The scoop

• I had a Medium account for several years but only decided to test it as a writing platform last year.
• Joined the Partner Program.
• I posted 30+ stories, mostly in July and August.
• The third story I posted got curated.
• Most of the content was reposted from my other blogs, mainly from PsychologyCorner.com.
• Shared the content here and there but I did not promote anything specifically because I wanted to see what Medium is all about when it comes to internal promotion.
• I did not focus on revenue since this is not my main goal on Medium — I already have my own platforms.
• I focused on the experience and the type of audience it can bring.
• The editor is incredible and it made me want to use the platform as an old-school blogging environment, hoping that the internal promotion would be similar to WordPress’s.
• Did some tests with various types of content.
• I was not thrilled to discover that stories about Medium were the main thing doing really well on Medium. The rest seems to be linked to one’s own power to bring their already existing following here. And until the referral bonus popped up, that seemed rather sketchy to me. If the creators can post SEO-friendly content, then why bring all that traffic to Medium when there is no guarantee that they will have a chance to monetize it?
• I never submitted stories to publications. In fact, my story about not submitting stories to publications did quite well.
• Blogging advice also did well.
• But that is not what I want to do here. There are tons of “writers” who post “How I made $X from this one absolutely idiotic story” and “How to write 100 stories in 4 hours while sipping coffee upside down” and all that kind of nonsensical crap. Unless it’s a parody, I have no interest in writing that kind of stuff. Tried it though, and yes, it worked.
• Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate good writing, blogging, or content marketing advice. What thrives on Medium it’s not it. At least at this time.
• I stopped the experiment and noticed, contrary to many stories on the subject, that publishing a little bit, publishing tons of content, or completely not logging in made no difference to my views or earnings.
• The content that works on my main blog does not work here and I wouldn’t have switched platforms anyway. Canonical URL always pointed to my main website.
• The content that works here organically, as far as I could tell, is nothing that interests me. It is almost like a pyramid scheme — previous writers being paid by aspiring ones. And I am being generous with the term “writers”.
• I decided that path is not for me and therefore hit “Delete” at some point in December. By the way, I wish there was a “Delete all” button, with a confirmation prompt.

What’s next?

• I still like the platform, not gonna lie. It’s this damn editor!
• And it still gives me old-school blogging vibes.
• I suppose this place will have to host content that does not fit on any of my other blogs. Also, it has to be content that does not demand a place of its own on the internet in the sense of creating a new stand-alone website for it.
• A new experiment will begin, I suppose.
• New year, new tests on Medium.
• Well then, bring it!

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And yes, it is funny that this is also a story about Medium…

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This article was originally published on Medium on January 8, 2022.