Probably. That might be a good idea.
One of my pieces went viral — and I mean viral. It was published in various newspapers, and people signed up on Medium just to read me. I had 800 new subscribers in a week. But something else happened as well. I had people writing to me on Facebook and harassing me on Twitter, etc. It was quite an eyeopener.
I suppose, I also don’t see the value of community on a content writing site. For instance, on hubpages, we don’t depend on other writers in order to earn. I wrote articles six years ago, and I’m still earning a monthly income from those articles. I hardly ever go to the site, and I don’t write for them anymore. Some people wrote there 10 or 11 years ago, and their articles are still earning.
No input from writers or readers required. The stories just ranked on Google, and the site pays according to the number of people who click on advertising. Of course, you have to know what you are doing, because to rank on Google isn’t easy.
For me, the greatest compliments on Medium comes in two forms. The first is when people support me on Patreon and Ko-fi, and the second is when someone new follows me, and I go to the stream, and I see I’m the first person they followed on Medium. Also, a high percentage of my followers are readers — they don’t write. Those are the best type of readers.
One idea I would really like to see on Medium is that Medium divides content up for readers vs the writing community.
Medium seems to have switched from being a site that provides excellent reading (New York Times, Atlantic, The Economist, etc. have all gone), and, instead, it is now focusing on getting wannabe writers to sign up. It’s market, now, instead of being readers, is now writers.
And I’m okay with that. Except that I have no interest in reading articles how to write, etc. I keep muting everybody who writes on how to write. I also mute all writing publications. I wouldn’t have to do that if Medium just had three different sections.
1 section for those people who wanted to read articles on how to write, etc.
1 section for those people who wanted to read articles on how to improve their lives, make money, etc.
And 1 section for those of us who are actually readers, i.e. the news, fiction, analysis of concepts, etc.
:)
