Hi Monica, I think I've touched a nerve with you and I didn't mean to. I haven't actually seen your moan. The story that made me write about this was a supposedly successful screenwriter/journalist who has a lot more followers than me, and I think is probably doing infinitely better than me. He apparently used to earn a lot more on here and has seen his income fall. I'm not unsympathetic to that either, but this guy is quite arrogant in his approach about how great he is, and should be paid more. And to be honest, if he really is that successful in publishing, it begs the question why he's hanging out here for a pittance - saying that, he hasn't published recently, so perhaps he isn't.

As for the expectations. I too was attracted to Medium by someone who started 3 months before me and obviously cracked the audience making 1000s early on. I'd hoped to do the same, but he writes tech and side husles. I have very limited tech/side hustles knowledge, so obviously write different stuff.

I haven't had as much success as perhaps you think. It took me 6 months of daily publishing to get into the $100 club, and I only achieved that because an article did well. Ironically, it was a rant. My first month I earnt $1 and almost gave up. So yes, I get the disappointment. But also, I know when it's time to take a reality check and focus on the day job. I'm doing that more now.

But I don't think this is Medium's fault. If people have been mis-selling it, that's the sales person's fault. And I'm sorry to hear that's how you were sold the proposition. Was it a course?

I admit, I'd hoped to scale it up quicker than I've been able to and am acutely aware that I need to get back to focusing on magazines, because I think I've been doing too much on Medium at the expense of the day job. But that's the point - there are other options and if Medium isn't meeting our expectations, it makes sense to try and sell those pieces elsewhere.

I've sold my articles to magazines a couple of times - when I nearly pressed 'publish' on Medium, but had a moment when I thought, would xxxxxxxxxx like this? It turned out they would. So they paid me for it.

So, when I wrote this rant, it wasn't with you in mind at all, or the disappointed writers who'd hoped for greater things when they joined at a time of $500 bonuses. Those bonuses got scrapped before I could get one, too - so obviously, yes, that was disappointing for me too.

At the same time, I recognise that Medium doesn't owe me anything, and neither do the readers (owe me anything). If I'm not earning enough on Medium, I need to look at what I can do to improve that, or spend less time here and more time elsewhere. That’s all I was saying — and applying that to everyone.

On that note, if I was in the US, I'd be on Newsbreak like a shot, but they won't let Brits join. So that might be worth exploring if you can. Anyway, I hope that helps. I would be interested to read your rant.

Please don't take my rant personally. I know I could get more money working in a supermarket than I do on Medium, but I do it because I like it. And that, I suppose, is where I need to distinguish between work and hobby. I spend too much time on my hobby! And now, I should get on with my real work!

For the record, I earn an average of $6 per article, so while it’s improved from the early days, it’s not a lot. Some of mine still earn less than a dollar, but I’ve had a couple of viral articles that have helped improve the average.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I appreciate the chance to reply and I hope you get a notification so you see it! 😉