Its summer. Its hot. Humidity is 70%. Instead of writing another comment, I'm pasting in the one I wrote in response to a comment by Susan Brearley on Walter Rhein's article.

That's sweet of you, Susan, but I don't have time to read a lot of stuff for writers. I did not mean that boosting things was a secret, I merely meant it was a behind the scenes thing, which it is.

That said, I am very interested in Medium as a reader, so if there is reader specific information, I would appreciate some links. For example, I would love to know how to navigate this website. Medium has accumulated so many publications and writers its turned into chaos for readers.

When I first got here, I thought Medium was reader centered, meaning readers were promoting writers by reading their work, clapping, commenting and highlighting. I think that has changed.

Medium collected enough readers to attract writers and now they are trying to serve writers better. If so, maybe the change from reader centered to writer centered is what's bothering me.

I made my living as a creative, so I know how messy we can be to work with. I also know that creatives could alienate clients so fast it made my head spin. I also know that creatives can get so "into" their own thing they lose objectivity and start producing garbage. A taste of success often leads to formula, repetitive, non-creative work. Unfortunately, I see these symptoms more and more often here on Medium. I understand that too, because I used to get hundreds of unsolicited resumes, calls, emails, etc. from creatives looking for work and it took up so much of my time, I had to stop responding. It is also very hard, emotionally, to tell people they are not qualified for the job.

I don't care if it's car designers, architects, writers or cake decorators, very few people can sell creative work and make a living.

Medium needs to find some balance between the needs of readers/subscribers and writers.

As a reader, I wish I could do more reading, and less skimming and hunting.

Thanks again, for the nice reply.

PS. If you read our conversation, you will see why I think Ms. Brearley is a super good public relations person.