Stick a Fork in it
Pickle Fork is done.
This is long overdue.
Medium and I used to be tight. We were pals. But things have changed a lot since I launched Pickle Fork. We’ve grown apart and our tastes have changed. I said some things, Medium said some things, there were a few broken bones, a light stabbing. The usual.
TLDR: Medium just isn’t for me anymore.
I’ve only stuck around this long because I felt a lingering guilt over letting Pickle Fork die. I didn’t build it alone and I feel I owe something to all the wonderful writers who have contributed their work. Ironically this has lead me to do something even worse: ignore all the submissions and new writer requests. Speaking as someone who has been on the waiting end of a submission, I know that’s not cool and I apologize. You deserve better.
With Medium there is a certain advantage to adding your work to various publications. Even if you don’t get paid, you can at least grow your audience. It’s almost like “getting paid in exposure” but in a way that’s more mutually beneficial and doesn’t feel so predatory. The writer and the publisher are on more equal footing.
But every time I open Medium now I just don’t like what I see. Everything I click on is behind a paywall, which I might not mind if the people and publications I actually follow weren’t relegated to a tiny section of the home page. Maybe it’s my flawed perception but I feel like Medium is pushing their own editorial picks and their algorithms over the user’s actual preferences.
Medium can do whatever they like, of course, but to me they have diminished the benefits of the platform for writers trying to build an audience. In light of these changes, I no longer feel like running a Medium publication is worth the time to either me or, more importantly, to the writers who have been kind enough to submit their work.
I considered moving Pickle Fork to a new domain and running it more like a “traditional” publication. Aside from the logistical challenges to such an undertaking, I also don’t feel comfortable publishing the work of other writers without giving them something more than a byline. I am not in a position to start paying writers in cash, nor pay for enough advertising to even offer anyone those sweet, sweet exposure dollars.
It comes down to this: I don’t like this platform anymore and I’m not ready to build my own. So it’s time to move on.
I’ve published all the pending stories and I’m not going to delete the publication. Who knows, maybe I’ll change my mind in a year or two and decide to give it another shot. But for now and for the foreseeable future I will no longer be actively publishing on Pickle Fork.
Those who are still interested in my work can check out my blog at erellsworth.com. I’m also going to start posting less structured work on Substack.
But Pickle Fork has never been about me. It’s always been a community. So if you haven’t already, please take a look at all the Pickle Fork archive and find a few writers to follow. They deserve it.
Stay surreal friends.
E.R. Ellsworth
