Video Replay of the Medium Mastermind Question and Answer Session

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Hello Friends!

There has been a lot going on the last few weeks and I find that really exciting. First of all, I did a Q&A meeting on Zoom that was available to anyone who subscribes to me or to

Kristina God

. I’ve already published the audio of this 30 minute meeting to my Podcast, but here is the video of the chat:

For the most part it went well, although once I started digging into the questions I stopped glancing up at the waiting room and I didn’t notice when new people arrived.

I find I have to look away and concentrate to provide a thoughtful answer, and the screen distracts me.

Unfortunately, people who arrived late ended up getting stuck waiting. I sincerely apologize for not seeing you! It really bothers me to keep people waiting, I don’t like to be responsible for wasting anyone’s time.

Since then I’ve learned that there’s a setting in Zoom where I can turn off the waiting room, so I’ll implement that in the future! The video side of this is still new to me, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s a lot of fun to talk to you guys and hear your questions.

It’s good to be reminded of the basics

In the meeting, I noticed there was a mix of people who are new to Medium, and people who have already had a lot of success. I know I covered some information that will be familiar to you all, but it’s always worthwhile to go back over the fundamentals again and again.

When I was in college, I had a Physics professor who said that getting his master’s degree was essentially a review of what he’d learned as an undergrad. When he mentioned this he admitted that he didn’t really understand the subject until the second time through (which I appreciated hearing).

It’s worth getting into the habit of attending these meetings. If you absorb one gem of new information, or better understand something you already knew, it’s well worth your time.

Upcoming video meeting for paid subscribers

As many of you know, I’ve been doing two video question and answer sessions a month for my paid subscribers. The next one is scheduled for:

Jan 16, 2025 12:00 Noon Central Time (US and Canada)

I will send the link to paid subscribers that morning.

Kristina and I were chatting about how wonderful it is that our audiences are all over the world. Sometimes that’s easy to forget, but as a writer, I think it’s fantastic to have the opportunity to speak directly to people who have read my work. If Roald Dahl had been doing video chats like this, I’d have been all over it.

The video chat offering is relatively new, and until now I’ve had as few as one or two participants. Please consider me a resource and jump in with your questions. You can prepare them in advance and type them into the chat (I promise to do better reading out the questions before I answer them).

It really is important that all of you seize the power of the internet and bring a little more KINDNESS and REASON to the general discourse of our era. Aren’t you all tired of having anger and grievance be the defining narrative of our age? Let’s SPEAK and drown out all the hatred with compassion and acceptance. I’ll show you how!

Things I wish I’d mentioned

Once I got done with the meeting, I realized there were two things I wish I’d said:

• Be sure to sign up for the partner program

• Medium has been dealing with fake accounts lately

The reason I said that everyone should write an “about me” post is because I believe you need a post before you’ll be accepted into the partner program. The partner program is how you get paid. It requires linking your account to Stripe and linking your Stripe to a bank account.

I always tell people to consult with their bank before they go through any sort of process like this. There are many people in the world who are better resources than you can imagine. Your bank doesn’t want your assets risked any more than you do, so if you have questions, that’s a good place to go.

In a recent post, Scott Lamb explained that Medium has recently had to deal with fake accounts that needed to be suspended. This is an ongoing problem that plagues the entire internet. The simple fact is that it’s really hard to build any form of online community that doesn’t become the target of undesirable behavior.

The summary of what’s happing is that fake accounts have been creating false engagement that has reduced the payouts to legitimate writers over the last few weeks. Again, this type of thing happens all the time and, in my opinion, Medium is always responsible about handling it.

The way I look at it, ups and downs are always going to happen in the writing world. You have to adopt a strategy that anticipates these things in order to cushion the impact. My earnings trend up, but there are months with spikes and months with troughs, that’s just the way it is.

In the years I’ve been working with Medium, I’ve seen this type of thing before. Sometimes earnings go down, but then they come back up. I expect that will happen again. Writing for a Boost challenges you to get better. I’ve found that when I challenge myself, the work I produce always performs well on other platforms even if it’s not selected for a Boost.

What kind of content are you looking for?

I’m seeing a lot of growth with this newsletter, which is fantastic! Thanks to all of you who subscribe and interact with these posts!

I’m curious what I could do to help turn a few more of you from free subscribers into paid subscribers. I realize I cover a lot of ground and engage with a lot of topics. Last week, I even did a quick podcast with

Ben Ulansey

to discuss the movies and shows we’d been watching lately (it was a lot of fun).

I try to offer a mix of serious and informative content, as well as give you all a break every now and then with a humorous story. Sometimes I look at what I’ve scheduled and I think, “You need to write a happy story about the kids, or the dog, or the dog and the kids.”

For a long time, people have said you need a “niche” to do well writing on the internet. But the way I look at it, all these different subjects are like colors on an artist’s palette. Still, I can’t emphasize enough how much feedback from you really helps.

I know the monthly subscription thing becomes complex, but I have an annual plan that allows you to support me for as little as $20 per year. Just think of it as the tip jar! I appreciate all of you so much!

Thanks again! As always, leave your comments below:

All of these discounts are forever.

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