The Things We Do for Love - Writing on Medium
Many beautiful things wouldn’t exist if we didn’t do them only because we love doing them
This will not be the usual personal essay or information on menopause blog. To kick off the month, I’m sharing a state-of-the-nation summary for the publication and a little insight into what’s happening with the publication on Medium.
As you probably know, I run “My Menopause Brain,” both here on Substack and over on Medium. Some of my excellent writers are on both platforms, and some write only on Medium. Some are only here on Substack. Either way, making money from writing is tough.
For many writers, January on Medium.com was a lousy month. Spam and AI writing have been taking over the site for a while now. Earnings started dropping in December, but in January, it finally got so out of hand that it completely obliterated a lot of writers' income and visibility, making it hard to justify writing on Medium any longer.
As far as we know, Medium is working hard behind the scenes to rectify the problem, but we’ve yet to see if the situation has genuinely improved. If you write for a living, sudden drops in income can become an existential problem. And I mean drop: cents per article.
My Menopause Brain has been in the Medium Boost program since October, and we have some excellent writers here. If you’re unfamiliar with this program: Medium has a team of curators who decide which stories are shown to a broader audience.
Editors like myself who are in the Boost Nomination program can make suggestions on which stories should be boosted. Supposedly, we were chosen for the program due to our expertise on the topic and because we publish good stories in our publications,
The theory is that we are the experts on the topics we publish and nominate. In practice, however, not one of the stories and experiences we shared on Medium was chosen for a boost in the last two months. Depressing, right?
Since there is no feedback from the anonymous curators, it feels like the stories we write are given to people who can’t relate to the topics that are important to us and don’t care for “old lady stories.” Menopause has become a no-no topic here.
The problem with this system is that stories that are not boosted have little chance of being seen by more than a handful of people. At the moment, excellent writing goes to Medium to die if it isn’t artificially propped up by a boost.
Some of the stories I published last month are outstanding, even if I say so myself, so I’m glad I get to share a lot of them here as well, where we consistently get more views - even if the pub doesn’t make any real money yet. (Full disclosure: We have four paying subscribers at the moment. Thank you so much for your support!)
Both
and are writers in my publication on Substack and Medium. I nominated their stories on Medium this month, but they were ignored. You can find some of their stories here on Substack. Go see the quality of their writing yourself.Overall, this is a sad development on Medium. It’s not just about the money. We’re trying to spread menopause awareness and uplift the voices of women who are deemed invisible to the world because of their age.
So why do we continue writing and editing in these situations?
The simple answer is that we do it for love. For the love of writing and words strung together to create riveting stories.
We love writing about our experiences, describing the world as we experience it and giving others a window into our worlds.
And I keep running my publication because I love uplifting these amazing voices as much as I possibly can.
Yes, we need money and want to be paid for our writing. In this world, our income reflects how much our work is appreciated. I know saying this is frowned upon by purists. But honestly, we can’t eat our words, can we? Even if we write because we love the beauty we create, we need food, clothes and shelter.
So, I’ll keep trying to ensure my writers get a chance to keep on writing, be seen and make some money while they do it.
February Writing Challenge
I’ve been thinking about how to best support my writers on Medium this month.
It’s still unclear if the spam and AI issue is resolved (I’ve noticed a new increase in AI comments on my posts lately) or if we’ll continue to be shadowbanned from the boost for writing about icky women’s health topics. It remains to be seen.
I have a full-time job in the tech industry, so I don’t rely on the income I make through my writing to survive, but for my creative satisfaction, I do rely on writers publishing great stories in the pub.
My idea for February is to provide a small motivation to keep writing. I will put some money on the table to reward the stories I publish on Medium.
The (unboosted) story that is read the most in February will receive €100. The second most read €50 and the next five €20 each.
At the end of the month, I’ll post screenshots of the Medium stats and pay the winners to their PayPal, Ko-fi or buy-me-coffee accounts. If you’re in the EU, I can send the money to your bank account. Venmo doesn’t exist in Europe, so that’s out.
If I manage to get your story boosted on Medium despite all odds, it no longer qualifies because that is your ticket to getting paid by Medium for a change.
I know this isn’t a lot of money, but seeing that some writers have earned cents on their stories, I hope this incentive encourages you to write something for My Menopause Brain this month.
If you’re not a writer on Medium yet but feel motivated to write for me there, please apply here.
If you’re a reader, I hope you’ll check out some of the fantastic stories we published there this month.
You’ll find us here: My Menopause Brain on Medium.
Send me a message if you’re not a Medium member and can’t read the stories, I have “Friend links” I can share.
My Menopause Brain is looking for writers and collaborators who want to share their experiences and create more menopause awareness. If you’re interested, leave a comment, send me a message or apply here.
My Menopause Brain is an entirely reader-supported publication that wants to spread Menopause Awareness and create visibility for women at their best age. If you read our blog regularly and value the information you get here, please consider sharing this article or becoming a paid subscriber!
You can also buy us a coffee instead.