Medium just announced 2 huge changes affecting writers
You may have already seen this, but I find Medium email updates easy to miss sometimes.
You’ll want to know what’s in the latest one from the platform’s VP of content, however.
In it, Scott Lamb reveals two massive changes affecting Medium writers in 2025.
Big Medium update 1: No change to earnings calculations
Here’s what Lamb wrote:
“Last month in this newsletter, we gave you an update on the Partner Program abuse we were navigating at the beginning of this year (see also this post in the Medium Blog). We wanted to give you an update on where things stand now.
”Since then, we've been able to reduce abusive, spammy behavior dramatically, and it's now back below previous levels. Hopefully for most of you, this means you're seeing far less throwaway one-word comments ("nice!") on your stories from new accounts.
“We addressed this on two fronts: Identifying and removing abusive accounts, and making some tweaks to the payment calculations in the Partner Program itself. We'll continue removing accounts when we find them in violation, and the current version of the Partner Program earning calculation will stay in place for now.
”We love to support all authentic writing. However, the payments from the Partner Program are competitive and do shift based on the interests of readers.
“We don't have immediate plans for further tweaks or changes.Throughout these changes over the last few months, the total Partner Program payouts have stayed at consistent levels.”
OK, so my initial thoughts here: Had this update come out a month ago, I would be fuming.
Something really did glitch out massively last month and it affected a ton of legit writers (myself included).
But as I wrote in this post a couple days ago, not only have my earnings recovered back to November levels, they’re creeping back closer to Summer 2023 levels - a time when I viewed Medium as a potential full-time gig.
Lamb revealed Medium suspended 4,000 (!) accounts suspected of abusing the partner program.
If that’s the reason my pay is getting back to normal, I’m here for it.
And I will also agree with Lamb on one more thing: my feed has been a lot cleaner the past week or so.
The obvious AI or poorly written get-rich-quick crap has been dialed back a lot.
Big Medium update 2: No Medium meta stories behind the paywall
This is probably the bigger update: Medium stories about Medium can no longer be paywalled starting in March.
Lamb explains:
“A change is coming to the way we approach stories in the Partner Program about Medium, what we often call meta stories.
“Those kinds of stories are already something we try to keep out of your feeds as a reader unless you've specifically asked to follow them.
“The goal of the Medium Partner Program is to deliver value to readers and writers, and we often hear from our members that these kinds of stories aren't the ones they want to read, much less pay for.
“You're free to write meta stories, we just don't want Partner Program funds going to them. Payments seem to incentivize extra navel gazing and unwanted get-rich-quick culture.
“In March, we will start notifying writers when we see their meta stories behind the paywall, and then begin removing them.”
Again, I have no issue with this.
As I noted in the aforementioned post and in the video below from two years ago, writing about Medium has never been very profitable outside of the first couple months after the 2023 MPP changes that went way overboard on paying for engagement.
In fact, the thing that annoys me most about Substack right now is the sheer amount of “Get rich on Substack” content flooding my feed most days.
Given I focus almost exclusively on Health and Business content, this won’t really affect me in any way.
As for my own Medium meta stuff?
Well, I’ll keep writing that from time to time when appropriate, but I’ll do so here on Substack (so be sure to subscribe if that’s what you’re looking for)!
That’s just a quick reaction, but I want to hear from you:
Are you happy, sad, angry, or indifferent to this update?
What would you change if it were up to you?
Let me know in the comments!
If you could 2x or 3x your productivity for just $8.99, would you take the leap?
I created a productivity tool called The Power To-Do List to help people with scattered minds like mine stay on track. I use the PTDL every day and I wouldn’t promote it if I didn’t think it could help you too.
If you want to support my work ❤️ and improve your own life at the same time, I urge you to give it a try!
It will be interesting to see how it works out. Substack now has ‘experts’ who a few months ago were not on the platform but now happy for a fee to help others succeed. It’s a shame they haven’t created a Substack on another subject first!
Thanks for the update om Medium, I did not read the Medium blog post yet. I think both points are fair. But my earnings are still rubbish.
Yes, I too don't enjoy get rich quick on substack posts - in reality I don't think you. But the point of Medium or substack is the love of writing and sharing our thoughts to like minded folks. Informing and lifting people with our words.