether you like it or not, can’t. And, with all due respect that I’m probably hurting your feelings, you do not write to a publishable standard. Your word order is incorrect.
7. There is no unfair dealing. People are rewarded if other people read them. One of the things I did (eventually) was mute all the writing publications, plus the self-help, success, and marketing gurus. I don’t read them, and I mute anyone who cannot write to a publishable standard, or who isn’t particularly well informed. You cannot force people to read you. Those of us who have been rewarded by a bonus earned it through the number of people who read us. For the record, very few of my pieces have been distributed recently, but people (people I do not know) are sharing my work on Twitter).
8. Why the fuck would anyone pay a minimum wage to writers when nobody is interested in reading their work? Don’t you get it? In order for a writer to have some value, people must want to read their work. If nobody is interested in reading their work, WTF would any company be willing to pay for them? WTF should anyone pay them?
9. For the record, Medium is running at a loss, and it has been running at a loss since its inception. Ev Williams started this publication in order to figure out a way of paying for media without advertising. So, let me be blunt. Medium has given ‘writers’ an opportunity to earn – not a guarantee to earn. You have the right to refuse the offer. And, no, there is no exploitation.
10. I’ve been poor my entire life, and the first year I wrote on Medium I earned $40 to $60 per month, writing 5 hours per day. I still write 5 hours per day. And I only just recently started earning enough to live on. I also understand that this is not a permanent situation, so I have to make hay while the sun shines. I have to find other ways of generating income – write another book, etc.
This is my last response to you. I think you should forget about your publication. Medium is cleaning up. I suspect many more will leave. Perhaps they need to accept that basic literacy is not the same thing as writing to a publishable level.
