I do wonder what the justification is for Medium paying out Boosted stories at higher rates. I have lots of examples of stories that got similar rates of engagement but the unBoosted one makes twenty bucks and other Boosted one makes several hundred dollars. All of us who take our writing seriously have …
I do wonder what the justification is for Medium paying out Boosted stories at higher rates. I have lots of examples of stories that got similar rates of engagement but the unBoosted one makes twenty bucks and other Boosted one makes several hundred dollars. All of us who take our writing seriously have probably experienced the deep disappointment of putting significant work into a piece we believe deserves a Boost and gets decent engagement but makes very little money. (Hello "How About A Nice Facial With That Uterine Biopsy?" https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/how-about-a-nice-facial-with-that-uterine-biopsy-038df49a7bad!) What's everybody's opinion on this? My opinion is that if a story resonates enough with readers to gain tons of organic engagement, it doesn't really need the extra payout -- but it does deserve a fair payment. I'd like to see Boosts used just to show the story to more people. Think about it: Writers would get paid for their ability to interest readers, period. And Medium would have the ability to show what they perceive as the best stories to wider audiences, thus (theoretically) resulting in members seeing higher-quality work. There's a conflict over whether human judgment or algorithms are the best at determining distribution of content on any given platform. Humans are biased and can have poor motivations, but algorithms have a tendency to send conspiracy theories and other problematic content viral. If humans bestow Boosts based on what they believe to be high quality, but payments are based on what readers engage with, readers get at least a little of the best of both worlds. Opinions?
Hi Michelle, hope all is well and you're enjoying this special season of the year :) we're backing cookies and gingerbread santas and already joined a pre-Christmas come-together with family and friends in my hometown. Winterliche Grüße an deinen Mann!
I guess Robin Wilding who I interviewed this week would agree. She's a boost nominator now and agreed with me on the fact that you need the boost to survive (besides the other 2 distribution lanes on Medium).
In the past your story could get "chosen for further distribution". At first this wall all human-driven. Then AI-driven. Now they're focusing on human relations and highlighting human writing.
I have thought about NewsBreak. I emailed them, but they seemed hard to work with. I had considered using them to write local content -- the sort of thing my news desert community needs and that I used to oversee when I was editor of the daily paper my town once had, but they merely wrote back that they weren't interested in republishing my Medium pieces. If I do original reporting and photography, I need to know I'm not going to make pennies per story.
Thanks for including me, Kristina.
I do wonder what the justification is for Medium paying out Boosted stories at higher rates. I have lots of examples of stories that got similar rates of engagement but the unBoosted one makes twenty bucks and other Boosted one makes several hundred dollars. All of us who take our writing seriously have probably experienced the deep disappointment of putting significant work into a piece we believe deserves a Boost and gets decent engagement but makes very little money. (Hello "How About A Nice Facial With That Uterine Biopsy?" https://medium.com/the-narrative-arc/how-about-a-nice-facial-with-that-uterine-biopsy-038df49a7bad!) What's everybody's opinion on this? My opinion is that if a story resonates enough with readers to gain tons of organic engagement, it doesn't really need the extra payout -- but it does deserve a fair payment. I'd like to see Boosts used just to show the story to more people. Think about it: Writers would get paid for their ability to interest readers, period. And Medium would have the ability to show what they perceive as the best stories to wider audiences, thus (theoretically) resulting in members seeing higher-quality work. There's a conflict over whether human judgment or algorithms are the best at determining distribution of content on any given platform. Humans are biased and can have poor motivations, but algorithms have a tendency to send conspiracy theories and other problematic content viral. If humans bestow Boosts based on what they believe to be high quality, but payments are based on what readers engage with, readers get at least a little of the best of both worlds. Opinions?
Hi Michelle, hope all is well and you're enjoying this special season of the year :) we're backing cookies and gingerbread santas and already joined a pre-Christmas come-together with family and friends in my hometown. Winterliche Grüße an deinen Mann!
I guess Robin Wilding who I interviewed this week would agree. She's a boost nominator now and agreed with me on the fact that you need the boost to survive (besides the other 2 distribution lanes on Medium).
In the past your story could get "chosen for further distribution". At first this wall all human-driven. Then AI-driven. Now they're focusing on human relations and highlighting human writing.
Medium is a content mill. I wrote about it a while ago. Still it's the platform I'd recommend (besides NewsBreak) to get paid to write. Here's more: https://medium.com/new-writers-welcome/medium-is-a-content-mill-so-what-12e825d15360
Maybe NewsBreak would be sth for you in 2024 to repurpsoe your content?
I have thought about NewsBreak. I emailed them, but they seemed hard to work with. I had considered using them to write local content -- the sort of thing my news desert community needs and that I used to oversee when I was editor of the daily paper my town once had, but they merely wrote back that they weren't interested in republishing my Medium pieces. If I do original reporting and photography, I need to know I'm not going to make pennies per story.