This is fundamental. Are you on Substack yet? That seem like a better bet for relatively regular income - but I reckon it could take 4-5 years to build up enough subs. Less with just a shouty clown/shockjock persona, maybe, but somehow I don't think that's the Scott-Ryan Abt way.

That's a long time to be writing at least one decent piece of writing per week, with enough consistency and coherence as to satisfy a slowly growing readership.

If you're going to do it anyway, why not?

I will slowly be cross-posting stuff from here, but experimentally, trying out different areas.

I may just give up the serious non-fiction stuff - which has proved the most successful here, but has me feeling rather hemmed in - and write short stories, for fun.

I can't see anyone taking out a paying sub for my amateur fiction.

But I think it's worth being active on different platforms.

Right now, Medium should be at its lowest ebb, having taken a big hit from AI, combined with the self-inflicted wound of overeager, overfast MPP expansion.

If it gets any worse, I think it would become pointless. But it may make a recovery in 2025.

April-June 2024 Medium was purring along very nicely - a return to those levels of readership, recognition and reward would reactivate my writing here. I don't expect that to happen, but it could again become a limp along at $400-500/month for regular decent writing, perhaps.

But that ain't gonna pay the bills anywhere in the developed world.