I was 0 for 28 in August for having stories Boosted in August and none of my last 17 in July were Boosted. I used to have a good feel for what get's Boosted with a pretty good success rate of guessing, being wrong sometimes either way. Now I can accurately predict that almost nothing of mine get's Boosted, no matter the quality, effort, and research put it, despite severl having been nominated by editors.
A few editors (I include you in this category) make excuses for Medium and try to guess what they're looking for like a more personal touch, or to be a little less political, and having an appealing title that isn't too appealing. Other editors have given up on Medium's Boosting program while Medium is eerily silent. It should be Medium saying what they want. It's great they achieved a profit last month, I suspect it's because they are dramitacally paying writers less. I know it's true in my case and I hear it from my peers including some you referred to in this story.
I'd confirm my suspicions by checking the data but there is no source I'm aware of. Last month was my worst in almost three years, not because I've written less or the quality has dropped (IMO). I have over 44,000 followers (I believe many are fake) but only my subscribers seem to be getting my stories. I had a good, no a great run at Medium, but I think they've ghosted me, so I am moving on too.
I still post on Medium because I'm now posting the same stories elsewhere (and getting paid more). I got a lot out of my time at Medium but I can't pretend it hasn't changed. I appreciate your efforts, Walter, and being positive has its merits but the Medium Boost program currently sucks.
I'm glad to hear that you're finding good compensation for your work on other platforms. I'm glad you're here on Substack, and I'll continue to restack your work whenever I see it because it's excellent! I've seen platforms go through changes, and Boost is different from month to month. If things change and I feel more confident about what it takes to get Boosted, I'll let you know. I wish I could do more because I think the world needs to read your work. Don't hesitate to send me a message to inform me of how I can assist in any way!
I've been published in a few local nespapers and allowed my work to be reprinted by ThE Good Men Project. A couple other publications have commissioned pieces pretty specific to my style of writing. I tried Vocal and NewsBreak without success.
You might want to try submittable, just make sure you click the button so it doesn't show you markets that require a submission fee. There are some good options on there. Duotrope might be a good option too (https://duotrope.com/about/features/writers). Just don't get caught in the sales funnel, and make sure the places you are submitting are legit and don't require fees (these are standard writing disclaimers).
That's an interesting question! First of all, I suspect that you're a writer and you don't know it. Everyone has a story that they've told 1,000 times at parties and whatnot. It's been revised and edited and perfected. Medium is a great place for that. As a reader, your comments and insights are extremely valuable. The restacks help to support your favorite writers even if you aren't able to support them financially. Sharing stories on other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is a huge help too. If I misinterpreted your question, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer a follow up!
Thank you, that was exactly what i was wondering. And thanks for the suggestion about restacking, I hadn’t thought about that. And as far as being a writer myself, I just don’t have the patience and I admire those of you who do.
I’ve been “slacking” on the amount written because of lots of family stuff and an explosion of freelance work. I think I’d ultimately be better off dumping the freelance and concentrating on my own work, but I’m afraid to give it up.
There’s never enough time for everything I want to do!
Yes, I know what you mean! Substack has also been grabbing a lot of my attention. I get some wonderful comments here, but answering them all takes time. Once the kids are back in school, I think I'll have more time to write.
I had 4 out of 4 stories boosted in August so can't complain. However, what I have noticed is that for a similar amount of views with boosted articles from July the ones in August have only made a third of what they used to make in previous month. For example one article with 2k views made over $300 in July but then one with almost 3k views only made $80 in August. That's a bit disappointing to be honest. Keen to hear whether that's your experience as well?
My Boosted stories in August all made around $400. Read ratio is also a factor, was the read ratio lower on the story that only made $80? Again, this changes from month to month.
Walter, you've continued to do well on Medium, so naturally, you stay optimistic even when you seem momentarily in a slump. There is a "sky is falling" contingency. But other realistic people look at the changes in their number of views, reads, and boosts and see something is indeed different. Please don't lump everyone into the "sky is falling" category. Boost nominators across the board have agreed there's been a decline in their approved boosts. That is a change that may continue or not. We will have to wait and see. I've been lucky to eke out about the same amount each month because I usually get at least one boost and stories from my archive keep accumulating pennies and some even dollars. I've had one story from February that made $72 last month and $25 this month just five days in. For me, it's worth it to continue to write on Medium, even though most of my stories earn a ridiculously low amount. Somehow, it's balanced out by a few miracles. I'm hanging in there because a few positive changes may come. I'm happy Medium has continued to work so well for you.
I look forward to the interviews you have planned. And I appreciate your continued insights and support.
