You probably know about Medium, but in case you don't, it is a longstanding and well respected publishing platform where writers can share their content and grow their community, while readers can enjoy articles, stories, and news on a rich variety of topics. Although open to all in a limited capacity, it requires a paid membership to unlock its full library of content, and additional services, which represents one of the key differences that makes the platform unique. In short, it is a walled garden.
Until recent changes were implemented on August 1, 2023, Medium was the number one platform for writers to get paid for their content. Now, that's not so clear. Although there were requirements to qualify for profit sharing, they were reasonable, and resulted in a decent payout that was worth the effort of writing and posting. Due to Medium's paid membership model, the revenue per mille (RPM) was quite high, equaling that of financial videos on YouTube, or approximately $12 per thousand views in 2023.
However, changes have drastically affected the payouts writers are receiving, disincentivizing certain types of content, while incentivizing others. It is chaos, with many of the featured writers seeing a drop of 72% in revenue. Back catalogs of content no longer produce the same passive income, and longform writing is penalized.
What is Going On?
The core issue stems from a switch in determining payouts. Instead of read-time, the new model is based on read-ratio. This benefits short, simple, and light articles over heavy, dense, longform writing, which is an upset to many and a change from the previous content strategy.
As you can imagine, a great article might be several thousand words long, but if a reader only makes it 90% of the way through, and spends twenty minutes reading, it is less valuable than someone that reads a 600 word post that fully loaded on the page, and did so in three minutes.
Now, many are upset, and some writers intend to leave. But this is chaos in the sense of opportunity. There is a new model that rewards as much as it did previously, but to different creators, and writers need to adapt to its requirements to earn. It is not difficult, and you can take advantage of it to be one of the first in a new wave of writers to establish themselves.
And, it is easier now than ever.
Previously, writers had to reach 100 followers to become eligible to apply for the partner program, which slowed new creators significantly from getting partner status. Now, new writers need to be a paid member during application, which represents a certain monthly cost, but also ensures the highest tier of payout. For any regular posting, this cost should be more than covered by increased revenue. Not to mention, you have access to all the Medium content for research, or personal enjoyment.
How to Write on the New Medium
Of course, the issue is how to format content effectively to work in the new model. By the admission of the Medium staff, short form content will benefit the most. This is concise, punchy, memorable content, reaching a minimum of 600 words, and should not go much over 1000.
The ideal is likely to be a description of a product, event, piece of news, or review. It should be singular, easy to consume, and not drag. Even attempts at writing Top 5 articles may prove too long. Focusing on one issue while capturing its essence, keeping things light, and encouraging readers to get to the end will be best.
These are the same tactics at play in viral articles. In fact, I suspect if you took the ideas of most viral articles and used them for your own writing, you would find immediate success. It can be seen as clickbaity, but keeping engagement to the end of an article is a must in the new system to ensure that you maintain that high read-ratio.
Additionally, if one has any longform writing they would like to post, it would be good to break it down into smaller sections covering singular points. It seems the smaller the better.
It is sad and difficult at times. Many writers want to produce what they deem is quality content, but that is not always what the market wants, or will reward. If your interest is earning money, there ware rules to follow, and personal feelings don't have much to do with it, unless they are the topic of an article under a 1000 words.
My Final Thoughts
While writers on Medium are up in arms and wondering if they should ditch the platform, the time is right for new writers to establish themselves. Not only is the reward model geared toward the easiest content to produce, it is the content that most other writers are refusing to produce. Take advantage of this disconnect while it lasts.
