For anyone unaware - it seems a lot of people must be, otherwise I don't understand why anyone would choose to publish there - this is the flow for most users trying to read your articles:
- See a Google search result that goes to Medium
- Click the link and start reading
- Read the first two paragraphs, then see a popup saying you need to login to continue reading for free (the rest of the page isn't rendered, so you can't just block it with adblock)
- Reluctantly decide to login, waiting a few minutes for the email link to click on to do so
- Log in, then have to navigate your history back to the article, as they take you to a different page
- Start reading again, and after the first two paragraphs get a popup saying you need to pay $5/mo to see the rest of the article
- Rage quit your job and go live in the forest
I understand there are ways around the paywall, but that's not what most users are going to do.