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FWIW, Medium launched their subscriber program two years ago and hasn't changed course since. I think Medium's move is a winner and as a result, I started thre

FWIW, Medium launched their subscriber program two years ago and hasn't changed course since. I think Medium's move is a winner and as a result, I started three profitable publications there. But... I'm worried about getting squeezed down the road. Right now Medium passes all their subscriber revenue on to the authors & publishers. But eventually they'll have to take a cut and the size of that cut will be balanced out by what other opportunities authors and publishers have. So I think it's great that the ecosystem for paid writing is growing (Substack & Patreon). And I think paid is a great model now that we've seen what the mature version of free looks like (IMO, very bad). As an occasional writer, it's refreshing to just write the best piece I know how without trying to hack in virality and upsells.

dmix 7y ago
Does medium provide you with free traffic? Would it be worth it for them to take a cut?
- tonystubblebine 7y ago
  They do a lot of work, not just traffic, so yeah, there's a lot of room for them to take a cut and for it still to be a good business. Just at the surface level, they're probably bringing about 50% of the traffic to a new article. Then, Medium is also a network of authors. And so those authors tend to submit articles to the most visible publications and Medium handles paying those authors. They've really created a nice situation where people like me who are interested in the content side of publishing can run a publishing business without having to do the business side of publishing. It might not last forever (nothing does), but they're on the upswing. We were their first external partnership and then did two publications a few months ago. I think they're about to announce deals with about 20 publications from the community. That's good since there's been a lot of noise about pubs leaving. The ones that are staying are pretty happy.
  - dmix 7y ago
    This is interesting I didn't know this was how their business model works. Is this something you could make a living off being an "editor" of popular publications?
    - tonystubblebine 7y ago
      I think so. I'm most excited about more subject matter experts turning into publishers. The last two pubs I started (programming and marketing) are run by half time editors so that they still have time to be practicioners. The first one I started (Better Humans) has much more ambitious (and expensive) goals for quality but I think it's a bit early for where Medium's economic incentives are.

dmix 7y ago

Does medium provide you with free traffic? Would it be worth it for them to take a cut?

tonystubblebine 7y ago
They do a lot of work, not just traffic, so yeah, there's a lot of room for them to take a cut and for it still to be a good business. Just at the surface level, they're probably bringing about 50% of the traffic to a new article. Then, Medium is also a network of authors. And so those authors tend to submit articles to the most visible publications and Medium handles paying those authors. They've really created a nice situation where people like me who are interested in the content side of publishing can run a publishing business without having to do the business side of publishing. It might not last forever (nothing does), but they're on the upswing. We were their first external partnership and then did two publications a few months ago. I think they're about to announce deals with about 20 publications from the community. That's good since there's been a lot of noise about pubs leaving. The ones that are staying are pretty happy.
- dmix 7y ago
  This is interesting I didn't know this was how their business model works. Is this something you could make a living off being an "editor" of popular publications?
  - tonystubblebine 7y ago
    I think so. I'm most excited about more subject matter experts turning into publishers. The last two pubs I started (programming and marketing) are run by half time editors so that they still have time to be practicioners. The first one I started (Better Humans) has much more ambitious (and expensive) goals for quality but I think it's a bit early for where Medium's economic incentives are.