You Need More Readers, Not More Writers
When I first heard about Medium, it sounded like a dream come true.
Get paid for your words? What writer wouldn’t love that?
So, I cannonballed in—posting, connecting, and finding a second home for my words.
And it worked. My stories got boosted, I made new friends, and I even landed a few well-paid gigs.
In short, the Medium dream was real.
But something always felt… off.
Like a subtle, nagging pain—you’re not sure if it’s something serious or just a muscle tweak.
After some reflection (and reading my fair share of Medium rant articles, apparently including my own), I think I’ve figured it out:
Medium needs to cater to readers, not just writers.
Why Medium Feels Off
Let’s get one thing straight: I love Medium.
Really, I do.
But if I’m being critical—and I am—the platform often feels like a pickaxe salesman during the Gold Rush.
The miners are writers. The pickaxes? Articles about how to make money writing on Medium.
And sure, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve enjoyed plenty of writing advice posts (and written my fair share).
But the result? Medium sometimes feels like an echo chamber:
🔹 “How Much I Made on Medium This Year”
🔹 “How I Wrote 15 Articles in a Week and Doubled My Followers”
🔹 “The Top 5 Reasons You Need a Writing Routine”
What do these all have in common?
They’re written for writers.
And that’s a problem because…
Nobody pays to read about how to write on Medium except other Medium writers.
Yet Medium makes money by selling subscriptions.
Which means if the content doesn’t attract new readers, the whole system collapses under the weight of its own redundancy.
So if Medium actually wants to grow—if it wants to be a platform worth paying for—it needs to start giving a damn about readers.
Here’s how.
1. Prioritize Creative Writers
I once heard someone say Medium treats its creative writers like second-class citizens.
And I regret that I smiled—because in my self-loathing, it felt true.
Medium doesn’t really push creative stories to the top. It’s not known as a hub for fiction or narrative writing.
And that’s a shame because…
Have you ever been to a bookstore?
Half the shelves are fiction.
Why?
Because people pay for stories.
Stories that make them forget about their day. Stories that get turned into books, movies, and TV shows.
Great storytelling is the most valuable currency in writing—and Medium is sitting on a goldmine of storytellers.
It just needs to put them front and center.
2. Reward Quality Over Quantity
Right now, Medium rewards volume creators—writers who post every day or every other day.
And, honestly? That’s impressive. I bring no shame to that game.
But let’s be real—churning out daily articles isn’t a sign of quality, it’s a sign of endurance.
Great writing takes time.
It’s not fast food.
Nobody’s writing the next New Yorker piece in a 24-hour turnaround.
Medium needs to stop treating writing like a content factory and start rewarding craftsmanship.
Because the best articles aren’t usually the fastest ones.
They’re the ones that stick with you long after you’ve read them.
The good news?
Medium has a huge pool of writers. You can afford to be picky.
Bookstores sell quality books.
Publications sell quality articles.
Medium should curate quality work to keep people paying for it.
3. Hold Publications to Higher Standards
Medium’s publications are supposed to curate great content. And to be fair, some do.
Some editors care. Some actually develop writers.
These people should be celebrated.
But a lot of publications? They feel like content mills—churning out anything that vaguely fits their niche.
And I get it. It’s a double-edged sword.
You need content to keep people reading.
But you need quality content to keep people paying.
And here’s the thing—people seldom regret paying for quality.
So, Medium: Raise the bar.
When publications are selective and intentional, everyone wins.
Readers get better content.
Writers get a stronger platform.
And Medium becomes a place worth subscribing to.
4. Break the Mold
Medium stories have become predictable:
🔹 “How I Effortlessly Made $10,000 Working 2 Hours a Day”
🔹 “Why CEOs Who Meditate Are Better Than You”
🔹 “I Wrote for 200 Days Straight—Here’s What I Learned”
Are these interesting? Sure.
Do they have an audience? Absolutely.
But when everything sounds the same, it becomes a commodity.
And that’s a problem.
What happened to humor? What happened to weird, unexpected stories?
What happened to writing that doesn’t assume I want to be hyper-optimized?
Medium should encourage unique voices, not just those who have mastered the algorithm.
5. Change What You’re Known For
This is the hardest part. Because, ultimately, we don’t decide what others think of us.
But if Medium wants to grow, it needs to be known as the home for great writing—not just:
The place where writers can make money.
It needs to be filled with stories and ideas so good they’re worth paying for.
Because people don’t subscribe to read about writing.
They subscribe to read great writing.
And that’s what will bring real, paying readers to Medium.
Which is your business model.
Sell the Gold, Not the Pickaxes
Right now, Medium is selling pickaxes.
But during the Gold Rush, people moved out West for gold.
They came chasing a dream.
If Medium wants to thrive, it needs to stop selling the tools to write and start selling the writing itself.
Because that’s what will bring readers.
And, in the end, that’s what will make Medium worth subscribing to.
Please like, comment, share and tell me what you think! Have you noticed this too? P.S. I think this is also what’s happening to substack.
Also this is not to discourage anyone from writing on medium. You should, it’s just a reminder that the business also needs readers so us writers can get PAID!
Never miss a story by following me here: Tonysbologna | Anthony Robert | Substack
Lawd, if only you’d known the many posts writers have written about what you’ve discussed here on Medium a few years back . . . 😩😩😩
One thing I’ve learned during my journey on Medium, the platform doesn’t listen to their writers who are also readers who want to reach other readers. 🥺
Keep pushing awesome content, Anthony. Maybe Medium will pick this one up and boost it and actually PAY ATTENTION to it.
