Well, that is interesting.
So I was right when I wrote my other article 'Some observations about Medium's new direction.'
https://medium.com/born-to-write/some-observations-about-mediums-new-direction-7bb4f29c422e
Medium has been losing a lot of readers. It has been a steady downward trend. You can see that on Alexa. And it grows worse by the day.
About 10 years ago, I read some interesting figures - that only 5% of people were readers, i.e. they read books a couple of times a week (I read between 5 and 7 books a week) but 84% of Americans wanted to write. It is a huge market.
There was another interesting statistic - only some .01% (or was it .03%) of people had been published. On Amazon, the average amount made by self-published authors was $1000 per year.
There is an entire industry focused on teaching people to write. There are writing seminars and writing sites and many publications on writing. I have a publication on writing. Why? Because I'm so sick and tired of the nonsense written about how to write.
It's a gift. I was published by 10 years old. Nobody can teach it to you. You can be taught basic literacy, but not how to put words and ideas together to hook readers. Anyone who tells you otherwise has a course to sell you, or they make a living by getting you to read their articles.
Interestingly, most of my earnings come from magazines that are not about writing. Readers are not interested in reading about writing, and I have readers following me - not writers. I can tell that because most of them don't write.
Through the years, there has been this constant question 'Is writing a talent or can it be taught?" Anyone who is up there with the stars will tell you it's a talent. Anyone who is making money out of teaching it will tell you it can be taught. Who do you believe?
Alain de Botton, the guy who runs the London School of Life says that the reason so many people want to be writers these days is because so many people are unheard. Writing is a way for them to be heard.
I'm not going to be writing much more about writing. I'm probably going to go back to writing fiction books. I wrote my first one about 11 years ago. It was placed in the Amazon annual writing competitoin. Unfortunately, I mad some mistakes (through ignorance) in regard to my publishing, and I removed all my books a short time later.
I've learnt from my mistakes, and I'm ready to try again. I truly do not want to write about writing. I don't have it in me to lie to people. And if Meidum is going to continue shredding readers and morph into a writing site, then, sooner or later, I'm not going to have any readers. Right now, my readership continues to climb, and I'm earning enough to live (my readers are wonderful patrons and support me on Ko-fi and Patreon), but it worries me that, soon, they won't have much to read.
One reader told me the other day that the only reason she renewed her subscription was because of my writing.
Anyway, the answer to your question is yes. If Medium is now labeling itself a network of writers, then one must write about writing. It also explains why the Atlantic closed its doors on Medium last month. It was about the only decent magazine left on Medium.
I'm truly disappointed. I love reading.
Cheers
