A BALANCED VIEW
Partaking in Medium’s Tree of Knowledge
The stings of being boosted and other thoughts
A big discussion among writers these days is whether to stick with Medium. There are always options. Substack frequently makes it into the conversation as a possible choice. There are others like Patreon. Of course, writers aren’t limited to one choice. I write for two — Medium and Substack.
But more interesting to me than the choices we face is how common it is for writers to feel pessimistic about the opportunities within Medium. It feels sudden and pronounced. Here is my hypothesis as to why there is a loss of faith in the promise of Medium, which is partially informed by my own personal experience.
By the way, I haven’t really lost faith, but I had to have a significant conversation with myself and, in some ways, adjust my expectations.
My hypothesis
I joined Medium five years ago because I wanted to be in a community of writers. I wanted to write more, learn from others, find some good pubs, and earn the respect of its editors.
In the race between the tortoise and the hare, I am the tortoise. I did not achieve lightning speed towards my Medium goals. If I had a motto, it would have been, “Slow and steady wins…
