WRITING
It Is Your Own Fault Dumbass
I’m not making money on Medium and I’m not gonna change
The Takeaway to save us all time
The house always wins.
Stick to your boundaries.
Write because you must, not because you wanna be paid for it.
Don’t believe everything you read.
Fuck the system (always).
I will now be saving all of us time moving forward, because it’s more valuable than the cents I lose trying to share my diluted claps with y’all and the barely common sense cents I make, from the hours of sweat it takes to put a decent (ish) story together, to share on here for… let’s face it… pretty much fucking free.
I shall, henceforth and post haste, save valuable time by not bothering to support my opinionated opinions any longer or even edit my shit, to tone it down, so readers won’t run in terror.
I’ve decided by simply posting the magical takeaway bit of the stupid money making formula, right there at the top, I can walk a bit more of my truth and still say the things that make me restless.
I haven’t ever followed the magic formula to make millions on Medium anyway. And have not, after far too much freely (again) gifted wisdom and creative genius, made even enough money to cover my monthly membership fee more than once.
After the amount of time this platform has taken from me, with promises of my writing earnings to come, I think this exchange has been somewhat unfair to be honest.
But this is entirely my own fault. Once again…
I have been a naive l’il cupcake.
This sense of mild disappointment may have turned into despair, doubt at my own ability and content, or even disillusionment and the abandonment of writing itself.
Once-upon-a-time.
But I am older and wiser now.
And more pragmatic.
So just read that takeaway to save time and to (hopefully) keep you writing, if you’re one of the rare people who’ve been on here sharing your art, and not just drumming out the shit that gets the hits and draws in the desperate flock hoping to be saved.
The Takeaway explained with TMI as always
- The house always wins
If you think a platform this size actually cares about you and the algorithms are going to protect and reward you for your efforts, you may need to accept some hard fucking facts about capitalism and the way the world works.
It sucks. It’s not you. It’s them.
But wakey wakey eggs ‘n bakey. I don’t want you to stop writing just because this IS about the money. It’s a business. And no. Business doesn’t play fair.
There is not going to be a fair split. The house always wins. Common knowledge but not commonly accepted fact.
2. The majority of people on here are also broke writers
We are a cool community of creatives, mostly also broke and passing the dollar around. I doubt many people on here are making a living that is stable, regular, involves decent medical insurance (or even a fucking holiday) by writing on here.
See posts on how someone made millions in a month and grew their readership blah blah? Sure pal. You’re how old and you still believe everything you read online?
Yeah. Okay.
Are you sure Medium doesn’t write those amazing success stories to keep us giving ourselves to them for free?
I’m not. I gave up on the earning potential on here months ago and have been far happier and less stressed, and pressured, about my ramblings on here since then.
Because that is all this is… mostly.
3. Some of us aren’t playing the game
I see you.
I won’t play the game either, quite frankly.
I know what I should be doing to make this commercially viable but behaving like that, with that motivation alone, being not me, schmoozing for minimum set hours a day to gain followers and creating content that’s almost entirely clickbait makes me vomit in my mouth slightly.
I’ve chosen not to do it.
I accept the consequences.
The consequences of not compromising who I am. The consequences of being a bit fringe, kind of obnoxious at times, terrifying at others (apparently) and generally not filled with toxic positivity and interest in buying into the mainstream Stepfordness that got us into this fucking mess and turned us into the frightened tots we’ve become as a society.
My grandparents were in the war.
In two wars, in fact.
They would have laughed out loud at the bullshit we’re spouting on social media every day as sage wisdom on becoming “enlightened” and managing our conscious relating.
I’m all for being conscious.
Five ways to earn passive income while you feed your greed, body dysmorphia and love addiction is not that. Go ahead and unfollow me now.
I officially no longer give a fuck and it is wonderful.
4. Not giving a fuck is actually the best thing for authentic creativity
You ARE good!
Maybe this isn’t your platform.
It’s not the other way around…
I used to sell shit hot t-shirts, I designed myself, at an outdoor market in town.
I would cook in summer and make a killing, as the tourist flocked through the city centre.
And then winter would arrive.
Inevitably and every fucking year after year, a couple of months into sitting on a freezing dead market, I’d begin to doubt my stock. I’d start to believe it was shit and this was why it wasn’t selling. My designs were no good. It was my work they didn’t want to buy.
Until summer came and I sold out again.
It’s not you. It’s the system. Again.
The house always wins. Most people on here are writers. Competition. Not supporters. Most of the membership is going to go to the Platform. Business. It’s nothing personal and we can’t take it personally.
One also needs to accept human nature at this point as well. This seems mostly, with all due respect, motivated by personal gain.
How many other writers on here trying to make money are ethical enough to pay for a membership to share some love with the community on here themselves?
I cancelled my membership today. I can’t afford it anymore, quite frankly.
(*update — about to renew because there is some great writing on here and three stories a month isn’t going to work at all… need more of some of this incredible content and not even half way through a month. Fuck.)
I will be clapping but, sadly, I won’t even be able to pay you that 1c from my membership before the rest gets allocated to the Medium crew anymore either.
I’ll write to inspire you to write, however. I’ll share links to opportunities that do pay for the work of the communities involved adequately.
And I’ll still write on here because it’s fun and I enjoy the community a fuck ton.
5. I didn’t stick to my own boundaries
I’ve just wasted more time writing more shit that’ll be mostly ignored, for free, because I can’t stick to my own goddamned boundaries.
I said I wouldn’t explain all of this to you and I did.
Over-explained again… are you still awake?
My ten year old editor bailed at the word count, so this won’t even be edited.
I promised myself I’d use my spurts of creativity for the book I’m trying to write, but I didn’t because the small hit of dopamine and momentary high I get when someone actually does clap for me here outweighs my own sense of personal worth and self esteem.
Or self respect.
Because my time is fucking valuable, and I am fucking worth more, after working on valuing my contribution to a situation for many years. And knowing when to walk away from a situation if it devalues me, I guess.
Or at least understand what I’m dealing with, if I decide to stick around, so I don’t get hurt. Again.
Enough for now.
But I’ll be back.
Blah blah sign up send money whatever treasure just be happy and don’t hurt yourself or anyone else.
