WRITING TIPS AND TRICKS
Dear Writer, You Really Do Not Have To Be a Green Circle Snob
…..for just a few cents
The green circle is green gold for writers — those behind Medium’s metered wall. When a writer gets his pieces read from a paying member of Medium — meaning they pay their monthly subscription of usd5 and have the green circle around their profile, the writer gets paid a few cents for that story. And few cents and few cents can add up to a lotta cents. But sometimes, the chase after these cents makes nonsensical beings out of us.
Medium was designed for writers to share their work and for readers to read these works. Writers are readers, and readers are writers. It is an open platform. You do not have to be a paying member to read (up to a certain number of stories), and you do not have to be a member to write (I do not know if there is a limit to that as well). It is a veritable writer’s and reader’s paradise — a place where we can write and share our heart’s content. There are few restrictions — the most important ones being that we embody the good, kindhearted person we all are and not deliberately set out to hurt and offend others when our pen touches paper, or fingers to keyboard, in this modern age.
But for some of us, we bring our elitish, snobbish ways to this space as well; we declare that we are not reading the work, worse yet clapping or commenting on the pieces of persons who are non-paying members. For you see, we own this space; it was our creation; we sat at the table with Ev and his crew, and we hammered out the plan for Medium, and now these cheapskate interlopers are coming here and benefiting. Oh yes, they are benefiting from our idea. They can join the Partner Program without being a paying member; they can get paid when members read their work but not when they read the work of others. They are making some huge bucks off this thing, all on our blood, sweat, and fears.
It is like it’s a human condition
You have a right to decide who to follow; you have the right to determine your Medium friend circle, and I have noticed plenty of them in this space. You see the same set of persons clapping and commenting on the same set of stories written by the same group of writers. It is like a human condition that we cannot overcome — an inability to be accepting and inclusive — all people, all walks of life, all economic conditions.
I am really getting all over myself with this piece.
I got a comment from a non-circled friend recently. And his was one of the best I have ever gotten during my time here on Medium; it warmed me to the core. It reminded me of the goodness and kindness of people — that it does not matter who you are or where you come from, we are all one.
So you there, you snob you! You, who have decided that you will neither follow nor read the work from someone who is not a paying member of Medium, are so missing out. You are not getting the full benefits of being a member of this space. You are after the two pence and missing out on the real sense.
Hint, hint
I. Trudie Palmer
One Love
