Everyone Else Is Doing It So I Am Too

My Thoughts On Medium Membership

As I’m sure you all know by now, Medium recently launched a membership program, wherein readers paying $5 a month get access to features non-paying readers do not. I would like to link to the original piece describing the membership roll-out, but when I search on “medium membership” the top stories are all stories by people writing about what they think of the membership program. Unfortunately, I am, at the moment, too lazy to search beyond the top posts.

That doesn’t really matter anyway, but I guess since everyone else is writing about this Medium membership thing, I will too. I mean, like Mom used to say, “If Amanda jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?” The answer, of course, was, “Amanda is really cool so if she invited me to jump with her, I totally would.”

Anyway, let me get to my point…

Actually, let me step back a second and tell a slight aside that will then segue into the point I want to make…

This shouldn’t take you by surprise if you’ve read any of my writing before, but I was never a cool kid. Not in elementary school, not in high school, and certainly not in college. I somehow evolved into a slightly cool adult, but that’s only because what makes kids not cool is exactly what makes adults slightly cool: not quite fitting in.

I like to say that I’m perpetually slightly outside of the loop. See, there are those in the loop. And there are those clearly out of the loop. But I am neither. I hover somewhere near the loop, but not in it.

When I was a kid, this meant I was not a cool kid, but I kind of knew the cool kids. I may have even been friends with a cool kid or two at various points in time. I was definitely friends with friends of the cool kids. So whatever was going on in the loop, I got some of it eventually, but always late to the party, often once the cool kids inside the loop had moved on to something new.

To this day, a lot of this “almost but not quite” thing still applies to me, in so many ways. I almost have friends, but not quite (more like acquaintances who occasionally hang out). I’m almost a scientist, but not quite (I “support” scientists). I almost play roller derby, but not quite (I still suck too much). I almost have abs, but not quite (because food and lazy win).

You get the idea.

Here’s the thing, though: I’m not complaining. I’m totally okay with being an Almost But Not Quite. It’s nice and cozy here. Wayyyy less pressure than being in the loop. I’m okay with “kinda”, “sorta”, and “second best”. I don’t have any desire at all to be on the A-list. B-list all the way, baby. The B-list parties are so much better anyway. Everyone gets much more drunk and we have cheesier snack foods and there are no rules about how to dance. You can just dance like the B-list freak you are.

Okay, let’s loop this around, as promised…

Here on Medium, I’m totally a B-lister. I’ve got a good number of followers, and I get a good amount of feedback on my writing. I found a community of like-minded writers who I enjoy reading and interacting with virtually. I’ve found opportunities here. I have a nice little cozy niche and I love it.

Yet, I’m not on the Medium front page everyday. My work doesn’t show up on Medium’s Facebook page and go viral (except maybe one time). I’m no Jon Westenberg. I don’t have book offers or movie deals being thrown at me. Literary agents don’t know I exist. I’m sure McSweeney’s still ain’t interested in that one list I’m continually working on.

I’m not an A-lister, but that’s okay. I’m a B-lister, and that’s amazing!

That’s amazing because before I started writing on Medium, I wasn’t even, like, a G-lister. I was nowhere near any goddamn list of any kind, and now here I am, a Certified Medium B-lister! I’m fucking proud.

But also, I’m incredibly grateful.

I’m grateful not only for the readers, recommenders, and Tweeters, I’m grateful that Medium exists as a platform. Without it, where would I be? Writing a sad blogger.com blog? Probably not. Because that platform is clunky and old-looking and ugly and not even the tiniest bit cool.

Medium, on the other hand, is slick, intuitive, accessible and on the pushing edge of cool. And Medium is unique in that regard. And, though there are probably naysayers, I think Medium is incredibly transparent. From the start, it’s been evolving and adapting to meet users’ needs. It’s changed things up, for better or worse, and communicated to the end user what was going on. It’s not static. It’s employees don’t sit high up in a tower looking down on the rest of us (well, maybe they do — I don’t know what the Medium offices look like). They are in the trenches with us, reading and writing and communicating the things that go on at Medium that the other readers and writers should know.

Or, at least that’s how I’ve always felt about things.

To me, Medium is like this cool friend who helped get me on the B-list. I’m still slightly outside of the loop, per usual, but Medium’s got my back. And I think they’ve got your back, too.

And so, when Medium asked for $5 a month so I could potentially get some cooler stuff, I was in without hesitation. For $5 a month I might as well at least see what’s in store. Think of it kind of like tipping your barista. Do you have to? No. But should you? Well, if your barista is pretty chill and they make you a decent cappuccino and you hang out at that coffee shop a lot, sucking up their free wi-fi, yeah, it’s a decent thing to do to tip the barista so just fucking do it.

I don’t have any idea what being a Medium member will really do for me, other than getting access to exclusive content, but I have hope that it will be something great. Medium hasn’t really let me down yet and, if anything, it’s helped me find my voice, my community, and my tribe of fellow B-listers.

That’s why I’m a Medium member. That’s why I’m a Medium writer. That’s why I’m not going anywhere.