Chapter 8: The Future
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“We are continuing to evolve and build Medium. The site is written in code, not cast in stone.”
— @e
Imagine being a YouTube expert in 2006 or a total Twitter pro in 2008. If you kept at it, you would likely be famous by now. Medium is still small and young enough so that those that get up to speed early will reap the rewards down the line. By using the information contained within this book, you’ll have the tools and knowledge you need to capitalize on this emerging platform.
“I think that the publishing world, post-Medium, will look a little bit different than it did before and I think that’s a good thing for the world.” — @stirman
Listen up folks — we are about to see a huge shift in advertising. Prudent marketers are not slathering their products with fallacies of jargon anymore. Instead, they are tearing down the artificial walls that previously guarded their brand to let customers and users see inside the inner workings. Their audience then identifies with the brand and forms a deeper connection, consequently becoming loyal and long time advocates.
Treat your audience like your friends, not like dollar signs dusted in gold. If you wanted to sell your friend trendy jeans that you make, would you wave a sale poster in front of her face? I doubt it. In an organic way, you would share your story of making the jeans, perhaps give a tour of the factory, and hand deliver them. It’s not about pushing purchasing, it’s about pulling the right interest.
Medium is the kingpin catalyst for the revolution of digital content, the first mover in an industry that is in much need of a change. Those that build meaningful content are well positioned for the transition, and will likely be rewarded handsomely. When the imminent monetization switch kicks on, the writers who have gained a loyal following are first in line. Be one of those writers.
Business Model
“There are a lot of websites that have built audiences…and when it comes time to monetize, they either fail to do so or do it in a way that turns off the audience.” -@janovum
Medium hasn’t rushed into a revenue model just yet, and we as writers and readers should appreciate their careful consideration to find the best one. Whatever form the model takes, it will likely hinge from the platform’s current most important metric — TTR. Since Medium has explicitly stated the importance of TTR, it’s crucial to have this in mind as you think to the future.
The folks at Medium are taking the proper amount of time to identify the precise moment and means to introduce a commercial engine. Their seasoned track record of experiments proves they are obsessed with finding mutual value for the entire community. Making a buck is essential to the longevity of the platform, but with proper execution and an eye for user empathy, it can be done right.
Ideas
“We have a lot of creative ideas and I think we will experiment with them, try to do some creative stuff and I think this publishing industry is ripe for some innovation in this regard. I think we’re well positioned to be disruptive in a good way…” — @stirman
Eventually, Medium has to get paid, and eventually, writers may expect to get paid. These two are not competing interests, but rather likely complements of one another. Monetization for both parties could be done in tandem (Medium takes a cut of payments that writers earn), or in isolation (Medium and the writers each have their own separate model of monetization).
Medium’s own interests are aligned with writers, so the future looks encouraging. Medium has that potential to create an ecosystem that lifts everybody up — writers, readers, and shareholders. Here are some ways that is could play out.
Tip Jar
Just like you tip your barista for a cappuccino because it is the cultural norm, perhaps we will enter an age where consuming quality content doesn’t cost anything outright, but a tip in the writer’s direction is somewhat expected.
Pay Wall
To gain access to an unlisted story, readers will need to pay. If that sounds familiar, perhaps you will recall this is the method you used to view this very book.
Alternatively, scrolling past a certain point on a story would require a small payment. This could either be manually approved on a per-instance basis, or automatically done. If the latter, the reader would set up account and agree that reading past the “pay line” would charge their account. Readers could also pay subscriptions to receive unlimited access, or buy credits ahead of time. Look to startups like CoinTent to see some interesting developments here.
Pay Per Chapter
“The novel can be re-invented as a Medium [Publication], where each chapter is a post. The writer could choose which chapters are free & which require subscriptions or micro-payment. Authors could tweak these settings and make each new chapter free for a certain period to draw in new readers and keep existing ones engaged. Medium could be the perfect…medium for a serial novel.” — @DesignPete
This would work only with long form content, but readers could “pay-as-they-go.” The more you read, the more you pay. Leave at anytime, and you only pay for what you have consumed. Medium could even open up the stats to allow writers to reorganize their work for better engagement, and ultimately, better revenue. Chapters could live within one story on Medium, or stories could be serialized to act as chapters.
Serial fiction could be particularly well suited for this because of the ability to adapt subsequent stories based on audience response. If readers stop paying for new content, you know you’ve got a weak point in the story line.
