Medium Partner Program's August 2023 is Causing an Exodus to Substack

Yet another pivot in Medium's Partner Program leaves popular writers earning 70% less

The Medium we once knew and loved, is barely recognizable.

Hey Everyone,

Medium every few years demonetises its new batch of starts in a methodical way to keep costs down. I’ve seen this at least three times in the last decade.

The narrative is that it’s making the Medium Partner Program better. Well they are at least opening it up to more countries.

As of August 1st, 2023 Medium will expanded the Partner Program to 12 additional countries, inviting even more aspiring storytellers to join the ranks of its thriving community. Cyprus, Hungary, India, Malaysia, Croatia, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Bulgaria, Brazil, Liechtenstein, Gibraltar, and Malta will soon be ushered in.

However the new formula is also causing its old stars to pivot to Substack. This is of course not the first time this has happened. Substack is choked full of former Medium writers and “Top Writers” in all sorts of categories.

Medium has a pretty fair system with reading time, but now it’s going back to a popularity contest, and it’s really, an effective way to demonetize certain kinds of content in favor of more sentimental and subjective rants, what Medium calls stories.