I suspect I might have missed the mark in my pep talk. I was attempting to convey that I too have seen a decline in boosts both in what I write and what I nominate. But that doesn't necessarily translate into a loss of earnings. I had to dig into my data to actually notice that. It does seem like there have been changes at Medium over the last couple of months, but all platforms change. Part of being a writer is being willing to adapt. In the past, I've supplemented my Medium income with submissions to other markets. I am always on the lookout for other revenue streams (that's another writer habit). One great way to use Medium is to write stories for other platforms, and if they're rejected, you can still get some value by posting them on Medium. Medium is a unique option, and it has certain conveniences that make it attractive. I don't think we should depend on it too much, or give up on it too soon. Thanks for the thoughtful comment Sandra!
Thank you both for helping me to think about things differently than I might have otherwise. In my opinion that’s one of writer’s greatest contributions to society.
You know, it's weird you mentioned poetry. I write a lot of poetry on Medium, but I also write a lot more nonfiction opinion essaies, and even more fiction short stories. For months now, most of my poetry is lucky if it gets more then 2 or 3 reads TOTAL even after being live for months...
...but, late July, suddenly my poetry (newly published AND ones published months ago) suddenly started getting reads. It was weird. And I made a page asking if others were seeing it or was it just me.
Then I started tracking my reads and made a page every 4 days, to show my followers what was happening to my stats. I do not normally track stats, so these stats tracking pages were out of character for me, but it was just so odd to see poetry suddenly getting a lot of reads, that I wanted to track it to see if it was a trend or was it just that a few of my followers were binge reading all my old poems?
And by mid-August, poetry suddenly became my most read topic of all, with EACH of my poems suddenly getting 10+ reads per day!
By the end of August I had close to a 100 poems ranking as my top viewed, top read, and top earners for the month of August, and one of them was a poen written 6 months ago that had only had 5 reads total beteen February and August, and it was now in my top 5 highest earners of all time!
And I have no conclusion wht. I did however talk to a few other writers, who said they were seeing the same thing. For some odd reason, suddenly all their poems were getting views and reads, after months, and sometimes years of rarely getting any views at all.
Only thing I can conclude is that Medium must have changed the way poems show up in reader feeds now. I have no other explaination for it.
I think I might do daily stats tracking in September, to see if this weird poetry trend continues or not.
I was 0 for 28 in August for having stories Boosted in August and none of my last 17 in July were Boosted. I used to have a good feel for what get's Boosted with a pretty good success rate of guessing, being wrong sometimes either way. Now I can accurately predict that almost nothing of mine get's Boosted, no matter the quality, effort, and research put it, despite severl having been nominated by editors.
A few editors (I include you in this category) make excuses for Medium and try to guess what they're looking for like a more personal touch, or to be a little less political, and having an appealing title that isn't too appealing. Other editors have given up on Medium's Boosting program while Medium is eerily silent. It should be Medium saying what they want. It's great they achieved a profit last month, I suspect it's because they are dramitacally paying writers less. I know it's true in my case and I hear it from my peers including some you referred to in this story.
I'd confirm my suspicions by checking the data but there is no source I'm aware of. Last month was my worst in almost three years, not because I've written less or the quality has dropped (IMO). I have over 44,000 followers (I believe many are fake) but only my subscribers seem to be getting my stories. I had a good, no a great run at Medium, but I think they've ghosted me, so I am moving on too.
I still post on Medium because I'm now posting the same stories elsewhere (and getting paid more). I got a lot out of my time at Medium but I can't pretend it hasn't changed. I appreciate your efforts, Walter, and being positive has its merits but the Medium Boost program currently sucks.
I'm glad to hear that you're finding good compensation for your work on other platforms. I'm glad you're here on Substack, and I'll continue to restack your work whenever I see it because it's excellent! I've seen platforms go through changes, and Boost is different from month to month. If things change and I feel more confident about what it takes to get Boosted, I'll let you know. I wish I could do more because I think the world needs to read your work. Don't hesitate to send me a message to inform me of how I can assist in any way!
William, My experience is similar to yours. Do you have suggestions for places to post stories aside from Substack?
I've been published in a few local nespapers and allowed my work to be reprinted by ThE Good Men Project. A couple other publications have commissioned pieces pretty specific to my style of writing. I tried Vocal and NewsBreak without success.
You might want to try submittable, just make sure you click the button so it doesn't show you markets that require a submission fee. There are some good options on there. Duotrope might be a good option too (https://duotrope.com/about/features/writers). Just don't get caught in the sales funnel, and make sure the places you are submitting are legit and don't require fees (these are standard writing disclaimers).
Thanks, Walter.
Thanks, William. Wishing you the best on your writer's journey.
What advice or suggestions do you have for those of us who aren’t writers, but are here at Substack for the community and exposure to new ideas?
That's an interesting question! First of all, I suspect that you're a writer and you don't know it. Everyone has a story that they've told 1,000 times at parties and whatnot. It's been revised and edited and perfected. Medium is a great place for that. As a reader, your comments and insights are extremely valuable. The restacks help to support your favorite writers even if you aren't able to support them financially. Sharing stories on other platforms (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) is a huge help too. If I misinterpreted your question, please let me know and I'll do my best to answer a follow up!