Book Store
“Medium [could sell] a Kindle single of the top posts from each month.” -@hondanhon
Readers could browse content and purchase individual stories, either prepaid or paid during/after consumption. In November 2012, Medium hired @kate as Director of Content. She has spent most of her career as a literary agent, discovering authors on the web and helping book concepts mature to publication. Kate and her team are tasked with discovering, encouraging, and commissioning interesting stories and writers on Medium. It seems logical that they may want to shepherd Medium stories into books.
Editor / Translator Platform
As a writer, I would gladly pay for someone to proofread my writing before I published on Medium, especially if it was on demand and seamlessly integrated with the writing experience. I would also pay to have translators transform my story into other languages for global reach. If these writer services were baked into the platform, Medium could make a percentage of each transaction, and editors and translators could use the platform to earn income.
Pay To Publish
Promoted articles would make sense too, like promoted tweets…” -@GKedzierski
As Medium’s community of highly engaged readers grows even larger, brands and individuals will likely see a positive ROI, even if they need to pay to publish. Ev has hinted at an interest in paid content as part of revenue generation for Medium. As a mechanism for expanding reach, promoted stories could come into play here, too.
Brands essentially already subsidize journalism and reporting by paying for ads. So why not cut out the middleman and just pay directly to publish? Anything that changes the web’s current relationship with ineffective and annoying display advertising could be incredibly powerful.
Shared Ad Revenue
Similar to how YouTube displays ads on videos, Medium could display ads and share the revenue with writers. After all, many already regard Medium as the YouTube of long form written content, so an analogous revenue model seems logical.
Pro Plan
“…expect something like PRO subscription plans for writers.” -@GKedzierski
Medium’s editor and stats are incredibly valuable for writers, and it’s a surprising delight that they are 100 percent free to use. Medium could explore a pro offering that expands on their already awesome toolset to give writers more capability.
None
“Most writers know they will never earn a dime with their writing. They write for the pleasure of their story to be seen, read, shared.” — @kristynazdot
Even if Medium does not introduce on-site monetization, and writers never earn a dime directly through the site, there are still a myriad of creative ways to make a buck or two from the creative organization of your words and images. Or heck, maybe you just want the pleasure of your story seeing the light of day, and that’s OK, too. Not all of us are driven by capitalistic tendencies, The sharing of ideas and engaging with other literary minds — intellectual intercourse — moves others to write.
User Generate Content Arbitrage
Whenever a “free” service like Medium or Instagram pops up, I put on my cynical hat and evaluate it based on the idea that one day, the information and content I put into the service will be used to the service’s benefit. It always shocks me when other people don’t do the same. Free is never free. But it doesn’t mean it can’t be good.” — @DesignPete
What’s the cheapest content? User Generated Content (UGC), of course. Why pay staff to write posts, make videos, and commission drawings, when users will create it for free?
Companies like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are in the business of content arbitrage. They create an environment that encourages users to look at the content of others, and then they sell that user attention for profit.
Many people scoff at the concept of Medium making money from writers’ content. They are concerned that Medium will become nothing more than a content farm, no different than the aforementioned social networks. However, I don’t think Medium is just going to slap some CPM ads up and call it a day.
“If you care about writing, you take care of the writers, and I think that’s what [Medium is] going to do.” — @DesignPete
Find solace that Medium is on a mission to perfect writing online, and the team isn’t motivated purely for financial reasons. In my conversations with Mediums staffers, and my in-depth research of the organization, the team running the show is here for more than status, career aspirations, or a paycheck. They are not looking to make a quick buck. The culture perpetuates the philosophy to care deeply about the bigger picture. A healthy level of altruism appears to be a job requirement.
Medium has taken great strides to show that the community’s mutual interests are top priority. In one small example, the terms of service were voluntarily updated to allow users to participate in a class action suit or jury trial for policy related disputes. This shifts the balance of rights more strongly in the favor of the users. It’s a bold move that illustrates Medium’s effort to be the writer’s advocate. Accordingly, I am comfortable giving Medium the benefit of the doubt, and you should be too.
In The End
Great communication design is a treasure we partially lost in our journey from print to digital design. Medium is the leader in an effort to recover it.
Medium can experiment, but ultimately, the people of the community will be the ones who decide where this platform goes. There’s only so far that platform can be inorganically directed and influenced. In an unrestrictive and free flowing marketplace of ideas, where everyone can participate and publish, the users of Medium will play a much bigger role in determining what thrives on the system than Medium itself will.
It’s the early days here on this emerging platform. The inflection point still awaits. Times have been good, and things ahead appear promising. I trust the community to keep it that way, I hope the world is ready to curb its junk-content addiction, and I am confident Medium is making the world a better place, one story at a time.
