Change || Writers life
A Little Help For Writers Would Be Appreciated
Medium is doing a lot to help me as an editor, but what about me, the writer?
Over the past few weeks, we have seen a lot of good stuff coming the way of publication owners and editors. Once I have the time, patience, and all the information in one place, it should make things a little easier when I set it all up in my publication, Restless Quills.
The Editors' reward program was a brief welcome; however, once we all realised that the majority of publications didn’t qualify under the general distribution rules, over which we have no control, it quickly dulled. Even if you meet all the other requirements, only Medium have the power to decide distribution.
Some editors are closing publications because of it. Because, rather than recognising the valuable work ALL editors do, it appears that all are equal, but some are more equal than others. It will be a shame to lose publications and Editors, as with them, we will lose writers.
Help for writers
Publication owner or editor, you are still a writer. You still get enjoyment from putting your thoughts, imaginings, and factual content down on digital paper…you still enjoy seeing your toiled-over 800-word article get a few comments. You enjoy the interaction with people.
But what do you get from Medium in return?
Some months I get nothing. Last month I got a 24-hour suspension after being ‘caught by error in their spam filter.’
I earn around $10 every couple of months. Big deal. Yet I spend valuable time editing for publications; I help new writers struggling with the formatting here, I help with clarity checks, spelling, explaining English grammar to writers whose first language is not English — the difference between a native speaker and a learned speaker is immense.
Scheduling — of major importance to me
My main gripe as a writer is that I cannot schedule my story submissions to the publications I write for unless I am an editor. It doesn’t make sense. I write articles and stories (‘Articles’ tend to be true-life, factual or venting, like this one, while ‘stories’ are fictional) and would like to set myself a calendar of what is to be submitted when, and to which publication.
Get Wandering Mind’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
If I have 20 drafts ready for submission, I would like to schedule these for submission ahead of time. This enables me to write when I can, set my schedule and live my life without worrying about whether I need to stop the visit with my grandchildren to go and submit something, somewhere…if I remember.
It would stop the alarms I have set on my phone reminding me that something needs to be submitted when lying on a beach on holiday, on the other side of the world, or halfway up a hiking trail with 6 other people. Why it has to be only offered as a self-published piece, or as a perk of being an editor, I don’t understand. I don’t need to publish it, just submit it on a certain date.
What is hard about it, from Medium's perspective? Is it a programming problem on their end that limits the number of schedules they can handle?
Sometimes I write relatively time-sensitive articles, but I know the publication I would like it to be published in for maximum impact may not publish it in time. So the only way to get it out into the world, at a time that is best suited to the subject, is to schedule it to either self-publish or be published in a publication I am an editor for, although I know it's not the target audience.
Medium, Medium Staff, Zulie @ Medium, please can we have scheduling to make writers' lives easier, if not more lucrative?
Financial Rewards
As stated, we are all writers. The editors program seemed to offer a little financial recognition for the golden few, but in reality, is that fair?
We all PAY to write here. We all hope to get PAID for writing here. So if Medium can apportion an additional 25% of earnings to pay assigned editors (provided they jump through all the hoops), then why didn’t they reward every writer instead?
Make Medium the place it used to be, where you got paid every month, instead of every 2 or 3…or 6, and editing was an honour, not a job.
100 Publications made the cut to start with. Out of how many? Think of all the writers involved here. Medium doesn’t publish this information; however, according to Google, historical data show 175,000 active or earning writers. That's 25% across all publications; even only using the first 100 to have ‘paid’ editors may have made the difference between a writer getting paid each month and missing it by cents.
Over the last two years, we have seen earnings devolve into pittances. Crumbs thrown to us, and we eagerly peck like pigeons.
Even pigeons get tired and move on when pickings are slim. Medium needs to look after its core funding — the writers. I hope it wakes up soon.
