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You Might Get Your Big Break
Yesterday evening Ev Williams, the founder and CEO of Medium, announced changes that would be happening within their business. These changes were specific to the editorial side of Medium.
Williams went on to explain that Medium’s bold bet on individual writers has been working, but not so much for their own publications. His words, not mine.
Our goal was never to replicate the traditional publishing model because we saw the challenges the industry was going through. Rather, we believed we could find a new model that would allow professional writers and editors to do their best work. One of our key innovations is what we now call Amplify, our program through which we offer editorial polish and a spotlight for writers who come in through the platform. This has worked really well.
What’s worked less well is where we’ve followed the traditional editorial playbook — specifically, commissioning stories from professional writers into publications with broad mandates. When I say “worked less well,” I don’t mean the work itself, but the equation of cost, audience, and return on investment. I also mean in aggregate. We have published many stellar stories that found a wide audience and more than paid for themselves. But our hit rate has…
