Stop Complaining About Medium…on Medium
Some tips for getting more out of this site.
--
It happened again.
I just read yet another post about how Medium is a terrible platform, written by a Medium writer and published…on Medium.
Why?
Seriously, can someone who is unhappy with this site — unhappy enough to whine about it ad nauseam — explain to me why they would continue to publish here? Is this a thing that one does in other areas of life? Like, do you go to Starbucks, buy shitty coffee, rant about how bad it is, and then go back and buy it again the next day?
Look, I get why people become frustrated here. They come to the site, allured by the siren call of the Medium Partner Program, and are woefully disappointed when they make less than a couple bucks. It’s especially disheartening when they see all the “Here’s How I Made $4 Billion in My First Month on Medium” posts.
(Okay, though I don’t think anyone has ever claimed to have made $4 billion from Medium, a quick peek at the home page shows more than 20 posts on just how easy it is to make crazy amounts of cash here. It is a very, very common topic on this site.)
Here’s my take, Angry Writer: If you don’t like it here, you have three options.
- Leave. Easy peasy.
- Continue bitching.
- Work harder.
Number 1 is obvious.
Number 2…also obvious, but trust me, this will get you nowhere fast. You can only complain about something for so long before even your most ardent followers will get sick of it.
So, that leaves Number 3, which can take many forms.
Work Harder…at Writing
If you’re not getting the money you want, take a moment to read through all of your past posts, using a critical eye. Are they grammatically correct? Are they engaging? Do they inspire, educate, or entertain? Are they too long? Too short? Do they convey the message you want to share with the world?
