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The Latest Behind-the-Scenes Changes at Medium Have Finally Crushed Me.
‘Put me in coach, please — ah, forget it!’ You are too busy counting your profits earned at our expense to care.
Tony Stubblebine, I used to wake up each day, and even before taking my first sip of coffee, I’d begin to tear off my first of what might be two articles for the day. Then, roughly a year ago (the infamous July 2023 reforms), you changed Medium, and my earnings for my gallant efforts — which you labeled as frivolous (I paraphrase) — were reduced by 70 percent.
I bitched and moaned because, having been a person who lost his professional career when the war between Russia and Ukraine started, writing on Medium became the earning I used to start a new life for my family and myself in Portugal. I scrambled and found a few projects to replace the lost income. I started Substack, which quickly gained some followers and then stagnated (I don’t know how to market Substack; everyone wants free content there).
I bit my lip, readjusted, and continued to write and write. My anger for the management at Medium cooled. I accepted that monthly earnings from Medium (30 to 35 articles monthly) would earn consistently between $800 and $1000. Given my new reality, that was money I could not scoff at. I could…