When I started writing on Medium six years ago, the advice was unanimous: submit to publications. Big publications with hundreds of thousands of followers were the gatekeepers of distribution. Get accepted into Better Humans, The Startup, or Towards Data Science, and your article would reach an audience you couldn't build on your own. Medium publications were the growth strategy.

In 2026, that advice needs serious updating. Publications still exist. Some still matter. But the role they play in a writer's Medium strategy has fundamentally changed — and most of the advice floating around hasn't caught up. Here's what I've learned from publishing in, running alongside, and occasionally avoiding Medium publications over the past six years.

How Medium Publications Used to Work

The old model was straightforward. Medium publications were essentially curated magazines run by editors. They had built-in followings — some in the hundreds of thousands. When you published an article in a publication, it went to that publication's followers via email and feed notifications. More followers meant more initial reads, which meant more distribution from Medium's algorithm.

This created a clear hierarchy. New writers needed publications because they had no followers of their own. Publications needed writers because they needed fresh content to keep their followers engaged. It was symbiotic and it worked.

The editorial process mattered too. Getting accepted into a reputable publication was a quality signal. Readers trusted articles from Better Programming or The Writing Cooperative more than articles from random profiles. And Medium's curation team — which has since been restructured — also used publication placement as a signal when deciding which articles to boost.

For about three years, from 2019 through 2021, submitting to medium publications was arguably the single most important thing a writer could do to grow on the platform.

What Changed

Several things happened simultaneously that reduced the power of publications:

Medium deprioritized publication-based distribution. The algorithm shifted toward recommending individual articles based on reading behavior rather than publication affiliation. An article published on your personal profile could get the same algorithmic distribution as one published in a major publication — if it resonated with readers. This was a quiet change, but it was massive. It decoupled distribution from publications.

Many big publications went dormant. Running a Medium publication is unpaid work. Editors review submissions, provide feedback, maintain standards — all for free. As Medium's economics shifted and the volunteer editors burned out, many prominent publications stopped actively curating. Some still accept submissions through automated pipelines, but the editorial oversight that made them valuable is gone.

SEO became more important than internal distribution. When Medium started rewarding external traffic more heavily in 2024, the calculus changed. An article that ranks on Google generates traffic regardless of whether it's in a publication. And Google doesn't care whether your article is in Better Humans or published on your personal profile. It cares about content quality, keyword relevance, and domain authority — and Medium's domain authority applies to all articles on the platform equally.

Substack and personal newsletters grew. Many writers who would have submitted to medium publications in 2020 now publish on their own Substack or blog and cross-post to Medium. The incentive to go through a publication's editorial process diminished when writers realized they could build their own audience directly. I wrote about this shift in my piece on whether Medium is still worth it.

Which Medium Publications Still Matter

Not all publications are equal. Some are genuinely dead. Others are still active and still provide meaningful distribution. Here's how to tell the difference:

Check the publication date of recent articles. If the most recent article is from three months ago, the publication is dormant. Move on. Active publications have new content daily or at least weekly.

Look at engagement on recent articles. Claps and responses are imperfect metrics, but they indicate whether the publication's audience is still engaged. A publication with 200,000 followers where recent articles get 15 claps has a dead audience. The followers are ghosts from 2019 who stopped reading.

Check whether there's active editorial curation. Does the publication have submission guidelines? Do they actually reject articles? A publication that accepts everything is not curating — it's just a container. The value of a publication comes from editorial standards, not from the follower number next to its name.

The medium publications that still provide genuine value in 2026 tend to be niche-specific. Towards Data Science for data and AI content. UX Collective for design. Better Programming for software engineering. These publications have dedicated audiences who follow them for specialized content. Generalist publications — the ones that accept articles about everything — have largely lost their distribution power.

The Case for Publishing on Your Own Profile

Here's what I do now, and why: I publish most of my Medium articles on my personal profile. No publication. Just me.

The reasons are practical:

Speed. Publishing on my profile means I hit publish when I'm ready. No submission queue, no waiting for editorial review, no back-and-forth on edits. When timeliness matters — reacting to platform changes, trending topics, or fresh data — speed is a real advantage.

Brand building. Every article published on my profile strengthens my personal brand on Medium. Readers see my name, not a publication's name. They follow me, not the publication. Over time, this compounds into a direct audience that I own (to the extent you can "own" anything on a platform you don't control).

SEO control. When I publish on my profile, the URL structure includes my Medium username. I control the title, subtitle, and canonical URL without editorial interference. For articles I'm optimizing for Google, this control matters.

No editorial gatekeeping. I've had articles rejected by publications that went on to perform well on my profile. The editorial opinion of one volunteer editor doesn't determine whether an article resonates with readers. Removing that bottleneck has made me more prolific and — honestly — more confident in my own judgment about what works.

When Publications Still Make Sense

I'm not saying medium publications are useless. In specific situations, they still add value:

You're brand new to Medium. If you have zero followers and no track record, publishing in an active, niche-relevant publication gives your first articles a better shot at finding readers. It's not the game-changer it was in 2019, but it's still better than publishing to an empty profile with no followers.

The publication has genuine editorial standards. If a publication actively curates, provides editorial feedback, and maintains quality standards, that editorial process can improve your writing. Some of the best feedback I've received came from publication editors, not from readers. That learning alone can be worth the submission overhead.

The publication's niche perfectly matches your content. A data science article in Towards Data Science reaches exactly the right audience. A UX case study in UX Collective reaches UX professionals. When the match is precise, the publication's niche audience is more valuable than the general Medium audience.

You want the credibility signal. For some writers — especially those building portfolios or seeking freelance clients — having articles published in recognized publications adds a layer of credibility. "Published in Better Programming" carries more weight in some contexts than "published on my Medium profile."

My Recommendation for 2026

If you're writing on Medium to earn from the Partner Program, here's what I'd do:

Publish primarily on your personal profile. Build your own following. Own your brand. Optimize for SEO, which works equally well from your profile as from any publication. The days when you needed a publication for distribution are over.

Selectively submit to one or two active, niche-relevant publications. Not for the distribution — for the credibility and audience alignment. Pick publications that are genuinely curated, have engaged audiences, and match your content niche. Submit your best work. Keep the rest on your profile.

Focus on SEO over everything else. The biggest shift in Medium's economics is that external traffic now pays better than internal traffic. An article that ranks on Google will outperform an article in the biggest publication on Medium, because Google traffic is external traffic and Medium rewards that more heavily. Learn the basics of keyword research, write comprehensive articles, and let Google do the distribution work.

I lay out the full strategy — SEO, formatting, topic selection, publishing cadence — in my Medium Growth Guide. It's the system I use myself, updated for how the platform works today.

The Bigger Picture

Medium publications are a reminder that platforms evolve. The strategy that worked three years ago doesn't necessarily work today. The writers who thrive on Medium are the ones who adapt — who notice when the rules change and adjust their approach accordingly.

In 2026, the smart Medium strategy is: write well, optimize for search, build your personal brand, and use publications selectively rather than dependently. The platform still pays writers. The articles that earn are just different from the articles that earned in 2020. That's not a crisis. That's evolution.

For the full picture on how to write articles that earn on the platform, start with my guide on how to write Medium articles that earn money. And for the honest assessment of whether Medium itself is worth your time, here's my take after six years.

A writer is nothing without a reader. If you found this helpful, consider becoming my dear email friend. Nothing would make me happier.