Thank you so much! You should see it now – people are losing their minds!
I believe it! Lol. No, thank you! 😩😂🤣
Good article. I’m going to share on X.
Thanks so much for sharing! I appreciate you
“Medium needs to stop treating writing like a content factory and start rewarding craftsmanship”.
You’ve got a point there!
In my five years on Medium, your thoughts form the most insightful thesis I’ve read about it.
Good article! I happen to be a writer and not a reader. Would you say it’s the same on WP-writers reading other writers? Or are there more readers? And do you make money of other writers on Medium or mainly readers. And are you making a profit after subtracting the monthly subscription fee?
Thanks for sharing!
I think there’s always more readers than writers, especially on WP – but the way medium works is every article is behind a paywall – so if the general public wants to read what you wrote, they need to own a
Medium subscription and writers get paid based on how many times someone reads your work- what I’m saying is that medium needs to attract people who will pay for their membership by promoting different content
Gotcha. Well let’s hope that happens. I read some trust pilot reviews and it don’t seem all that great. At the end of the day everything is about the money💰
For me – it’s just a second home for my words, but that’s about it –
This is also what I’ve felt when I started using Medium before. It feels like you are in a rush to create a content everyday because if not, you will lose some readers and your momentum.
Most of the content that you will see now in Medium is about how to make money and it’s a bit pressure because if you are not earning properly in Medium, it looks like you are not doing good or your content is not worth reading even though you know to yourself that you gave all your best to publish a valuable content.
But anyway, thank you for sharing this information now I know I’m not the only one who felt these. 🙂
Yeah it’s a weird cycle – like I really do think it’s going to lose all its power if they don’t change
I don’t know if they are going to change it. However, the news is they suspended a lot of accounts now. So maybe this will gonna be their first step. Maybe, let’s see
I might be the only one saying this but this Medium makes writing more complicated, and it’s the first time i’ve ever heard of it. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much for reading!
Sounds logical to me. I’m a writer looking for readers. Where do I find Medium?
Medium.com
I didn’t think it would be, but I was hoping that you were going to have some notes on Patrician Arquette’s supernatural procedural drama series
Hahah next article
Thanks so much for posting this, Tony. I’ve been intending for some time to subscribe to Medium, in the cause of getting my (fiction) writing known and hopefully attracting new readers. The only thing that’s stopped me is the volume of other things I’ve had to do, like writing and publishing another book, and marketing the existing ones through the platforms to which I already subscribe. So I haven’t found time, and just when I took a vow to make it happen in the next couple of weeks – you publish this useful post which makes me doubt the need to join. I’m not looking for writing advice, I’m looking for readers–so, despite your end comment about not being discouraged from joining Medium, I think I am. It just doesn’t seem to be what I’m looking for, from what you’ve said, so I shall have to look elsewhere. Thank you. 🙂 🙂
Yeah I don’t think medium is the best home for fiction – wp is the best IMO for that -but Twitter and TikTok can be creative ways to post
Even more thanks. I’d been thinking of TikTok, but hesitating due to recent events surrounding it. I should give that a go. Have a good week. 🙂
You too!
To be honest, all marketing articles become BORING, they say the same thing. Of course, I know we need marketing, and I’m not even sure how we change the message. I think marketing exists, so that when we have the NEED for the product or service, we REMEMBER that article, post, advertisement, etc. Suddenly, we are scrambling to find that message, and we can’t remember where we saw it. I’ve had that happen. Anyhow…
Agree I just think we gotta fine unique ways to say things and instantly become more readable beacause if everyone says the same thing, the moment someone doesn’t we become more value able
👍
Well done. Couldn’t agree more.
With every post we are:
1-Fighting for equity in the unequal world of publishing
2-Defending against enshittification, and
3-Battling exclusion.
It’s really up to us and the quality of our work.
For the record, I’m sticking to WordPress. Because I don’t care about money where my creativity is concerned.
I’ve been thinking about joining medium, but this is a total turn-off. That’s why substackst is the best place for me, after WordPress.
Yes, yes, and yes! I’m fairly new to Medium, and I noticed right away that it felt like so many dogs chasing their own tail. I love your humorous pieces. I love writing short memoirs and reflective essays. Yet it seems those who got the most traction on Medium were writing about writing. Do I have to go down that same road to ever monetize my writing? I don’t want to do that. Sigh…
Thank you so much! Yeah for me – it’s like the pickaxe and shovel thing
But I do think you can monetize – it just takes longer but by writing fiction or funny stories you’re automatically different
I got more attention here than on Medium. Three likes in one day felt like finding money on the ground.
Same here with me! I feel like medium is all about that non fiction
This is an awesome piece! You can really feel Medium’s greed through the screen, and it’s making Medium feel kind of hollow for both writers and readers, since they are just trying to paywall everything Medium Partners publish. They don’t even allow three free stories a month; they just hit you with the paywall halfway into the story
So happy you enjoyed, thank you for reading!
Yeah it makes sense that those Medium success articles wouldn’t appeal to general readers – those were always for writers. I admit that’s what I loved most about the site, but it wasn’t sustainable. Medium did need to prioritize readers. I didn’t like the shift though, as most of the community I had left, and a lot of the articles felt biased and lacked soul. I have since left, but now there’s more time to focus on writing stories!
Well the good news is every person loves a good story – I also agree I thought that medium started to feel formulaic
True! I don’t like people prying into & analyzing my life. So, fiction it is!’