Member-only story
BOWING OUT
Picky, Picky, Your Story Is Icky
I’m done with picky editors
Very recently, I decided to start submitting to publications again. I did this because the recent Medium Boost program discriminates against people who do not submit elsewhere.
My experience with publications has been unpleasant. When I started at Medium in early 2020, I did regularly submit to a large publication. I quit in disgust when I discovered their Slack group encouraged members to clap and comment on stories in that publication. To me, that’s immoral.
That was mid-April of 2020. I earned no money in March for the one story I had published, but I collected $17.43 for April, and went on to earn a total of $7,766.60 through September 2023. There were a few big months in there, but most months I earned about $100, and was quite happy about that. I don’t need to support myself with my writing; I do it for my own amusement. A hundred dollars or so is just validation that I have a decent audience.
But it is extra money. I’ve been using it to buy toys and for some projects around the house. I wouldn’t be happy if it dropped too much.
The Boost program and the end of Curation reduced my income. Although my posts were usually selected for further distribution from my earliest days, I have only been…