Thank you, that was exactly what i was wondering. And thanks for the suggestion about restacking, I hadn’t thought about that. And as far as being a writer myself, I just don’t have the patience and I admire those of you who do.
Whenever you write a comment you can click the little "restack" box. That is a huge help! Thanks Burt!
My advice is to read a lot — particularly everything Walter and I write :)
You’re awesome Michelle!
I’ve been “slacking” on the amount written because of lots of family stuff and an explosion of freelance work. I think I’d ultimately be better off dumping the freelance and concentrating on my own work, but I’m afraid to give it up.
There’s never enough time for everything I want to do!
Yes, I know what you mean! Substack has also been grabbing a lot of my attention. I get some wonderful comments here, but answering them all takes time. Once the kids are back in school, I think I'll have more time to write.
I had 4 out of 4 stories boosted in August so can't complain. However, what I have noticed is that for a similar amount of views with boosted articles from July the ones in August have only made a third of what they used to make in previous month. For example one article with 2k views made over $300 in July but then one with almost 3k views only made $80 in August. That's a bit disappointing to be honest. Keen to hear whether that's your experience as well?
My Boosted stories in August all made around $400. Read ratio is also a factor, was the read ratio lower on the story that only made $80? Again, this changes from month to month.
Hm maybe that's it, read ratio is about 10% lower for these ones 🤔
Walter, you've continued to do well on Medium, so naturally, you stay optimistic even when you seem momentarily in a slump. There is a "sky is falling" contingency. But other realistic people look at the changes in their number of views, reads, and boosts and see something is indeed different. Please don't lump everyone into the "sky is falling" category. Boost nominators across the board have agreed there's been a decline in their approved boosts. That is a change that may continue or not. We will have to wait and see. I've been lucky to eke out about the same amount each month because I usually get at least one boost and stories from my archive keep accumulating pennies and some even dollars. I've had one story from February that made $72 last month and $25 this month just five days in. For me, it's worth it to continue to write on Medium, even though most of my stories earn a ridiculously low amount. Somehow, it's balanced out by a few miracles. I'm hanging in there because a few positive changes may come. I'm happy Medium has continued to work so well for you.
I look forward to the interviews you have planned. And I appreciate your continued insights and support.
I suspect I might have missed the mark in my pep talk. I was attempting to convey that I too have seen a decline in boosts both in what I write and what I nominate. But that doesn't necessarily translate into a loss of earnings. I had to dig into my data to actually notice that. It does seem like there have been changes at Medium over the last couple of months, but all platforms change. Part of being a writer is being willing to adapt. In the past, I've supplemented my Medium income with submissions to other markets. I am always on the lookout for other revenue streams (that's another writer habit). One great way to use Medium is to write stories for other platforms, and if they're rejected, you can still get some value by posting them on Medium. Medium is a unique option, and it has certain conveniences that make it attractive. I don't think we should depend on it too much, or give up on it too soon. Thanks for the thoughtful comment Sandra!
Looking forward to the interview and thanks again for taking the time to put them together! Great piece, Walter.
Thanks for creating a supportive community environment. Makes me want to write.
Yes, please write!
Thank you both for helping me to think about things differently than I might have otherwise. In my opinion that’s one of writer’s greatest contributions to society.
succinctly put! See? You are a writer!
You know, it's weird you mentioned poetry. I write a lot of poetry on Medium, but I also write a lot more nonfiction opinion essaies, and even more fiction short stories. For months now, most of my poetry is lucky if it gets more then 2 or 3 reads TOTAL even after being live for months...
...but, late July, suddenly my poetry (newly published AND ones published months ago) suddenly started getting reads. It was weird. And I made a page asking if others were seeing it or was it just me.
Then I started tracking my reads and made a page every 4 days, to show my followers what was happening to my stats. I do not normally track stats, so these stats tracking pages were out of character for me, but it was just so odd to see poetry suddenly getting a lot of reads, that I wanted to track it to see if it was a trend or was it just that a few of my followers were binge reading all my old poems?
And by mid-August, poetry suddenly became my most read topic of all, with EACH of my poems suddenly getting 10+ reads per day!
By the end of August I had close to a 100 poems ranking as my top viewed, top read, and top earners for the month of August, and one of them was a poen written 6 months ago that had only had 5 reads total beteen February and August, and it was now in my top 5 highest earners of all time!
And I have no conclusion wht. I did however talk to a few other writers, who said they were seeing the same thing. For some odd reason, suddenly all their poems were getting views and reads, after months, and sometimes years of rarely getting any views at all.
Only thing I can conclude is that Medium must have changed the way poems show up in reader feeds now. I have no other explaination for it.
I think I might do daily stats tracking in September, to see if this weird poetry trend continues or not.
That’s really interesting, thank you for sharing that!