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How Writing On Medium Turned From Promising And Exciting To Abysmal And Soul-Crushing In Only Six Months
The absolute truth about how it feels to write on Medium since September 2022.
The fantasy of being a writer — sounds like a great life. However, we all know the bills have to get paid. I used to be very optimistic about the prospects of Medium, but after watching the trends during the months of September, October, November, and December into the new year, that optimism has been replaced by intense feelings of self-doubt.
Who can blame me? I built things up to a solid three-figure income, and then, like someone flipped a switch, I’ve watched it continue to crash no matter how much work or effort I put into writing. After the past six months, as much as I want it to work for me, I don’t think it’s meant to be.
What changed?
Compared to this time last year, there are more and more days that people just scroll to the bottom of the page, clap, and drop Facebook comments that they read and clapped and try to get you to read theirs. My stats don’t just run behind, they never even out. It’s not that hard to figure out, when you have 11 fans and 3 readers, that’s eleven people clapping for a story that only three people took the time to read, or left the screen open long enough for it to count.