10 Ways to Earn $597 on Medium Next Month
Don’t share number six with anyone…
There’s nothing more empowering than earning money from your writing. Writers take nothing into something and when we’re paid for our creations we’re motivated to do more.
It can be hard to break-into Medium.
New writers can struggle on the platform, earning pennies per story (or nothing at all). Talk about demotivating.
My first month on Medium, I earned $92. And that was because there were only two weeks left in the month.
Note: You’ll want to save this story to your reading list for reference.
Since that first month in August 2018, my Medium income has never dipped below $600 (these days it’s more). A lot has changed to the partner program since then, but the fundamentals of captivating stories haven’t.
I don’t share my income to brag. There are plenty of writers earning more than me. Maybe you’re starting and $600 seems impossible when you look at your stats and see nothing left of the decimal point.
Trust me, it’s possible.
I’m just a guy from Michigan. I don’t have any extraordinary writing talents. I make up my lack of natural abilities by working really hard. You can too.
Keep reading if you wan to earn more from your Medium stories.
I’ll share 10 different ways you can use your Medium stories to pay you more money next month. Some use the Medium platform. Some will take you off the platform.
Let’s get started.
10 Ways to Earn $597 on Medium next month
- Write at least one niche story per day, at least 4 minutes in length. If your stories are too short they won’t earn much read time. Too long and you won’t have as many readers willing to stick it out. It’s better to write at least two stories per day, even three. This means you’ll need to earn at least $20/day, accumulated from all your stories.
- Use affiliate links to subscription-based products. Write a review for a product you love. Include their affiliate link in your story (make sure you note it’s an affiliate link or the SEC will fine you). For every person who clicks your link and subscribes, you gain recurring income. This add-up to large numbers over time. Never overlook the power of promoting the services you already use. Most companies have affiliate programs. Plus, you’ll also get the read-income for your story, so double-bonus. Maybe you get a $20 bounty per subscriber. You only need one of these a day to reach $597 a month.
- Write for your own publication. When you own a publication you get to double-dip with you content. Not everyone who reads your work will follow you, but they might follow your publication. As you add more writers to your publication they will promote your work as well, with recommendations at the bottom of their stories. Also, when you own a publication you have the ability to email your followers, with ‘letters,’ something you can’t do as a civilian writer. You get your own publication web page where you can link to your paid writing in the header links.
- Publish every story under a publication (if possible). Medium loves to promote stories under publications, big and small. Lone-wolf stories seem to get less traction unless they’re written by someone with a large audience. When you publish to a publication you get a little extra boost from their large following. Not always a lot, but more than you will alone.
- Grow your following daily. Comment and clap for other writers in your niche. Follow active readers who also comment and clap. Look for people with the colored circle around their avatar. These are paid subscribers. The only ones you want on your following list, because their reads earn you money. The more followers you have the more money you’ll earn. High-income writers have tens of thousands of followers. We all start with zero. I’m still working my way up too.
- Start building an email list with your next story. The partner income is nice, but we must trade time for money to keep earning on Medium. When you have an email list, you can build automated, legacy income. Lists take a long time to build, but Medium is a great way to grow your list without advertising (more on this at the end of the story).
- Sell micro-courses through your Medium email list, and through your stories directly. I sell a micro-course that pays for all my annual business expenses, but it pays them in a month. Every month. Like clockwork. And I all I do is send a steady stream of new readers to join my tribe. Here’s an example of my micro-course. This one method alone earns me well-over $597 a month. A micro-course (a term I coined) is a single PDF document that teaches a super-valuable, single topic. No videos or bells-and-whistles required.
- Sell your books directly. Now, this is a strategy I do not follow, but many writers do. I prefer to build an email list first and make offers later — over time. But you can link directly to your books or courses, through your Medium stories. Not only will you get the read income, you’ll also earn money for each sale. Just add a link to the bottom of your story.
- Promote your best, older stories. Here’s another double-dip strategy. Promote 2–3 of your best-responding older stories to keep them alive longer. Find stories that are relevant to your current story and link to them. You’ll get read income for both. With will continue to tickle the algorithm on the old stories. Medium will recommend them for you if enough people also enjoy them. Don’t try to breathe life into dead stories. If readers didn’t like them when you wrote them, they won’t like them now. You’ll waste valuable real estate. Promote the winners only.
- Be everywhere. Promote your stories on social. Not just the day you write them. Spend time every day sharing links to your Medium stories. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter share Medium stories like candy. If a story takes-off on social, Google will find it. When Google finds it, you win. I’ve got a simple story I wrote a year ago, that consistently earns me $60 a month for doing nothing at all. I’ve got a handful of stories like this. You can too. It only takes one person to forward it to their huge fan-base. But you won’t get there if you don’t share.
Start your tribe — yesterday
The best time to build an email list was 20 years ago. The second best time is now — Abraham Lincoln
Maybe Abe didn’t actually say that, but you get the idea. Email lists take time to build. We need to start them before we need them.
Email is the best insurance plan you can build as a creator. Medium can take away your income any time it wants. When you own your email you own your traffic. If you don’t own your traffic you don’t own a business.
The fastest, least-effort way to earn $597 per month from your Medium stories is to build a tribe away from Medium.
When you build an email list of your best readers, you earn money automatically, while you sleep (and while you’re awake, but asleep is cooler).
A reader joins your email list. You send her ultra-valuable things to her in-box. Occasionally, you send an offer. Sometimes she buys. Add enough people to your email list and you don’t need a day job anymore.
Everyone starts from zero. There’s no shame in it.
A shame is waiting until you need your audience to build your audience. List-building takes time and effort. It’s not for everyone.
But it might be for you…
If you want to build your writer’s tribe, I’ve got something you might enjoy…
I hand-crafted, a hand-made, free, 7-day email masterclass, with my own hands. I call it the Tribe 1K. I’ll show you how to get your first 1,000 (or your next 1,000) readers without spending a hot nickel on ads.
…you might love the results.
Consider yourself warned.
Guarantee your seat.
We’re waiting for you.
Enroll in my Email Masterclass. Get Your First 1,000 Subscribers
August Birch (AKA the Book Mechanic) is both a fiction and non-fiction author from Michigan, USA. As a self-appointed guardian of writers and creators, August teaches indies how to make work that sells and how to sell more of that work once it’s created. When he’s not writing or thinking about writing, August carries a pocket knife and shaves his head with a safety razor.
