Member-only story
After Seven Years the Medium Magic Has Disappeared
Along with the money
My weekly stats email always ends with “We’re excited to see what you write next!”
Me, not so much.
Why?
Because, for the first time in the seven years I’ve been writing on this platform, my January 2025 earnings won’t cover my monthly subscription, let alone meet the $10 threshold for a payout.
Some folks say you shouldn’t write for the money, but when the earnings are so dismal they don’t even cover my subscription, I wonder if I should write at all.
Five dollars may not be a lot of money for those living in the United States, but it’s a hefty chunk when converted into South African currency.
I live on a small pension and have to budget carefully. Now I’m obliged to dip into that for the extra expense of paying my subscription, which for the first time is not covered by my earnings.
I don’t want to leave all the wonderful writers on Medium, nor sacrifice future earnings. Substack is not an option for me — they only pay via Stripe, which doesn’t operate in South Africa.
We’ve been left in limbo by management adopting the same attitude as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg when he was asked about Cambridge Analytics. We want answers…
