Medium’s new Partner Program is rogue and hypocritical

When I started writing two years, I promised I’d never write about my earnings. I hated stories where people bragged or “educated” about their earnings. I was never in it for the money. I focused on writing consistently. Even when I had a couple of stellar months, I knew my income would be volatile, and I was fine with that.

But I’m going to break my promise. Since the partner program introduced new algorithms in August, my readership, earnings, and engagement have tanked dramatically. “Tank” doesn’t even start to describe it.

It’s totally unfair. I don’t use AI. I write about life. Not all of my stories are high quality, but I’ve stayed true to my voice and integrity of writing. In my very first month of writing in November 2021, I had way more views and earnings than I had in August and September. Check out the trend in the last few months. Note that I make a little over $50 a month from referred members, so the actual earnings completely collapsed.

The viewership and readership trends are the same. I used to have hundreds and even thousands every day, and now my reach counts in dozens.

Similarly, in August and September, the additions in followers were the lowest ever for me (42 and 21, respectively).