Monetizing Medium
I woke up this morning with the air purifier gently blowing, and as part of my usual morning routine as a Medium superuser, I checked my stats. Mornings aren’t my best but I got into the habit of checking stats to motivate me to start writing early in the day.
It’s an average month for me, I’ve been preoccupied with other projects that my writing has slowed. I stayed in last Friday to write, awake until 4am recalling the details of my Mom’s layoff from a few years ago for the essay, Working For The Man Is Taxing. It’s emotionally heavy but important to recognize the intersectionality of feminism, so I was curious to see how it was doing today. Aside, I’d noticed my 500 recommends this month when Tad, my art studio landlord, pinged me…Small Reminder, Renty.
I wondered, what’s the worth of a Recommend in USD? MIT Technology Review recently broached the topic of the near zero value of written content, even as Netflix and Spotify are doling out huge sums of cash for their audio visual content. Tad, nice as he is to artists, doesn’t take Recommends as payment currently. My first thought was, what if Recommends cost something?
Jokingly, I’d bet that if Recommends cost $1, short stories would be more popular than advertorials on Medium. I take it as truth when folks like Saul, Andy & Joe tell me they’re vested in helping publishers and writers such as myself, earn an income on Medium. And they should, their Series B of $57M hold them accountable to their investors to monetize the platform.
Absurdists is a popular publication that has shaped conversations on and offline, 5 million minutes engaged by my generous calculations. Popular enough that it got a mention at Medium’s launch party. A few times during the course of a tasteful at NEWBLK in San Francisco, over cocktails and bite sized foodstuffs, I was asked how the publication came to be.
It began when I read a friend’s essay about the invisibility of the homeless in San Francisco. That was nearly a year ago. I was so moved by it that when Bryan asked me if I could get it published, I decided to start a publication on Medium. Countless hours of contributions from editors and writers later, we’d built a place for philosophy and humanities here. Against the backdrop of startup self help listicles, Absurdist is just that.
Returning to my bet, if Recommends cost $1. Well, what if there weren’t just Recommends but also paid Promotions. What if right beside Recommends were another icon to Promote an essay that not only cost money, but that was valued higher in Medium’s algorithms. I hadn’t mentioned that I’ve spent a few thousand dollars in payouts to editors, writers and illustrators for Absurdist, and I don’t think I’m alone in this sentiment of supporting artists. If there were a way for me to Promote some of my favorite writer’s works, I would gladly pay it forward.
This model isn’t entirely new, Reddit has a similar feature though it seems intrusive, more advertising and non-native. With Medium, given the ethos and community, I’m suggesting Promotion feel native. Promoted essays don’t get an ad spot but score higher than simpler recommends, regardless of whether a corporation or individual has paid for that promotion, up to a daily maximum of course, could a Promotion be 10x a Recommend?
Those collected contributions would be split between writers, publishers and Medium but like other credits, could also be recirculated within the system. Like my Venmo balance which I’m saving for a rainy day. Oh, and don’t worry, I’ve got my studio rent covered.
I’ve got to get back to writing.
