Here’s why I’m no longer interested in building my Medium account

I know I owe no one an explanation

The Beginning

When I discovered Medium, I was looking for an online ‘hustle’ I could do at home when I finished with my housejob and was sitting at home waiting for the government to post us, a process which could take between 6 to 12 months (currently in the sixth month).

Suffice it to say, I was excited about Medium. I loved the idea of placing my thoughts online and being paid for it. Well, that was until I discovered, I don’t qualify because I live in a non-Stripe country. That realization was a bummer.

I got over the disappointment. I still loved the idea of having a space on the internet I could write without creating a blog, which if to be done well must be professional and marketed to get good views. That was exhausting to me and it would be expensive, considering that I live in a country where the dollar is 13x our currency.

So I loved Medium. It was exciting. I got on with lots of energy, posting weekly. Then I realized if I wanted build visibility on the platform, as I was secretly hoping that African countries would become paid soon, I have to post multiple times, even daily.

I started posting daily. I tried … it wasn’t working for me. The most I could do was 3 posts a week. I also realized I could gain more followers if I engaged more. So I read more on Medium, commented a lot on people’s posts. It did work. I got some followers, not crazy many as the Medium strategists claim they get.

I was obsessed with my stats which weren’t that great. But I still checked them every day. Sometimes, multiple times a day.

Later…

I went public with my Medium activities after being about 3 months on the platform. It was difficult for the people around me to sign up on Medium. Simply because the platform is not popular in my country, Ghana.

And they would have to subscribe yet for a new service in order to follow me. It was a hassle for many. They would read but no comments, claps or follows. A few people decided to create accounts just because of me but I wasn’t willing to push others to do so.

This stats 👇🏾is when I went public.

Currently…

Then I discovered Substack from members here on Medium. It solved a lot of my problems. Not the payment ones but the ease of accessibility. I just need to tell people to just fill in their email address and they are done. No need to sign up to Substack itself. It comes directly to those interested my writing and still invites new people to discover.

I no longer read a lot on Medium. I no longer comment or clap for posts unless I absolutely love it. I continue to post whenever my Substack goes out. I no longer check my stats. I was surprised when Medium sent me the weekly email showing your week’s stats.

I just didn’t expect that many. Again, it wasn’t much. But I had been quite inactive on the platform, I thought I had zero reads like I used to when I started out.

I believe there is value in what I write and people who like such content will appreciate it here on Medium. Therefore, I still send posts out here.

I thank all who have followed me here on Medium, supported my writing, commented, clapped. God bless you.

If you would like to, do subscribe to my Substack. If you choose to subscribe to my email list here on Medium, you will automatically be listed to my Substack email list as well

Thank you for reading.