After being on Medium for five years, I take great pride in being a bottom writer on Medium. Why do I take such a pleasure in being a loser?
My main reason for being on Medium is to promote my alternative democracy. I regard Medium as the best audience for the TDG (my alternative democracy). Yet Medium readers have soundly rejected my ideas. If the world’s most enlightened internet forum cannot yet see why western democracy must be replaced, then this is only another sign of how the powerful people have paralyzed the smartest of us. I am the canary in the coal mine.
The powerful allow us to complain, blame, protest, write internet articles, and vote. So we do these things, hoping that the overly ambitious people we vote for will somehow change things for us. Even though they do not do these things for us (or very reluctantly do so), we still continue to complain, blame, protest, write internet articles, and vote as if they will. All these actions have proven to not change the system, which works well for the powerful, who will graciously allow us to continue to use the techniques of their democracy.
I am about changing the system.
I consider being a bottom writer on this forum as a badge of honor. I am standing into the wind and the waves, while the rest of you have succumbed to the popular political posturing that is going to go nowhere.
After all, if your ways were working, we wouldn’t be in this mess today.
Right?
Back to my Medium Stats
Since I joined Medium’s MPP program in September 2021, my stats have been consistent. While I have had Medium payments ranging from $0.00 to $68.00 per article, the average has been around $1.50.
In effort to understand the Medium readers or the Medium articles, I had divided my articles into three categories with equal number in each third:
“Below average” is less than $0.80.
“Average” is $0.80 to $1.60.
“Above average” is greater than $1.60.
When I compare the articles of “below” and “above,” I hoped I could see a pattern that I can somehow take advantage of. My only two findings are:
1) Celebrity + Controversy in the title usually leads to “above average,” sometimes “way above.” I only go in the celebrity + controversy direction if I can dovetail the story into a lesson about my alternative democracy. The title brings in new readers; I get to do a little teaching to people who have not seen my stuff before. But they seem to be too fixated on celebrity + controversy to grok my main message.
2) Certain topics often lead to below average. Like book reviews or “TDG” in the title. So I know when some articles will go “below average” before I publish them. But sometimes, these articles exceed my expectations.
And one of my main messages — “Average people will have to build this new democracy” — does not lead to a loyal readership. Medium people like the traditional ways. Making another democracy is not on anyone’s radar.
The successful political writers have figured out that blaming blame someone else for all our problems is the way to get popularity. They get far more Medium shekels than I get.
After five years on Medium, I haven’t figured out how to somehow move the TDG forward with articles that make me popular. So I just write as I am inspired. Let the universe guide my work. Let the universe change minds and hearts. I am a bottom writer. If my presence on the feeds makes people feel uncomfortable, so be it.
November 2023
Medium does tinker with its algorithms every six months or so. I notice when my feed and my stats are somehow different. Despite going through these changes, I haven’t had any big gain or loss with my traction on Medium. But I’ve heard writers with higher traction sometimes suffer financially with algorithm changes. Maybe that’s an advantage of being a bottom writer: it’s kind of hard to go further down.
In November, there was an algorithm change. And this change affected me.
Before my articles used to get a five-day run before going stale. Now the run is about two days.
Despite the shorter run time, I am earning more Medium shekels per article. I don’t think I am writing differently: I still admonish readers for not taking my alternative democracy seriously. So it must be the change in the algorithms that gave me the boost.
My new thresholds are:
“Below average” is less than $2.00.
“Average” is $2.00 to $3.40.
“Above average” is greater than $3.40.
Again, about one-third of my articles are in each of these ranges. I’m pretty sure the statistical “t-test” would prove my pre-November and post-November earnings are two different data sets.
So, my traction is improving. But still not to the point where I can no longer call myself a “bottom writer.” I get about 100 to 200 claps per my better articles. I follow writers who get 500 to 2000 on a regular basis. Maybe when I can join that group, I can call myself a “middle writer.”
Until then, this bottom writer shall revel that he is leaning into the wind and waves just so your great-grandchildren will be living in a much better democracy than we have today.
You can help them — if you want.
May 2024
I have about 10 articles on my drawing board at any time. I do a little editing every few days. I publish twice a week. So by the time I start writing an article, it might take two months before I publish it.
So this article took its time working through my drawing board. While it was doing this, there was another change in the Medium algorithm. While my views and reads are a little down, my Medium shekels took a big dive. Medium giveth; Medium taketh away.
I have returned to using my pre-November thresholds to analyze why some articles do better or worse than other articles.
Despite my loss in Medium stature, you can still help your great-grandchildren by giving them a better democracy than we have now.
Don’t wait for someone else to do it for you. Don’t wait for me to become popular.
Published on Medium 2024
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