10 Survival and Money-making Tips From My Three Months On Medium

I’ve studied my stats, and this is what I wish I knew when I started.

Three months ago, when I published my first piece on Medium, I confess, I had dollar signs in my eyes. A friend emailed an article by Shaunta Grimes to me detailing how she had made a box of money off the bat writing for this site. I said, “I’m in.”

Friends who know what I’m like when I’m excited about a shiny new object said, “Slow down, kiddo. There’s no such thing as a free lunch.” But that’s not how I roll, so I dove in.

And I’m glad I did. But I wish I’d had a cheat sheet to help me avoid some pitfalls and make some smarter moves from the get go. A big part of success on Medium is winning the head game. Overcoming fear of writing, fear of failure, fear of success, and fear of publishing. Each of those issues deserves a deep dive. But for today, here’s some of what I’ve learned these last three months that helps me with my head game. I hope they help you.

Read the TOS. Always read the TOS.

• On Medium’s page, you will find valuable information on topics, curation, the pay wall, publications, and formatting advice. That’s just for starters. Oh, the hours I spent searching for info like, how to create a publication, when I’d have found it all in a heartbeat if I’d just clicked on Medium’s page.

Put your articles behind the MPP paywall.

• What does this mean? Money in your pocket. Medium distributes the membership fee to writers who click the box on the publish page. This makes your work eligible to receive payment for claps and other engagement. The article is “locked” behind the paywall; and unlocked if you don’t click it. Some writers want to wait a few months to figure out the benefits of each before clicking that box. I say, why not get paid while you’re waiting? Medium automatically assigns your articles to locked status the first time you click the box. But you can unlock any article you wish. Check Medium’s page for the pros and cons of each.

Cast a wide net when choosing topics.

• Writing wide offers you the best chance of finding an audience and discovering the type of articles you like to write. By checking your stats you can then see which of those topics succeed for you. Experiment with many topics and many forms. Many writers publish in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. I write everything from aging, life lessons, family stories, writing advice to recipes. And they all get clicks, fans, curation, and accepted into publications. You can write about ANYTHING, as long as you don’t trash someone by name.

If you want to make money, be realistic.

• And then, publish every day. I have two reasons for that bit of advice: money and fans. Or, you can look at it this way, fans and money. Because you don’t have one without the other. Your articles can be as short as a haiku, but just keep your name out there. When I look at my dashboard, the days my stats drop are the days I don’t publish. The days I don’t publish, my fans drop. And fans do the clapping, and clapping brings in the money. So publish as often as you can, but if you want the big bucks, that’s daily, at least until your audience is so big, you can publish occasionally and still get umpteen thousand claps per article. That happens on Medium, too.

Know yourself and pace yourself.

• Now that I’ve made my argument for daily articles, I’ll give you this very important caveat. Not everyone can write every day, every two days or every week. You’ll read this little homily on Medium until your eyeballs melt, but it’s true. Everyone is on their own journey. And as someone who throws up in her mouth a little every time someone says “journey” (don’t get me started on jargon), it must mean something when I use that word.
• It’s true, though. Everyone molds Medium to suit their needs and writing desires. Figure out what works for you and make peace with it. If you can write three articles a day and rush to the head of the class, more power to you. I tried to do that my first month and had to spend almost a week in bed. But I’m an old lady, and Medium isn’t my only gig. Memo to self at the end of that week: You can’t do everything anymore. Writing consistently, however you define consistent, is better any day of the week than a flameout that turns you off Medium permanently.

Wednesday is a bad day for stats.

• Medium publishes the earnings from our claps at some point on Wednesdays. A nifty self-discipline trick is to try not to check your dashboard and scroll down to Medium Partner Program until you’re ready for bed, instead of every five minutes like the rest of us. I believe it’s for this reason the articles I publish on Wednesday don’t do as well as other days. Writers are too focused on the earnings report coming out that they don’t have the mental energy to read. However, my goal is to get to a point where I can publish twice a day. So I publish on Wednesdays, even if I get low fans and claps.

Find a Medium buddy.

• Someone with whom you don’t compete to see who has more success, but with whom you can share tips, brainstorm ideas and give mutual TLC when your beloved piece that you thought would soar to the heights of featured article, sank without even leaving a ripple. Where to look for friends? Check out the wonderful Medium Facebook groups. Tremendous support there.

Go long.

• I started out thinking I’d give Medium a month. If I didn’t think it was a viable income stream after 30 days, I’d quit. Turned out, I couldn’t even find the bathroom after a month. So now I’m giving it a year. In the meantime, while I’m not paying the rent, I’m taking this gig as seriously as if it were my full-time job. Learning everything I can. Reading every article with “Medium” in the title. Looking at what the big dogs are doing and letting them inspire me. I suggest you do the same. But don’t copy anyone. Originality counts.

If someone trolls you in the comments, give them your version of the middle finger.

• If I have one piece of advice for a new, sensitive writer (which we all were at one point), it’s this. My skin is as thin as anyone’s, but I’m not going to waste any more time pleasing other people. I’m free to write anything I wish. If you don’t like what I write, don’t read it, don’t clap. But don’t tell me I can’t write it. Paste that on your forehead and keep writing.

If you lose a draft, don’t panic.

• Check your refresh history under the three dots in the article. This has saved my bacon even when I accidentally deleted every word. As long as you have a title, you’re good.

Accountability time.

• With all this advice and minimal experience, how am I doing? May earnings (two weeks worth as I began writin gin the middle of the month): $65; June: $188; July: $249. My best week occurred in the middle of June, so weekly it has been up and down. As I said, it’s a long game.
• Remember that every writer started out as a newbie, with no articles, no fans, no claps and no earnings.
• That was me three months ago, an arthritic little old lady with a desire to write and make money. Medium still doesn’t pay my rent, but each month I make a bit more than the last. I’ve got nine months to go before I throw in the towel, and who knows, I may extend the contract.

Much good luck. If you’d like more of my Medium tips, check out these articles.