1 Week on Medium — Where I’m At

A look at the progress and what I’ve learned

This post is part 3 in a series that only became a series until right now, which is why I don’t have sequential titles 1/3, 2/3, ….

For the previous two posts that kicked off this journey, you can read about them below.

Although I have been a paying member of Medium since May 2021, I had not published any articles and my engagement was minimal with 4 responses left on a few articles over the course of six months. Two of those responses resulted in 6 subscribers, so to be clear this account did not start at baseline 0.

My reasons for joining Medium as a paid subscriber was to avoid the frustration of getting locked out after my 3 free articles were up, and $50.00 is nothing over the course of a year. Plus, I kept getting swept into the catchy titles that promised the secrets to whatever life crisis or passion project I was working on and a fair number of Medium articles were at the top of the SERPs based on my style of searching. So I caved and made the plunge into subscribing.

Overall, I’ve been happy I subscribed to the platform.

The idea of publishing came to me in December 2021 when I realized I could try to make money from this little corner of the internet, so now I’m on a mission to figure out how.

This update will share my results after 1 week, what I’ve learned, plans moving forward and where I’m at, see below for all the deets.

An update to writing on Medium for 1 week

It’s all about the followers.

Apparently Medium made it mandatory that by the end of 2021, anyone wanting to join the coveted Medium Partner Program needs to have 100 followers. I had 6 when I started so I need to gather up 94 other souls who are willing to ride along with me.

Posts: 3, first one, Dec 31, 2021. More posts would definitely increase how quickly you could gain followers. I’m taking this at a slow pace and not publishing daily.

Followers to start: 6

Followers at the end of the week: 56! Seriously thank you for following along

Total Followers: 62

Responses Left: 52, with 30 reads. Not a single response was asking to be followed, it was because I read their post and commented.

Claps received: 717

Fans: 53

Article Views: 160

Reads: 119

Money made: $0.00

What I’ve Learned:

There’s a lot going on on Medium.

If you’re questioning whether your writing style or content will fit here,

IT WILL.

• Full psychological analysis of serial killers, yup
• Political events from the depths of Africa during 9/11, yup
• Fitness regimes, tips, tricks, ideas, yup
• Detailed erotica complete with your own dic pics, yup, although not entirely sure how long those accounts last…
• Poetry, absolutely
• Fables, go get ‘em Aesop
• Former President, Barack Obama’s recommended reading list, yes you can get through them all
• That story you’ve had in your head but didn’t know where to put it, it’s here!
• A gazillion “How I made thousands of dollars in one month working online” articles, get in line, mine’s up next
• Basically regurgitating Encyclopedia Britannica entries about history, science, art, culture, appears so if you reword and revise enough so it’s not completely plagiarized content
• 30-word articles, 50-word articles, 7000-word articles, we all know length is subjective
• Lists, roundups, explanations, how-tos, recipes, comparisons, affiliate-but-I'm-not-an-affiliate type of posts, your random thoughts, your polished essays, almost everything is accepted, choose your angle

Medium is very noisy.

There are some profoundly intelligent pieces of content on this platform that are clearly written by knowledgeable experts and talented writers. But, don’t let that intimidate you because your voice has a place here (within the rules and guidelines of Medium), it may take a while for others to find you but give it time and they will.

If you want to gain 100 followers in 24 hours, it’s actually quite time-consuming.

I failed at this task, even with a head start of 6 followers, because I spent time going through people’s articles and clapping or leaving a comment on those I liked. I didn’t leave comments on other pages asking to be followed and saying I’ll follow back, but if you try that method you may have some success. I am looking for more genuine reciprocity.

Furthermore, if you publish more frequently, for example, daily or multiple times a day, you will surely gain more views and possibly followers. Having a variety of content on your page increases the chances of people sticking around.

My plans for the upcoming weeks on Medium:

• Gain 100 followers
• Apply to the Medium Partner Program
• Submit my first ever story to a Publication, fingers crossed
• Find a reasonable groove to establish consistency and avoid burnout
• Take a break from inhaling everyone else’s content and work on my own
• Keep ya’ll updated on how it’s going